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ONHELL's Top 10 DJs In Los Angeles For 2023
By Pirate Staff / January 24, 2023
ONHELL’s top 10 Los Angeles DJs pushing new music on the West Coast.
Rooted in an iconic history of rave culture that goes back to the early 90s, Los Angeles is a global center for experimental club music. With hundreds of satellite creative communities gathered around genre subsets in every corner of the sprawling city, DJs in LA today are thriving in a distinctly local word-of-mouth underground music scene.
One artist at the helm of electronic music in Los Angeles is DJ, composer and producer ONHELL. His eclectic DJ sets are often made up, at least partly, of original beats which defy genre classification but speak to bass, grime, rap and experimental.
Below, ONHELL has put together a list of 10 Los Angeles DJs you should listen to, for a full-bodied flavor of the best LA clubs.
The mastermind behind underground rave series Jetlag, along with co-pilots Wolfbaby, Beijing Junglist and Junja, Dara Genesis is a Los Angeles-based DJ and producer via New Jersey, New York City and Trinidad and Tobago.
House, techno, jungle, footwork, reggaeton and latin music all find space in Dara Genesis’ DJ sets, which you can hear at LA’s best loved and most secret venues on any given weekend. Or, on the dublab airwaves.
Odin has dropped 3 singles in 2022: ‘DRY CREEK RD.’, ‘PIPE DREAM’ and ‘Lovely but Lethal’, developing her unique experimental electronic music style with each release.
Between pumping out some of the most interesting club music around, Odin has been gathering gigging momentum across Los Angeles, making her one of the city’s top up-and-coming DJ/producers to watch in 2023.
South African producer and DJ working out of Los Angeles, Chee had a strong finish to 2022. His single ‘Act Like You Know’ came out on Zeds Dead's label Deadbeats in December, accompanied by the artist’s own artwork. Hip hop influences, a hefty bassline and synthy magic combine to set the tone for his full EP, dropping in 2023.
As a DJ, Chee is taking the Los Angeles underground bass music scene by storm and he's gathering steam with international club bookings.
You won’t be at a Star Eyes DJ set for long before realizing how she earned the title: ‘queen of heavy bass’. Playing regularly in Los Angeles and New York, she’s supported best-in-class international DJs such as Aurora Halal, Umfang and Special Request. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the rising DJ, producer and music journalist topping those same bills soon.
Her dublab radio show ‘Chaos Clan’ is a one stop shop for some of the best new dance music, spanning garage, house and techno, underpinned by her first loves jungle and drum 'n' bass.
We couldn’t leave ONHELL himself out.
Approaching bpms and rhythms fluidly, he’s one of the most eclectic DJs in the game. Not to mention, a prolific producer who never misses, incorporating any number of genres into his unique sound which seems to push all said genres forward at once.
With multiple US tours under his belt, keep an eye on ONHELL’s website for upcoming dates, ‘IT’S NOT A SHOW IT’S A PARTY’.
The Gaslamp Killer/GLK/The Motherfucking Gaslamp Killer is a Los Angeles-based artist from San Diego, who might be found in any corner of Europe or the US on any given weekend, playing his eclectic stockpile of records at some of the world’s best clubs and festivals.
Maybe not an emerging DJ but certainly one to get to know if you don’t already.
Raised in North Carolina, now stationed in Los Angeles via a stint in New York, Machinedrum has been churning out critically-acclaimed inventive electronic music for over 2 decades.
Next up for Machinedrum is The Portal at AREA15 in Las Vegas.
KOROstyle is marching at the forefront of modern dubstep and grime, paving his own way through productions, remixes and DJ sets, garnering support across North America, Europe and Asia, from some of the most trusted tastemakers and artists in the industry.
We suggest you catch the France-born Los Angeles-based artist shelling heady dance music, next opportunity you get.
Hailing from the Bronx in New York, now based in Los Angeles, Anna Morgan is unmistakably influenced by UK sounds, which flow through her selections as a DJ and her label/promoter Worst Behavior, which she runs with Bell Curve. That being said, the pair swerve genres and their restraints where possible, in the pursuit of future-facing club music.
A Scenario event is next on the cards, at Los Angeles institution The Love Song.
A regular at our DJ studios in Los Angeles, Bianca Oblivion is a long-time Pirate favorite, and one of ONHELL’s as well.
The ever-brilliant DJ is definitely on the rise, banging out streams for both Keep Hush and Boiler Room in 2022, and holding down her Club Aerobics NTS radio show, which she populates with the finest international dance floor gems.
Maybe the one to watch.
The Los Angeles party scene lives in official nights at its established clubs, unannounced raves at its seemingly limitless expanse of warehouse spaces, and day-to-day at the record shops and listening bars that feed ever-curious music fans and artists from all corners of the states and globe.
Though temporarily stunted by pandemic lockdowns, a listen to some of the artists above may be all that’s necessary to put your mind at ease that music culture in Los Angeles isn’t under threat anymore.
