The Mixmag Asia Clubbing Guide: Bangkok

The Mixmag Asia Clubbing Guide: Bangkok was updated on 11 April, 2023.

If you’ve ever been to Bangkok or heard wild and raucous stories from someone who has, you’ll know how easy it is to go out for one drink and wake up two days later next to someone of questionable gender on seedy soi near Khao San Road. Even with things having calmed down in Thailand’s capital since the military took over 2014, Bangkok is still one of Asia’s top party destinations. It’s easy to end up on the wrong side of the tracks, however, but we promise there is a lot more to the city than bucket bars and EDM — there is house, there is disco, and there is lots and lots of techno — it’s just a little hard to find. Follow our little guide the next time you’re bound for Bangkok, and you’ll end up at the right kind of after-party.

Bangkok’s nightlife just got a serious upgrade. BEAM, a cornerstone of the city’s club scene, is back after a sleek redesign, reopening its iconic doors to Thonglor’s dance-hungry crowd, christened by iconic names like Helena Hauff and Palms Trax. The space’s crown jewel? A custom-designed TPI Totem soundsystem that stands three meters tall, delivering a fat, warm, and incredibly powerful hi-fi sound—engineered by the same maestro behind fabric London and Ministry of Sound. Oh, and the infamous floor vibrations? They’re back, too.

The revamped space also boasts lighting inspired by James Turrell, featuring colour-focused panels made from bio-textiles by Denmark’s Natural Materials Studio, creating a softer, more immersive atmosphere. Meanwhile, Katsu, the former BEAM Lounge, steps into its own as a standalone club with an open-format schedule and its own reimagined sound system. Think punchy, energetic vibes that complement BEAM’s upstairs hi-fi warmth. Whether it’s house, techno, hip-hop, or bass, BEAM has evolved into a multisensory playground that proves why it remains the beating heart of Bangkok’s nightlife.

Studio Lam looks like a bar for audiophiles straight out of a Murakami novel. From its dimly lit interior, warm wooden walls and vintage record collection on display, it’s oozing with eccentric Japanese vibes throughout its ultra-small interior. There is no designated dance floor at Studio Lam; there is a however a very cool DJ booth and specially designed custom tube sound system, so what small space is available does turn into something lively. Parties regularly get so wild that they blow the roof (and speakers) off the place. Since the bar is part of the ZudRangMa Records family (it began as a radio podcast by the record store), most of the live music is adventurous and can span anything from Nigerian disco to vintage Cambodian rock all the way through to psychedelic blues. In fact, the bar solely exists to provide outside of the mainstream. Obviously, the staff and clientele boast a sophisticated musical style that you can learn something from. The cocktails are potent and made with over 30 different kinds of homemade ya dong, the beer interesting, the people eclectic, and the vibe bar none — altogether creating a kind of communal warmth in an intimate space that’s feels far away from Bangkok while being right along Sukhumvit.

Stop into Shanghai in the 1930s where dim red lighting, retro-futuristic Chinese lanterns, cheongsam clad women and the occasional dwarf hurrying to the stage for a performance sets the mood for an atmosphere only found at this unabashedly theatrical venue. The bar and club is the brainchild of Ashely Sutton of Iron Fairies and Maggie Choo’s fame and boasts mezzanines, hidden backrooms and a dance floor that comes to life on the club’s pièce de résistance — a grand staircase. Best of all, instead of catering to an EDM cartel, Sing Sing Theater has stellar music programmers at its helm and is a regular destination for acts like Sébastien Léger, Yokoo, Red Axes, Amine K, Technasia and more when in Asia.

Google Tropic City and you'll read about a lovely neon-soaked cocktail bar in the Charoenkrung neighborhood of Bangkok that reinterprets the rum-style tropics in a kitschy yet cool way. Sure, the cocktails are spectacular, but so are the parties—that's what you get when the bar's Swedish partners love breezy beats as much as they do booze. Ranking on both the World's 50 Best Bars and Asia's 50 Best Bars, if there were a similar list for clubs in Asia (but there isn't, phew), it would be right up there. On most Thursday and Friday nights, Tropic City welcomes a rotating cast of Thailand's top selectors playing anything from house, techno, breaks, boogie, funk and hip hop. But the space also lends a home to traveling acts from around Asia, most recently hosting a takeover by Seoul Community Radio and other artists from as far as China, Japan and the US. Go for a drink, stay for a dance, Tropic City is always a nice night out.

This cosy vintage-style bar is a hipster magnet that churns out eclectic underground music in the regular in an excellent atmosphere. It’s super casual and low key with couches, a bar to sit at and musical accompaniment that will transport you to an era gone by. The bar is a hidden gem, and that always makes for a great low key night out — think Japanese beers and homemade plum wine coupled by an intelligent soundtrack. We’ve never heard of a “big” DJ playing here but you never really do when it comes to all the best audiophile bars in Japan, where 12x12 gets its inspiration from. And here’s a story we love to tell: we previously bid farewell to 12x12 but turns out its time had not yet come, and it was resurrected and saved, and thanks to some donors, the space was recently renovated, soundproofed and a new venue installed.

Although Bangkok’s days of raucous parties are in the past, Mustache has retained some of that pre-coup party feel for the last eight years. From its beginnings as a three-story venue far away from Sukhumvit on Ratchada Soi 7, Mustache has picked up a rep for its underground music policy with an afterparty vibe. Like many, Mustache shuttered during the pandemic but reopened in a new home, and its current incarnation opens on Friday and Saturday nights on Sukhumvit Soi 23. No matter where it’s been located, the people who go there make the trek for the music — which oscillates between bangin’ techno and uplifting house — so the crowd is made up of likeminded party starters instead of tourists and people with “ulterior motives”. While it borders on being a dive bar, it’s what we like best about it. It’s also loud, dark, cosy, and everything you would want from a wild night out in Bangkok (hangover included). The club is like a tabula rasa for regional talent, letting all the local loves step up to the occasion at one time or another but it also pulls a lot of big names like Pan-Pot, Nakadia, Sven Väth, Dee Montero and more. Even more recently, it has evolved into a party brand on the Bangkok circuit with pop-up events on boats, warehouses and other venues around the city in events that are branded as Mustache Takeovers.