Life & Work with Tanfa of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tanfa.

Hi Tanfa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I still remember sitting at my old PC, listening to music on Windows Media Player. Probably my earliest memory of how music got me. Back then it was mostly R&B, hip hop, and electronic stuff blasting through those old speakers. A few years later, I got into breakdancing, and that completely changed how I felt about music. It wasn’t just something I listened to — it became something I moved with, something that connected people. That’s also when I got into breakbeat, dubstep, and club music. Honestly, I was probably bumping The Prodigy, Skrillex, and all that classic breakdance stuff all the time.

We’d practice almost every day after class until late, and even though I loved the vibe, I realized I was way more into the music than the dancing. Most of the time, I was picking tracks, skipping to my favorite parts, and dancing to the drop — haha, everyone else hated that. One day at a school battle, I got to try some DJ decks, and the second I touched them, I knew this was it for me. After that, I was at the local shop almost every weekend just mixing tracks on their CDJs. I wouldn’t say I got into full-on turntablism until recently, but even back then, being behind the decks and mixing just made me happy.

Eventually, that love for mixing turned into making my own sounds. Around 2019, I started making remixes, experimenting with everything — trap, jersey club, baile funk, house, techno, dubstep. I didn’t really have a direction, and I didn’t even realize it at the time, but I was having so much fun. Then little by little, some of those remixes got picked up by bigger DJs, and that’s when doors really started opening for me. I didn’t see it then, but every step was leading me somewhere.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s definitely been a journey, but since coming to the US, I feel like I’ve grown so much as an artist, not just in how I make music, but in how I think about it and approach it. Every up and down has pushed me to figure out my sound and my style, and now it’s all about creating, you know? Lately, I’ve never been more excited to make music that really connects with people. The biggest growth for me has been understanding what I want to say through my music. My friends always remind me to keep pushing boundaries and to look for inspiration beyond just dance music — go hit a museum, pull up to a rock show, or catch some underground band at a random bar. That’s where the real ideas come from. If all you pull from is dance music, you’ll just end up sounding like everyone else. I try to soak in everything around me, keep it real, and stay rooted in where I came from — Thailand will always be a part of that.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a music producer, DJ, and artist from Bangkok, Thailand. I started out in 2020 making club edits, and at first, they were mostly picked up by local club DJs. Over time, even festival DJs started showing interest. Eventually, my tracks got played at S20 in China and Korea by 4B and Flosstradamus, at Ultra Music Festival by Nostaligx, on Timmy Trumpet’s Sinphony Radio, and in clubs across London, Thailand, and Japan — even Tokyo’s Boiler Room. Those were some of the best achievements I could’ve ever hoped for in my career.

For a while, I was all about remixes, but I knew I wanted to make my mark as an artist, so I had to start making originals and building my own sound. That’s exactly what my EP CLUBCORE is about. Taking my influences and turning them into something fresh, something totally my own. It’s a way for me to express my production, my artistry, and my journey through dance music, not just remix someone else’s vision. With CLUBCORE, it’s about building a bridge between my inspiration and my fans, and I just hope they enjoy it as much as I do, you know?

What sets me apart is that I’m always trying to level up. Things are getting crazy exciting right now—I can feel it. At the end of the day, I just want to make something that hits and connects with people. That’s what excites me to create every single day.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The music industry is heading toward an interesting place. I can’t even imagine what it’ll look like in a few years, especially with tools like Suno and AI getting more advanced. But I’m super hyped about where the EDM scene is right now, especially in bass music. Artists like Skrillex, ISOxo, Ninajirachi, 2hollis, and others are breaking boundaries and flipping what electronic music can be. It’s amazing to witness this new wave in real time, and I’m genuinely stoked to be in it — doing my thing, pushing my own sound, and adding my flavor while it’s still rolling.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/tanfa
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tanfamusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIAT5RWRwww
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tanfa
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/track/264m35nt5z9at5v1kCIDbx?si=5158c0c3034a431f