His incredible skill shines bright through 13 songs on the album alongside voices new and old to him. It features Dua Lipa, PinkPantheress, Clairo, Caroline Polachek, Oklou & MNEK, Julia Michaels, Kacha (from the electro-pop group Coals) and even one of his own daughters.

Harle, aka “Huge Danny,” considers Cerulean to be his true debut album, following up his 2021 release of Harlecore, and is promoting it as his most definitive artistic statement to date. The album does sound like it comes from another world full of sounds that are certainly welcome to human ears here. “I love how it feels on the threshold between dreams and reality,” said Harle. “There can be a scene where there’s nothing alien in it, but it feels like a portal to something else.”

Cerulean feels like the next natural chapter in Harle’s storied career, which began in the 2010s when he emerged from the PC Music collective and went on to work with some of the biggest names in pop including Charli XCX, Carly Rae Jepsen, FKA Twigs, Florence and The Machine and many of the voices featured on the album.

Check out the full album film, out via NTS YouTube, and tour dates below.

Danny L Harle – LIVE DATES
Feb. 13* – London, UK – HERE at Outernet
Feb. 14* – Manchester, UK – New Century
Feb. 15* – Glasgow, UK – The Art School
Feb. 19* – Paris, France – La Gaîté Lyrique
Feb. 20* – Dublin, Ireland – The Button Factory
Feb. 21* – Berlin, Germany – Säälchen
Feb. 27 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere
Mar. 3 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
* = with Lauren Duffus

True to the HighClouds spirit, we’ve once again tried to shine a light on overlooked releases and new or under-the-radar artists alongside some more familiar names. And yes… for the second year the same artist is topping our Best Songs list. At this point, it’s safe to say we’re obsessed. All of the tracks featured here (and many others) are also gathered in our Spotify playlist, that you can find below.

Thank you for reading, listening, and sharing music with us throughout 2025. We wish you a beautiful end of the year, and we’ll be back very soon in 2026 to share even more amazing music with you.

60 Avalon – Harder To Reach Than God
59 Farao – Waiting for You
58 Reggie Devoyage – Down Town
57 Nuovo Testamento – Picture Perfect
56 Yumi Zouma – Drag
55 Boyhood – A Grand Time
54 Danny L Harle; Caroline Polachek – Azimuth
53 Fernette – Lowlands
52 Jouska – Season of Dread
51 Charli xcx – Chains of Love

50 Pearly Drops – End Credits
49 Marina Zispin – Penthouse Samba
48 Boyish – Jumbos
47 Sword II – Sugarcane
46 TOPS – Chlorine
45 Robyn – Dopamine
44 The Deep – KPOP B!TCH
43 Juliana Madrid – Jamie
42 Men I Trust – Come Back Down
41 R. Missing – Telepolartears

40 Jenny Hval – The artist is absent – 89 seconds rewrite
39 Fontaines D.C. – Before You I Just Forget
38 hemlocke springs – the beginning of the end
37 Sea Lemon – Stay
36 Georgie & Joe – Pacemaker
35 Fine – I could
34 Jessy Lanza – Slapped By My Life
33 Arny Margret – Day Old Thoughts
32 Lipsticism – Erased
31 Clara Kimera; notinbed – angel candles

30 Neggy Gemmy – Mysterious Girl
29 Joanne Robertson; Oliver Coates – Always Were
28 Hannah Jadagu – My Love
27 HTRK – Swimming Pool
26 Night Tapes – television
25 Raisa K – Affectionately
24 helen island – hot zone, regular day
23 Dean Blunt; Elias Rønnenfelt – 1
22 Cole Pulice – After the Rain
21 crushed – starburn

20 AMORE – Delirio
19 Oneohtrix Point Never – Rodl Glide
18 Erika de Casier – Delusional
17 Judeline – chica de cristal
16 Dijon – Yamaha
15 Rochelle Jordan – Ladida
14 PinkPantheress – Illegal
13 Maria Somerville – Garden
12 Ethel Cain – Fuck Me Eyes
11 Sophia Stel – Everyone Falls Asleep In Their Own Time

10 Jim Legxacy – ’06 wayne rooney
9 Magdalena Bay – Human Happens
8 snuggle – Woman Lake
7 Addison Rae – Headphones On
6 After – 300 dreams
5 FKA twigs – Striptease
4 james K – Play
3 Nourished by Time – Max Potential
2 Smerz – You got time and I got money
1 Oklou – blade bird

Now comes a new chapter: “Azimuth.” Danny L Harle’s latest release is a trance-tinged ballad that feels both intimate and monumental, designed entirely around Polachek’s voice. As Harle puts it: “Azimuth’s melody could only have been sung by Caroline, it is designed around her voice, I couldn’t imagine anyone else singing it or giving a performance like that.” The song captures their chemistry at full force, weaving space, silence, and shimmering emotion into something he describes as “despairing but hopeful,” like a hymn for a sunken cathedral dance floor.

Following this summer’s “Starlight” with PinkPantheress, “Azimuth” extends Harle’s return to solo work post-Harlecore. And with these recent drops and signing to XL Recordings, it feels like he might be lining up something bigger…

Today, the two artists unite on “Starlight,” and it’s everything we hoped for: dreamy, hyper-emotional, and bursting with energy. Describing the song, Danny calls it “an ode to our shared musical memories – rave, UKG, happy hardcore – filtered through our own hyper-maximal lens.” That nostalgic yet futuristic blend comes through clearly, with PinkPantheress’s featherlight vocals gliding effortlessly over Harle’s epic, high-octane production.

“It’s shaped by my love of the melancholic songwriting traditions of Europe from composers like Monteverdi and John Dowland, all the way to 90s Eurodance and the uplifting trance of the 2000s – artists like Gigi D’Agostino and Alice Deejay,” he adds. “PinkPantheress is the dream collaborator for this song, her love for ornamental melodies and hypnotic lyricism fit perfectly into my sound world.”

Set to drop on June 27, TDJ promises a deeper, more introspective take on her sound. “I felt the need to slow down and really take the time to work on this one,” she shared, hinting at a shift toward slower tempos and a more nuanced emotional landscape.

Leading the album is the stunning new single “Where is My Angel”, a reflective trance ballad that TDJ describes as her way of seeking clarity amid the chaos of life on tour. “I needed to feel some kind of clarity out of this unpredictable life path I was embracing,” she says — and that sense of searching runs through the song like a luminous thread.

The project also features some of our absolute favorites: Danny L Harle and Hannah Diamond, but also Real Lies, Clara Kimera, Busu, MRD, 8485, Aamourocean, Krampf, and Romandz.

Watch the “Where is My Angel” video, directed by Melchior Leroux, below.

You can also stream TDJ’s “Where is My Angel” and the week’s best new releases now on Forecast Tape.

“choke enough is a very intense album for me,” she stated. “It’s filled with directions, tentatives and irregularities, reflecting on my last years on this planet as my heart and conscience has really decentered from myself.”

So far, Oklou has treated us to “family and friends,” “obvious,” and “harvest sky.” Alongside the album announcement, she shared today the ethereal title track, “choke enough,” as well as her thoughts on the release: “This title track is important enough to have been chosen as the title track. Not sure whether it’s because it’s one of the oldest sounds of the record, or simply my favorite? Maybe it’s because it holds an important question that I’m trying to display within the entire album; what situations are we ready to put ourselves into in order to provoke sensations and drama, in order to feel alive.”

Tracklist: oklou – choke enough

1. endless
2. thank you for recording
3. family and friends
4. obvious
5. ict
6. choke enough
7. (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)
8. take me by the hand feat. Bladee
9. plague dogs
10. forces
11. harvest sky feat. underscores
12. want to want to come back
13. blade bird

Catch oklou on tour:

Europe
2/25/25 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Vega Main Hall – VENUE UPGRADE
2/27/25 – Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Theatre – SOLD OUT
3/1/25 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg – SOLD OUT
3/2/25 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
3/4/25 – Paris, France @ La Cigale – SOLD OUT
3/5/25 – Paris, France @ La Cigale
3/7/25 – London, UK @ Heaven

North America
3/18/25 – Toronto, Canada @ Axis Club
3/19/25 – Montreal, Canada @ Le Studio TD
3/21/25 – New York, NY @ Elsewhere – SOLD OUT
3/22/25 – New York, NY @ Elsewhere – NEW DATE
3/24/25 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
3/25/25 – Austin, TX @ 3Ten ACL Live
3/28/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
3/29/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Independent

Today, Oklou just dropped two fresh tracks: “harvest sky” with underscores, and “obvious,” with production help from Danny L Harle, Casey MQ, and Nick Leon. “harvest sky” kicks off with a trancey melody before exploding into a big room anthem, while “obvious” leans into her signature airy, spacious vibes.

Oklou shares her thoughts on the new singles: “‘harvest sky’ is probably my third attempt to talk about a thing that happens at times during festivities; zoom out from the crowd and enter a lonely mental space. ‘obvious’ has got many names in the past, but I love this one cause this track feels very close to what defines a special tone in my music, in a core-ish way. It also talks about something dear to my heart: music vs words.”

Alongside this double single, she has also announced a tour spanning North America and Europe. Listen to the tracks and check the full itinerary below.

Oklou on tour
2/25/25 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ DR Koncerthuset Studio 2
2/27/25 – Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Theatre
3/1/25 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
3/2/25 – Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
3/4/25 – Paris, France @ La Cigale
3/7/25 – London, UK @ Heaven
3/18/25 – Toronto, Canada @ Axis Club
3/19/25 – Montreal, Canada @ Le Studio TD
3/21/25 – New York, NY @ Elsewhere
3/24/25 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
3/25/25 – Austin, TX @ 3Ten ACL Live
3/28/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
3/29/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Independent

Ever since her debut singles, Dua Lipa has consistently exuded a popstar aura. However, it was her phenomenal 2020 album, Future Nostalgia, that catapulted her to the status of a serious artist who transcends the boundaries of conventional pop. While she wasn’t the pioneer of the disco revival trend — Madonna‘s Confessions on a Dancefloor (2005) and many precede her — Dua, much like Kylie, ironically dropped her collection of cathartic and danceable bops during a time when clubs had been shut down and the world grappled with lockdown. Perhaps it was our collective yearning for warmth, solace, and glitter in those challenging times that propelled the album into the top five best-selling albums of the year. With hindsight, the timing was perhaps perfect.

Dua Lipa is now ushering in the DL3 era with the synth-illating “Houdini,” a fresh banger produced by Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker and Danny L Harle. She co-wrote the track with Caroline Ailin and Tobias Jesso Jr. The press release refers to the whole team as the “essential collaborators” for the yet to be detailed album. Right from the get-go, with the thudding baseline intro and the visuals reminiscent of the “Hung Up” dance room, it’s clear that Dua is gearing up for a full-on performer mode in this new chapter — are more dance memes or even a TikTok mirror challenge in the making?

On “Houdini,” the unmistakable Parker and the larger-than-life Harle‘s psychedelic touches aren’t mere nuances; they permeate the bass and synths with brilliance. But despite these influences, Dua maintains her core formula: this isn’t a 180-degree turn akin to Gaga‘s “Perfect Illusion” produced by Parker, or the angular pop found in Polachek‘s huge Danny-produced albums. The ongoing debate about whether there are traces of Tame Impala, Daft Punk, or Soulwax in “Houdini” already attests to its potential broad appeal well beyond the usual pop crowd. While the double entendre of the lyrics may touch on ghosting and the title pays homage to the master of escape, one thing is for certain: Dua Lipa isn’t vanishing from the scene anytime soon.