Able Grey: Breaking Boundaries and Building Community Through Electronic Music
October 2026 Cover Artist
Electronic music has never been a genre that stands still. It thrives on experimentation, technology, collaboration, and artists willing to take something familiar and completely reshape it.
Able Grey is one of those artists.
The Chicago-based DJ, producer, and live performer has developed an identity around refusing to stay inside one musical lane. Insomniac describes Able Grey as a multi-genre electronic artist who combines traditional DJing with live performance, using an electronic drum pad and MIDI controller while incorporating original music, remixes, edits, and mashups into his sets.
But there is another side of Able Grey's story that makes him particularly interesting to The Underground Wire.
He isn't only trying to build himself.
He's helping build a community around him.
More Than a DJ
Electronic music sometimes gets unfairly reduced to the image of someone standing behind a booth pressing buttons.
Able Grey challenges that perception.
His live setup incorporates electronic percussion and controllers, allowing him to physically interact with his music while performing. That approach makes his performances feel less like simply playing tracks and more like reconstructing the music in front of an audience.
And that unpredictability seems essential to his identity.
His sound moves across different areas of electronic music rather than forcing every release into the same formula. Tracks such as “Beauty Fades,” featuring Hymn and NoelleMichelle, demonstrate the collaborative side of his work, while releases such as “In the Forest,” created with Meridian, show another part of his electronic catalog.
Then there's “Be Who I Wanna Be,” featuring Novet, a track Able Grey described as combining hip-hop, future bass, and psychedelic influences. More importantly, its message centered on believing in yourself and pursuing the person you want to become.
That's the kind of genre freedom I want to see more of.
Sometimes the most interesting independent artists are the ones who don't ask, “What category does this belong in?”
They ask, “Does this sound good?”
Creating Ex Medias
Able Grey's influence extends beyond his own releases.
He founded Ex Medias, an electronic artist collective that grew into a label and community built around supporting developing artists.
When Ex Medias released its first compilation in 2022, Able Grey described a vision centered around artists supporting one another while continuing to work seriously on their individual crafts. The original compilation brought together ten tracks from artists within the collective.
That idea deserves attention.
Independent music can be incredibly competitive. Artists are fighting for playlist placements, festival bookings, streams, social-media attention, and the limited time listeners have available.
Able Grey took a different approach.
Build together.
By 2023, the collective had reached its third compilation, showcasing music across styles including melodic and future bass, house, and techno.
For an independent artist, creating opportunities for yourself is difficult enough.
Creating an infrastructure that can help other artists grow says something entirely different about your priorities.
From Chicago to Major Festival Stages
The work has also translated into significant performance opportunities.
Able Grey has performed at venues and festivals including Red Rocks, North Coast and Beyond Wonderland, while supporting artists including CloZee, GRiZ and Apashe.
In 2024, Able Grey appeared on the lineup for the inaugural Chicago edition of Beyond Wonderland, sharing a festival bill that included artists such as Tiësto, Diplo, Alesso, Kaskade, RL Grime and Benny Benassi.
Those opportunities matter, but what interests me more is what happens after an artist reaches those stages.
Do you settle into the sound that got you there?
Or do you keep experimenting?
Everything about Able Grey's approach suggests the second option.
Artist and Entrepreneur
There is also something important about Able Grey existing simultaneously as an artist, producer, performer, and label head.
Those jobs require different mindsets.
Producing requires creativity.
Performing requires connection.
Running a label requires leadership.
Building a collective requires community.
Trying to balance all four can easily become overwhelming, but it also gives an artist a much broader understanding of how the independent music industry actually works.
Able Grey has spoken publicly about production, live performance, running Ex Medias, and even the role artificial intelligence may play in music creation.
That willingness to think beyond simply releasing the next single makes his career particularly interesting.
He's participating in electronic music while also thinking about where it is going.
Why Able Grey Is Our October Cover Artist
For The Underground Wire, our cover isn't supposed to simply go to whoever has the biggest numbers.
That's not what this magazine is about.
We want artists with stories.
Artists building something.
Artists experimenting.
Artists contributing to independent music culture rather than simply existing inside it.
Able Grey fits that mission.
He's built his own catalog while helping develop a community through Ex Medias. He's taken electronic music into a live environment and continued experimenting with how it can be performed. And he's reached major stages without abandoning the independent mentality that helped build his career.
That makes him exactly the type of musician The Underground Wire was created to spotlight.
The Underground Wire Verdict
Able Grey represents an exciting side of modern electronic music.
He's a producer who doesn't want genre boundaries deciding what he creates.
He's a performer who wants electronic music to feel alive onstage.
And he's a label founder who understands that success becomes more meaningful when you can create opportunities for other people along the way.
Electronic music is constantly evolving.
Artists like Able Grey are helping determine where it goes next.
The Underground Wire Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
Artist Snapshot
Artist: Able Grey
Based In: ChicagoGenre: Electronic / Multi-Genre Electronic
Roles: Producer, DJ, live performer and label/collective founder
Collective/Label: Ex Medias
Notable Listening: “Beauty Fades,” “Be Who I Wanna Be,” “In the Forest” and The Eternal Cycle (Remixes)
Live Style: Electronic drum pad, MIDI controller, originals, edits, remixes and mashups Why You Should Listen: Able Grey isn't approaching electronic music as a fixed genre. He's treating it like a playground. His combination of genre experimentation, live musicianship, collaboration, and community building makes him an artist worth watching beyond a single release or festival set.
THE UNDERGROUND WIRE | OCTOBER 2026 COVER ARTIST: ABLE GREY
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