Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From Sub Focus & Grimes, Eli Brown & More

This week in dance music: Dance world history was made in real time when Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter made a surprise appearance at the Because Beaubourg event in Paris, playing alongside Fred again.., Busy P and Erol Alkan. (The night before Fred had also played in Lyon, France with Caribou and Floating Points as part of his ongoing USB0002 rollout.)

2025 breakthrough star Ninajirachi was named as a finalist for two awards at the first-ever New South Wales Music Prize, Friendship announced the lineup for its 2026 edition, which will also be the last voyage for the rave cruise and Cercle released the Tame Impala set it produced with the artist in Mexico City earlier this month. We recapped the mighty 2025 edition of the Amsterdam Dance Event, and we sat down with the newest Major Lazer member America Foster, the group’s youngest and first ever female member.

“He came across my page from a viral moment,” Foster said of initially connecting with Major Lazer founding member Diplo. “I’ve had quite a few of those on Instagram from my content creation. I was trying to figure out how to transition into being a respected artist, so I started dropping bits of content surrounded by my music. Whether I’m talking about the weather or my menstruation, I put it in a rhyme pattern and people love it — especially because you don’t expect me to have such a strong Jamaican accent, because I’m light-skinned and from England, and my name’s America. It’s like, “What the f—k is going on?”

Meanwhile Swedish House Mafia and a b2b from Skrillex and Fred again.. were announced as headliners for a two-night New Year’s Eve bash happening at San Francisco’s Pier 80 on Dec. 30-31. Puerto Rico’s The 5th Element Festival announced the lineup for its debut edition in January and Wicked Oaks Festival released a statement addressing death and injury reports.

And last but never least, these are the best new dance tracks of the week.