After writing this list of the top 10 bangers for 2025, it’s clearer to me that the sound of the dance floor is changing. The songs that have been working well at the clubs are the ones that don’t follow the strict vibe code of Spotify playlists. Instead, we have “northern soul, but make it Britpop,” “post-punk by way of Piper at the Gates of Dawn” and “Irish grime for the moshpit.” None of those songs would make sense together on an algorithmically-generated playlist, but they all made it into the DJ sets I played at Underground just this past Friday.
At least amongst those who regularly leave the house, there are still people who want to dance to music that they don’t already know, that doesn’t hold nostalgic value and doesn’t quite fit into the narrow parameters of genre. That gives me a bit of hope in the midst of the new AI era of music that has been thrust upon us.
All of the songs here are ranked by how I’ve seen crowds respond to them at my own gigs, primarily at Underground, where I’m DJing on New Year’s Eve, and/or in the darkwave room at Nocturno, where I’ll be playing on December 20. The only “metrics” I’ve used here are eyeballing the size of the crowd and the enthusiasm of their dancing. TBH, enthusiasm is more important than size, so if there are fewer people dancing, but they’re screaming out every word of the song, that matters. Anyhow, what I’m getting at is that I trust my ears and eyes more than any music or social media platform that is designed to be gamed.
10. French Police “Sugar Killer”
Of the handful of songs that French Police has released this year, “Sugar Killer” is the one that resonated the most with me and, I think, with the club crowd here in L.A. as well. Melodically, there’s a hint of Echo and the Bunnymen and other classic alt bands in there, but the song doesn’t sound like an ’80s throwback. “Sugar Killer” has packed the dance floor when I’ve played it in the darkwave room at Nocturno and it sounds like a promising sign for what the Chicago-based band has in store.
9. The New Eves “Highway Man”
“Highway Man,” from The New Eves debut album, The New Eve Is Rising, is a raw, groovy, psych-punk jam that falls somewhere between Shocking Blue and Delta 5 with traces of early Siouxsie and the Banshees and Piper at the Gates of Dawn-era Pink Floyd. It is an incredibly sick tune that’s still in its baby-banger era in my own sets. In other words, I typically play it on the early side, usually in between two oldies that either fall into the post-punk or psych camp. The song’s feel is familiar enough to keep the people on the dance floor moving. Others will start catching the rhythm and join them by its end. It does better and better every time it’s played, which is really what you want to see when you’re looking out from the DJ booth.
8. Ora the Molecule “Nobody Cares”
Dance Therapy, the latest album from Norway’s Ora the Molecule, is 45 minutes of non-stop disco bliss, but “Nobody Cares” is my favorite and first choice to play in sets this year. Some my think of lyrics like “they only love you when you’re dead” and “today you’re feeling low, nobody cares” as brutal. I find them liberating. Judging from the people who stay on the dance floor when “Nobody Cares” comes into the mix, I’ll surmise that I’m not alone. Seriously, nobody cares, just get out on the floor and dance.
7. Pulp “Got to Have Love”
It’s been so much fun to see how “Got to Have Love,” from Pulp’s latest album, More, brings more people out to the dance floor every time it’s played. The Britpop legends leaned hard into the legacy of northern soul for the dance floor single from their first album in 24 years. It’s an absolute stomper that follows in the rhythm and structure of classics like “Beggin,’” albeit with a very Jarvis Cocker twist in the lyrics and vocal delivery.
6. Pixel Grip “Reason to Stay”
I’m always listening to how songs can fit into a DJ set, which is why “Reason to Stay” stood out when I first heard it and probably why it’s done so well on the dance floor this year. The single from Pixel Grip’s latest album, Percepticide: The Death of Reality, is unusual amongst dance songs right now in that it shifts from a creepy-crawly goth tune in the verses to an electro-punk rager. That big shift in energy reminded me of “Art Star” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which I used to play a lot back in the early ‘00s, and I was excited hear that kind of chaos in music again. But, what really kind of makes “Reason to Stay” work in my own DJ sets now is that, production-wise, it hits this middle ground between the EBM-tinged darkwave of Boy Harsher and Sextile and Crystal Castles-style, noisy electro. So, it’s a good transition song that’s also a banger on its own.
5. Alice Glass “Catch and Release”
Released last July, “Catch and Release” is the strongest solo song I’ve heard from Alice Glass. It’s a song that lives up to its title, with an intense, cathartic energy, like you’re just unleashing every bit of tension inside of you out on the dance floor. It’s an infectious energy too. Usually, it takes a few weeks, or months, to get club crowds used to new songs. “Catch and Release” hit immediately and it’s been going strong since.
4. Kneecap “H.O.O.D.” (2025 Mix)
“H.O.O.D.” is one of Kneecap’s signature tracks, so it’s sort of not surprising that the 2025 mix of a song that’s been around for a while has done so well on the dance floor this year. But, it also is surprising because I suspect that more people in L.A. have heard of the Northern Irish band, but haven’t actually heard them. So, when this song plays, there are always a few people who stand around like, “WTF is this?” Then there’s a sizable, and growing, crowd of people who start jumping up and down and shouting out the song’s lyrics, an impressive feat given that half the song is in Irish. Then, somewhere after “You can change your name, but you’re all the fucking same,” some dude— always a different dude— comes up to the DJ booth and gives me a fist bump. So, yeah, Kneecap is totally a thing in L.A. and, after listening to “H.O.O.D.” IDK how many times this year, I can hear the parallels between what the Northern Irish group is saying and what my own U.S. city has experienced in 2025.
3. Confidence Man, Jade “Gossip”
What I love about Confidence Man is their cheekiness. That’s why “Angry Girl,” from their 2022 album, Tilt, has been a staple in my set since it was released, the lyrics hysterical, but they tap into something real. The Australian band brings that same sensibility to “Gossip,” which features English pop star Jade and Confidence Man’s Janet Planet trading off (mostly) Bitchy American vocals as the “gossip— oh my gawd” hits closer and closer to home over a Y2K house track in the vein of Basement Jaxx. “Gossip” has virtually replaced “Angry Girl” as my go-to from the band after the song took off on the Underground dance floor this summer.
2. Sextile “Rearrange”
There’s reason why Sextile has both the number one and number two spot on my list of 2025 bangers. Where “Women Respond to Bass” is my go-to for darkwave sets right now, “Rearrange” is my pick for indie sets. The song mixes perfectly with The Rapture’s classic “House of Jealous Lovers” and segues nicely into more house-influenced tracks, like “Gossip” from Confidence Man and Jade. Lyrically, “Rearrange” suits the mood of L.A. this year too, which is why it’s also on my list of political songs.
1. Sextile “Women Respond to Bass”
“Women Respond to Bass” might not be your song of summer 2025, but it’s mine. The first time I had the chance to drop this jam from Sextile was at Nocturno in May, in between Boy Harsher “Come Closer” and Vitalic’s electroclash banger “La Rock 01,” and it was an immediate hit with the crowd. Now, “Women Respond to Bass” (it’s true, we do), has become one of my go-to Sextile songs.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Follow on Instagram or sign up for the weekly, Beatique newsletter for updates on new stories and gigs.
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