It felt like a long-awaited return and album cycle with his regular home of Warp Records might be pending in 2024 when Rustie ended a near-decade release hiatus due to publicised personal struggles and released ‘Black Ice Mudra’, which fizzed with all the eye-dilating euphoria we came to know and love from the Scottish producer in the first half of the 2010s. That didn’t come to pass, and now it appears that Rustie has struck out on his own, independently releasing a succession of tracks this year. We’re grateful that new Rustie music keeps on trickling through. He still has the power to obliterate our minds with his game-changing productions, with latest offering ‘TRIZKEL SUN’ one of his wildest outings yet, merging his maximalist electronic production with screamo vocals in a genre fusion no one in the world could pull off so transcendently. 

The song that launched a 1000 ‘ID?” requests (and then some). Merging an attitude-soaked vocal with a simple M1 organ melody and punchy beat, this track by Naarm/Melbourne-based Dean Turnley is an earworm and a half, attracting plays by everyone from Michael Bibi to Peggy Gou. It’s destined for Sound Of The Summer™ status, already doing serious damage in the Down Under festival season and ready to conquer the Northern Hemisphere next. 

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Marky B casually dropped this track with the message: “made last night from scratch. Beat everything. They can’t do this [fire emoji]”. He’s right to stunt cos it’s a proper banger, opening with a sneering condemnation of cosplay charvas who pretend to be from Bradford, before the real deal rolls in to show them what’s what. Led by his sharp-tongued bars, the vocals ride an infectious, bouncy melody that melts into a warm bassline. 

There’s always a surreal and transcendental feeling to the productions of jungle newcomer Nectax, and his latest delivery on Beat Machine is no different. After several years spent in the works, ‘Cool Runnings’ is a brand new, dubbed-out 160 cut pairing filtered hi-hats with smooth summery piano chords and a deep, rippling bassline, already getting spins from the likes of Sully and DJ Flight. 

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Margo XS and Alli Logout’s deBasement outfit linked up with Nikki Nair in March to release bass heavy-hitter ‘AFTERMARKET BASS’, a rowdy club heater bringing together deBasement’s usual punky style and sensuous vocals with Nikki Nair’s larger-than-life production, leaning into both juke and dubstep territory. 

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To open his new EP ‘GUARI'S RAVE CULTURE’ on Trampa, DJ Guari opted for an immediate high-energy approach with this balls-to-the-wall, maximum speed rave initiation, ‘guarintro’. The Puerto Rican DJ and producer gives a taste of what’s to come on the rest of his six-track release, running at a pace through breaks, reggaeton and straight-up rave. 

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When popstars sample legendary dance records, the result tends to be either a subtle, melodic homage to electronic’s greats or a total and complete catastrophe. And yet, even with Bebe Rexha’s prior game in this field, it's impossible not to raise an eyebrow at the sheer outrageousness of sampling one of the best dance tracks of all time, Faithless’ ‘Insomnia’. So why is ‘New Religion’ an absolute stone cold banger? Firstly, it’s an undeniable rewind to the turn of the millennium-era popstar-producer battles – think Victoria Beckham and True Steppers, Spiller and Sophie Ellis Bextor, Delerium and Sarah McLachlan, Moby and Gwen Stefani - while Rexha’s vocal is crafted entirely to dance alongside that iconic organ hook, with the kind of lyrics you accidentally make up to a classic dance track on your 55th listen, meaning ‘True Religion’ feels like a tribute rather than a malevolent chop and serve. 

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Big, bold and Bambounou… that’s the best way to describe the French DJ and producer’s new track ‘Bass Groove’, taken from his forthcoming debut on DGTL Records. A cataclysmic bassline wobble, pounding kicks, acid squelches, an uncanny vocal sample and ricocheting hats that seem to thicken and intensify until they reach fever pitch — it’s both an exhilarating and terrifying banger. 

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Teasing the release of her first album in six years this month, Octo Octa’s new single ‘Survival Groove’ serves up everything we love about the US DJ, producer and T4T LUV NRG co-founder into a ten-minute run. Hypnotic loops, dashes of tongue-in-cheek sampling, latent groove, nods to the glory days of ‘90s house music and of course, a massive helping of unbridled euphoria — all washed down with a downright naughty bass hook. Perfection. 

Buy it here