Six emerging artists you need to hear: October 2026

The latest and greatest DJs and producers rising to the top this month. From deep and sensual house music and fiery fusions of baile funk, dubstep and grime, to politically-charged experimental soundscapes and stomping acid, here’s October 2026’s list of upcoming talent you should be keeping track of.

São Paulo-based Peroli’s genetic predisposition to DJing was something she initially resisted. “I tried not to follow this path. My mom was a DJ, my grandad was a DJ, and that helped build my love for music, but didn’t influence me to be one.

I never saw them doing it,” she says. Instead of treating it like a rite of passage, she attributes her eventual move into DJing to “affection” and her love of music.

From 2018 onwards, she’s been at the forefront of the Brazilian bass and grime scene, as a core member of Perifa No Toque and founder of Side. These underground parties and collectives are dedicated to highlighting the positivity of music, community and life in the suburbs by fusing the energy of São Paulo’s peripheral electronic movements, heavy basslines and baile funk with grime, dubstep and UK garage, sonically bridging the gap between São Paulo and London, and creating a safe space for marginalized communities in the process.

Performing at iconic Brazilian events such as SP na Rua, Virada Cultural, and Arte at the Museum of Art of São Paulo, as well as touring with London grime MC Jammz, were some key early successes.

Além de ser DJ, ela também construiu simultaneamente uma carreira de modelo e se tornou uma personalidade e figura pública além dos decks. Ela destaca três anos tocando no Outlook Festival, quatro sets na rádio BBC, e seu “2023 UK milestone” de tocar no Fabric, com mixes convidados para Rinse, Reprezent, Foundation FM e NTS, e parcerias com Havana Club, Converse e Nike, ampliando sua já abrangente lista de conquistas.

Through all this, she’s been unwavering in her mission. “My purpose was to give a better life to my family, respecting the people that came before me, musically too”.

Though now giving production a go, she admits she’s been “stubborn on trying to prove you don’t need to make music to be a good DJ”, and would prefer to extend her platform as a mentor, helping people through workshops — “I want to teach them how to do the business.” With more guest mixes, international dates and workshops than ever, as well as the possibility of some original music and remixes, the rest of the year is looking promising for Peroli.

When DJ Mag speaks to Indian DIY collective EXCISE DEPT, Delhi is in the midst of the Cockroach Janta Party protests — a Gen-Z-led movement holding the country’s government to account in the face of corruption and a lack of opportunities for young people.

With their own background in exuberant, politically charged satire, the four-piece, comprising Rounak Maiti, Andrew Sabu, Karanjit “KJ” Singh and Siddhant Vetekar, have long been tapped into this political mood; now more than ever, they’re amplifying it.

O álbum de estreia deles, o requintado ‘SAB KUCH MIL GAYE MUJHE VOL 1’ de 2024, empregou hip‑hop experimental caótico e colorido para satirizar e refletir sobre o luto tumultuado e a absurdidade da pandemia de Covid‑19, repleta de má gestão governamental e brutalidade policial.

Now, their sublime second full-length, ‘Shopnobhumi’ (a Bengali phrase meaning “dreamland”) uses drone-laden ambience and yearning, folky instrumentation to go further back, unpicking the echoing remnants of Indian partition, flipping patriotic songs into questions and critiques.

Certamente, a abundância de gêneros DIY do EXCISE DEPT se estende além da música: Sabu é seu gerente e produtor criativo, além de membro da banda; as letras deles abrangem bengali, hindi, punjabi e inglês; eles também produzem filmes e visuais, e construíram um site incrivelmente intricado, criando uma experiência imersiva.

Their rich, stirring work embodies the hopeful, idealist notion of pluralism that exists, even in an increasingly divisive era, as a core tenet of Indian-ness. “It’s in the constitution of India, right?” says Maiti.

Deveria de alguma forma tocar em tudo isso, porque, verdadeiramente, sinto que é a experiência de ser indiano." TARA JOSHI.

From saving up lunch money for club tickets to playing the festivals she used to spend days on end dancing at, LILI’s relationship with electronic music has always been deeply personal.

The London-based DJ and producer’s first loves were drum & bass and dubstep, which offered her comfort and diversion during a difficult period at home. LILI would spend her time “gallivanting around [her hometown] Hastings with a portable speaker”, obsessing over tunes like DJ Hazard’s ‘Bricks Don’t Roll’.

While her tastes have since shifted towards house, that early love of rolling bass and slow builds has stayed. Since learning to DJ in 2022, she’s developed a sound built around chunky, stripped-back grooves and a “sexy, feminine edge”.

After a breakthrough summer that also included sets at Manchester’s Hide & Seek festival, MiNT Warehouse in Leeds, and Essex fest Appetite On The Farm, LILI is preparing her debut EP alongside Wilba, due on Fraise Records later this year.

Há algo tão empolgante em criar faixas feitas para os seus próprios sets," ela diz. "Você pode ser completamente egoísta da melhor maneira possível. Mal posso esperar para que todos ouçam o que temos preparado." OLIVIA STOCK.

When Skrillex released his ‘SOMA’ LP earlier this year, Luca Rassi and his friend Chediak were struck by just how much DNA the record shared with EEDTEST, the Brazilian label founded by the latter in 2022.

Lançando dubstep, garage e baile funk com influências de electro, Rassi já apareceu várias vezes sob seu alias Crosstalk. “Skrillex [basicamente] acabou de fazer um álbum EEDTEST,” ele diz com um sorriso.

Like many producers of his generation, Rassi’s introduction to bass music was Skrillex’s 2013 ‘Leaving’ EP. The São Paulo artist became fascinated with how the LA producer had taken dubstep mainstream.

Such is the deft-and-deadly blend of baile funk and dubstep that Rassi stirs up, it’s now Skrillex who comes to him for inspiration, spinning Crosstalk’s remix of ‘Bass Dhol’ — his track with Ahadadream and Raf Saperra — all summer.

When US DJ and producer Scotia was laid off in June, she wasn’t too worried. With parties in LA and NYC the same weekend, and a stream of gigs like Club Toilet at Movement Detroit, I Love Acid at New York’s Good Room, and the legendary smartbar in Chicago over the past few years, it was “probably time for the job to go!” she says.

At school, Scotia played bass guitar and trombone in the band, but an encounter with Daft Punk set her on a path towards dance music. Now she co-runs the Community Rave Network parties in Catskill, NY, hosting acts like Sister Zo, Ron Like Hell and Sassmouth, and releases pulsating acid tracks like the stomping ‘Take, Release’ for The Bunker New York, and the sweaty ‘Lithophonix’ and more cerebral ‘Timbale Kosmische’ for Chinotto Records.

Anteriormente descrevendo seu som como “transsexual acid”, ela explica que o termo começou como uma piada sobre nomes de gêneros, mas a destrincha de forma bela quando questionada a elaborar.

Transgêneros, pelo menos meus amigos e eu, são guerreiros que suportam muita escuridão para encontrar luz... Há um humor distinto, resiliência e perspicácia que as pessoas trans possuem, e se um traço desse espírito aparecer em meus sets de DJ ou na música, isso é algo muito alegre para mim.” BEN HINDLE.

One of Mexican DJ/producer Caro Libertad’s earliest memories is of watching repeats of the infamous 1969 countercultural concert, Woodstock, with her father. It’s perhaps why she is such a fan of the Burning Man behemoth these days, an event she seems born to play.

Residing in Oaxaca, a heritage city in the south of Mexico with a population of around 250,000, Caro started off studying ethnology, a branch of anthropology that looks at social structures and customs of different cultures and how people create meaning through shared experiences.

Her electronic music awakening ran in parallel with her research, and she now sees it as a crucial tool in human development. Her organic house sound recently caught the ear of influential figure Pete Tong, when she became a Future Talent Awards winner at the Pete Tong Academy’s IMS 2025 session.