Artists exciting us in 2026 / April

Since starting this as a monthly series in 2024, Mixmag Asia has consistently focused on spotlighting fresh and forward-thinking names from across Asia and its far-reaching diaspora. Now in 2026, that approach remains the same.

From those dedicated to cutting-edge electronic and dance music to the occasional left-field pick from another genre, each edition brings together a selection of artists who are making noise in their local scenes or just starting to reach beyond them.

We’re not rigid about sound; if they move us, they belong here. Some names may already be familiar, others less so, but all are surely worth your time and attention.

Keep a look out for these ones.

When asked about her music, the word Gumgo keeps coming back to is "unapologetic" and her music makes good on that. The name translates to "black cat" in Korean, and it fits. Rooted in the late 90s and early 2000s electronics she encountered as a child, her sound is textural and driven by a heavy groove built on janggu rhythms she's been immersed in since a young age. Coming up on two years as a DJ, the momentum is undeniable. Her sets move through minimal, electro, and anything heavy, and a dedication to vinyl has allowed her to embrace the eclectic and overlooked, digging through record stores across Asia and Europe. She's played underground clubs and radio platforms across the continent and is now setting her sights on a debut release, set to drop next year. Keep an eye out for a European tour complete with guerrilla forest parties and under-bridge sets, the kind of stages that suit her raw, unapologetic, slightly eerie world perfectly.

Lucy Liyou makes music out of unlikely stuff (think field recordings, text-to-speech, poetry…), and in doing so, quietly rewrites what experimental music can even be. Since debuting on Klein's personal label five years ago, she's built a distinctive catalogue that includes the double-disc ‘Welfare / Practice’ and the sprawling ‘Dog Dreams (개꿈)’, all driven by a restless energy that makes genre labels feel pointless (in the best possible way). Her work has landed on NTS Radio, KEXP, NPR, and Thom Yorke’s Sonos Radio Hour, and she’s shared stages with L’Rain, Jessy Lanza, claire rousay, Salamanda, HTRK, and others. Her latest, ‘MR COBRA’, is her boldest move yet: a semi-autobiographical album piece that throws free jazz, musique-concrète, 2000s pop, drag performance, and Korean folk opera into a head-on reckoning with transition, identity, and what it means to be watched.

A little different from our usual picks; NEMATOCYST isn't just about the music, it's a full-on multisensory experience. The LA-based duo (performance artist/choreographer Jas Lin and DJ/producer/writer Peter Ferris aka heartheal3r) named themselves after the stinging cells of jellyfish, which honestly tells you everything: expect something that gets under your skin. Their hybrid live performances conjure creature characters drifting through lush sonic dreamscapes, pulling audiences into immersive worlds. They've brought this energy to a wide range of spaces and platforms such as Creamcake's 3hd Festival in Berlin, Cakeshop in Seoul, Eaton HK's Consciousness Festival, and stages/floors across Bali, Singapore, Bangkok, Shenzhen, and beyond. Their current show, ‘Prayer Pillow’, trades club intensity for something quieter and stranger. Rooted in Qigong's Six Healing Sounds, it's a tender, haunted space for rest, grief, and collective longing, guided by a humanoid pillow-creature that's as uncanny as it sounds.

Sekan is a multidisciplinary creative based in Amsterdam dedicated to tracing Indonesian diaspora music through storytelling. With one foot in the world of music and one foot in the world of cultural heritage, his projects encompass exhibitions, multi-lingual publications, and listening sessions informed by his multicultural upbringing. Among the institutions that have presented his work are the esteemed Rijksmuseum and Museum Kebangkitan Nasional in addition to collaborations with the likes of Dekmantel, Lowlands and Rush Hour. This, of course, is on top of running Jiwa Jiwa, his label-turned-platform that publishes archival research works such as 2025’s ‘Soundwriters: The Incomplete Guide to Indonesian Diaspora Music’, hosts listening sessions, and operates a custom soundsystem-powered music bar in Amsterdam. This summer, Sekan will feature in ‘Batik, Beats & Bumbu’, a new documentary by Claire Pijman premiering in Dutch theatres on June 18, for which he also did music direction and composition. And on the DJ side of things? Expect a radio residency for Worldwide FM starting soon…

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