Dystopian Frequencies: Buunshin Live in HCMC

Event Details

This event took place at Úm Ba La, upstairs from Bardo Cocktails & Arts, 14 Đường Số 11, Thảo Điền, Quận 2, Ho Chi Minh City, from 9 PM on 1 June 2025 until 3 AM on 2 June 2025. Scientific Sound Asia presented Dutch producer Buunshin for his first appearance in Vietnam, bringing his forward-thinking approach to Drum and Bass and bass music into an intimate Thảo Điền setting.

Buunshin, whose real name is Ferry Mellegers, emerged from the Dutch electronic underground with an unusually fast rise through contemporary Drum and Bass. His debut material gained significant support within the scene, while his technical production style quickly established him as an artist willing to push beyond conventional genre structures.

His catalogue has included releases through Breakbeat Kaos, VISION, UKF, Mau5trap and Critical, placing his work across several important platforms in contemporary bass music. Rather than remaining fixed to one production formula, Buunshin has become known for switching tempos, combining styles and using detailed sound design as an essential part of his musical identity.

That approach has also led to projects involving Apashe, What So Not, DROELOE, San Holo, Habstrakt, DJ Fresh, IMANU and NOISIA. The breadth of those collaborations reflects how comfortably his work can move between Drum and Bass, experimental electronic music and wider bass-driven production.

His early development was closely connected with sound design and the technical possibilities of electronic production. Before his international touring career expanded, Buunshin studied sonology and spent considerable time experimenting with the physics and construction of sound, an approach that fed directly into the precision heard across his releases.

That technical foundation has never meant sacrificing emotional weight for complexity. Buunshin’s productions can move from finely detailed percussion and fractured rhythmic ideas into darker low-frequency sections, melodic passages and sudden changes in intensity.

His growing international profile later took him to venues and festivals including Printworks, Fabric, Rampage, Lowlands and Melkweg, alongside touring activity across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Ho Chi Minh City booking therefore brought an artist already operating on major international stages into a much smaller room where the details of his music could be experienced at close range.

Support came from DJ Psycho-UK, Skitty and Throe. Together, they connected Buunshin’s contemporary European bass sound with Scientific Sound Asia’s locally based Drum and Bass network in Ho Chi Minh City.

DJ Psycho-UK brought an East London background spanning Hip Hop, Hardcore, Jungle and Drum and Bass, while Skitty contributed direct UK label history through releases associated with Metalheadz, Renegade Hardware, Subtitles and Foundation X. Throe added a Bristol-rooted connection and a darker, rolling approach to the local support programme.

Buunshin’s appearance followed General Levy live in Ho Chi Minh City in April, which represented the Reggae, Dancehall and sound-system roots of Jungle. The June booking moved towards the more experimental and technically progressive end of contemporary bass music, showing the range within Scientific Sound Asia’s 2025 programme.

Later that month, Dave Owen played Tonic Rooftop Bar, bringing a smoother and more soulful Drum and Bass direction to another Thảo Điền event. Buunshin therefore sat between very different interpretations of the genre rather than forming part of a sequence of identical bookings.

Tickets were offered at 150,000 VND for Super Early Bird, 250,000 VND for Early Bird and 350,000 VND for Standard Entry. The first two tiers sold out, underlining the interest around a rare chance to hear Buunshin in a relatively small Ho Chi Minh City venue.

Scientific Sound Asia’s wider work connects these bookings through its radio station, DJ agency, events programme and music news. Buunshin’s Vietnam debut formed part of that renewed international activity, linking contemporary European bass production with local DJs and audiences in Ho Chi Minh City.

The night ultimately brought one of the more experimental voices in modern Drum and Bass into an intimate Thảo Điền room rather than a festival-scale environment. With DJ Psycho-UK, Skitty and Throe providing support, Buunshin’s Vietnam debut connected detailed production, dark electronic pressure and international bass culture with Scientific Sound Asia’s continuing Drum and Bass activity.