Dancing Astronaut presents the most-anticipated IDs of 2022

Words by Ross Goldenberg and Zach SalafiaIt’s that time of year again—time to start tracking some of our favorite unreleased productions that have a semi-realistic chance of officially ending up in our libraries by December 31.Virtual streams hosted throughout the pandemic supplied more than enough IDs to keep tabs on, but the return of in-person shows blew the ID floodgates wide open, incessantly inviting cuts from artists on every corner of the dance music spectrum that we’re hoping to see make the vault from live-only rips to official releases this year. As a warm-up to the calendar year ahead and the impending onset of festival season, here’s just a handful of IDs—ranging from questionable to confirmed in terms of release odds—that everyone should keep an eye on in 2022.Premiere location: Alesso’s Together Again set in July 2021Chance of release: LikelyListen to a single live rip of “Rave All Night,” and you’ll be subconsciously humming the melody and lyrics to yourself at all hours of the day. When Alesso flipped his Ultra Taiwan tagline of “Together Again” into back-to-back evenings in Downtown Los Angeles, he didn’t come empty handed. One of the several standout IDs that he introduced in July 2021 was “Rave All Night,” a classic-sounding production that further bridges the gap—exactly as “Somebody To Use” did—between his new-age PROGRESSO sound and the nostalgic heart of his early-2010’s work. And while we’re not in any position to start the hype train for PROGRESSO, VOL. 3 just yet, Alesso has more than enough IDs in his back pocket to make that a reality if he so chooses in 2022.Premiere location: Lane 8’s “Winter 2021 Mixtape”Chance of release: January 21, 2022Winter doesn’t formally start until we get Lane 8’s signature seasonal mix, and in 2022, the date was deemed to be January 4. Coming into 2022, Lane 8 had already disclosed back in October that his fourth album, Reviver, would follow the same path as Brightest Lights and kick the year off by arriving in January (on the 21, to be exact). The cold-weather mixtape’s ID-laden tracklist included a euphoric opener by none other than Lane 8 himself—quickly identified as “Survive” with Channy Leaneagh—and considering how much we loved it from the start, we figured we’d include it on here to knock an ID off the board early.Premiere location: The Chainsmokers’ EDC Las Vegas 2021 setChance of release: Very likelyThe Chainsmokers went behind the musical curtain just a handful of weeks following 2019’s World War Joy to enact an indefinite hiatus in support of their fourth LP. Drew Taggart and Alex Pall had remained virtually silent on the new music front up until EDC Las Vegas’ 25th anniversary in October, where they debuted a fan-dubbed ID known as “Emotion.” Signaling a move away from the future-bass, pop-angled direction that they embodied before their intermission, The Chainsmokers seem to be dipping into melodic-house—their first time touching a four-on-the-floor foundation since their indie remix days of the 2010’s—for their next creative expedition, which they formally confirmed with their surprise rework of Bon Iver.Premiere location: Alesso’s Decadence Colorado setChance of release: Toss UpIt couldn’t be an ID list without some muddy waters. To get everyone up to speed, a brief audio clip of this ID being played in a studio—featuring original lyrics from an unidentified vocalist—leaked back in July 2021, with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello supposedly speaking in the background, expectedly causing everyone to believe that it could be part of Swedish House Mafia’s Paradise Again tracklist. But that idea seemed to be ruled out when the former confirmed that they’d scrapped 12 follow-ups of “Don’t You Worry Child” in the album’s process. And that’s where this ID’s story would end—or so we thought. Out of absolutely nowhere, Alesso gave it a formal welcome during his set at Decadence Colorado at the end of 2021, subbing the original vocals out for a “Heroes” acapella while giving credence to the idea that he’s actually involved with the ID’s conceptualization, considering he typically doesn’t play—let alone premiere—IDs that aren’t his own. Some believed it could be a “Live Forever” sequel from Third Party, but that theory was also ruled out when they confirmed to us that, although they love the track, it didn’t come from them. Where we’re left at right now? Our shot-in-the-dark prediction is that it’s a “One Last Time” reunion between Alesso and DubVision, but only time will tell—hopefully in 2022—to whom the track really belongs.Premiere location:  ILLENIUM’s Fallen Embers Tour set in Orlando on October 2Chance of release: Very LikelyILLENIUM—Dancing Astronaut‘s 2021 Artist of the Year—released no less than 17 original tracks throughout the past year, including his senior LP, Fallen Embers. And yet he’s still sitting on even more unreleased music. Rumor has it that ILLENIUM played an entire set’s worth of never-before-heard material during an after-hours set at his destination festival, Ember Shores. Of note, the oldest known ILLENIUM ID to date is a powerhouse effort alongside Skylar Grey titled “From The Ashes,” which debuted amid his Fallen Embers Tour set and has been a staple in his sets ever since. Although it didn’t make the Fallen Embers Deluxe album cut, we’re still expecting to see “From The Ashes” get its official release sometime in 2022.Premiere location: Axwell Λ Ingrosso’s Ultra Music Festival 2018 setChance of release: Toss UpLast time around, “It Gets Better” was on our most-anticipated IDs list purely as a joke, considering that no one was expecting Swedish House Mafia to tie their name to 2021’s release board. But we all saw how that played out, and we’re now doubling down by putting “Behold” on this list on the off-chance it actually does end up as a random Dropbox link, thanks to the Axtone boss. Introduced during Axwell Λ Ingrosso’s set at Ultra Music Festival 2018, “Behold” underwent a handful of changes before entering its final form the following year. And when Axwell and Ingrosso departed the stage at Amsterdam Music Festival in October 2019, that would be the last instance that the cinematic masterpiece would come up in conversation, until the latter confirmed during his Discord question-and-answer session that it was actually a solo production from Axwell himself.Premiere location: RL Grime and Baauer’s HÆRNY set at HARD SummerChance of release: Toss UpIntroduced back in July 2021, RL Grime and Baauer‘s HÆRNY co-venture marked the duo’s first collaborative effort since 2013’s “Infinite Daps.” “Fallaway” would prelude their back-to-back performance at Insomniac’s HARD Summer, a set that the trap icons capped with an ID played out over the indistinguishable visuals of brightly lit semi-trucks, leading most to believe that could only be another HÆRNY track. We heard the track once more as the closer to RL Grime’s Halloween X‘s mix at the Hollywood Palladium, and although it’s been a few months since the last HÆRNY release, we know the next one will be worth the wait.Premiere location: RL Grime’s “Halloween X”Chance of release: Toss UpThis bass-heavy ID was the penultimate track to RL Grime’s previously mentioned “Halloween X” set, and it might be just as good as the forenamed HÆRNY collaboration. Hex Cougar made his debut on Sable Valley with “Ghost“—his collaboration with Heimanu—that RL Grime had been dropping in most of his sets the past year, and it seemed only fitting the duo would come together on a song, also bringing in fknsyd, who just earned herself a nod as one of Dancing Astronaut’s Artists to Watch in 2022 and would ultimately make her Sable Valley debut on this high-profile cut.Premiere location: Confirmed in a February 2020 interviewChance of release: Toss UpRumors of Martin Garrix and Zedd getting together have been swirling for years. Back in February of 2020, Garrix confirmed that the two were working on something that they were eyeing for a debut at either Ultra or Tomorrowland, but with festivals postponed indefinitely, it wouldn’t be until 2021 that further confirmation would come that a joint effort was officially underway. Zedd notably brought out Garrix during his set at EDC Las Vegas’ 25th anniversary, and they quickly followed that up with not one but two teases of them together in the studio. The confirmed house track is right in the 128 BPM sweet-spot and could potentially be featured on Zedd’s highly anticipated third album, set for release this coming year. With Ultra’s three-year hiatus set to end in just two months, it could be a potential landing spot for Garrix and Zedd to transition their ID from a former figment of the imagination to a tangible reality. Premiere location:  ISOxo’s Nightrealm show in Los Angeles in October 2021Chance of release: Toss UpThere were few bodies of work released in 2021 that were more well-received than ISOxo’s towering freshman EP, Nightrealm, and what better way to celebrate its arrival than by christening the EP with a live premiere in the heart of Los Angeles. ISOxo’s first-ever headlining show—held on October 16, 2021—featured the likes of Flosstradamous and—of course—the trap king himself, RL Grime, who figuratively crowned the budding star by joining him on stage for their joint effort, “Stinger.” But in a night filled with so many memorable moments, it was perhaps the last that stuck out the most. As the encore to an incredible evening, ISOxo brought out fellow San Diego Waterboy and best friend FrostTop to debut an unreleased pairing that goes absolutely crazy. Although no other information surrounding it currently exists, we certainly hope that the sonic union between our Artist to Watch in 2021 and our Artist to Watch in 2022 sees the light of day in the coming months.Premiere location:  Seven Lions’ EDC Las Vegas 2021 setChance of release: Very LikelyA collaboration between Seven Lions and REZZ certainly seemed far-fetched at the outset of the past year, but nevertheless, the two officially have a collaboration on the way. After connecting based on a fan’s Twitter request, it didn’t take too long for us to hear what they had put together. The collaboration—aptly dubbed “REZZ Lions”—has been a live-show fixture for them in the time since and could not be more evenly split production-wise. Although no questions remain about what the track actually sounds like, the most glaring question has still yet to be answered: when will it get an official release? We’re predicting that a release isn’t too far off into the future considering how often it’s being played, but we’ll have to just wait and see when it finds a home on Ophelia Records.Premiere location:  Seven Lions’ Higher Love set at Red Rocks in JulyChance of release: LikelyIt’s nearly impossible to whittle down the Seven Lions‘ list of pending IDs, but his unnamed collaboration with Lights simply had to be on our record of the most-anticipated IDs of 2022. The Ophelia Records boss hasn’t rinsed it as often as the REZZ pairing throughout 2021, but the “Falling Away” sequel is another euphoric blend of his staple melodic-dubstep sound and Lights’ enchanting vocals, and we cannot wait for its official release.Premiere location:  Confirmed during Blanke’s Instagram liveChance of release: Toss UpThis list has plenty of our favorite artists coming together for a bucket-list meeting, and Blanke and Nurko are yet another pairing that we hopefully have to look forward to in 2022. While we’ll have to imagine what a cross between them sounds like at the moment, Blanke confirmed that the two had something in the works during his Instagram live back in December 2021.Premiere location:  REZZ’s EDC Las Vegas 2021 setChance of release: Confirmed to be on “A Nightmare on REZZ Street 2”REZZ had planted the ID seed throughout her appearance at EDC Las Vegas’ circuitGROUNDS, some of which saw a full delivery through her junior album, Spiral, and some of which are still in the release pipeline. What’s lovingly known to fans as REZZ’s “airplane ID”—another scintillating mid-tempo production that she actually finished on the way to Las Vegas—has since been confirmed to wind up on the sophomore edition of her Halloween mix series, “A Nightmare on REZZ Street.” Premiere location:  Twitter teaser from August 2021Chance of release: Toss UpODESZA‘s last musical appearance came under BRONSON, their first full-length collaborative effort in 2020 with Golden Features. But you’d have to go all the way back to 2018—when they released the deluxe version of their critically-acclaimed album, A Moment Apart—for their last original release under the ODESZA name. After retiring that era of music to focus on what’s next, we can now safely say that the future of ODESZA is here. Back in December 2020, the Seattle-based duo put it in writing that they were working on new music, and the hype train has only continued to roll on in the time since. The most recent evidence came at the turn of the new year when they took to their socials with a simple message of “2 ⬡ 2 2.” We can only assume that the 10-second snippet that ODESZA had shared back in August will end up as part of whatever larger effort they’re currently plotting.Premiere location:  Album teaser from December 2021Chance of release: ConfirmedOn April 8, 2021, Flume took to Twitter to discreetly reveal that his Skin follow-up was in the works, and the Aussie producer has since cemented that new music is on the way in 2022 with the release of a teaser video on New Year’s Eve that featured a supposed collaboration with Gorillaz frontman, Damon Albarn. The two confirmed that they were working on something all the way back in 2019 when Albarn sat down for an interview with Beats1, and there was even murmurs of the two working together going all the way back to 2017. Finally, it seems that we’re not only getting a new Flume project sometime in 2022—potentially before his date with Coachella—but also that this long-awaited pairing will see the light of day alongside it.Premiere location:  Knock2’s set at Academy LA from January 2021Chance of release: LikelyKnock2 is currently sitting on a bevy on unreleased IDs that he’s been playing out at shows ,including at least four that he teased out while playing in direct support for Flosstradamous at his New Year’s Day show at Academy LA. “Hot” is just one of those four that we hope to see released in the new year and that hope only amplifies considering JAWNS fired it off during his set for Sable Valley’s BBC Radio 1 takeover, boding well for its chances of being released.Premiere location:  Rossy’s Echostage set during Sable Valley’s tour from November 2021Chance of release: LikelyRossy is one of Dancing Astronaut‘s Artists to Watch in 2022 for a good reason. And it’s not just what she’s done, but what she’s going to do. The amount of quality, unreleased IDs she has in the bank is simply becoming tough to track, and this selection is just one of many we hope to see released in the future. She confirmed this high-energy ID was her own when she posted on her Instagram page following Sable Valley’s Community Outreach Tour stop at Echostage in DC. Hopefully, this one ends up on RL Grime’s label sometime in 2022. Premiere location:  Above & Beyond’s ABGT450 setChance of release: ConfirmedARTY and Mat Zo’s 2011 classic “Rebound” remains one of Anjunabeats’ most iconic releases of the past decade. No one was anticipating it to receive a ten-year update, but it did when Above & Beyond placed a forthcoming version from Jason Ross in the middle of their ABGT450 set from London’s The Drumsheds. Giving the now decade-old original a touch of both progressive trance and melodic dubstep, Jason Ross’ rework is set to be on the way much sooner than later, according to a video he shared on his TikTok. Premiere location:  Axwell Λ Ingrosso’s Ultra Music Festival 2015 setChance of release: Toss UpWe had to put “Bliss” on here. The last time we wrote about it, we were nearing the six-year anniversary of Ultra 2015. Now, we’re approaching seven years since its debut, but there’s no reason to give up hope just yet. Axwell and Years‘ ID didn’t happen as promised in 2020 and was a no-show in 2021, but with the Axtone boss back in the spotlight and Proximity doing their best to free it from the vault, 2022 may very well be the year that we finally receive progressive house’s holy grail after all. Premiere location:  Madeon’s Good Faith Live set in Seattle from October 2019Chance of release: Toss UpMadeon showed once before that the Good Faith tracklist wasn’t necessarily restricted to the 10 productions tied to the album on release day. And after he delivered “The Prince” back in August 2020, it seems that “Love You Back” could see the light of day in 2022. “Love You Back” popped up throughout a handful of Good Faith Live shows in 2019, and Madeon revived it—with never-before-heard lyrics—during his appearance at Decadence Arizona on New Year’s Eve, leading many to believe it’s now fit for release. Premiere location: Salvatore Ganacci B2B Sebastian Ingrosso’s MDL Beast Soundstorm setChance of release: Toss UpWill 2022 be the year that Refune finally returns? Close to three years ago, Sebastian Ingrosso took to his Instagram story to quickly tease a track that no one had ever heard before. And that was the only thing anyone knew about it up until this past November. Among the numerous other revelations that the label boss gave during his Discord appearance, Ingrosso revealed that “Let You Do”—the ID’s fan-given name—was actually a Salvatore Ganacci-led production that he assisted on with Steve Angello. And Ingrosso and Ganacci decided to give it a formal introduction during their surprise back-to-back set at MDL Beast Soundstorm, with the hope that it now sees an official release this year.

Premiere location:  SLANDER’s Virtual Vibes stream from October 2020Chance of release: Likely“Fall Into Me” is one of two IDs that’s carrying over from last year’s most-anticipated releases list and no further explanation as to why is really necessary at this point. While SLANDER, NGHTMRE, and Dylan Matthew held it in their back pocket this past year, NGHTMRE had confirmed during his Ubbi Dubbi set back in April 2021 that it would appear on the tracklist of his forthcoming debut album, with him recently confirming that multiple “insane projects” are currently in the works. Premiere location: Confirmed on Twitter in August 2021Chance of release: Toss UpMoore Kismet and Skrillex’s names sit at the forefront of the list of unimaginable crossovers. After being constantly bombarded with Twitter requests for it to happen, Dancing Astronaut‘s Breakout Artist of 2020 revealed that a meeting with the OWSLA boss was actually in its early stages, but that any further details surrounding it would have to wait considering it wasn’t entirely done. And just in case it winds up on either Kismet’s UNIVERSE tracklist or as a part of Skrillex’s elusive sophomore LP, it was only right that we included it on this list.

Premiere location:  Swedish House Mafia’s Ultra Europe 2019 setChance of release: Toss Up“Frankenstein” seemed to be a one-and-done type of track considering Swedish House Mafia debuted it during their Ultra Europe set in 2019 and we hadn’t heard anything about it since. But in late 2021, Sebastian Ingrosso shared photos with A$AP Rocky along with a Frankenstein cartoon to his Instagram story—also teasing it in Discord—leading many to believe it could very well end up on the Paradise Again tracklist when the time comes. And just like “Behold,” we figured we may as well have it on here considering anything goes with the trio. Premiere location:  Blanke’s Red Rocks set from October 2021Chance of release: Very LikelyBlanke and RUNN’s names together feel like a match made in melodic heaven, and that’s exactly what their collaboration resolves as. The Aussie talent is currently preparing a seven-track EP on Ophelia Records, and while the tracklist aside from its lead single is still yet to be revealed, it seems that his pairing with the Dancing Astronaut Supernova—which was unveiled during Blanke’s opening appearance for ILLENIUM at Red Rocks—could very well find a spot among the remaining six places come March 4.

Premiere location:  David Guetta’s Burj Al Arab stream from DubaiChance of release: Toss UpThere’s too many unreleased Future Rave pairings to keep track of at this point, but one that we’ve had our eyes on since early 2021 has been David Guetta and MORTEN’s crossover with RAYE, “You Can’t Change Me.” While we included “Impossible” with John Martin on our IDs list last time around, we figured that another Future Rave release deserved to be on here for 2022. Premiered during Guetta’s United At Home stream from Dubai’s iconic Burj Al Arab, “You Can’t Change Me” has flown under the radar, only making a handful of tracklist appearances in the time since—most notably during MORTEN’s Creamfields set—and with the two-year wait for “Permanence” now over, we’re hoping that this is the next pending release from the Future Rave tandem. Premiere location:  Tiësto’s Creamfields 2021 setChance of release: LikelyThe golden touch of progressive house is back like it never left. In between ZAXX’s push to retake the bigroom crown, he was revealed to be the name behind a glorious ID that none other than Tiësto introduced to a global audience at Creamfields. ZAXX reconfirmed that he’s doing everything in his power to get it released and it’d make for a warm welcome back the label that he found a home with during the mid-2010s: Musical Freedom.Premiere location:  Martin Garrix’s EDC Las Vegas 2021 setChance of release: LikelyIt’s been almost two years since Brooks‘ last unaccompanied original, but 2022 seems primed to be the year where that status changes. Martin Garrix introduced an ID towards the beginning of his EDC Las Vegas set that’s been attributed to the future house connoisseur and Brooks had previously posed the question on his Instagram about what his upcoming releases should look like following a trio of reworks. With Brooks now also teasing a long-awaited reunion with the STMPD RCRDS boss, he’ll hopefully become a familiar label face again in 2022.Premiere location:  DJ Snake and Malaa’s Secret Room 2 stream from February 2021Chance of release: Toss UpWe all know “Do It To It” is at the front and center of ACRAZE’s release record at the moment, but there’s an ID from him that we’d been tracking long before the Cherish-sampled heater became inescapable. “Brooklyn” set the stage for DJ Snake and Malaa‘s Secret Room follow-up stream and we knew we’d be tracking it from the moment it began playing as the French duo entered the dimmed locale. It’s still remained a fixture of ACRAZE’s sets over the last year and we can only hope that as he looks to turn the page from “Do It To It” this year, he lets the New York-titled ID free from its release chains. Premiere location:  Malaa’s MDL Beast Soundstorm 2021 setChance of release: Toss UpMalaa always knows how to make an entrance and his introduction at MDL Beast Soundstorm was no different. And as soon as he shared the video of it to his socials, the comments were flooded with requests of whose ID it was. While we haven’t gotten any concrete answer at the time of writing, we still wanted to include the scorching production on this list in hopes that it sees the green light in 2022.

Premiere location: Axwell’s MDL Beast Soundstorm 2021 setChance of release: Toss UpThere weren’t a whole lot of videos publicly shared from Axwell’s solo set at MDL Beast Soundstorm, but one clip that was came from Sebastian Ingrosso that showed his Swedish House Mafia counterpart dropping a ID from Desembra—the musical alias of Carl Nordström—known as “Juicy,” which was originally included in a SoundCloud mix but was quickly removed after the ID began making the rounds back in December 2021. Interestingly enough, Desembra has played a hand in just about every comeback release from the Swedish trio over this last year and it remains to be seen where the ID actually ends up.

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