Secret weapons, earworms, roof-raisers, joyride anthems and singular material from breakout talent. They're all here. As usual, this round-up of 12-inches and WAV files touches on many different sounds and corners of the world. 2023's offering was the result of an increasingly global and interconnected club scene where, refreshingly, almost anything goes, with the likes of Toumba, Bambii and Bashkka swishing through SWANA club music, raw dancehall and zippy techno.

Unexpected yet triumphant collaborations define these selections. Early on, in January, there was "Rumble" by Skrillex, Fred again.. and grime heavyweight Flowdan. In September, we tuned into "MK3TreF" by raptor house pioneer DJ Babatr and avant-pop princess Arca. These bookends to the year affirmed that the borders between the mainstream and underground are ever-permeable (no doubt something Peggy Gou could attest to) and all the better for it. The theme of "more the merrier" holds up with the inclusion of other link-ups, such as Joy Orbison and Overmono, Hudson Mohawke and Nikki Nair, and Perko and Huerco S. The sonic twists and mutating sounds crafted by many hands were thrilling to listen to. Years on, electronic music continues to surprise us.

Track of the Year

DJ SWISHA - CLUB MEGAMIXXX

Self-released

"CLUB MEGAMIXXX" was the savvy DJ's secret weapon this year. As the name implies, it's a jumble of ideas, samples and songs jam-packed into four minutes. It has just enough familiar sounds (Baltimore club breaks, the orchestral hits from "Planet Rock," a tantalising snippet from AceMo and John FM's 2019 hit "Where They At???) that dancers could mistake it for any one anthem before they realise it's this anthem. Add in the slip-and-slide organ bassline that hits at the end of each bar, a bit like Pearson Sound's immortal "Untitled," and you've got a heavy hitter full of twists and turns, yet driven by the steady broken beat of a beloved US club music rhythm.

This one arrived with little fanfare as part of several self-released EPs in the spring, but its enormity was obvious to anyone who played it or heard it on the dance floor. It feels like an unofficial, or perhaps incidental, culmination of everything that DJ SWISHA and his New York cohort have been working towards for the past six years. An effortless blend of styles that trades easy classification for an X factor of pure cool. East Coast club, old-school house, electro, techno: "CLUB MEGAMIXXX" is all and none of these things at once, the sound of a producer who moves dance music forward by taking pieces of its past and rebuilding them in his own image. -Andrew Ryce

Listen on: Bandcamp

Pangaea - Installation

Hessle Audio

Pangaea was already a master of the earworm, twisting voices into mutated club tools ("Stimulant Dub," "Hex") or crafting cutesy slices of singalong rave-pop ("Like This"), but he reached even dizzier heights with this year's "Installation." Evoking Basement Jaxx at their most delirious, the track's quivering bassline has thrummed on club, festival and home systems all year long, and its vocal chops are burned into almost everyone's collective memories of summer. When asked about dropping the track at London festival GALA in May, Call Super replied: "I played it because I thought it would be funny to tell Kevin tomorrow that I played his tune into 'Bax' by Mosca." Much like that UK garage classic, we can expect to hear "Installation"' for many more summers to come. -Tom Gledhill

Listen on: Bandcamp

Introspekt - Temptation (I Need U)

T4T LUV NRG

At this point, the UK garage revival has well and truly bloomed across oceans and continents. The secret? One of the best producers in the scene isn't from the UK. Introspekt, who started in Los Angeles and recently moved to New York, knows how to make things sound perfect: cutting snares, huge basslines and kick drums that, crucially, don't eclipse everything else. Her mixdown skills are on par with Burial-influencing legend El-B, and "Temptation (I Need U)," one of several hits this year, gets it across with tile-loosening wubs and drum programming best described with an adjective that's unprintable here. -Andrew Ryce

Listen on: Bandcamp

Kwengface - Freedom 2 w/ Joy Orbison & Overmono

Self-released

Shout out to whoever spotted dance floor potential in "Freedom," the bumping single from South London driller Kwengface released back in April. The elements are all there: UK garage coos, fiery lyrics, swaggering drums, ready to be spliced and diced and repackaged as "Freedom 2," probably the year's best crossover hit. Joy Overmono's special sauce is the bassline, which roars like a thousand beehives. Chuck in some stonking drums, amplify Kwengface's sing-a-long bars and you've got a quintessential UK festival favourite. -Carlos Hawthorn

Listen on: Youtube

Toumba - Janoob

Nervous Horizon

Toumba was one of the breakout stars of 2023, starting the year with an enormous Hessle Audio EP. His approach refracts contemporary club sounds through the best of SWANA regional dance music. But it doesn't tokenise his Jordanian heritage. Instead, Toumba rewrites dance music from the ground up. His second EP of the year, for Nervous Horizon, is even better. "Janoob" is a masterclass in what Toumba does well: the hi-hat pattern and subs could be taken from a DJ Rashad track, but they're pitched down low and slow to a steady burn under 100 BPM that makes it something else entirely. This is global club music in its most borderless, almost utopian, form. -Henry Ivry

Listen on: Bandcamp

Hudson Mohawke & Nikki Nair - Set The Roof

Warp Records

"Set The Roof" was dance music's entry into the "song of the summer" category. Touching down in June, this infectious track by HudMo and Nikki (wth diced vocals by Tayla Parx), cut its way through the sweltering season and even wandered into an unexpected DJ set by Caroline Polacheck at C2C Festival in Turin. Its ubiquity is no wonder: the charisma comes from the way the tune wags mischievously (the xylophone notes lend it a juvenile, tongue-in-cheek quality), as if crafted by two delinquents who know exactly what kind of rabble rousing they're doing at the back of the classroom. -Whitney Wei

Listen on: Bandcamp

BADSISTA - BAGUNCA MINHA B***** feat. JUJULIETE

TraTraTrax

The peak of "BAGUNCA MINHA B*****" includes a repeating verse that translates to "Oh BADSISTA, you son of a bitch." The track lives on the A-side of Gueto Club, an EP inspired by BADSISTA's travels between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It combines the dynamic sound of her hometown (baile funk) with slamming techno. Once that vocal riff lands, stuttering in the gaps between carnivalesque synth notes, it feels like racing through a fun house of mirrors. "BAGUNCA MINHA B*****" might be chaotic, nearly explosive, but it's also frisky. -Kiana Mickles

Listen on: Bandcamp

Verraco - Escandalo

Voam

On "Escandalo," Verraco bottles up his mischievous flair (and knack for mind-boggling DJ blends) into five hair-raising minutes. When the intro's shuffling groove is swept up by thick dub stabs that, as I originally wrote, "sound like R2-D2 trapped in a wash cycle revving up to 1400 RPM," it already feels gnarly. But Verraco being Verraco, he kicks it up a notch with boisterous four-to-the-floor kicks and some air horns to make things spin completely out of control. There's a reason it's been whipping up dance floors all year long. -Sophie McNulty

Listen on: Bandcamp

Bambii - One Touch

Innovative Leisure

Bambii may have grown up in Toronto, but as she said in her Breaking Through profile, she always has one foot firmly planted in her ancestral home of Jamaica. "One Touch" is the musical embodiment of this dual identity. She said herself that she wanted the track off her debut EP Infinity Club to capture the "raw feeling of dancehall, but with all the rage and chaos of the rave." The craggy collision of air horns and twisted patois vocal samples over a jungle bedrock is exactly that. -Whitney Wei

Listen on: Bandcamp

Fadi Mohem - Redox

MOHEM

In the era of silly bangers, "Redox" is a breath of fresh air. Yes, this is a funny thing to say about a track evoking 30-plus years of techno history, from early Detroit to Basic Channel to peak Berghain. But Fadi Mohem is a master at making the timeless sound new, accomplished thanks to a wizard's ear for soulful sonics and the subtle nudges in energy that send dance floors nutty. Is "Redox" the best techno loop of 2023? Probably. -Carlos Hawthorn

Listen on: Bandcamp

JakoJako - Impetus

Mute

From her early days watching modular tutorial videos on YouTube to becoming a resident at Berghain, JakoJako represents a new generation of hardware enthusiasts. But unlike modular devotees who love to bang it out, she also knows how to twist her inputs to create some of the most beautiful melodies in contemporary techno. On "Impetus," she perfected this formula. The kicks are industrial strength and crunchy, though she builds towards a transcendent breakdown filled with pensive, wanderlust chords you might have found in a Warp record circa 1992. In a year when techno was brash and hypercharged, JakoJako offered the antidote: "Impetus" was a slow burn of pure wonder. -Henry Ivry

Listen on: Bandcamp

OSSX - Don't Linger

Self-released

OSSX's tracks are so undeniably good that downloading them right before a DJ set can feel like cheating. "DONT LINGER" is one of these records that I've seen send crowds into a frenzy, combining the classic bleeping melody of Fatima Yamaha's 2004 hit "What's A Girl To Do" with Baltimore club breaks. A few months ago, I played it for some colleagues, and thanks to the track's blend of nostalgia and East Coast club dynamism, RA's music editor, Andrew Ryce, described it as having the rare ability to bring together multiple generations on the dance floor, everyone cheering along for different reasons. -Kiana Mickles

Listen on: Bandcamp

Yushh - Same Same

Wisdom Teeth

By the time Yushh released her debut EP in February, she'd already established herself a solid reputation in and among Bristol's bustling dance music community. Look Mum No Hands landed on the inventive label Wisdom Teeth and cemented her place further still, delivering four tracks that reference distinctly Bristol sounds but with an added lightness through her use of bright, intricate textures. "Same Same" is the best track on the EP, seven minutes that skip, bounce and roll along with a big, enveloping bassline, a chopped-up vocal riff and bleeps that sound like bubbles fighting their way to the top of a glass of champagne. It fits Wisdom Teeth to a tee: light and dark, serious yet playful. -Katie Thomas

Listen on: Bandcamp

Anz - Clearly Rushing

Hessle Audio

"You heard the new Anz?" "No?" [Plays "Clearly Rushing."] "Ohhhhh this one. Tune!" Throughout 2023, this back-and-forth was surely a fixture of pre-drinks and afterparties all over the world. The bitesize Hessle Audio banger was everywhere, soundtracking wow moments and launching 1,000 Instagram Stories with its simple yet incredibly distinctive blitz of keys, FX and tub-thumping drums. Goes to show how much you can achieve with a wicked idea and some snazzy sound design. Who said universal club anthems are a thing of the past? -Carlos Hawthorn

Listen on: Bandcamp

Nene H - Hold Ud, Skat!

Live From Earth Klub

There's talk around town that techno is getting faster and faster. Some purists would say too fast. Nene H's music makes a good case for techno so speedy you can't even move your feet to it. Released at the close of last year, the lead single from her Trifecta EP, "Hold Ud, Skat!," sits at 152 BPM. The track whizzes by, but there are soulful elements grounding its pulse, like the dewy chords or the excess of groove and bounce in the kicks and snaking bassline. It's more than enough to hold court for the entire five minutes. -Kiana Mickles

Listen on: Bandcamp

Yu Su - I Want An Earth

Pinchy & Friends

Yu Su wrote her latest EP during a flood in Ojai, California, where the downpour washed away the roads and gave rise to watercolour sunsets. "I was really feeling the power of the Earth," she told Mixmag. "I'm just here to experience it and I'm just a guest." From this the title track was born. It's a sumptuous tribute to the organic world, all overlapping melodies working in sync: warbling flutes and reverberating strings, gentle drums ambling in the background. The plethora of textures and rhythms echoes the abundance and intelligence of the natural world, but not without a hint of melancholy, as if implying the Earth's power alone isn't enough to resist all its impending changes. -Whitney Wei

Listen on: Bandcamp

Theo Kottis - Lighthouse

Dekmantel

We knew "Lighthouse" would be on this list before it was even released. In a summer of ubiquitous hits, "Lighthouse" was a late bloomer, though no less powerful. You can see why DJs love it: the techno-trance drum pattern, undergirded by roiling Reese basslines, is festival catnip, hitting two major genre touchstones in one go. The slowed-down vocal adds a hint of UK garage lightness and the excitable snare rolls should appease even the most bloodthirsty dancers. There's no massive hook, breakdown or drop. Just six minutes of sustained ecstasy. -Andrew Ryce

Listen on: Bandcamp

IMOGEN - true-blue

Steel City Dance Discs

There can't be many artists who got their first invitation to play Berghain at 18 years old. IMOGEN is one of them. On "true-blue," from her Albert Road EP on Mall Grab's label, the growling, jagged sonics of her earlier work (she grew up on The Prodigy and Stanton Warriors) are reinforced with thumping breakbeats, eerie synth lines and an intro so atmospheric it almost feels supernatural. It's easy to call a piece of music cinematic, but if "true-blue" were in a film or video game, it would soundtrack a breakneck car chase in blinding rain, the rumble and shudder of the basslines echoing the thunder and lightning in the sky. -Katie Thomas

Listen on: Bandcamp

BASHKKA - Act Bad

UMAY

Whether or not you're a Janet Jackson fan, it's a jolt of electricity when the words "Act Bad," pulled from her 2006 collaboration with Khia, ricochets into "Don't hurt me / Look sexy / Talk dirty" over a thick bassline, intermittent hand drums and pitched-up moans. The feeling truly sinks in when the bassline cuts out and returns during the breakdown, causing all hell to break loose. It's an apt debut release for Nene H's new label, UMAY, which quickly established itself as a reliable source of sexy, zippy techno in 2023. -Kiana Mickles

Listen on: Bandcamp

DJ Babatr & Arca - MK3TreF

Self-released

CaraceÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Â ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â±o raptor house originator Dj Babatr has become an international ambassador for the changa tuki rebellion since he dropped 2022's best track alongside Nick LeÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Â ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â³n. On "MK3TreF," he joins forces with fellow Venezuelan Arca for an avant-pop twist on his usual heaving rhythms. Arca's vocals jump nimble hurdles around the syncopated percussion, but it doesn't fully go off the rails until halfway through, when boisterous piano keys ram like bumper cars into all the fun. If anything, the surprise of this cross-genre link-up is worth the listen alone. -Whitney Wei

Listen on: Bandcamp

Skrillex, Fred Again, Flowdan - Rumble

OWSLA

Timestamp 55:20 of Fred again..'s much buzzed-about Boiler Room set is the exact moment the most heavily anticipated ID of 2022 entered the wishlists of dance music fans worldwide. "Rumble", released at the start of this year, was by none other than Skrillex and Fred again.., as part of the image makeover that helped both artists dominate 2023. Cascading bleeps, lion roars and rib-crumbling sub bass are whisked into two and a half minutes of trap-dubstep filth. Whenever Pangbourne House Mafia (AKA Skrillex, Four Tet and Fred again..) played it at a festival, the air moved and crowds erupted into mini-riots. But despite its heavyweight producers, legendary East London MC Flowdan steals the show. He sounds sinister and unperturbed by the surrounding pandemonium, which adds up, considering his refrain "Killers in the jungle" is what gives it all permission to unfold. -Emeka Okonkwo

Listen on: Spotify

Aya & BFTT - Up and At Them!

YCO

"Up And At Them!" is the epitome of Manchester label YCO: genre-fluid and eccentric. A slo-mo freefall at 159 BPM, its central melody glints and shimmers, setting the scene for a concoction of deft percussion hits, delicate vocals and spotlessly sculpted sub-bass. Gradually, each of these parts begin to stretch and stutter, a series of sharp zaps heralding a few seconds of pulverised low end, mangled by a Dillinja-esque wave of rising distortion. And then, just like that, it's gone. For a duo with such keen grasps of the rambunctious and heavy, it's the sense of poise and restraint on display here that makes this slow-fast excursion so resplendent, robust and (re)listenable. -Tom Gledhill

Listen on: Bandcamp

Perko - Prang feat. Huerco S

Numbers

Perko and Huerco S.'s "Prang" is a driving rhythmic excursion recorded during their joint artist residency at Heima in East Iceland late last year. Drawing from a period of solitary isolation in the country's jagged coastal fjords, this deeply psychedelic club roller brings the core bass and machine groove elements of dub techno and uptempo club music together to evoke a pupils-dilated night ride. A reverb-drenched bassline and tightly timed drum sequencing cut through the 4 AM fog like a siren of hope. -Conor McTernan

Listen on: Bandcamp

Tammo Hesselink - Don't Forget

Nous'klaer Audio

Nous'klaer Audio had an incredible 2023. Perhaps its most notable record was Tammo Hesselink's titanic double-pack Beam, which exemplified the Rotterdam label's two sides and the thick tension between them: atmospheric and melodic, rigid and technofied. "Don't Forget" splits the difference between Shed and Peverelist, practically bludgeoning you over the head with its kick drums swung like a spiked flail. Its Hoover-esque chords hint at rave abandon, while the dubby chords hold everything in check, steering it more towards a daydream than a night out. Listening to "Don't Forget" is like staring into a fractal, patterns spiralling out forever and seeming to change even when they don't. -Andrew Ryce

Listen on: Bandcamp

Peggy Gou - (It Goes Like) Nanana

XL recordings

The world keeps on turning for Peggy Gou. Her transformation from underground electronic act to semi-pop star has been well-documented in the press over the years, but nothing screams mainstream fame like an actual charting single. Her first UK top ten entry, reaching #5 on the Official Singles Chart, "(It Goes Like) Nanana" is dance pop to the core, and not just because it references other classics (Reel 2 Real's "I Like To Move It," ATB's "9 PM (Till I Come)"). Catchy lyrics, Eurodance rhythms and a killer organ bassline: this one shimmers like pure magic. -Nyshka Chandran

Listen on: Spotify

Spriitzz - Where R U (Ibiza Mix)

Radiant Records

Ahead of this year's Glastonbury Festival, a friend told me, "If I don't hear this track at least once this weekend, I'm gonna sue." The handy work of Spriitzz, an alias of Spray, and taken from Radiant Love's annual International Women's Day compilation, "Where R U (Ibiza Mix)" is one of the tracks you want to hear on a sun-soaked dance floor, drenched in an appropriate amount of sweat. It hits all the marks: rubbery kick drums, proggy stabs, rippling breaky undertones and a wistful vocal. But it's the dazzling melody in the mid-section that really sets this track ablaze, almost cha-cha-cha-ing over the top. -Sophie McNulty

Listen on: Bandcamp

Jossy Mitsu - Standard

Astral Black

Nearly three years since releasing her debut record, Jossy Mitsu has proven she's as equally skilled making tunes as playing them. Her percussive permutations are sparse yet lethal, combining the spirit of UK club music and Detroit techno. "Standard," cerebral and deep, seems to nod to Bristol specifically. Heaving slabs of bassweight surround barely there broken drums and twinkling synths, like towering mountain peaks protecting a biodiverse valley. It's an immense sound, but the Birmingham artist manages to keep it dynamic, contorting bass pressure into sprightly shapes. -Nyshka Chandran

Listen on: Bandcamp

Freak Heat Waves - In A Moment Divine feat. Cindy Lee

Mood Hut

Earlier this year, I called "In A Moment Divine" the "finest song ever released on Mood Hut," and I stand by it. Pulling on the thread first unravelled by Jack J with his languid vocal house, funk band Freak Heat Waves make the ultimate melancholy, summer-is-over breakbeat torch song. The understated vocal from Cindy Lee, the former frontperson of indie band Women, is framed by a sequencer lead straight out of "Temptation"-era New Order and a delightfully rusty string section to underline the song's ramshackle charm. But it's when everything falls apart for an almost prog house-style breakdown that its genius truly comes through, capturing both the urgency and emptiness of leaving some place (or someone) that once meant a lot to you. -Andrew Ryce

Listen on: Bandcamp

Minor Science - Workahol

AD 93

In 2023, Minor Science revealed his versatility as a producer. On the one hand, the Berlin-based artist released obnoxiously turbocharged edits of Linkin Park and Evanescence through his Gremlins-referencing side project STRIPE N CO. On the other, he explored his ambient side on the third instalment of the Absent Friends series. But his most memorable release of the year was "Workahol," a euphoric joyride pairing breaks and diva vocals with the unruliest of basslines. That this exquisitely crafted gem got hammered by everyone from Batu to rRoxymore and CCL came as no great surprise. -Michael Lawson

Listen on: Bandcamp

Olof Dreijer - Rosa Rugosa

Hessle Audio

Olof Dreijer has a knack for reinventing himself. In 2009, under the name Oni Ayhun, he put out "OAR003-B," 12 minutes of shimmering, IDM-y techno that enchanted dance floors worldwide. 14 years later, after years spent working with his sibling Fever Ray in The Knife, among other experimental projects, he finally returned to the club on one of dance music's most vaunted labels, Hessle Audio. "Rosa Rugosa" is deceptively simple: a punchy drum pattern, a pitch-bent synth line and a glowing, almost skittish, melody. On playing it at Panorama Bar back in May, Ben UFO recalled the dance floor "orienting itself to the insistent percussion of the track and allowing itself to be swept away in a kind of slow-motion ecstatic release." Listening in my headphones, I felt a similar sense of childlike awe, Dreijer's gleefully punchdrunk footprint once again leaving its singular mark. -Bella Aquilina

Listen on: Bandcamp