This list only proves more difficult to finalize year after year. We’re blessed as a community with more talent than ever, with artists dropping all-time exceptional albums so often in […]
This list only proves more difficult to finalize year after year. We’re blessed as a community with more talent than ever, with artists dropping all-time exceptional albums so often in the electronic music world.
This writer still believes albums are the best way to consume music as a fan, as it feels like a comprehensive view of an artist as a whole. Albums measure storytelling ability and sonic cohesion, unlike any other medium. Here are our team’s favorites from 2023!
Winning a spot at Tipper N Friends this past May was just the tip of the iceberg that was a monstrous 2023 for Bread Winner. The up-and-coming neurohop producer unleashed a spectacular debut record in Off The Record. This album does a fantastic job of exploring the chill, mellow textures along with mind-splattering neurobass. Chill tunes like “off the record” and “moving the tribe” set a beautiful scene while tunes like “traveler” and “wine drunk” will have your mouth speechless and your booty shakin’.
Bass matriarch CloZee unveiled her most complete work yet in 2023, the audiovisual masterpiece Microworlds. The Odyzey boss delivered a vibrant introspective journey utilizing fluttering, warm synths, crisp percussion, and soaring vocal harmonies. The album’s eponymous lead single set the tone for a massive album release, punctuated by a massive bus tour. Ella Vos delivers a massive vocal performance on “Glow In The Dark,” and the same can be said for ROZET on “Courage.” This album is a beacon of light in a genre that can often focus on darker, brooding textures.
2023 was certainly the Year Of The Bread, as Atlanta-based Daily Bread was on a warpath, playing some of the biggest festivals in the circuit and releasing a masterpiece of an album in Invisible Cinema. The iconic beatsmith showcased exceptional sampling and sound design on the record, delivering incredible soul and booty-shaking bass that captivated listeners all year. With hits such as “Snickerz,” “Moon Slips Away,” “Blindfold Yourself” with longtime friend and collaborator Late Night Radio, and “Neighbors” with Artifakts became instantly recognizable and had fans singing along at tour dates and festival appearances alike.
Sonic architect EPROM has been tearing up the scene this year, delivering epic performances both solo and with the SHADES project. His album Syntheism is no exception; it features tantalizing, glittering elements contrasted by gritty beats and skull-rattling basslines, in typical fashion. The tracks flow with an effortless swag, crafted with impeccable precision. It is yet another feather in the cap of this titan of industry.
Tales From The Terrarium from Floret Loret is an audial journey that features organic elements emblematic of textural soundscapes. It is aptly accompanied by a full-length story that guides listeners on a multi-faceted journey, activating the senses. This work ebbs and flows effortlessly as it spins listeners around through tempos and time signatures along epic tales. It’s a masterful debut album from Floret Loret who has proven time and time again that he has huge things ahead for his project.
Here at Heard It Here First, we believe the “G” in G Jones stands for “genius.” In all seriousness, Paths is the perfect follow-up to G Jones’s iconic The Ineffable Truth. Complete with a mind-boggling live show with legendary touring support, Paths once again proves that G Jones is one of the most proficient electronic musicians of our lifetimes. His ability to repurpose classic rave sounds like acid, jungle, and breaks into revolutionary new sounds is unmatched. “Which Way” has a devastating beat. “Too Far Gone” has an infectious analog melody. The whole album is cohesive unlike any other.
Like all Ganja White Night releases, Unity tells a vibrant story. The fan-favorite Belgian bass duo joined forces with both familiar and new collaborators for their latest hero-villain-themed battle on this mammoth of an album, linking up with Infected Mushroom, CloZee, Subtronics, LSDream, Mr. Bill, TRUTH, and more talented bass artists. Classic ganja wobbles and festival season anthems make up the dubstep enthusiast’s golden snitch that is Unity.
It really wasn’t fair for anyone else who dropped an album in 2023 after glitch hop icon Jade Cicada surprise-dropped his new album Pressure Gamut on New Year’s Day. Tracks like “Chonkra,” “Bamboozled,” “Loom,” “Cherry Sinefold,” and “Morsels” with Schmoop became instant hits. The Berklee grad showed extreme sound design and mixdown prowess, delivering one of the most infectious and tantalizing albums of the year. Downtempo delights “AcidTripAdvisor” and “So Long” perfectly bookend the record.
Slow Mode delivered everything we love about K.L.O. The three-headed unit of Kursa, Lone Drum, and Osmetic are known for high-energy tunes loaded with gritty bass, wacky samples, and masterful scratching. Ranging from uptempo madness like “Hyper Metals” to hard-hitting stompers like “Snake Eyes” their 2023 release through Mike Wallis’ Colony Productions has been on repeat all year.
To call Led By Ancient Light a mere album does not do it justice. Bass music legends KOAN Sound delivered an audiovisual masterpiece of storytelling. Complete with a novelization, this album is a sonic journey full of triumph and heartbreak. This is an album this writer is dying to see with a full orchestra arrangement. Many songs on the record have string sections. The combination of strings and traditional piano gives the record an organic feel and allows emotional inflection within tracks to shine. The duo dives into their funky roots on tracks like “Liquid Levity,” and showcase their drum and bass chops on “Ascension,” “Exigence,” and others. This album explores long, emotional, and introspective bridges. Led By Ancient Light is movie-score excellent.
Swamp King Kursa delivers glitchy dubstep goodness with his most recent album NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OF THIS. Each of the tracks in this work transmits monstrous levels of bass, further emphasized by a hefty dose of creative artistry. It waves between gangster, low-end rattles and trippy, mind-bending melodies with impressive ease. Top to bottom this work is a remarkable listen.
Legendary beatsmith Late Night Radio outdid himself with his latest masterpiece Pocket Full of Dreams. This record is defined by its funky sound design, crisp percussions, and melancholy melodies and vocal samples. Few artists sample as well as Late Night Radio, and its incredibly evident on this record as he uses soul and hip-hop samples to beautifully paint his auditory canvas. Pocket Full of Dreams is introspective and vulnerable, reflecting on the highs and lows of life and the human condition. This record is a comfort record in every sense.
Mersiv followed up his Pretty, Dark, Loud album with his official sophomore full-length project, Out Of Bounds. Mersiv has become one of the hottest names in the modern dubstep world, championing his MorFlo label which has also hosted some of the most fire releases from 2023.
Out Of Bounds features Mersiv’s signature melodic dubstep stylings, but a bit toned down from his previous album. While all of the tracks may not be upbeat festival bangers, the tracklist includes deeper, more intricate, less dynamic breakdowns from Mersiv, and we absolutely love it. The project featured highly anticipated collaborations with huge names like trap legends Stooki Sound, bass icon Wreckno, INZO, HEYZ, and GRiZ team member and frequent collaborator ProbCause.
The All:Lo Collective comprised of TF Marz, Thought Process, parkbreezy, pheel., and others had a downright phenomenal 2023. The collective played numerous takeovers and each individual artist saw their own marked success, and perhaps none greater than pheel. releasing his album echo chamber. This chilled-out glitch hop voyage is a feast for the ears and mind. “dust bin” and “dripp.” push the sound design limits to the max, while tracks like “blue skull cap.,” “afterglow.,” and “i’ve had it all.” are perfect tunes for relaxing and allowing your thoughts to slow down as you lose yourself in the divine soundscapes and textures. pheel.’s insane vinyl scratching in hit sets is a magnificent cherry on top to what’s become one of this writer’s favorite producers.
I don’t think I’ve had a conversation about the best album of 2023 that didn’t include Good Lies from UK duo Overmono. They’re the garage equivalent of Odesza in this writer’s eyes, delivering emotional, danceable, and memorable tracks alongside a breathtaking live show and legions of fans. The album’s opening track “Feelings Plain” delivers one of the most memorable vocal licks in recent memory. The record is dark and introspective at times on tracks like “Skulled” and “Sugarushhh.” “Is U” and “So U Kno” were arguably some of the biggest tracks of the year, delivering incredibly crisp percussion and infectious energy.
If someone told you that 2023 would be the year of Skrillex, many would scoff at the return of the legendary artist who brought dubstep to the mainstream. With collabs with iconic rap acts like Missy Elliot, Trippie Redd, Swae Lee, as well as team-ups with powerhouse EDM acts like Fred Again.., Boys Noize, PEEKABOO, G-REX, Posij, and more, it truly was the year of Skrillex. Don’t forget about his unreleased collaborations with Hamdi and Moore Kismet on the way.
Skrillex’s January album, Quest For Fire, showcases so much that is great about his musical project. Bringing both old-school dubstep and modern bass soundscapes to the forefront of the album, he followed the release of QFF with a second, more pop-focused, full-length LP, Don’t Get Too Close. QFF features Skrillex teaming up with electronic music figureheads like Porter Robinson, Noisia, and Joker. It’s got some of the crispiest dubstep sound design and album world-building that we experienced in 2023 and was a shoo-in for our albums of the year list.
Smoakland finally brought fans their sophomore LP, Stay In Your Lane. It’s a masterful example of the pure power this west-coast duo holds in their production and hit-making prowess. They’ve always been masters of crafting upbeat dubstep anthems, but on Stay In Your Lane they are gifting bass heads a cavalcade of eleven festival-friendly bangers, certain to make the rounds of festival season 2024. With collaborations with INZO, Jason Leech & Luma, Tiedye Ky, as well as stunning vocal performances from Laville, Amanda Movio, and rapper Chuuwee, this full-length project has something for everyone. Standouts from the LP include, but certainly are not limited to, “Falling Again,” “That’s What I’m Talking About,” “Look What You’ve Done,” “Hella Cold,” and “All in My Head.”
Following the success of his 2023 Worship tour, which is coming back for yet another round of show stops in 2024, Sub Focus unleashed his masterclass of a DnB album titled Evolve. For his third full-length album, or fourth if you count the collaborative project Portals alongside fellow DnB mainstay Wilkinson, he brought out all the stops. Featuring dance-floor-ready bangers spanning high-caliber collaborations with names like Dimension, Camelphat, Culture Shock, Pola & Bryson, and more, Evolve was a must-add to our albums of the year list and has us fiending for more music from the highly-coveted multi-talented, production-powerhouse Sub Focus.
2023 was the year of Ternion Sound, as the trio became household names in the bass music scene known for putting on one of the best live shows. Delivering heavy-hitting sound system geared dubstep and groovy club bangers, the Ternion boys cause absolute scenes anywhere they pull up. The trio’s 26-track debut album Digital Artifice reset the paradigm for modern dubstep albums. The album’s initial presentation is a continuous mix, with extended mixes of certain tracks released in the subsequent months. Tracks like “xPrismatic,” “Portland,” and “Gunfinger Music” reinforce this trio as one of the premier forces in dubstep. “Detroit,” “dataDyne,” “Chatter Scatter,” and “Guardian” show the trio’s dancier side, while “Looking Up” and“Simulcara” are much more cerebral and introspective.
Ternion Sound is fresh off a two-day run at the famous Black Box in Denver in which night two was an open-to-close Ternion Sound set hosted by PAV4N. We can’t wait to see what they’re cooking for 2024.
VCTRE made a name for himself with massive bass tracks with wide, full basslines and a softer downtempo side. This culminated in the release of one of the best albums of 2023 in East Kings Point. This record is incredibly versatile and vulnerable as VCTRE dazzles with baffling arrangements and intricate sound design. The childhood photo of himself on the cover shows just how personal this album is. VCTRE employs massive bass patches and punishing percussion on “Pull Up,” “Bird Feeder,” “Hydra Flop,” and “Ring Master.” The classic jungle breaks juxtaposed with beautiful, longing melodies on “Vacant Memories” stands out. “White Canvas” and “Don’t Take It Personally” do a fantastic job of balancing massive bass synths and emotional harmonies.
![We Spoke With Dogs In A Pile About Their New Album “Distroid,” Playing Jerry Garcia's Guitar, Inspirations + More [Interview]](https://i0.wp.com/hearditherefirst.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/shared-from-lightroom-mobile-e1764179194374.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=40%2C40){kind=small}
![Hulaween 2024 Revitalizes The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park [Review]](https://i0.wp.com/hearditherefirst.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/HL24-102724-035152-jstrausservisuals-lake-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=40%2C40){kind=small}
