Tag
Philippines
Electronic music in the Philippines: Manila's club crews, Budots, island parties and the promoters bringing headliners to the archipelago.
39 articles
Southeast Asia's Legal Drinking Ages: Where You Can Drink at 18, and Where It's 21
Cambodia has no enforced drinking age at all. Malaysia will fine a bar for serving a 20-year-old. A country-by-country breakdown of where Southeast Asia sets the line, and the law behind each number.
ILLIT's New K-Pop Single Has Filipino Fans Hearing Budots, the Sound DJ Love Pioneered in Davao
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.
Where Southeast Asia's DJs Actually Buy House and Techno Vinyl
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.
Brooklyn's Jadalareign and Tokyo's FU Bring Their Soul Night to Manila's Nokal Tonight
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 Still Sells Legal Weed With a Doctor's Prescription, While the Rest of Southeast Asia Bans It Outright
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.
Thailand and Vietnam Ban Vaping Outright: What You Can (and Can't) Smoke in Southeast Asia's Clubs
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.
Thailand Scrapped Its Decades-Old Afternoon Alcohol Ban: What You Can (and Can't) Legally Drink Across Southeast Asia
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.
OXGN's Final 2026 Drop Centers on a Budots Tribute to DJ Love
The Philippine streetwear brand closes its three-part 2026 campaign with a budots-themed capsule, built around a Sgamo and Jarreau Vandal tribute track to Davao's DJ Love.
Moni-Moni's Crate-Digging Turned Cebu Into a Philippine Underground Hub, and Mixmag Asia Noticed
Mikelis Yu grew up in California, came home to Cebu to run a family hotel, and started a radio project instead. Mixmag Asia's September watchlist is the first time the outside world put a name to what Cradio Radio built.
The UK Foreign Office Names Bali and Lombok in Its Nightlife Warnings, Not Zouk Singapore
The UK Foreign Office publishes travel advice for Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, and the nightlife-specific warnings in it differ sharply from country to country. This guide lays out what each advisory actually says about drink spiking, assault risk and getting home safely.
Boiler Room and Keep Hush Have Only Filmed Four Southeast Asian Cities So Far
Boiler Room has broadcast from Southeast Asia four times total: Manila in 2017 and 2023, Bangkok's Maho Rasop festival in 2022 and 2023. Keep Hush has quietly filmed more cities with less reach. Here's where to actually watch the region's DJ culture for free, and where nobody has pointed a camera yet.
Barbosa Is Turning a Siargao Surf Shop Into the Philippines' Best Vinyl Bar
Above a surf shop in General Luna, a record collection built from donated crates and a Friday night called Bread and Butter are trying to make Siargao a destination for more than waves. Three years in, it's working.
Manila's Siangyoo Plays Zouk Singapore on October 8 to Fund Nepal Flood Relief
Manila turntablist Siangyoo has sold out two Singapore shows already. On October 8, he tries for a third at Zouk, with 10% of every ticket funding flood relief in Nepal through a new charity rave format from Beamco Foundation.
UNOS Reconnected With Her Filipino Roots Through a Singapore Record Label, Not a Plane Ticket
Brussels-raised DJ and producer UNOS had almost no connection to her father's home province in the Philippines until she signed to Darker Than Wax, the Singapore label that introduced her to Manila's underground and inspired her debut EP, Boodle Fight.
Cebu's Clubs Were Karaoke Bars and Budots. Cradio Radio Rented an Art Gallery Instead.
In three years, a Cebu house party built around vinyl and instinct grew into a regional network reaching Manila, Bali and Sydney, with its founder now on Mixmag Asia's watchlist.
OMK Turns a Seoul Gallery Into a Shrine for Philippine Soundsystem Culture
Manila-based collective OMK traced Philippine budots soundsystem culture through Davao and Toril this August. The photos and footage are on a gallery wall in Seoul through October 17.
GCash Has 94 Million Users. Most of Southeast Asia's Club Doors Still Want Your Cash.
GCash and Maya dominate everyday spending in the Philippines, QRIS covers most of Bali's bar tabs, and Singapore's clubs are nearly cashless. So why do Bangkok, Manila and Saigon's doors still want cash? A country by country guide to what to actually carry on a night out.
Manila vs Jakarta: Boiler Room Picked One City. DWP Built the Other.
Boiler Room has broadcast from Manila's underground twice. It has never officially broadcast from Jakarta. Jakarta, meanwhile, built the region's biggest dance festival. Two capitals, two very different bets on what a scene is for.
Pamcy Named Her New House Album After a Fictional Filipino Supermarket. She Launched It at a Jollibee.
Manila producer Pamcy scored a fictional Filipino supermarket chain across 11 house tracks named after grocery staples, from quail eggs to mosquito coils, then launched it inside a real Jollibee.
How to Learn to DJ in Southeast Asia, Starting at Bangkok's InEarBeat
You don't need a residency to start, or famous friends. You need about eight hours, a laptop and, in Bangkok, 10,000 baht. Here's where Southeast Asia actually teaches people to DJ.
Wonderfruit Picked December on Purpose: How Monsoon Season Shapes Southeast Asia's Clubbing Calendar
Bangkok floods in August, Bali has its best month, and the Philippines braces for typhoons. Here's how the region's promoters actually plan around three overlapping monsoon systems.
Beyond White Party Bangkok: Where Southeast Asia's Queer House and Techno Scene Actually Lives
White Party Bangkok just became the first LGBTQ+ festival on DJ Mag's Top 100. The region's actual queer house and techno underground is smaller, harder to Google, and runs through Bangkok, Manila, Saigon and Singapore instead.
Jun Regalado and Thandii Blend Manila Sound and UK Alt-Soul on Coco Okayo
The Philippines' most recorded drummer, credited on some 400 records since the 1970s, spent a January session in his home studio with a Margate duo. The result, Coco Okayo, landed on Sama Sama Records this month.
BuwanBuwan Built a Nightclub Inside Minecraft. Now Its Founder Runs a Real One.
Manila producer Jorge Wieneke built Club Matryoshka, a working nightclub inside a private Minecraft server, in 2019. Four years later the same instinct opened Apotheka, a real one in Poblacion.