Crack Magazine’s Festival Guide 2024

Celebrating 30 years of cutting-edge experiments in sound, moving image and contemporary theory, Sonic Acts makes a grand return. This year’s Biennial is organised under the title The Spell of the Sensuous, taking inspiration from philosopher and ecologist David Abram’s 1996 book, and will focus on “multi-sensory cultural practices responding to the climate emergency and global geopolitics”.

Revitalised after 5 years off, this multi-venue music marathon is going hard. Motivating you to clock up the miles around central Bristol is a lengthy bucket list of must-sees, including the return of sweaty US art-rock heroes Les Savy Fav, fast-rising grime oddball Casisdead, Dublin noise-rockers Gilla Band, deployer of heavy riddims Flowdan, plus Gazelle Twin, Evian Christ, L’Rain and Wu Lu. Picking up the baton later on are the likes of DJ Python, Nick León and Saoirse, plus a host of today’s most exploratory selectors. What’s more, Fever Ray brings the curtain down at Bristol Beacon the following Thursday. See you under the lights. 

Returning for a second year is this three-day symposium exploring the intersection between electronic music, technology and digital arts – and its impact on society. Highlight keynote speakers telling us what it all means for the future are Brian Eno, Yellow Squares grime motivator Elijah, and Crack Magazine cover stars TraTraTrax. And after the talks? The parties, with future-trance exponents DJ Boring and Marlon Hoffstadt (a.k.a. DJ Daddy Trance), Or:la b2b Spray, and Swiss techno operator DJ AYA.

Following a four-year hiatus, Somerset House’s Assembly event series returns to platform some of the most forward-thinking sound artists operating today. Alongside Aymaran multidisciplinary artist Chuquimamani-Condori (formerly known as Elysia Crampton), you can also expand your mind with experimental Celtic bagpipe player Brìghde Chaimbeul, spiritual selector Nkisi and industrial provocateur Dis Fig.

Sónar is bringing its typically ambitious and on-point programming to the Portuguese capital for another tour of the contemporary electronic music landscape that takes in everywhere from the main room to the experimental hinterlands. Stop-offs include Daniel Lopatin stepping into his Oneohtrix Point Never guise, Tiga and HudMo bringing L’Ecstasy to life, Shygirl tearing through her own club-focused pop bangers, and a whole load of electronic practitioners claiming their own place in the continuum. All that, plus an “anti-disciplinary” Sónar+D programme of talks, films and art. Brain food overload.

Launched in 2016 with modest ambitions to support Belgium’s local electronic scene, this annual event has evolved into a six-day electronic expo featuring killer DJs and live acts going about their business in cutting-edge venues across the Belgian capital. With a loose definition of electronic music, this year’s line-up runs the stylistic gamut from Catalan experimental pianist Marina Herlop, club music magpie Bolis Pupul and off-centre electro Canadian Marie Davidson to club-focussed operators HiTech, Blawan and Bitter Babe. And how about a full-tilt rave in a tunnel to finish? Yes please.

Showcase the staggering breadth of programming at this reliably adventurous Dutch gathering in 90 words or less? That’s a big ask. Among the sonic innovators and multidisciplinary artists showing up are Neon Dance, who’ll perform to a score by the much missed Jóhann Jóhannsson; post-rap futurist Slauson Malone 1; Australia’s mesmerising improv trio, The Necks; experimental soundscaper Annea Lockwood. All that and we haven’t even touched on the big names: Autechre, Oneohtrix Point Never and Sunn O))). Serious business, this.

Before The Ramones’ performance there set the wheels in motion for UK punk, or Macca composed his trippy score for its hippy Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, the Roundhouse was a steam engine repair shed built with a train turntable at its heart. In the Round taps into this past by installing a circular stage for a series of special one-off shows. This year’s performers include cult folk singer Vashti Bunyan, queen of south London’s genre-dissolving alt-pop scene Tirzah, footwork disruptor Jlin, and a co-headlining pairing of outsider bluesman Lonnie Holley with saxophonist and sound artist Matana Roberts.

Bristol New Music honours its 10th anniversary by championing local and internationally renowned artists within the realms of contemporary art and sound design. Bristol-based multidisciplinary, Sarahhson, opens the weekend in a Grade II* listed church, merging surround sound and contemporary dance with her interpretation of the building’s rich history. Experimental artist and composer Klein returns with a rare performance set to captivate The Lantern. The Bug graces Strange Brew with a specially-installed rig for his heavy, industrial dub to close Saturday, whilst Jlin and Ryoji Ikeda headline with a mesmerising audiovisual show to challenge all of your senses. 

The industrial port of Brussels will come alive when the Hangar Festival takes over a massive 6,000 square meter warehouse for the third time. This immersive electronic music experience boasts an eclectic line-up featuring Chloé Caillet, Denis Sulta, DJ BORING, Honey Dijon and more, covering everything from deep house and techno to disco and electro. The cavernous raw industrial venue situated along the Brussels canal provides a unique atmospheric backdrop, elevating the underground vibe. Hangar is taking the European festival circuit to new heights by combining a world-class musical line-up with an uncompromising, multi-sensory experience in a distinctive setting. This is one immersive event that cannot be missed.

Tick a visit to U.K. grassroots gig institution Joiners off your bucket list as you hotfoot it around this spirited indie rock and pop crawl. Shame’s kitchen-sink punk-pop catharsis and Dream Wife’s jagged, Cure-sized riffs tops things off, but there’s a whole fizzy grab-bag of emerging talent to keep you moving. Namely purveyor of lo-fi funk Willie J. Healey, indie janglers-turned-disco darlings The Orielles and sugar coated shoegazers Our Girl. Pack your comfiest kicks for this inner-city adventure.

Now in its 21st edition, Nuits Sonores’ flagship Lyon event brings together a stacked programme of local and international electronic acts for a week of festivities. This year, we’ve teamed up with the cherished festival to offer our Supporters the Crack Magazine Pass, highlighting and guaranteeing you entry to our must-see performances, which include Catalan avant-garde composter Marina Herlop, Belgian pop vocalist Martha Da’Ro, and a rooftop rave soundtracked by Paquita Gordon b2b Marco Shuttle to take you into the early hours.

Horst returns to Asiat Park this year, a former military base transformed into a scenic space for the community. The festival is a small part of a wider, year-round movement in the Vilvoorde area challenging the way we could all live as a society. Sustainability and inclusivity are at the very heart of this project. Now in its 10th year, this edition celebrates a decade of innovation with its architecture, installations and a selection of electronic music’s heaviest hitters. Skream & Benga make a quick stop in Brussels as part of their reunion tour, Octo Octa switches things up with an exclusive drum ‘n’ bass set and Manchester’s superstar Anz will bring her eclectic mix of sounds.

Bringing in the summer in true French fashion, Festival le Bon Air returns for its ninth edition as an ode to the changing of seasons, with a line-up boasting some of the brightest acts in techno and UK bass. Two powerhouses of their respective scenes, Helena Hauff and Sherelle, have been granted residencies to showcase their talents alone and with friends throughout the weekend. The sweet Marseille soleil will also bring DJs such as Ben UFO, Peach, Floating Points and DJ Boring across the channel for the newly-upgraded 3-day programme of festivities. 

Dutch tastemakers Dekmantel have brought back the intimate Lente Kabinet Festival for its 11th Edition. Located within the lush sylvan grounds of Het Twiske, the two-day interdisciplinary festival boasts a phenomenal line-up of international DJs and live acts, including astrological industrialist Manuka Honey, splice ‘n’ dice maestro Simo Cell, and Dutch cultural mainstays such as Palmbomen II. The Dekmantel crew have fashioned Lente Kabinet under the concepts of creative exploration, community and collaboration, inviting festivalgoers to reunite and reconnect: with music, with the arts, with nature and—through all of the above—with each other. Want to start your 2024 summer festival season right? Take a pilgrimage to Lente Kabinet.

Edition number ten of this flagship blowout from the bleeding-edge outdoor rave specialists. A few things are guaranteed at this one-dayer stretching across five stages in a stunning green haven in the heart of Dortmund: a skin-prickling sound system, eye-melting visuals and a doozy of a line-up peddling dance music’s most propulsive sounds. Creating a techno-heavy disturbance this year are Denmark’s Mama Snake, Amsterdam operator KI/KI, curveball-selecting free spirit Young Marco and acid techno don Gerd Janson, who goes b2b with Narciss.

One for both the habitual ravers and the electronic scholars, the Berlin Dance Music Event (BDME) is a multi-day coalition of music and minds that electrifies the heart of Berlin’s iconic Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district. Now in its fourth edition, this pioneering gathering offers a unique convergence of conference and festival, attracting over 300 artists, speakers, and industry professionals from across the electronic music spectrum. BDME’s festival side promises a stellar line-up headlined by the likes of LOLSNAKE, James Carter and Marten Hørger. The fusion of thought-provoking discourse and cutting-edge performances makes BDME a must-attend for anyone passionate about the future of electronic music culture.

The globe-trotting philosophy and music weekender lands in Hay to cook up another five-star feast of brain food. With festival-unfriendly discussions on the future of conflict, anti-reality and quantum theory, featuring speakers including Slavoj Žižek, Paterson Joseph and Myriam François (among hundreds of others), this is a utopia of existential crises. We’ll also discover what the future sounds like for dub-folk-into-wyrd-jazz meanderers Tara Clerkin Trio, gnawa-powered synth explorer James Holden, Richard Dawson, Sea Power and The Orb. Bring an open mind.

GALA has been centring the dancefloor since 2016 with this congenial summer tear up designed to celebrate club camaraderie. The big names bringing dance music communities together this year are garage pioneer DJ EZ, trance explorer Jobs Jobse, Shy One, Palms Trax, and the inseparable K-Lone and Facta. Bringing GALA’s ethos of unity to the decks are b2bs including Sherelle and Kode9, Eris Drew with Octo Octa, DJ Paulette in the mix with Prosumer and an electric pairing of Hannah Holland and Josh Caffé. Leave your hangups at the gate.

The two biggest draws at this chock-a-block all-dayer set the freewheeling tone for the rest of proceedings. Even within their distinct sound worlds, motorik-powered psych-rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Mercury Prize-winning hip-hop explorers Young Fathers regularly run amok around genres and styles – just like the rest of this wide-ranging lineup. With a bill careering from Bristolian post-punks Squid and Eartheater’s digi-pop melodrama to DJs Ben UFO, Helena Hauff and Optimo (Espacio), you’ll find no genre silos here.

Primavera returns to Barcelona this year, taking over the city’s Parc del Fòrum from 29 May to 2 June.

Presenting its most exciting line-up yet, headliners include Lana Del Rey, Pulp, Vampire Weekend, Justice, SZA, PJ Harvey, Mitski and Charli XCX. You can also catch Deftones, Beth Gibbons, A. G. Cook, Amaarae, Troye Sivan, Jai Paul, Ethen Cain, Mount Kimbie and more.

With 5 days of music, the beach nearby and a whole city to explore, this year, as ever, Primavera is an unmissable stop on the European festival calendar.

No longer just a seaside party in the Adriatic idyll of Puglia, Italy’s Polifonic crew have also been bringing their summer festival to their home city of Milan for the past few years. They can’t replace the salty sea air, but they are making the trip to Italy’s industrial north as appealing as possible with a line-up committed to gender balance, exploration and experimentation. Which in practice means house, disco and cosmic techno spanning the time-stretching talents of Roi Perez, DJ Gigola, Shanti Celeste and Disclosure.

Sónar returns to Barcelona’s Fira Montjuïc and Fira Gran Via this June for three days and two nights of music and immersive experiences. With over 200 of these experiences to choose from, Sónar 2024 also takes place within a week of wider cultural activations in Barcelona.

Exploring the intersection of sound, creativity and technology, Sónar by Day returns with over 70 activities including DJ sets, talks and art installations, taking place over five stages and a selection of spaces. Spanning a variety of genres, highlights range from breakout DJs like horsegiirl and DJ Gigola, to Sónar favourites Laurent Garnier, Folamour and Kittin.

Celebrating the best electronic music from across the world, Sónar by Night will follow with the festival’s best curated line-up yet, with highlights including Kaytranada, Charlotte de Witte and VTSS, as well as a Printworks takeover. With re-designed lighting and the addition of a 6 x 10m vertical screen, the elevated set-up provides a prime setting for immersive, AV-focused shows.

As ever, Sónar+D is a standout on the programme for 2024, showcasing the digital innovations shaping various creative industries. Making space for collaboration, open discussion and experimental thought, Sónar+D will present workshops, exhibitions, performances and talks. This year, themes explored will include sound design, the relationship between AI and music, gaming, and the future of the creative industries.

Sónar’s annual spin-off series once again hands the reins over to cutting-edge club crews and dance music labels for a week of parties that reflect their guest curators’ particular USPs. Among those attempting to outdo each other in Barcelona’s open-air museum, Poble Espanyol, are Berlin’s tech-house crew Keinemusik, Zurich’s globetrotting Adriatique with their feted ‘X’ event, beloved daytime merchants Brunch! Electronik and the mighty Elrow with the dancefloor escapism of their Dance with the Serpent concept. Pick one, or collect them all.

Want to experience a festival in constant daylight? The fourth edition of Solstice Festival takes place in northern Finland, next to the Arctic Circle, during midsummer – a time when the sun doesn’t set at all in the northern hemisphere.

The programme consists of live acts and DJs across three stages, with a stacked line-up featuring Bitter Babe, Objekt, Peach, James K, Space Afrika and many more. The programme also features adrenaline-inducing activities including mountain biking, river rafting and bear watching.

The Solstice team has also placed emphasis on sustainable practices, working together with Caracara Collective this year to maintain a circular economy system that will see its trash and waste upcycled.

For one week every year, Bristol’s harbourside amphitheatre swaps the sound of skateboard decks popping on concrete for a week of live music courtesy of Bristol Sounds. Pop and rock nostalgists will roll in this year for performances by Busted, James Arthur, Skindred and Placebo, while Gentleman’s Dub Club and The Skints lead a day of skanking. The closing weekend is where it’s at, though, with Annie Mac bringing her Before Midnight experience to a party-minded all-dayer, and indie-rock deities The Breeders topping a bill featuring Squid and Ty Segall.

The ever-circled Glastonbury Festival returns at the end of June, with a predictably stacked line-up. The likes of PJ Harvey, The Streets, Little Simz, Bar Italia, Arooj Aftab and Issue 156 cover stars Fontaines D.C. are set to perform, along with plenty of magic to be found across the 100+ stages around the Worthy Farm site. Nightlife areas also receive their due – a revamped Silver Hayes will welcome artists including CASISDEAD, DJ Stingray and a three-hour Metalheadz takeover celebrating 30 years of the legendary drum’n’bass label. Block 9 meanwhile sees the return of much-loved dystopian tower of glass and concrete Genosys, featuring sets from OK Williams, Bashkka, Eliza Rose and more.

This garden party in the grounds of Ribaucourt Castle, just outside Brussels, ticks all boxes for the modern festival-goer. With a shelf creaking under the weight of sustainability awards and a programme of activities for body and mind, this is a festival with a conscience. And just as much care has gone into a line-up featuring live sets by Cymande, Sofia Kourtesis and Kiasmos, plus a contemporary dance production from Lefto Early Bird. DJ Gigola, Ron Trent and Suze Ijó are among those on the decks.

Outbreak is back for another three-day binge of underground punk spanning art, zines, talks and sonic fury. Setting the theme on day one is a punk AF rap triumvirate of Action Bronson, Danny Brown collaborator JPEGMAFIA and Flatbush Zombies, who then pass the amp-wrecking baton to the great and good of hardcore past, present and future. American Football, Thursday, Nothing and Poison the Well unleash the hits, while Show Me the Body, Ceremony, hardcore supergroup Fiddlehead and the SST-worshipping Angel Du$t incite moshpit mayhem.

An ambitious, site-specific contemporary music project, in which a triad of annual events culminates every three years in The Festival. This year, it’s part two of the cycle – The Prequel – with 16 artists gathering to workshop the solo and collaborative performances they will bring to next year’s festival proper. Among the musicians invited are locked-groove magician Oren Ambarchi, beguiling smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul, feted spiritual jazz and ambient artist Ganavya, Palestinian sound collagist and rapper Muqata’a, and Terre Thaemlitz (a.k.a. DJ Sprinkles).

Kappa Futur was first held in 2009 to mark a century since the Italian poet Filippo Marinetti unleashed his Futurist Manifesto on the world and its festival lineups continue to tap into that cultural movement’s zeal for forward momentum. Joining the OG architects of dance music Jeff Mills, Carl Craig and Kevin Saunderson’s Inner City at this post-industrial art park in Turin is a massed crew of modern-day dancefloor disruptors with their own agenda, including KI/KI, Anz, DJ Nobu, and Blawan in a mind-melting b2b with Skrillex.

Love International will be returning to its home of The Garden, Tisno for its 7th edition in 2024. With secret island parties, beach stages and late-night discos, this week-long celebration of love and electronic music takes place within the picturesque backdrop of Croatia’s Adriatic coast. Presenting a packed programme of world-class DJs for 2024, unmissable names include Avalon Emerson, Shy One, HAAi, Amaliah and Josh Caffé, as well as b2b sets from the likes of Craig Richard and Francesco Del Garda, and Eris Drew and Octo Octa.

This Madrid blockbuster found its feet last year after relocating to a purpose-built festival space powered by renewable energy. So this year it expands to four days with a stacked programme of rock, pop and everything in between. Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Sum 41, Garbage, Dua Lipa and Janelle Monáe sling scruffy anthems and pop pizazz, while pretenders to the crown like Tyla, Soccer Mommy, Nia Archives, Kneecap and Rema bring their own youthful rizz to the show. Our tip? Do not miss The Breeders.

The activism may be less in-your-face than it once was at this Serbian summer institution born out of youth rebellion, but EXIT keeps flying the flag for social change whenever it returns to its fortress home on the Danube. This year, the festival celebrates world-changing figures throughout history with a line-up swinging from Bonobo, Sama’ Abdulhadi and Helena Hauff to big guns Kenya Grace and Gucci Mane. There’s also room for Rage Against the Machine riff-conjurer Tom Morello, Anatolian psych wonders Altın Gün and a stage of politico-punk veterans.

Another city adventure to weave into your holiday plans. NOS Alive will set up shop by the riverside in Algés, just west of Lisbon, with seriously grammable views of the city’s iconic suspension bridge in the distance. Providing a fittingly epic soundtrack at sundown and beyond are Hi-NRG pop queen Dua Lipa, Grammy-nabbing R&B star Tyla, and sultry lo-fi pop stylists Khruangbin and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. A dedicated club stage, featuring Genesis Owusu and Tourist, offers a counterpoint to the anthemic chugging of Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam.

We’re not sure which is most impressive – the line-up featuring Gallic pop royalty Air, UK rave behemoths The Prodigy and Underworld, and a middle order packed with such gripping talents as Mulatu Astatke, Nomame, Cymande and JPEGMAFIA, or the festival’s idyllic location on Mount Cobetas within easy reach of one of Europe’s most cultured cities. Either way, Bilbao BBK Live is winning on most fronts, and comes with the added bonuses of a forested clubbing stage and the hula-hooping antics of pop’s most flamboyant septuagenarian Grace Jones.

Best known for packing its line-ups with variety, MELT returns this year with a programme that spans a breadth of genres. From pop and indie to techno, drum’n’bass and jazz, MELT is spotlighting the tastemakers of 2024, ranging from newcomers to industry legends.

Highlights include jazz musician Yussef Dayes, who will deliver a sunset set on the beach of Lake Gremmin, and one of electronic music’s most influential duos, Overmono. Two whole stages (Big Wheel and Beach Club) will be dedicated to electronic music, with sets from the likes of Fadi Mohem, OK Williams, D. Tiffany and DJ Spit b2b Kikelom.

Elsewhere on the line-up, our picks include Toronto DJ and producer Bambii, Honduran singer Isabella Lovestory, experimental artist Sega Bodega and previous Crack cover stars Bar Italia, John Glacier and Eartheater.

Taking place in Ferropolis, near Gräfenhainichen, from 11-13 July, there’s something unmissable for everyone at MELT, and dozens more artists to discover each day.

Returning to Merritt, British Columbia on the ancestral, unceded territory of the Nlaka’pamux and Syilx people, boutique festival Bass Coast is back for its 16th edition this July. Independent and artist-owned, Bass Coast is built around cultural respect and thoughtful curation — both for its line-up and overall festival experience. Headlining this year is irreverent Brooklyn rapper Leikeli47, alongside Maine electronic producer Of The Trees. The line-up also features artists such as Ben UFO, Conducta, Sherelle and Yung Singh, as well as workshops, performances, art installations and even yoga, immersing attendees in a rich cultural experience.

Hosted by Gaswerksiedlung, this local community hub will be transformed into a vibrant festival, infusing music and energy throughout the entire complex. Radical Live Music is the ethos for this year. After a positive inaugural event in 2023 as Gaswerk Art Days, its mission now is to share a love for raw music in all its many shades. Legendary dub collective African Head Charge are amongst the headliners, reforming as full group for the first time in 13 years. Best known for his visionary approach to electronic music for over two decades, James Holden will also headline, alongside Catalan composer, singer and pianist Marina Herlop, The Heliocentrics and Newen Afrobeat. 

Belgium’s summer party fixture is levelling up this year with a line-up that goes harder, faster and stronger than most. There’s the usual bewildering array of electronic music’s finest, including a Bicep A/V DJ set. Away from the dance, though, we’ll be steered through an audacious live programme featuring Venezuelan avant-pop experimentalist Arca, Taylor Swift’s bestie Ice Spice, cloud rapper Aminé, Turkish psych charmers Altın Gün, and U.K. representatives Skepta, Ezra Collective and Nia Archives. Dour never looked so vibrant.

Tones on the Stones Foundation and Threes Productions team up to deliver another experience amidst the beautiful Ossola Valley in Northern Italy. With a packed programme in place for its 11th year, highlights are set to include Marie Davidson’s hypnotic vocals and synths, and Aïsha Devi presenting the captivating live rendition of her AV show Les Immortales. 

Crack Magazine favourite Objekt goes b2b with all-round boundary-pusher CCL, while the likes of Cashu, DJ TAXXI and Scottish selector Lanark Artefax will also play. Dancers heading off to Tones Teatro Natura will also be treated to a rare set from Underground Resistance co-founder and techno pioneer Robert Hood. The team have managed to sustainably convert a disused quarry into a sanctuary bursting with life and creativity, full of meditations, installations and even opportunities to hike.

After their excursion inland to Milan earlier in the summer, it’s all back to the stunning Itria Valley on the Puglia coast for the Polifonic crew’s flagship soirée in the sun. Diversity and rave positivity are the name of the game as a who’s who of dance music’s most cosmic and exploratory figures, including Bambounou, Saoirse, DJ Koze, Palms Trax, Dixon, Egyptian Lover, and Arabic funk and soul treasure hunters Habibi Funk, inject contemporary rhythms into a very Med pace of life. Only good vibes guaranteed.

WOMAD, a.k.a. The World’s Festival, returns for four days of music, poetry, spoken word, workshops and wellness experiences this July at Wiltshire’s Charlton Park. Bringing together both rising talent and longtime legends, the line-up spans rap, rock, R&B, punk, hip-hop, jazz, folk, electro, mambo, flamenco, boogaloo and more. Standouts include highly anticipated sets from Young Fathers and Sampa The Great, as well as appearances from icons like Alison Goldfrapp and Amadou and Mariam. From Palestinian hip-hop group DAM to Brazilian group Bala Desejo, Tibet’s Yungchen Lhamo to New Zealand’s John Metcalfe, a spirit of discovery ties WOMAD’s eclectic programme together, bringing voices from all over the globe into one celebratory space.

It’s hard to believe that this Dutch institution has only been around for ten laps around the sun. The commanders at Dekmantel have established the festival as a bucket list-worthy event that is a must-go for all electronic lovers across Europe. At this year’s edition, attendees have the luxury of seeing live performances from the likes of Actress, Cakes Da Killa and Chicago house royalty Ron Trent. On the selector front, the programme reads like a ‘who’s who’ of some of the best electronic artists at the top of their game. Ben UFO and Joy Orbison team up for a stellar B2B, while sonic legends such as Jeff Mills, Helena Hauff, Kode9 and Goldie will also bring their magic to the festival. Normally over a weekend, this year the team celebrates Dekmantel Ten with ten days of action across four different locations. 

Curated by Friends With Benefits — a decentralised autonomous organisation focused on growing emerging tech for a better internet — yearly conference-meets-music festival FWB FEST brings its global online community together, providing a place for them to connect, learn and get inspired irl.

Held on the historic campus of Idyllwild Arts Academy around two hours from LA, the festival takes place among the natural beauty of the San Jacinto Mountains and San Bernardino — a serene but dramatic landscape with its own rich artistic history, adding to its utopian feel.

Spotlighting underground artists, progressive thinkers and leading voices in emerging tech, this year’s line-up includes intimate sets from the likes of A. G. Cook, Tirzah and Perfume Genius, as well as lectures and dialogues with Elijah, Daisy Alioto, Toby Shorin and many more.

Feel the sand between your toes at this Belgian seaside rave. With the help of spatial designers Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, WeCanDance will transform Zeebrugge’s beach into a synapse-frying world that reflects this year’s theme, ‘Drop in the Light, Rise in the Dark’, over back-to-back August weekends. Looming large on the line-up is Soulja Boy, whose rowdy hip-hop swag will break up the continuum-exploring sounds of VTSS, Mama Snake, Sedef Adasi and Gabber Eleganza, a.k.a. hardcore DJ and gabber scene historian Alberto Guerrini.

Sziget can wield many impressive stats to wow you into submission but the headline figure is six – the number of days this festival on the Danube stretches out across. It’s a number that explains why there’s enough entertainment on offer (art, sport, a Budapest city pass, a full-tilt rave arena) to put any five-star holiday camp to shame. There’s also the small matter of a line-up featuring Fred again.., Skrillex, RAYE, Big Thief, Blondshell, Stormzy, Teezo Touchdown, Fontaines D.C., Kiasmos… We’re tired just writing it all down.

Incongruous as it may seem, for three days and nights every August the sleepy port city of Viana do Castelo, in Portugal’s far north, is transformed into the capital of techno thanks to Neopop. It’s no different at this 17th edition, with another busload of cutting-edge rave operators scheduled to arrive at the city’s waterfront fortress. Bringing the energy are Palestinian techno activist Sama’ Abdulhadi, avant trance and acid specialist Amelie Lens, Josh Wink, and Detroit techno visionaries Jeff Mills and Octave One. Portugal’s DubLab will deploy mind-melting visuals for additional oof.

Despite three consecutive years of cancellations, owing to dangerous winds and the pandemic, Houghton – the Craig Richards curated 24-hour round the clock knees up – has cemented itself as one of UK dance music’s best showpiece weekenders. Ever evolving, this year a new stage has been announced, The Orchard, which will focus on audiovisual ambient shows and wellness workshops. Fresh faces to the festival will be debuting across the line-up, including Ogazón, Daniel Avery, SHERELLE, Skee Mask and live performances from African Head Charge and James Massiah. They join the festival’s typical servings of high-class house, techno and minimal, with Houghton favourites Ricardo Villalobos, Ben UFO and Zip all returning alongside the lord of the manor, Craig Richards.

Helsinki’s Flow festival has honed its programming of zeitgeisty chart botherers and experimental adventurers alike into an artform over the past 20 years, and it’s not about to change its approach for anyone. Helping the festival celebrate two decades in the game are big hitters including Ghanaian-American pop sensation Amaarae, Fred again.., Halsey and rapper-slash-newly minted TV star Vince Staples, plus sonic explorers Arooj Aftab, Yves Tumor, Clarissa Connelly and thrilling Lankum offshoot, One Leg One Eye. And if all you’re seeking is full-tilt rave energy, well, you’re in luck.

This August, institutional venue RSO.Berlin will convert a former Bärenquell brewery into a booming space hosting a four-day spectacle fit for all lovers of raw techno. Now in its third year, the event invites 11 hosting crews to build their dream line-up with a complete takeover of one of three floors on the weekend, including Berlin queer collective Gegen, community platform We Are Not Alone, and label and event series Home Again. A range of esteemed selectors will take over the space, with names such as mad miran, Juliana Huxtable, Phase Fatale, Detroit in Effect, Ellen Allien, and Femme Bass Mafia‘s Dangermami b2b Marie Midori filling the bill. There’ll even be a record fair for the crate diggers to snag some vinyl, an absolute dream for the heads.

All Points East returns to London’s Victoria Park for two weekends this summer (16-18 &  23-25 August). Headliners are set to include Kaytranada, Loyle Carner, Mitski and LCD Soundsystem, while The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie will celebrate the 20th anniversaries of their seminal albums Transatlanticism and Give Up. With plenty of additional heavyweights on the festival billing, including Thundercat, Tems, Jyoty and Floating Points, our highlight is a special appearance from Crack Magazine’s August cover star André 3000.

As if a rave-up in south-east Sicily wasn’t enticing enough, this one takes place in the grounds of a palatial, neo-gothic pile that threatens to steal the show. Doing its best to nab back your attention is a line-up befitting such opulence. Italian-Tunisian producer LNDFK delivers nu-jazz and broken beat at sunset, before Donato Dozzy and Eva Geist do their motorik-disco thing as Il Quadro di Troisi, and the reliably brilliant Roi Perez shakes out the pointing with a time-stretching journey through house, techno and disco.

This two-dayer under Brussels’ version of the Westway brings a line-up of top techno specialists – of both the cosmic and industrial variety – to the city’s Parc des Étangs, where verdant gardens clash incongruously with concrete brutalism. Braced to drown out the bustle overhead are rising stars Clara D and D.Tiffany, b2bs – Courtesy with Sally C, Mama Snake with DJ Spit – and Blawan, who’ll be dropping slabs of noise under the flyover. Expect an emotional showing from Sandwell District after the passing of John Juan Mendez, a.k.a. Silent Servant.

If the churn of legacy line-ups gives you the ick, take a trip into the future instead with Montréal’s MUTEK festival. Celebrating 25 years of forecasting the direction of travel for electronic music and digital creativity, these six days of immersive sound and vision revolve around live performances and A/V spectacles from Colin Stetson, Evian Christ, Factory Floor, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Aïsha Devi, Waajeed and more. Running parallel is the MUTEK Forum, a symposium of speakers exploring the theme, Utopia or Oblivion: Crafting Human-Centred Technological Futures. Go feed your brain.

With weird, wild production, and a stacked line-up of hard-hitting electronic music acts to boot, Lost Village takes festival-goers into an immersive, reality bending abandoned world for a weekend. There’s reclaimed-by-nature buildings, secret gardens and a disused airbase for festival goers to run freely around and lose themselves in. The music – dance-focused, but not exclusively – is top notch as well, with timetable circling sets from Ben UFO, SHERELLE, Tiga b2b HudMo, a *secret* stadium-filling headliner duo, and much more.

With a hyperlocal focus that centres the Bermondsey community through outreach, free and discounted tickets and fundraising for local groups, the second edition of this switched on arts festival deserves your attention. And that’s before we’ve even shouted all the installations from local artists and a line-up that has been lovingly sculpted into something approaching unmissable. Mount Kimbie bring their new, guitar-heavy sound to the capital for a rare show, while ML Buch, Actress, James Holden and Alabaster DePlume put the emphasis on bewitching and transcendent.

MEO Kalorama brings Portugal’s busy festival season to a close in some style. After impressing in 2022 and 2023, this Lisbon knees-up proves three is the magic number with a real zinger of a lineup. Following in the footsteps of megastar artists who’ve performed at Bela Vista down the years are Afrobeats don Burna Boy, trip-hop heroes Massive Attack and NY disco-punks LCD Soundsystem. There are standout names everywhere you look, though, including The Smile, Fever Ray, Gossip, Ana Moura and Ezra Collective. One final blowout in the sun? Oh go on, then.

Kalorama is branching out. After two well-received showings in Portugal, the festival is heading to Madrid for its inaugural Spanish edition. This diversely programmed three-dayer – which shares a bill with its Lisbon sister festival taking place over the same weekend – features NYC disco-punks LCD Soundsystem among the star attractions. Other key players who’ll be hot-footing it between Iberian capitals, are Massive Attack, The Prodigy, Gossip and Overmono, to name but a few. If all that is just too euphoric – to which we might say: really? – Yves Tumor and Fever Ray will be casting their imperious shadows over proceedings, too.

Now in its third year on the Downs, Forwards is showing zero signs of festival fatigue. They continue working hard with partners EarthPercent, Music Declares Emergency and Climate Live to drive sustainability and climate action, and the stacked line-up shows the booking team are equally keyed into what counts. Performing for the friendliest crowd this side of Pilton are NYC titans LCD Soundsystem, UK rap charmer Loyle Carner, surprise world conqueror Four Tet, new-gen disco queen Jessie Ware, and a very tasty assortment of established and rising talent.

Three years in the festival wilderness have clearly unblocked Cosmic Roots’ chakras. With a reputation for being intimate and impeccably curated, this DJ-loaded event returns for a four-night sylvan adventure with selectors of the moment – including wonky techno operator Lukas Wigflex, Brilliant Corners’ Donna Leake, Berlin slayer Mor Elian and outernational DJs Cosmic Slop and PolyRimto – slinging prime cuts from four stages stacked with incredible sound systems. We’re told the food is just as tasty as the line-up, too – yum.

North Africa’s original techno festival goes back to the source in more ways than one. After five years away, Oasis returns to its luxury resort home on the outskirts of Marrakech for another go at joining the dots between modern techno and Morocco’s centuries-old tradition for ecstatic repetition. Homegrown selectors Amine K and Anïa loom large on the line-up alongside Casablanca’s female DJ collective Sound Sisters, while Laurent Garnier, Anz, TSHA, Yu Su and thrilling exponent of global club sounds Jyoto bring a strong international flavour.

Brian Eno will almost certainly approve of this secretive soirée in the woods, in which ambient and experimental electronics will thunder from Funktion Ones across an old air base that’s being slowly reclaimed by nature. Germany’s Dasha Rush and California’s Rrose conjure deep, hallucinogenic soundscapes, while rhythmic techno masters such as the analogue-favouring Dutch duo Artefakt and Japan’s Wata Igarashi will put the emphasis on hypnotic. Light installations, projection mapping and sound bath ceremonies should elevate proceedings into the realms of far-out.

It’s not quite a castle in the sky, but the 14th century ruin around which this glitzy Belgian blowout takes place is pretty magical nonetheless – and the perfect woodland setting for a festival that prides itself on escapism. The organisers are deploying a no-phones policy in certain arenas to keep you in the moment. The soundtrack – provided by DJ Boring, Miss Monique, DJ Tennis b2b Carista, among others – runs the house and techno gamut from groovy to banging.

If you’ve ever fancied a night at the museum, you’ll want to jump on this. Exploring the past, present and future of club culture within the hushed environs of the Estonian National Museum, this four-day event gives DJs, speakers and clubbers alike the opportunity to reflect on dance music’s cultural significance. Estonia’s Noa, Micaxsan and Nikolajev will help reimagine the museum’s spaces alongside Call Super, DJ Marcelle and Object Blue, while speakers including Irvine Welsh, Elijah and Tresor’s Diana Alagić celebrate the power of dance. 

The venue for this deep Med festival – a historic winery in the heart of Limassol – will no doubt inspire a few bad jokes about organising a booze-up in a… well, you know. But it won’t take you long to see that the folks behind this lavish rave know exactly what they’re doing. With three spectacular stages, art installations, retina-frying visuals and a heavyweight bill of house and techno giants, including Fatboy Slim, Claptone, ANNÉ and Miss Monique, this is a proper blockbuster.

With its low prices and free open-air stage, this festival – blending club experimentalism with retina-frying visuals – walks the walk when it comes to making cutting-edge art more accessible. A quick glance at the line-up will tell you it’s an absolute steal: Aïsha Devi’s dislocated electronics are accompanied by visuals from Emmanuel Biard, Flying Lotus collaborator David Wexler brings AI-manipulated graphics to Machinedrum’s footwork-influenced IDM and there’s a specially commissioned A/V show from Bristol bass head Pinch and Lorem, among loads more.

London’s Eastern Margins collective launched back in 2018 to provide a platform for underground artists and scenes emerging from south-east Asia and its diasporas. Since then, it has grown into a flourishing community of creatives, many of whom are coming together for this inaugural day-into-night festival. Bringing their own flavours to Hackney’s EartH are pioneer of filipino hardstyle (or budots) DJ Love, Hong Kong’s XL-approved drum’n’ bass producer gyrofield, Kuala Lumpur Mando-pop artist Shelhiel and Crack favourite Yeule.

If you’ve ever heard + Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau + being belted out by 70,000 rugby fans at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, you’ll know just how passionate Welsh people are about singing. It’s part of their national identity, and is also the focus of this annual festival celebrating the voice in all its different forms. Among those bringing their distinctive vocal styles to the show are alt-R&B experimentalist Fabiano Palladino, indie-rockers Squid and Porridge Radio, and Sault collaborator Ganavya, with her bewitching blend of spiritual jazz and south Asian classical.

Operating in the same city that spawned the genre-flaming disruptions of Cabaret Voltaire, Warp and bassline, No Bounds keeps Sheffield’s tradition for sonic exploration alive. The festival is back for a seventh year with grime’s number one boy Flowdan, Kenyan metal hero Lord Spikeheart, existential dread-makers Iceboy Violet and Nueen, and Rian Treanor and Mark Fell making a racket in some special venues. Joining them to explore the theme of ‘Agency and Revelation’ are BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ collective The Beatriarchy, live coders and climate speakers. Adventure beckons.

Utrecht’s annual bonanza of cutting-edge music invites another cast of guest curators to lead us down new musical paths. Showing the way this year are experimental jazz composer Arooj Aftab, Japanese psych-rockers Bo Ningen, dub-kosmische trio Darkside, south London label Touching Bass and purveyor of abrasive club sounds, Crystallmess. Together with the festival’s programmers they’ve pulled together a line-up zig-zagging between the likes of post-rockers Still House Plants, noise legend Kim Gordon, Detroit rappers HiTech, Portuguese ambient guitarist Rafael Toral and Aftab’s dad, Aftab Sr. This is what adventure sounds like.

Operating out of France’s UNESCO City of Design, Saint-Étienne, Positive Education adheres to the ethos that if you’re standing still, you’re not moving forward. This eighth edition sees them ring the changes, with a new late-night venue, ramped up visuals and a musical outlook that builds on its techno foundations. There’ll still be incendiary wallop aplenty, courtesy of Goldie and DJ Gigola, but French-Ivorian rapper Lala &ce, classically trained experimentalist Oklou, Bitter Babe, Aïsha Devi and The Bug with Flowdan will all bring a fresh twist.