DJ_Dave Announces Debut Album ‘Hardcore Software,’ Shares New Single “Next to U”

DJ_Dave has announced her debut album, Hardcore Software, due October 2 on Mad Decent. The Beatport Next Class of 2026 artist has marked the news with “Next to U,” a bright, fast-moving new single made from a lucky mistake.

A misplaced comma in Strudel, the live-coding platform at the center of DJ_Dave’s setup, produced the track’s clipped, power-fifth melody. She kept it. That slip says plenty about Hardcore Software, a record shaped by the friction between human instinct and computer logic – and by her resistance to the polished, bloodless perfection of AI-made music.

“Next to U” joins this year’s Mad Decent singles “one4u” and “Fail-safe,” the latter written in just 10 minutes. Together, the tracks sharpen the sound DJ_Dave has carried from Brooklyn algoraves to Portola Festival, Nuits Sonores, Avant Gardner, Elsewhere and beyond – along with a stellar Beatport Live performance at our Los Angeles HQ a few months back. She has also remixed Channel Tres, Tove Lo, and Pearly Drops.

Following the album’s release, DJ_Dave will support horsegiirL on select Nature Is Healing tour dates across North America and Europe, including Toronto, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and London. Learn more here.

DJ_Dave's single "Next To You" is out now via Mad Decent.

Get it on Beatport.