BELIFT LAB's teaser for ILLIT's comeback single has Filipino listeners hearing Budots, the whistle-and-snap genre DJ Love built from Davao street noise two decades ago. Nobody at HYBE has said a word about it.
Thailand arrested an American DJ in Chiang Mai in June 2026, Singapore quietly stopped issuing its performer work pass, and Indonesia raided a Canggu nightclub over the same paperwork. This is the visa and work permit law for foreign DJs, country by country.
Bangkok's most famous record shop sells molam and luk thung. Singapore's best-known vinyl bar closed in 2020. Here is where Southeast Asia's house and techno DJs actually dig, city by city.
The Nigerian Afro house DJ headlines Hydra's House at Soho House Hong Kong on October 17, back in the city where he held a residency at The Trilogy.
Before flying to headline Circus Tokyo on October 16, Nowadays booker Jadalareign and Tokyo selector FU make a Friday stop in a Makati mall basement that used to be a cinema.
Thailand's weed shops are still open, but a 2025 law now requires a doctor's prescription to buy legally, and the rules get far stricter the moment you cross into a neighboring country.
Southeast Asia's six biggest clubbing countries split evenly on vaping: Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore ban it outright, and Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines sell it legally. The law, country by country.
Xhin has released on Stroboscopic Artefacts and CLR, been remixed by Surgeon, and is one of only a handful of Asian artists to have played Berghain, Tresor and Paris's Concrete. In Singapore, almost nobody knows his name.
Justine Mei Ern built her name on London dancefloors and a Pioneer DJ training programme. Mixmag Asia just named her one of 2026's artists to watch, and she's back in Kuala Lumpur running a sold-out psychedelic techno night and teaching the next generation on open decks nights.
The Observatory, Ho Chi Minh City's 13-year house and techno club, closes at the end of October. On the 10th, it hands the night to Snug, a queer party with a drag set from Peach.
DJ Mag's 2026 Top 100 DJs poll puts Charlotte de Witte at No. 6, her best finish since she entered the list in 2019 at No. 74. She and fellow climber Mau P both have December dates locked in at EDC Thailand's Phuket edition.
For decades, 7-Eleven clerks across Thailand covered the beer fridge every afternoon at 2pm. That law is gone now. Here is what still applies, country by country, if you're planning a night out anywhere in Southeast Asia.