surasshu

back once again with a giant mix of all the songs i liked the most last year! biggest one of these yet–i had a REALLY hard time narrowing this down and i’m sure i’m still missing stuff, but i also don’t want to overthink it, so here it is.

many of my favorite acts released top tier new stuff, such as PSYQUI, mukajudan and sleep token, and there were some huge compilations released, notably staffcirc’s 10 year anniversary frog-themed album, which is featured several times. not to be missed are several new discoveries as well, like phonon & israel strom and the marias!

1. PSYQUI – [Escape from The Future #01] Motion

PSYQUI has been absent for a few years, but released a trio of great singles last year that i expected to turn into an album release–while that took a bit longer than i thought, here it is. this opening track is a great example of his minimal approach to this kinda EDM music, and i love how the drums layers are arranged, it’s super cool.

2. 黒魔, Chroma – [誰が為のエンドロール #03] Blueprint Overdrive

a new chroma album is always cause for celebration, he’s one of the best at creating emotionally resonant music. this album hits SUPER hard, and of course i was instantly attracted to this j-core style track. so fun!

3. tailspun – Destroy, Destroy (ft. eili)

fun fact: this was the first track submitted to snowdrop 2025 (side note: check out this year’s snowdrop! yes i’m bringing it back)! and it set a mile-high standard LOL. i absolutely adore this track, with a beautiful vocal performance by eili and trademark overwhelmingly detailed production by tailspun.

4. aivi – [Beginnings – Rising Star Vol. 1 #06] microplexity

it’s my list, i can feature my spouse if i want to, who are you to judge? aivi doesn’t get to write a lot of music by themselves (whether because of running infloresce or composing with me and other collaborators), so this is a special treat. “simply” a game track (for a non-existent game), it shows aivi’s effortless prowess at creating gorgeous textures that would shine in any game context (in this case, i imagine a ps2-era 3d arcade puzzle game).

5. Fearofdark – [STAFFcirc vol. 10 – STAFFcirc vol. 1 2 #22] Recroakening

this is the first of several tracks i included from the PHENOMENAL staffcirc 10 year anniversary release. Fearofdark is one of the best trackers active today and this piece may be one of his best, absolutely stunning. The odd meter, the tracker melodies, the beautiful sound choices… Peak Fearofdark beauty.

6. jneen & tesselode – [Wigglin’ #02] Phasmotheque

“wigglin’” by jneen & tesselode came out on the Automaphonica label, which is a brand new digital fusion label. this album features high energy jazz with quirky and silly instruments, definitely makes you wanna wiggle! i really like the way this track has this super quirky riff that underpins the whole thing, and the final dreamy segment is super cool too.

7. phonon, Israel Strom – [Fizz Vol. 1 #10] blowfish snorkeling

this track by phonon & israel strom has a similar vibe to the previous one, but this doesn’t come from the digital fusion scene at all, instead i believe these two attend the berklee college of music. so this is a similar result but approached from a radically different angle–very cool!

8. Lena Raine – [EARTHBLADE ~ Across the Bounds of Fate #01] ACCEPT YOUR FATE

EARTHBLADE, the tragically cancelled metroidvania project by the team that brought you celeste, had a fully or at least significantly finished soundtrack, and infloresce records was lucky enough to host the release of this phenomenal soundtrack, even without the game. the in-game tracks all used interactive music tricks and thus this soundtrack is just one of many possible ways the songs could’ve sounded in-game, as far as i understand. but for me, the opening track of the album is just such a spectacular blast of sounds followed by a beautiful piano melody, so i had to feature it.

9. The Marias – [Back To Me CD1/1 #1/2] Back To Me

i’ve said a few times while making this mix that this year was really good for “my type of” music, and i used that phrase deliberately, because that is true for me… but there is one major exception: mainstream pop music had maybe the worst year ever? aside from a drought of new music breaking into the charts at all, what did break through was for the most part not very good at all (i like benson boone’s track “sorry i’m here for someone else”, but not quite enough to make the cut here). the ONE real exception that i heard on the radio this year was the marias’ song “no one noticed”, which got high rotation on the local hit station. i sought them out, and this track is in my opinion even better, fantastic dark alternative reminiscent of angelo badalamenti’s stuff with david lynch, but also their own vibe entirely.

10. ヨルシカ – [プレイシック CD1 #01] プレイシック

the vocal performance on this track is so stunning, i love when suis sings in her lower register, and i also love all the various solos and the overall jazzy vibe of this track. it’s just top notch yorushika!

11. 無果汁団 – [ナサリー CD1/1 #05] ナサリー

i don’t know why but i thought mukajudan had retired, so imagine my shock when this album showed up on youtube streaming, blindsiding me. it may be with a different singer (i believe the singer retired because she had a baby?) but of course the beating heart of mukajudan is the husband and wife team writing and arranging the songs. this album has some really beautiful tracks and the album title track is one of the best among them, capturing that perfect early 90s dreamy anison mood, beautiful chords and a fantastic melodica (or harmonica maybe?) solo in the middle.

12. EVE – [Underdog CD1/1 #1/1] Underdog

i used to think that eve’s secret weapon was his arranger, numa, but ever since he started branching out and doing some of his own arranging, it’s given his music a new fresh boost, plus it has retained the ephemeral “eve-ness”, so i was totally wrong. this is a really fun high octane song with an absolutely stunning music video, definitely check that out (link is in the tracklist).

13. Onefin – Ruby

another entry from snowdrop 2025, and it was in fact a debut track there, this beautiful, soaring piece by onefin blew me away when we were doing judging. the structure here is just immaculate and the heights it reaches makes the journey entirely worthwhile.

14. Skyleo – [Hell Maiden OST] Requiem Aeternam

skyleo and i hang out in a small sub-thread within maj7 with about half a dozen others, dedicated almost entirely to sharing light music. i actually don’t think this piece has a very strong light music influence, instead sounding very much like something from an arcade shmup written by manabu namiki or shinji hosoe, but it’s just a fun fact about both of us that we REALLY like light music. anyway, hell maiden is in pole position to be one of the best soundtracks of 2026, and we got a taste of that in 2025 with the demo tracks, which kick ass.

15. Narek Papoyan – [The Royal Writ (Original Soundtrack) #18] Bilge Rat’s Elegy

and speaking of that light music sub-thread, narek is another artist who frequents this chat, and in this case the music of “the royal writ” DOES bear some hallmarks of the intricate orchestral arrangements of light music (all the while keeping narek’s extremely unique style fully intact).

16. Yasuaki Iwata – [HYKE:Northern Light(s) Original Soundtrack #11] Rufous Forest

rounding out this segment for the light music enjoyers (for now…), is this track was posted in the light music thread and i was really taken by it. it’s by yasuaki iwata, a former nintendo composer who most notably worked on animal crossing: new horizons. his compositions for this game (whatever this is) stand out for sure, and this track in particular is a standout for its bright arrangement and melodies.

17. maak – [ECLECTIC RESONANCE Memories 2 #07] Crescent Signal

i was not as in tune with chiptunes this year, so i almost missed this great track by maak on this chip & fm compilation album from kodamasound. maak used both SID (the commodore 64 chip) and OPLL (a FM chip) in combination, something which was previously almost impossible but which furnace makes trivial. super cool! with quite a few more channels to stretch out, maak’s thick harmonic language comes out more clearly compared to the C64 material from last year’s “breakthrough”.

18. Kazuhiko Naruse (a.k.a naruto2413) – [Looney Landers Soundtrack #05] Gameplay C

shockingly i also missed that naruto2413, the legend, released a game soundtrack in that very cute style reminiscent of bubble bobble and such games. the whole approach to this soundtrack is very “classic game” (it reminds me of umihara kawase’s music more than anything), which is lovely to hear and of course naruto’s melodies shine brightly no matter what the format is.

19. AQUASINE – WinRAR

and now for something completely different. this track by AQUASINE really hit me when it came out! i believe (without asking the artist) that this is about working a day job (that pays poorly), but it’s also funny because winrar is just silly. i love the arrangement style which is just absolutely packed will memorable little melodic phrases and cute stuff which complements kasane teto’s vocals and creates a wild contrast with the lyrical content.

20. jo di cee – [STAFFcirc vol. 10 – STAFFcirc vol. 1 2 #08] secret coquí summoning circle

i mentioned before that staffcirc had one of the most epic releases of the year with their frog/toad-themed 10 year anniversary “staffcirc vol. 1 2”, an absolutely massive 42 track album packed with legends from the scene–and this track is a highlight even within that release, a collab by centurion-cee and jonah3 which just shows a neverending cavalcade of styles, phrases, solos, changups, AND somehow holds together and never gets boring. just brilliant!

21. Aethoro – [All Nighter Vol. 10 #12] Swamp Serenade

and here is another track from the frog-themed staffci–wait, this one is not from the staffcirc album? but it’s called swamp serenade… damn… aethoro somehow connected to the mindwaves of staffcirc but this came out on the also fantastic final ALL NIGHTER (vol.10) by the FORM community. the whole release is well worth checking out, but i really love this gentle piece and the cute waltz breakdown in the middle.

22. Sya Sya – 朝の御苑 (w/ Shofin)

sya sya is another artist that featured a lot in the light music chat (i may have introduced them there, but they are a known quantity). an INCREDIBLY productive orchestral producer in the broad “light music” or “anime music” style, in this case working together with shofin, another soundcloud artist with a similar sensibility. sya sya in particular is a great one to just hit shuffle on their entire release history and do some chores or something, it’s all beautiful and there is so much of it!

23. Silentroom – Limen

silentroom has been absent for a little bit, but released this track in the summer and i really love it, it’s got so many fascinating ambient sounds and it’s so heavy and intense, it really holds you captive. i’d describe it as being mugged by a song, but like, in a good way. i hope that makes sense lol

24. Hunter Van Brocklin – [Past Future Present Memory #10] Starbreaker Heartgazer

hunter’s big, all-FM album release on infloresce records continues to be one of the most stunning albums to come out all year IMO, these are some of the most timeless melodies combined with a level of detail on the tracker side that’s almost unbelievable. a very deep passion project and it’s also my first time mastering for vinyl! i hope i did it justice!

25. K.Shiraki – [op390 CD1 #01] op390

this track by kshiraki is so lovely, and contains many of his trademark touches: combining staccato piano with synthleads and modern production touches, the dry and direct tone (especially on leads), the effortlessly epic solos… it’s one of kshiraki’s best in my opinion!

26. Tak – [LEMON MELON COOKIE CD1/1 #1/2] LEMON MELON COOKIE

TAK evolving into a full-on vocaloid producer continues to surprise me, but damn if he doesn’t do some of the best work in that entire scene. all the trademark TAK-style synth edits on the “lemon melon cookie lemon melon cookie” bit (0:25-0:35) work together with miku’s voice so well, and the moment where the instrumental has to “charge the spindash” to get to full energy after the modulation (1:55ish) and then goes flying off the rails is probably my single most favorite musical moment of the whole year.

27. Fujii Kaze – [Prema CD1 #08] Okay, Goodbye

fujii kaze’s english-language album continues his streak of enjoyable soul/gospel adjacent uplifting pop music, and while i was secretly hoping to hear a bit more fingerprints from the producer 250 (primarily known for his work with newjeans), it was still on high rotation for me this year, with this track being a particular standout.

28. Sammy Virji, Chris Lake & RoRo – [Same Day Cleaning CD1 #05] 925

this year i listened to quite a lot of house and UKG/140 music as well, though the vast majority of that is older releases since there’s so much to catch up on–but sammy virji stood out to me repeatedly whenever i listened to DJ mixes of these styles, and he just released a new album, so i was able to feature him at least! this is a breezy track that just sounds so good, typical of the dry, funky style that sammy virji’s best songs exemplify.

29. cubenoy22 – [STAFFcirc vol. 10 – STAFFcirc vol. 1 2 #30] A Life in Frogaria

another staffcirc cut! i really had to limit myself or i would’ve added even more, but this track from cubenoy just wouldn’t leave my head so i just had to include it in the mix.

30. miles morkri – murmuration

i actually mastered this incredibly intense track by miles morkri, and it taught me some new tech to employ when certain segments end up pumping TOO much (like the stabbing segment at 2:00-3:00, which is another favorite musical moment of the year). also shout out to narek’s beautiful violin performance!

31. Sleep Token – [Even In Arcadia CD1 #02] Emergence

this year was ALSO the year i listened to just a little bit of metal (and yes, i know sleep token “hardly qualifies” and “is soft”, spare me). i absolutely devoured this album and it was my most-played of the year by far, i think it’s fantastic. it was really hard to pick a single track because the whole is SO much stronger than each part, but i love the contrasts in this track between the sung parts and the rap, plus the production reminds me of frost* which can only be a further positive.

32. Spiritbox – [Tsunami Sea #05] Soft Spine

the other big metal release was this: tsunami sea by spiritbox, a band i had never heard about until my friend steph linked me up. the whole album is stunning but there is something so exceptional about courtney laplante’s growling/screaming voice (she can sing beautifully too, she has it all!), combined with this super tight, almost suffocating sound of the band.

33. Anthony “Tbeatz” Burns, Kwesi Robinson – Ultra Space

tbeatz is low key one of my favorite composers/producers out there, he creates these incredibly complex progressive pieces as “drumless” tracks. i was listening to this one in its drumless form for quite a while, but i never released there was a… uh… drum-full version by none other than kwesi robinson. just fantastic, so glad i came across this when making this mix (worth every minute!).

34. vivi mouse – snowfield

this beautiful and haunting microtonal track (in 31EDO or 31 equal divisions of the octave) explores the friction between those neighboring notes in a fascinating way. this was an entry to snowdrop 2025 and one of my favorites from the event, just such a stunning piece that you never forget once you heard it.

35. Yoko Kanno – [Under The Midnight Rainbow (Original Soundtrack) CD1/1 #9/13] Nijimatsuri (feat. Ao/Hana Mouri)

alright, folks, we made it lol. i realized as i was making this mix that the vast majority of these tracks are in a pretty dark place, which not to get overly political, but it reflects how i feel about all the bullshit fascist stuff in 2025 and what i expect from 2026. but i didn’t want to end on that note, so this beautiful warm and uplifting piece by yoko kanno (i believe for some sorta scientific exhibit?) carries us into the future, appropriately enough titled “nijimatsuri” or 2-year festival, which is when i think things will start getting better. maybe. here’s hoping!