By: Cole Epley

The Untz Presents: Summer 2010 Festival Preview, Vol. I

The most comprehensive previews of the hottest electronic festivals this summer!

Welcome to the first installment of The Untz’s Summer 2010 Festival Preview. We’ve worked long and hard to research the hottest, most in-demand electronic music festivals this summer has to offer and we’re proud to finally present it to you—the fans! Below, you’ll find summarized blurbs about each of the 10 scintillating festivals which comprise our first volume of previews.

This initial bunch of festivals features events from all around the country—from Northern California to the Mid-Atlantic, from the Ozarks of Arkansas to the riverfront of Detroit and from the lakes of Minnesota to the streets of L.A. We’re positive that you’ll find The Untz to be your premier source for the most bass-infused, face-melting electronic festivals this summer has to offer.

The following festivals are introduced in chronological order from earliest (late May) to latest (late June) and are fully linked up for your informational satisfaction…satisfaction. So, without further ado, shall we get started?

Festi di Bella Vida – May 28-30, 2010

Harmony Park – Geneva, Minnesota

Nestled into the serenity and cool comfort of southern Minnesota, this year’s Festi di Bella Vida is bound to satiate even the most eclectic of musical tastes. Attendees this year will find themselves immersed in a hodgepodge of musical diversity and a lineup featuring genres running the gamut from house to reggae-fusion, from classic rock icons to livetronica. Headliners EOTO and Pretty Lights will make Bella Vida worth the admission price, and if that isn’t enough for electronic aficionados, add Ana Sia, BoomBox, and a little camping on serene, centuries-old Indian fishing grounds, and you’ve found yourself smack in the middle of Festi di Bella Vida 2010.

Lightning In A Bottle Festival – May 28-31, 2010

Oak Canyon Ranch – Irvine, California

In its ninth year, LIB rouses itself from a yearlong hiatus to prove that lightning can and will indeed strike again. Make your Memorial Day weekend exponentially more memorable and join the thunder of the 6,000 LIB attendees to bear witness to the sound and fury of almost 80 acts, including Berlin’s electro/house duo Booka Shade, UK breaks vanguard Adam Freeland, Bluetech’s Satori Special, EOTO, Big Gigantic, An-Ten-Nae, The Glitch Mob and Beats Antique. Free workshops, live art installations, dance troupes, surprise acoustic jam sessions and three robust stages of music are sure to make Lightning in a Bottle over Memorial Day weekend a hot product.

Movement: Detroit Electronic Music Festival – May 29-31, 2010

Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit, Michigan

For 10 years, electronic fans have made the journey to the Motor City, revered as the Mecca and birthplace of techno, for Movement: The Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Organizers anticipate 2010’s festival to be as big as it has ever been, with estimates eclipsing last year’s event draw of over 83,000 electronic music fans from across the continent and beyond. Attendees this year can expect nearly 100 artists performing from noon to midnight every day on four scintillating stages of pulse-pounding electronic bliss. Headliners include Plastikman and Model 500, and you won’t want to miss live sets by Booka Shade, Ghostland Observatory, Pretty Lights, Chi-town’s Derrick Carter, Canada’s Excision, Simian Mobile Disco and Martyn.

Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival (Interstellar Meltdown)– June 3-6, 2010 (FEATURED FESTIVAL)

Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, Arkansas

With the incorporation of the much-anticipated Interstellar Meltdown (sub) festival, Wakarusa promises to impart an electronic experience unlike any other to be found on this continent. Expect main-stage sonic rapture from STS9, Disco Biscuits and Bassnectar, then hot-foot it on over to the Outpost and Satellite Stages, where nearly 50 separate electronic artists and DJs will convene to blast festival-goers into interstellar overdrive via two late-night stages. EOTO, Big Gigantic, Boombox, Lotus, Dubtribe Sound System and James Zabiela will all be working the Outpost Stage into a frenzy, while Mark Farina, Mimosa, Kraak & Smaak, Spacemen and Bluetech throw beat-infested tomahawks into the heads of those at Satellite Stage.

We are thrilled to give away two tickets to this years Wakarusa Festival. Click here to win.  Ends 5/24/10.

Bobolink Music Festival 2010 – June 4-6, 2010 (FEATURED FESTIVAL)

Belden Town Resort & Lodge – Belden, California

Nestled deeply in the serene Sierra Madre mountain range of Northern Cali, Bobolink once again delivers a potent lineup of electronic artists from all walks of life. EOTO are the top draw at the 2010 festival and will be featured alongside the likes a Friday night Basscamp triple-stack of an-ten-nae, VibesquaD and Emancipator. Also on the bill will be electronic beatmeisters David Starfire, Marty Party, ill.gates and Lynx & Janover. Click here to find out why Northern California is the place to be for this summer’s Bobolink Music Festival.

The 12^th Annual Starscape Festival – June 5, 2010

Fort Armistead Park – Baltimore, Maryland

The biggest Mid-Atlantic party of the year will not be the 4^th of July—rather, count on that honor going to the 12^th Annual Starscape Festival, which will be throwing down all day and night on June 5, 2010. Starscape’s lineup this year reads more like a who’s who in the electronic scene, and features five stages of music and live entertainment including Lotus, Two Fresh, The Disco Biscuits, Charles Feelgood, Pretty Lights, Wolfgang Gartner and Future Rock among the 40-odd artists poised to dust the cobwebs out of attendees’ heads for the day-long soiree. Find out more about this year’s event here.

The Big Bounce at Belden Festival – June 18-21, 2010 (FEATURED FESTIVAL)

Belden Town Resort & Lodge – Belden, California

Two weeks separate the two very special events happening at Belden Town Resort & Lodge this summer—the perfect amount of time to catch up, recover and regroup for round two at the Big Bounce at Belden! Emerging from humble beginnings, the Big Bounce at Belden returns this year to deliver an all-star cast of electronic artists from all reaches of the continent and beyond: Dubtribe Sound System will be making their only stop in California this summer at the Big Bounce, and you won’t want to miss Beats Antique, Sub Swara, VibesquaD, DJ Vadim, MiMOSA, Random Rab, Kraddy or MartyParty! Check out the full preview and follow the links for all you’ll need to know.

We are excited to give away two tickets to this years Big Bounce on June 18th, 19th, and 20th. Click here to win.  Ends 5/29/10.

Red Marines Music Festival – June 18-20, 2010 (FEATURED FESTIVAL)

Indian Valley Reservoir, California

In its sixth year from conception, the Red Marines Music Festival will again convene at Indian Valley Reservoir to celebrate those things which we hold most dear in life: friends, family, love and music. World-class sound and visual production and organization again bring Red Marines to the foreground to showcase such mind-transforming acts as Cosmosis, Electronarcosis, Denmark’s Jahbo, Alex Theory, Liam Shy and the Bay Area’s own Chlorophil. For less than $100, you too can be a part of this very special event: read the full preview to find out how.

Sonic Bloom Music Festival – June 25-27, 2010 (FEATURED FESTIVAL)

Mishawaka Amphitheater in Poudre Canyon – Bellevue, Colorado

Undoubtedly the most revered electronic festival Colorado has to offer, this summer’s Sonic Bloom Festival features a hard-hitting lineup of many of the hottest electronic acts from near and far: EOTO, VibesquaD, Zilla, Big Gigantic, Eskmo, Jantsen and Evan Bluetech, among others. The Rocky Mountain way will surely be better than the way we had: Sonic Bloom features electronic genres ranging from dubstep to downtempo to hip hop and psychedelic, and then some. And if the music isn’t enough of a fix for you bass-hungry thrill seekers, try your hand at any one of the available mountain-friendly activities including rock climbing, whitewater rafting and bouldering.

ENTER to WIN a chance to DJ at Sonic Bloom!

Electric Daisy Carnival: Los Angeles 2010 – June 25-26, 2010

Exposition Park & Memorial Coliseum in downtown Los Angeles, California

Over the last weekend in June, the L.A. Coliseum will once again host the wildest, freakiest, most out-of-your-mind carnival experience you could expect to find on this side of the looking glass—complete with full-scale carnival rides, five stages, over 70 world-class artists and well over 100,000 companions with whom to revel in the festivities, the Electric Daisy Carnival: L.A. promises to be one of the most outrageously fun electronic festivals in the hemisphere. Deadmau5 is among the top of the bill for this year’s event and will be joined by the likes of Armin van Buuren, Groove Armada, Benny Benassi, Moby, Kaskade and MSTRKRFT; stay tuned to The Untz for the full event lineup and schedule. In the meantime, get the rest of the dirt on EDC: L.A. right here.