The Untz Festival 2018 lineup is here! Early Bird tickets on-sale now.
By: Anand Harsh
Nobody was more surprised, honored, and thrilled than us that our second year festival became a gathering point for the underground bass scene.
Approaching a decade in the electronic music industry, The Untz crew has been driven to create a community of likeminded fans who seek out the darker, deeper, and more experimental sounds of bass music, and we were finally able to do that with The Untz Festival last year.
The wild success of our 2017 event made our job crystal clear for 2018: craft a lineup that tells the story of where bass music came from, and where it's going. We were granted a special opportunity to assemble a lineup of vanguards, pioneers, and daring musicians who not only broke this sound, but continue to push the boundaries of it to this day.
Today we reveal the initial lineup for The Untz Festival 2018, and the result is a pairing of the legends who created this scene from the ground up, and exciting new acts at the forefront of the industry today. Returning June 1-3 to the Mariposa County Fairgrounds in Mariposa, California, our third year will cement this annual summer festival as the epicenter for progressive bass music for fans around the world.
The British Bass Invasion is coming. It's easy to throw around terms like "legends," but when you're talking about CASPA and Mala—c'mon... there's no other word to describe them. From sweaty London basements to world domination, there is no dubstep movement without Digital Myztikz, and it doesn't reach its soaring heights without the dopest ghost in town.
Joining these dubstep originators is a never-before-seen, how-the-hell-did-you-pull-this-off B2B2B2B set between Joker, Hatcha, Youngsta, and J:Kenzo. These players have been at the forefront of the dubstep scene for years, and enjoy major street cred. Over the course of their three hour set, these vets will weave a rich tapestry extolling the evolution of the dubstep The collaborative project, Bloodline, between Hatcha and Youngsta hits the road in spring, but this staggering four-way arrangement has never been undertaken before, and there's no guarantee it will ever happen again.
The Bristol boys of KOAN Sound have been fixture of the glitch scene for years. Superstars on the OWSLA and Inspected labels, Jim Bastow and Will Weeks have been deep in the studio for quite some time, but prepare yourself for the first new tunes from these brilliant producers in years, coming this spring. We are thrilled to herald the return of this iconic act.
One of our most requested artists, Thriftworks, will make his festival debut this year. The Bay Area's own Jake Atlas has been a fan favorite since he dropped his monumental 30-minute mix for us five years ago, and we finally get to put him on display in his own backyard. His stunning blend of crispy beats and irreverent assault on bass music norms makes him a perfect addition to this eccentric mix of acts.
Speaking of irreverent and eccentric... hell, Yheti is downright kooky. One of our few returning acts to the festival, the cadre of Yheti along with Toadface and Mt. Analogue, who together created The Trifinity, will perform a special set together, as well as solo sets throughout the weekend on the ThazDope Records stage, the scene of the infamous Yheti sunrise set that will go down in history as one of the greatest greetings to the morning of all time.
Breaking talent is one of the things we have enjoyed most about The Untz over its history, and we like getting in early on talented acts. In year one, we had a little known northern California act, CharlestheFirst, up on the lineup, but since then he's absolutely exploded in stature, and we're so thrilled to bring him back. He's flanked by a pair of international talents in the furious fingers of Mad Zach, and the mind-bending talents of South African prodigy Chee.
On Friday, June 1, we'll be once again hosting an Early Arrival Party for fans wanting to get on the grounds ahead of schedule to get the weekend started proper. Esseks, DMVU, EASTGHOST, and a number of our favorite acts will kick things off on Friday for some late night shenanigans ahead of two full days of programming.
There's no question that much of our success last year can be directly attributed to the incredible crews with whom we've toiled with buckets of blood, sweat, and tears going into the curation of this festival. We're proud to be bringing back Wormhole Entertainment, ThazDope Records, and ShadowTrix Music as our partners in this endeavor. Wormhole and STM will be holding down late night festivities in their respective boom rooms, and the aforementioned ThazDope posse will be hosting their own outdoor stage all day long Saturday and Sunday.
Their curated lineups are littered with talent, from breakouts Frequent and Brightside to SubDocta, Hypha, and returning favorite SuDs, as well as beardthug (back for another year) with Prophet, Mystic Grizzly, Lucy, and crew throwdowns from Lost Dogz, The Undergrowth, and Faceless Future Collective. Another returning favorite is Eazybaked, who have absolutely blown up this year, and continue to melt speakers across the country. ThazDope's own Spankalicious will be performing a special 4:20 set on the main stage over the weekend. I think we all know where that's going.
There are gems all over the lineup, like kLL sMTH, Moniker, Psy Fi, Secret Recipe, KOROstyle, and Salty. Everywhere you look a new name jumps out at you: there's Elevated Mind! Oh look, Phers, LITLBIRD, and potions! Is that a special set from Honeybee?! You're damn right.
Surprises abound, and the biggest surprise of all is that we're adding in a silent disco this year, featuring acts like Overklok, Patches O'Malley, Detox, and breakout stars DYS and Scales doing a B2B set. The bottom line is, save up on sleep, because you're not going to be getting any for 72 hours this summer.
Of course, fans can expect top notch production on all four of our stages. We're going bigger, better, and bolder with all the fancy bells and whistles, and fans will be very excited when they hear about the changes we've made on the sound system front. More info on that soon. Rest assured that there will be plenty of eye candy, and your ears will thank you.
But that's not all that's new this year. In addition to the cozy, comfortable surroundings that fans enjoyed so much last year at the fairgrounds the last two years, and limited number of car camping passes that sold out last year, and the super clutch RV passes (both with hook-ups and without), we are now adding two new incredible features. We have pre-setup tents for fans who want to fly out but pack light. Setting up a tent is annoying, so let us handle that all for you. And if you really want to live in the lap of luxury, we have three available bungalows with electricity and a comfy bed that sleeps two. The outdoors are great and all, but sometimes you just want to get away from it all. This is the spot for you.
So here are your marching orders: do your research, and study up on some of these legends and incredible up-and-comers. Figure out your travel plans. Remember, we're less than an hour from beautiful Yosemite National Park, and nature is kinda beautiful, ya know?
Visit www.theuntzfestival.com to snag your tickets, parking passes, RV spots, and most importantly those valuable car camping vouchers, and spread the news to your friends that The Untz Festival is back.
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