thanks everyone for all the replies! this is a lot to sort through, but I'll try to give everything a listen <3
also I put all the youtube recommendations into a playlist, should anyone also be interested https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgu3yoT27_nImks9FxdnwYrulZzVqcKW_

@aeva This got my attention due to the Rou Reynolds feature on it
*waves hands in the air*
@aeva I randomly found this today and have been listening to it as I work.
@MrDOS Hello, crossbreed is a weird middle ground between heavy dnb and hardcore, with usually some inspiration from Punk and Metal music, often with clear political messages (antifa, anticapital, etc), the most popular artists of this subgenre would be Sinister Souls, Counterstrike and Hallucinator.
A few of my all time favorites would be "FCKN Hostile" by Sinister Souls : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=dXS4NLrFrRs&si=0A9d5t-b1lk51s13
"Raise Your Middle Finger" by Hallucinator and Isacco Pattini : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hv_OVth05yg&si=L41l7RwscW5b9o0-
"Black Skies" by Gridlock, Maztek and Verse : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nsa6yDFdOQk&si=yVPlV1uKd8IQipj6
I hope you'll enjoy this subgenre 
@aeva For the melodic / liquid dnb, I highly recommend the Liquicity playlists and albums to find artists you'd enjoy, one of my favorite in this category would be Feint, he does stuff like this : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FKouzkSYwkI&si=9CiZvltEhWiw6fM6
I would also recommend Fox Stevenson, he also does some dubstep and rock too, and he likes to combine genres together, he also has a cool singing voice ! Here's my favorite from him : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=N4rPHS2rdb8&si=5lFlmj_cP26t9LoV
Honorable mention, Luude, I love the vibe : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=HRwYixLzpOQ&si=pML1sW5f4dsaYG0I
Then you have Dancefloor DnB, it's kinda like liquid DnB but usually with more synths, it's also a great vibe, if you enjoy driving a car at night under the rain, it's amazing, here's Sub Focus : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4VywybNzXkE&si=lDf3kh1bW7lpluRx
Honorable mention, if you catch Wilkinson, Dimension, 1991, or Metrik, they have some similar vibes, they're cool too, here's my favorite from Metrik : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mGvx-tpbv8c&si=ZKR15RMvNAI-h8LL
Now I also recommend checking Rene Lavice, he goes a bit harder, he also hosts a show on BBC Radio One, worth checking out! And my favorite from him would be this one : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4PX_c7ucR34&si=LdlED_0q6enKie6G
Similaresque vibes, a bit further on the neurofunk side, you can check Gydra (who's collabing on the Rene Lavice track I sent), Pythius, The Clamps, Mefjus, Qo, Trilo, here's an example : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=48W2kYc3hCU&si=-0hQk-3gnWazXP0B
And finally, you might have heard about those, but some of the classics you can also check out would be Noisia, Pendulum, The Prodigy, The Prototypes, Culture Shock, Tantrum Desire, etc.
I could send so many more but I think it's a fair start, I hope you'll find something you like that will make you want to discover more!
Underworld's "Second Toughest In the Infants" is one of the best albums ever made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UCI-3xLewc&list=OLAK5uy_n87_tujzscISac_VLcYLnR6-Ay-q05M_U&index=3

11 track album
@aeva decent overall selection here for starters: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UCD2PjrQuAZQc93y5bmJD
Personal Playlist made of all the dnb tracks I’ve “liked” on Spotify (so this is my taste, ymmv): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FmBetgBuLrtwM3ie0Uf5u
@aeva Gosh where do you start... I got into D&B around 1997, so my tastes are quite oldskool.
Dom & Roland - Deckard's Theme
https://youtu.be/Pg0WfdaKGOQ?si=3gEiP5XDPg2fo9to
Digital & Spirit - Phantom Force
https://youtu.be/81Gq3qJ0azM?si=FVX8eXxcEea1pUZ0
Ed Rush & Optical - Gas Mask
https://youtu.be/Rn8HLKl6ptk?si=YUaJcXPbvM_MFJnc
Grooverider - Charade
https://youtu.be/2SC8H_5sO8w?si=zbAw8_bBCYZdYMa-
@aeva definitely. Check out:
winslow (hits after about 1m): https://winslowxyz.bandcamp.com/track/sandalwood-nights
degs: https://degsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/hang-up-the-mic
Also can't go wrong with Pendulum (e.g. Hold Your Colour album), London Elektricity (e.g. Syncopated City), or Ed Rush & Optical (e.g. Travel the Galaxy).
from the album Sandalwood Nights
@aeva Mitch Murder, who is normally a synthwave artist, has recently started to put out some nice atmospheric DnB, and I'm all for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYkKhgh2vXg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lffi1eEge4o
Also just yesterday I've remembered about Bustre, they're great at melodic stuff: https://bustre.bandcamp.com/track/calamity-part-1
@aeva UKF on YouTube is a guaranteed way to find some good stuff of all subgenres.
I also keep a huge playlist of D&B here. mostly mainstream club and liquid stuff, some neuro.
@aeva a snapshot of the playlist from last year is also available as a JSON blob here, in case you don't want to interact with Spotify
https://github.com/gsuberland/dnb/
(I should really update this repo)
@aeva oh and I run a script that pulls the UKF Drum & Bass Top 100 playlist every hour and turns it into a cumulative playlist containing everything that's ever been in the top 100 chart.
the official UKF playlist itself deletes all entries and re-adds them every time it's updated, so it all ends up with the same added timestamp and you can't tell what's new, so I made this to get around that issue.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3eV8DEw5Sm4dgzEZHy26lI
no external JSON export available on this one unfortunately.
@aeva and some recommendations for big crowd pleaser tracks / interesting stuff:
Calyx & TeeBee - Long Gone
Dimension - Generator
Sub Focus - Airplane (Culture Shock Remix)
DJ Fresh - Gold Dust
Tom Finster - The Hole
CLIQUES - Are You There?
Camo & Krooked - Good Times Bad Times (Document One Remix)
Justin Hawkes - Better Than Gold
Vibe Chemistry - Loca (Document One Remix)
UK Apache, Shy FX ft. IRAH - Original Nuttah '25 (Chase & Status Remix)
Aaron Smith, Luvli - Dancin' (Kara DNB Bootleg)
@aeva and some awesome remix / bootleg stuff:
1991, Subsonic, Ian Van Dahl - Castles In The Sky
Chicane, Bryan Adams - Don't Give Up ft. Bryan Adams (Grafix Extended Remix)
Campbell x Alcemist, - Would You Go To Bed With Me (blkout. remix)
Mason, Princess Superstar - Perfect (Exceeder) - 1991 Remix
Alice Deejay, Savage - Better Off Alone (Savage Remix)
The Prodigy, Mefjus & Camo & Krooked - Breathe (Mefjus & Camo & Krooked remix)
Luude - Down Under
The Cardigans - Favourite Game (Ozma Remix)
@aeva A few artists I like in particular:
- Pendulum (probably the most famous DnB band, bordering on Alternative / Metal)
- Camo & Krooked, Mefjus (a bit "artsy" and experimental)
- Venjent (this guy can turn any random sample into a real banger)
- Koven, Fox Stevenson (actual lyrics there)
- Chase & Status, Sigma, Rudimental (for the true UK sound ;)
- various others: Feint, Friction, Maduk, Murdock
For a specific track recommendation, that's gotta be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oSxF0cNlNM - a true hymn!
@aeva my favorite atmospheric DnB tracks recently:
- the Sensorium EP by arcologies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb4bARgep3E
- So old, but so gold: Inner-Vation - Key 2 Creation (1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2kEg6ng30s
I heard it first in one of the FIREWALKER many mixes, it was mentioned previously.