2024 Wrapped

It is a running joke that the people in our scene keep saying every year: this will be the year of DNB! But this year it looked like it actually happened. Artists like Chase & Status, Hedex, A.M.C, Koven, Camo & Krooked and Mefjus just to name a few, have been consistently releasing quality tunes and performing unforgettable live shows that kept reaching a larger audience, allowing the scen to grow. Streaming numbers are through the roof right now, this years’ biggest hit was ‘Backbone‘ by Chase & Status and Stormzy has reached over 75 million streams. And that is just one track, but the genre’s streaming numbers have increased by 94% in the past three years, according to Spotify, who made a documentary to celebrate our favourite music. As it is the end of the year, I thought, I’d make a list of my favourite DNB related things of the year.

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Biggest Tunes of the Year

There is no doubt, that ‘Backbone‘ has got to be mentioned here, since it is the most successful track released this year,however there had been many others that have gone a bit under the radar. After Camo & Krooked’s Rampage set, my most awaited tune of the year had to be ‘Preseverance‘ by Lukher on Modus. Lukher, a super talented newcomer, has a unique and fully dveloped sound that just enchants you, this particular tune is just so heavy you can not put down the gun fingers, even in public. Waeys can also say, 2024 was his year, he released tunes on Critical, Hospital and Overview among others, his biggest this year for me is definitely ‘Stopping Turning‘. This one is a crossbreed of jump up and deep, simple and repetitive, but effective and heavy hitting, a must have if you are a dj, trust me!
To name a few more I couldn’t get enough of, there was ‘Spark It‘ by Hoax, ‘Mindwarp‘ by First Person and ‘Snowfall‘ by The Clamps.

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My Favourite Newcomers

Okay, to be honest, not everyone on this list is going to be a “newcomer”. However, they are all artists, who don’t get the attention they deserve YET. Starting off, it is obviously Lukher. Who else could it be, when his Modus release was one of my favourite track this year. Lukher released on Modus and DIVIDID in his first year of being active and delivered top notch productions, I can’t wait to see what’s he holding for us next year!
Vici is an artist that has been around since 2018, however, the past two years, he’s had a huge glow up. He is slowly becoming a top producer that is shaping the sound of future neuro, alongside Mefjus and SLWDWN with his releases on Eatbrain or Blackout.
Crucifyme is probably the person I was the happiest to rediscover this year. He has got a huge range from neurofunk to deep, from minimal to jump up, he is a truly inspiring producer. Not just his tune on Blackout Adaptations Gen III. but his Delta9 EP and mix and Monkey Busniess EP were all on repeat for me this year.
If you have been reading my articles, you know neurofunk is my favourite subgenre. And you also know, that there is someone in the Czech Republic, who has my full attention, and that is Raido. His style can be described as the Zigi SC and PRDK type progressive neuro sprinkled with Prolix or State of Mind type warm, swinged neuro basses. Every time he drops a tune it instantly lands in my neuro folder on rekordbox.

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Albums of the Year

I might often say that I’m all about neurofunk, but that is not true. There is this new wave RnB influenced techy liquid, that people like Monty, Visages or Halogenix have been making in the 2020s’. In April this, my favourite soulful album all time, ‘Passions‘ released on Gemini Gemini. Halogenix finally dropped the whole album he has been teasing for the past year or two with samplers like ‘Satisfy My Soul’. This LP is something you can chill out to, listen to on a hot day at the beach, or vibe to at the club. It definitely has got a theme and style that you can hear in every single tune on it, but even after many listens, the crispy drums and touching melodies can’t bore me.

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But let’s quickly get back to neuro. I often argue that the GOAT of dnb to me is Audio. His seventh album, ‘Where Chaos Lies‘ dropped early this year on Blackout, and this Lp quickly took over every Djs libraries. Seriously, I could probably count on one hand the amount of neuro sets without a track from this LP in it. Seeing Audio live three times this year made me even more certain that he is the best, constantly releasing anthems like ‘Nirmata‘ or ‘Rave Machine‘ and performing the most energetic and epic sets, I can’t see how could anyone be better.

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Without a doubt, one of the leading phenomenon in the neurofunk scene has been Burr Oak for the past couple of years. They haven’t released an album this year, but one of them, The Clamps delivered an epic, dark, exceptional Lp. ‘From Dust to Dawn‘  is a 17 track neurofunk masterpieces, that leaves me speechless every time I listen to it, so I can only advise you to check it out yourself!

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I could go on and on about this year, I could mention hundreds of artists that deserve it, but I decided to cut it short this time and just list the ones that I listened the most. 2024 was amazing for our scene, can’t wait to see what the next year will bring!