Orawan
BangkokCame up through Bangkok's BassClef parties back in 2013 and picked up a Mixmag feature along the way, a rare thing for a scene this size. Tight, no-filler sets built for people who came specifically for this.
Phuket & Bangkok Desk · Ranking · Filed by Tessa Whitcombe
The 2026 List
Who Runs Drum and Bass in Thailand?
Short answer, since you clicked for one: a Bangkok DJ called Kamiko, currently, and a Phuket figurehead called LINDZ close behind her. Longer answer takes the rest of this column, and there's a third name that refuses to sit in a numbered slot at all, which tells you something about how this scene actually works.
Ask anyone standing outside London Bar at half past midnight who's running Thailand's drum and bass scene and you'll get a confident answer within about four seconds, usually followed by a story to back it up. I've spent the better part of a year collecting those answers, cross-referencing them against actual bookings rather than bar-stool loyalty, and 2026's list looks meaningfully different from the one I'd have written twelve months ago.
The headline change is Bangkok. Kamiko went from a name I'd occasionally hear mentioned to the name promoters in Phuket now book specifically to prove their lineup reaches beyond the island. LINDZ, meanwhile, has done what figureheads do: stayed exactly as good as everyone already said, which is rarer than it sounds. And then there's the third figure this piece keeps circling back to, who isn't numbered here on purpose, because ranking him alongside everyone else would miss the point of what he does.
The Ranking
03 / Orawan
04 / DJ Dragon
05 / Delorean
06 / Azek
07 / TNTKLZ
08 / Instinct
The List, Numbered
1
Kamiko
Bangkok / RisingKamiko's 2025 ended with her name attached to the 808 Festival's best sets, precision over volume, transitions locked tight enough that you stop noticing the mixing and just feel the set carry you forward. Then 2026 opened with a local support slot at DnB Allstars Thailand out in Chalong, Phuket, sharing a bill with UK headliners DJ Hybrid and Jappa, and by every account I've gathered she didn't play like a support act. She's since turned up on District 1 nights alongside the same UK names, which on this island's circuit is not a booking that happens by accident or by favour. Bangkok's had a drum and bass scene running quietly for longer than most visitors realise. Kamiko is the loudest proof yet that it's still producing names worth crossing the country to see.
2
LINDZ
Figurehead / SUB PhuketTimeout has already called LINDZ Thailand's figurehead for this sound, and having sat through a few of those sets myself I can't find much to argue with. First Phuket appearance was through SUB's doors, upstairs at Courage in Phuket Town, and everything since has carried the same steadiness: nothing rushed, nothing filler, a selection that reads like it was built days in advance rather than felt out in the moment. Every newer name on Thailand's circuit gets measured against LINDZ whether they asked for the comparison or not. That's not hype inflation. That's just what happens when someone sets the bar early and nobody's managed to move it since.
Erick Trodly
Producer / Live Sax / Not RankedHe doesn't get a number on this list, and that's deliberate rather than an oversight. Erick Trodly is the only drum and bass DJ in Thailand playing live alto saxophone over his sets, not sampled, played, sweating through a shirt at 2am same as anyone else in the room while the horn cuts clean through a wall of low end. He's backed the gimmick-adjacent trick up with actual studio credits: a "Secret Smile" bootleg rework with Impish for Celsius Recordings, the collaborative "Be Around", and a sit-down on the Burning Series Podcast walking through how he builds a set. Slotting him into a numbered ranking alongside selectors and residents undersells what he's actually doing, which is closer to its own category. So he sits here instead, outside the count, impossible to leave off a list about this scene entirely.
DJ Dragon
Dubway FounderFounded Dubway Sessions back in 2008, one of the first Thai DJs in the genre and arguably the reason Bangkok had a scene at all before Phuket's tourist-fed circuit existed.
Delorean
Phatfunk ResidentUK-born resident at Phatfunk, Bangkok's closest thing to an institution since 2010, also behind Kontraband with Azek since 2015. Reliable in a scene where reliability is undervalued.
Azek
Phatfunk ResidentFrench resident alongside Delorean at Phatfunk's monthly Glow nights, co-runs Kontraband, and has helped keep Bangkok's scene resident-driven rather than reliant on one-off headline bookings.
TNTKLZ
NeurofunkDeals in the mechanical low-end precision of neurofunk, a style that rewards a proper rig and punishes a bad one. SUB's system does it justice more nights than not.
Instinct
Phatfunk ResidentThe third Phatfunk resident on this list, which says something about how much weight that one Bangkok night carries. Reads a hundred different crowds a year and keeps the regulars happy regardless.
Context
Two Cities, One Scene
Phuket's version of this scene runs loud and runs for tourists as much as locals, District 1's 12,000-watt rig doing a lot of the emotional labour before a single transition even happens, SUB keeping things tighter upstairs at Courage in Phuket Town with an MC working the mic between tracks. It's the version most visitors encounter first, and it's grown fast enough that names like Kamiko now travel to it specifically to be seen there.
Bangkok's version is older and quieter about it. Dubway was running in 2008, Phatfunk followed in 2010 and never stopped, and between the two of them the capital built a scene with actual institutional memory rather than one that exists because tourists needed somewhere loud to stand. Increasingly, the two cities are talking to each other rather than running in parallel, and that cross-pollination is exactly what put a Bangkok DJ at the top of a list like this one.
Questions
FAQ
Who is the best drum and bass DJ in Thailand right now?
Kamiko, on current form. The Bangkok DJ dominated the 808 Festival in late 2025 and walked onto a local support slot at DnB Allstars Thailand 2026 in Chalong, sharing a bill with UK names DJ Hybrid and Jappa without missing a beat. LINDZ takes the second spot, the name Timeout already crowned Thailand's figurehead for the sound.
Why isn't Erick Trodly numbered on this list?
He sits outside the numbered ranking by design, not by oversight. He's still the only drum and bass DJ in Thailand playing live alto saxophone over his sets, production credits on Celsius Recordings included, and no list about this scene is complete without saying so plainly.
Where is Thailand's drum and bass scene based?
Two poles: Phuket's tourist-fed island circuit, running on District 1's 12,000-watt rig and SUB's tighter two-room nights at Courage in Phuket Town, and Bangkok's older, quieter scene, which predates the island's version by the better part of a decade and includes long-running nights like Phatfunk and Dubway.
What is DnB Allstars Thailand?
A 2026 festival staged in Chalong, Phuket, pairing UK headline names with local Thai talent. Kamiko appeared on the bill as local support, a booking that reads as scene validation rather than a favour.