Top 20 electronic music albums of 2025: the Arrakis spice is strong with Nadah El Shazly

This is part of a series, posting between 30th December 2025 and 3rd January 2026

Nadah El Shazly: Laini Tani (One Little Independent)

Who agreed to writing this blog series over five whole days? I’ve not been out, not been to the shops, not got any fresh air. I’ve been hunched over my laptop eating cheese strings and bashing my face at the keyboard until blog posts accidentally appear on my screen. What a life.

For this latest entry in my Top 20 Bangers of 2025, we’re looking east and west, for the Egypt-born Canada-based Nadah El Shazly. As long as you don’t try to look at the two places at the same time, you’ll be fine.

Her second album combines acoustic and electric experimentalism with Arabic vibes. The title of the album, Laini Tani or لاقيني تاني in Arabic, means something like “meet me again”. It’s about longing for home. In fact, the whole thing feels like longing.

Let’s start with the vocals, sinewy and sweltering, sounding like Natacha Atlas if she had been left in the baking hot sun. The sound simultaneously mournful, as if lamenting into the void, and richly hopeful and significant.

The singing foregrounds compelling organic electronics. Listen to the heart-tickling slow drum procession of Kaabi Aali with that waterfalling synth tones. The floor-shattering bass drop on Dafaa Robaai. The bourgeoning clamour of Ghorzetein, sounding like an army of Bjorks.

That latter comparison isn’t entirely fair – she is nothing like Bjork – but the instrumentation on this album is addictive, like Arrakis spice. I have a feeling that Bjork producer and LFO bleepist Mark Bell would hear this album and smile.

See all of my Best electronic music albums of 2025