My Top 10 Bass Songs of 2018
2018 was a really shitty year for me overall but there was a lot of great electronic music that came out. Here’s my 10 favorites that were released this year. I also included a Spotify playlist of all the songs mentioned at the bottom.
10. Pressure - RL Grime
https://soundcloud.com/rlgrime/pressure
RL Grime had a really good year. Along with the release of NOVA, his two part remix album came out early this last month with remixes from artists such as QUIX, Vincent, Hex Cougar etc. From its inception, Pressure was a heavily anticipated banger with experimental sound design by RL but still managed to be played in almost EVERY festival set I’ve heard/seen this year. Really hope to see a more adventurous RL in this way.
9. F.W.Y.S - Calcium ft. Pi$ces
https://soundcloud.com/bassweightrec/calcium-fwys-ft-picesout-may-15th
So tbh, the lyric part of this song is God awful. Maybe I’m just not into the UK Rap. But the drop? Fuego.
8. Easy Does It - Bassnectar & Conrank
https://soundcloud.com/bassnectar/bassnectar-conrank-easy-does-it
I tried not to repeat any artists so obviously, I had to choose between ‘Easy Does It’ and ‘Heavyweight Sound’ and I went with this. Whereas HS is trying to amp you up, ‘Easy Does It’ coasts on Bassnectar’s signature sound making it both a banger and something you could listen to on a lazy day.
7. Another Dimension (YOOKiE remix) - Dillon Francis, NGHTMRE
https://soundcloud.com/yookiemusic/nghtmredillonfrancisanotherdimensionyookieremix
Don’t want to be full of myself but I really saw this one becoming the festival banger. And so it did. I feel Dillon Francis hasn’t really caught a break with his trap productions lately and while the original is lovely, YOOKiE really knocks this one out of the park.
6. In Your Head - G Jones
https://soundcloud.com/gjonesbass/in-your-head
For the uninitiated, G Jones can sound chaotic, overpowering, and honestly even a little terrifying. And he channels all of that in ‘In Your Head’. This song to me, was a conceptualization of any really bad acid trip (aka me at Diso 2018 this year) but it will beat the brakes off of anything you play it in. Not to mention when this song was played at his show in November, the entire crowd jumped like 5 feet in the air at the drop.
5. No Joke - BadKlaat
https://soundcloud.com/neversaydie/badklaat-no-joke
No Joke by BadKlaat was a sleeper in my opinion. Not only is this an insanely different style for BadKlaat, but it makes as a great addition to any trap set.
4. Moon Love - Boombox Cartel ft Nessly
https://soundcloud.com/boomboxcartel/boombox-cartel-moon-love-ft-nessly
This one was tough cause I had to choose between ‘Moon Love’ and ‘NBD’ which both were bangers. ‘Moon Love’ ultimately won though because of Nessly’s fun-to-sing lyrics combined with the sharp synth heavy drop. Boombox Cartel has done an excellent job of teetering this line of hybrid trap and dubstep, and it really shows in this song. I also have fond memories of this being dropped while being with some of my closest friends at almost every festival I went to this year.
3. Babatunde - PEEKABOO & G-Rex
https://soundcloud.com/wakaan/babatunde
So for a very long time, everyone just posted videos on r/trap and Twitter of the first drop of ‘Babatunde’ because the song wasn’t released. Then, when it finally came out, every trap artist managed to incorporate this low frequency banger into their sets. The build up can be a little slow but as soon as I hear the “GOES A LITTLE SOMETHING LIKE THIS” and the initial drop, the low synth and drums leaving me both kinda mindfucked and also wanting to bop super heavy to it.
2. Extraterrestrial - TYNAN & Kompany
https://soundcloud.com/neversaydie/tynan-kompany-extraterrestrial
This one also kind of flew under the radar. It was played in a bunch of heavy bass sets (usually in the middle when everyone’s rolling their brains off) and didn’t get the recognition by the community like I thought. TYNAN himself has grown in notoriety for his very experimental sound design and seeing his work on this song in particular really has me excited for what he releases in 2019.
1. Loyal - ODESZA
https://soundcloud.com/odesza/loyal
Honestly, who thought this was ever going to be released?!? Anyone who’s been to an ODESZA concert these last few years knew of it’s live performance but for them to bring it to permanence? Incredible. This song really makes me feel like a King walking out of my royal chambers to tell the country that we’re going to war for oil. Lord knows I love my ‘horn trap’ and ODESZA nailed everything about it in this song. And while I don’t expect them to make anything else like this, I hope it paves a way for the return of this type of trap in the future.
Lastly, here’s the Spotify playlist. Thanks for reading.
https://open.spotify.com/user/j_todd/playlist/0b7AuGflEIVh2xYCTgosSp?si=hbRVxx73QQ69MCPdU7TAeA
A playlist featuring RL Grime, Calcium, Bassnectar, and others
