Last month was absolutely insane for me personally, which is why I haven't been able to put this out. But here we go! Top 10 songs for January.

1) Eulenlieder (Ravitex Remix) by @Ravitex

While this song does spend a bit of time on the buildup, it's absolutely worth it for how nasty that drop is, and the waltz-like tempo gives the entire thing a fresh spin, feeling just sparse enough to create tension but precise enough to convey a sense of sophistication and inspire some amount of awe. This one hits hard and hits to kill.

2) switchflip by @AZININE

This one is smooth and funky, with just the right amount of Y2K-style chords and some killer sample chopping.

3) 160_0rigami by @Bunchie

Ethereal and airy, this song excels at creating a wonderfully vivid atmosphere through bitcrushing and an open-ended mix that gives the whole thing a wonderful sense of space without losing that driving core beat.

4) oro by @mocobandit

Vaporwave-type beats will always be my kryptonite. This song is an absolutely sublime mix of retro chords and strings with some incredibly funky modern percussion. How I wish this song were longer!

5) Go Get Gregory by @ADR3-N

Driven by a solid beat and one hell of a plucky synth bass, this song builds a strong foundation to play around with its various deviations throughout the long runtime. Even though I've been using Mixcraft for over 15 years, I've mainly kept to my own little space, so it's always cool to see the stuff other people do with it. I would argue that the mark of a good composer is when they're using the same DAW as yours but you can't quite tell, because they've made the entire thing work for them.

6) Data Destruction by @BoomKitty

This song gives major GHOST DATA vibes with just a hint of Mega Drive and a dash of Perturbator, featuring a killer buildup, an electrifying drop, and an angelic choir. Of particular note is the 2-minute 35-second mark, where the bass goes on these filthy ascending ramps. If you need to get a speeding ticket and you don't have a lot of motivation, just throw this song on.

7) Ready 4 War by @LaserBrain

A wild and cocky dance beat with a synth that absolutely scampers around the track like a spider on the run. The DnB elements are a welcome addition and give the song these moments to pace itself without losing any energy at all.

8) Transitions by @HollandAlbright

Piano-only tracks are always nice little pieces regardless of how they're made, but I feel like they tend to get lost in the noise of the more bombastic electronic pieces on this site. I just remember that this song didn't immediately grab me, but each time I listened through it to evaluate it, I found myself transported to another place. The texture here feels very personal and there's such a smooth progression between the delicately soft moments and the intense, powerful ones. It feels like a very contemplative song, deeply melancholic but also intelligently reverent of the suffering and the joy needed to get to where one is now.

9) web surfing by @Charlmot

This song gives me nice fruitiger aero vibes with the optimistic chord progression and clean synthwork. The punchy percussion gives the song a sense of constraint, contrasting very nicely against the aquatic-sounding instrumentation. The whole thing is bright and tight with just the right amount of quirk. I've often felt a strange sense of sadness over the whole "fruitiger aero" aesthetic though, assuming that was the composer's intention here. I don't have the time or energy anymore to jump on trends like I used to, and as someone who emerged into adolescence around the time that FA was considered new and trendy, I have a deep sense of connection with it as more than just a cool shirt or a themed set of app icons for an iPhone. To feel connected to something that you can't possibly contribute to is a weird feeling as an adult. I guess that means the next best thing is to forge your own nostalgic path. But yeah, killer song.

10) Deth Throes by @ggsevv

Hip Hop is not a genre I'm intimate with, for very obvious reasons. I don't get the references or the design choices or anything. I like the songs; in fact, I like a lot of them. I can vibe with it, but I can never truly connect with it. That said, I really appreciate the skill on display here. Rapping without percussion puts more pressure on your vocal delivery to provide the rhythm, and this delivers. The jazzy beat is absolutely engrossing and sets the stage for such an intimate execution. The flow here is killer, too. Favorite line: "I do business that makes the competition sign no competes"

I have an honorable mention too! Invert by @Geoplex is a total banger with an unfathomable compositional depth to it. Definitely check out the walkthrough video. It's not really my kinda vibe, but there's a level of talent and experience on display here that is just unreal.

And that's it! I guess my February Top post will be pretty soon considering how long this took. I'll try to keep the turnaround quicker going forward.

As always, I've got a playlist of these songs here. If you like any of these songs, give the artists a follow and check out their other stuff!