If you're interested in Thai culture, take a look at my Thai cinema and book recommendations.
I’ve now spent six months listening exclusively to Thai music and I really love it. Every time I go back to Thailand I’m excited to get back into Thai music, and whenever I leave I find it hard to give it up. It plays in my head for weeks after I stop listening to it, and it makes me very sad. I am writing this a few months after leaving Thailand, and I’m writing it from memory with an emotional distance, rather than listening to the music and bearing the pain of not being in Thailand. I will continually update this on future trips, though.
I’ll write this mostly chronologically, covering different eras and genres of Thai music, and I should note that my biases are towards the music of the 70s and 80s, and the stuff that sounds more Thai (so, usually the luk thung music). Most Thai popular music today doesn’t sound Thai at all and doesn’t really excite me, though there’s some that I like.
Before going into my recommendations I’ll list some good resources for finding and learning more about Thai music, as well as some places in Thailand you can go for live Thai music.
If you want to learn more about Thai music, I recommend the book Luk Thung: The Culture and Politics of Thailand's Most Popular Music by James Leonard Mitchell. I greatly enjoyed it, and you can read further thoughts in my book recommendations post. Here’s a very short powerpoint from the writer covering some of the basics (with an amazing song in the background). His Youtube channel also has tons to listen to, highly recommended: https://www.youtube.com/@ThaiMusicandDance/playlists. He did a Reddit AMA which is worth going through if you want to learn more, it’s basically a preview of what’s in the book, and here’s a good interview.
The other highly recommended resource for Thai music is the amazing blog Monrakplengthai (I believe translating to “Thai music love story”), which usually updates every few weeks with an old, obscure Thai album (often but not exclusively Luk Thung) that they digitize and upload. It is run by an enthusiast named Peter Doolan who also provides some background information on the artists and music, and there is sometimes more good information in the comments. I love having some context for what I’m listening to, so this is a gold mine, and the music is wonderful. The links on the right hand side of the page are also great. This is one of my favorite websites on the entire internet and every time I’m back in Thailand I excitedly catch up on the latest posts. On Doolan’s Youtube is a documentary on Thai music which I’ve yet to watch. I don’t know anything about Doolan, but he was involved in the discovery/promotion of Khun Narin and was part of Mitchell’s book as well.
One last great resource is Zudrangma Records, a record label and store based in Bangkok which puts out a lot of old Thai albums (often Luk Thung). You can click around on the website and usually listen to at least a few songs from each album. There’s not a ton of background information given, but the concise descriptions such as “Deep 60s Ramwong Groove in Lae vocal with Buddhism teaching lyrics” tell you all you need to know. I regret that I haven’t had a chance to go to their store in Bangkok yet. They also have a live music venue Studio Lam which I admit doesn’t seem like my vibe, but the modern molam band Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band sometimes plays there and they’ve had some old luk thung icons play in the past, which I would love to experience.
A few more resources: Here’s a rundown on Thai music (from 2010) by Joe Cummings, covering some genres that I’m not. Here is the introduction to the Rough Guide compilation of Thai music which you can stream here.
I’m not the biggest live music fan, but I do like hearing more traditional music live, with all live instruments. This is not easy to find, but it can happen. I got to see a variety performance once at a temple festival in a village, which was a special experience and I hope to go to more of them. Though temple festivals happen all the time somewhere or the other, I have no idea how to find them. Gracious Thai readers, please invite me to temple festivals! I sometimes see old men playing the khaen or some other traditional instrument at night markets. That always makes me happy, and I always donate to them.
The one place to reliably hear good live Thai music is Bangkok’s Tep Bar, a place I love and go to on every Bangkok trip. I’m not into bars or loud music, but this is a great, unique experience with an ensemble playing traditional instruments, doing a mix of traditional songs and more modern Thai songs done in an unusual way. I’d love an album from them. Good food too (if expensive for what it is, but you’re paying for the music), and my wife loves the Thai rice alcohol which is really hard to find in Bangkok. It’s a small place so make a reservation. It’s usually around half Thais and half foreigners there.
For a very different sort of Thai music experience in Bangkok, not as much my thing but still very fun, is Tawandang, a massive German-style brewery with very over the top performances that I’d describe as Vegasy. I thought it sounded touristy, but it was probably 95% Thai people there. They have a few branches, I went to the Rama III location in Bangkok, and note that there are many places with similar names that are not affiliated. Not for everyone, but I loved it. The music is more in the modern Luk Thung vein with its cheesy country rock style that doesn’t really do it for me as music, but I embraced the vibe and had a great time. The food was mediocre (at least as a vegetarian), but my wife liked the beer. It’s a massive place but you should still make a reservation.
And if you’re in Chiang Mai, I highly recommend the wonderful restaurant Huan Soontaree, owned by the singer Soontaree Vechanont. You’ll want to make a reservation. The northern Thai food is great, it’s a really lovely setting with Lanna style architecture on the river, and Soontaree performs there every night with a small backing band. Listen to this great album โฟล์คซองคำเมือง by her and her former collaborator Jaran Manophet. One of my favorite Thai albums (but possibly some of it is in the Lanna language?), and something different from everything else I’m recommending, with a mix of northern Thai music and American country/folk/bluegrass. It is a mix of duets and solo songs from the two artists. My favorite songs are ฮานี้บ่าเฮ้ย, the second to the last song, and สาวเชียงใหม่, the third song. (I don’t have any background for this album. Google translates it to “Folk Songs in Northern Thai.” I don’t know if it’s a studio album or greatest hits, nor do I know if these are all originals or if some are traditional songs done in a different way.)
Recommendations
Most of what I’m recommending should be on Spotify or Youtube Music, but I’ll give some links when I see them.
Classical Music & Folk Music
I’ll start my recommendations with Thai classical music. I honestly don’t know much about it but I always enjoy listening to it when I’m in Thailand. I usually just search for it and click around on Youtube or Spotify, and I listen to the albums of Fong Naam. I tend to find it to be pretty repetitive but I like it, and it goes well with the pomp of the historical sites of royal Bangkok. I will devote more time to this on future trips. I hope you like xylophones, otherwise you might go insane from this. I may not ever love Thai classical music but I do think I’ll love the film