Earlier this month, I found myself back in Baltimore, Maryland attending Moonrise Music Festival for the second year in a row. I’d witnessed a handful of electronic music acts over the years, and attended music festivals since 2012, but it wasn’t until Moonrise 2015 that I truly discovered the wonderful world of electronic music events. There’s a seemingly endless amount of possibilities when you cross the threshold of one of these festivals, and for me, Moonrise was my electronic genesis. Needless to say, without my experience at Moonrise 2015, I wouldn’t have pursued the events that I have this past year, and I wouldn’t be writing about them today.
It’s crazy to imagine that just over a year ago I was attending Moonrise as a novice electronic music fan, and this year I was invited to attend as a member of the press.
At the first glance, the atmosphere inside the festival was one of joy and excitement. Looking around the grounds, it was hard to imagine this place existed in the middle of Northern Baltimore. It seemed that everywhere I went there were performers keeping us entertained ― extra-terrestrials on stilts towered above the festival goers, stopping to pose for pictures and entrance those around them. A number of cosmic decorations were scattered around the grounds, a crashed alien spaceship (complete with bursting tentacles) served as the festival’s centerpiece, just below the ferris wheel.
Despite the near one-hundred-degree weather, a sea of smiling faces was seen as I explored the world that Steez had created for me and my fellow attendees. I quickly dodged my way through the mass of ravers, determined to see what Apashe had in store. Already in the midst of an intense set, I made my way up onto the Solar Stage (affectionately known by Moonrise veterans as the “Bass Tent”) to catch as much as I could from the Kannibalen Records member.
Apashe roared through an exciting set that had the tent packed with more and more people as it progressed. The crowd, who had most likely heard of Apashe’s intense experience at Electric Forest, was ecstatic throughout the intense and driving mix of electro, dubstep, and bass house. It was only 2pm on the first day of the festival, and it seemed like every attendee was trying to cram themselves in the tent. By the time he’d finished, the roars from the fans below us were near deafening. A fantastic start to an incredible weekend of music.
Day one was packed with amazing acts including two of my personal favorites, GRiZ and Mija. GRiZ maintained his steady course of Future Funk tunes that combined his live sax instrumentation (alongside Muzzy Bearr on guitar) with heavy drops and dubstep vibes. There were a number of people I spoke to earlier in the day who had yet to see GRiZ perform live. After another funkin’ phenomenal display at Moonrise, I’m sure that every one of them will be sure to see him again.
Mija, though, went straight for the heavy filth and pure intensity of her brand of bass music. At the beginning of the summer, I had absolutely no idea who Mija was, but she’s already leap-frogging over a number of established acts as a force to be reckoned with. I had to make sure I was attending her set, and I was not disappointed. I stood toward the back of the Celestial Stage and watched as a number of attendees stopped in their tracks between stages and moved closer to the pink-haired bass queen that entranced them with her performance. That was one of the sets I wish had lasted just a little bit longer.
Other highlights from day one included Emancipator, Ghastly, Manic Focus, and of course Bassnectar ― whose set was a complete and utter divergence from what I’d previously experienced. For the first time since I’d attended my first Bassnectar set (one year earlier at Moonrise 2015), I thought I finally understood why the man is considered one of the greatest live producers in electronic music. Throughout the set there seemed to be no end to one song before the beginning of another; each piece was masterfully connected from one to the next, causing time to almost cease to exist. A bold claim indeed, but this short set rivaled the special event sets that I’d witnessed at Bass Center not a week prior.
By the time the last drop from Bassnectar’s set had completed, I was already anxious for more ― and day two was just around the corner.
The next day I approached Moonrise with a much less intensive game-plan. I had a couple artists I knew I wanted to catch in action, but I also wanted to let the day present itself in front of me, and lead me wherever it so desired. I grabbed a beer from one of the vendors, and wandered the grounds to see what I could find.
Most of the festival goers were back to their antics from the day before, fighting back the heat and making the most of the immersive world that had been created for them. Many guests seemed to have come a bit more prepared than the day before; wandering the grounds with spray bottles, relaxing on blankets toward the back of some stages, and finding any way they could to enjoy the day despite the oppressive sun. As I wandered past the Solar Tent, I noticed a large group of people had amassed away from any of the stages; I had stumbled upon a dance contest being held by D.C.’s Echostage venue. The winner would receive a season pass to the venue’s events for the rest of the year. The crowd cheered and clapped as a group of dancers in the middle were fiercely showing off their best moves with hopes of securing the grand prize.
I made a couple more laps before I ended up at San Holo’s set (once again at the Solar Stage) and didn’t make it much further than that. I’d only ever heard the name before, but now that I’d seen him performing live, I knew I’d be keeping an eye on the Dutch producer. I’m a huge fan of Trap music, and the way that San Holo was able to weave his set kept me enthralled from start to finish. He was not only able to keep my attention glued to his awesome mix, but he was also able to give me a fresh perspective on future bass, a genre that I’d given a chance a few times before, but which hadn’t ever grabbed my interest.
After San Holo, I was able to catch another one of my favorite producers: funky lo-fi-mastermind Gramatik, who instantly instilled a new level of energy in the festival’s patrons. Cruising through a blend of originals and collaborations (including some from his time working with GRiZ as “GRiZmatik”) the man’s cool demeanor rubbed off on the dancing crowd before him. The sun began to set, and the heat began to subside.
I made my way to the Solar Tent again to catch NGHTMRE, who has been putting in an insane amount of work this year on a number of big-name festivals. I’d caught him at Electric Forest, and was excited to see what he had put together for Moonrise ― it seemed that every set of his was getting bigger and more intense, and it mirrored his exponential rise in the Electronic world. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who was excited to see him, as the crowd was overflowing from underneath the tent before he even went on.
After roaring through his set and finishing to massive cheers from the crowd, the sun was setting and the lights and sounds of Moonrise’s second day were reaching their climax. I caught some of STS9’s electro-jams, Caspa & Rusko’s education in Dubstep history, and Jauz’s hard-hitting combination of genre-bending bangers. It was the perfect segue from dusk into night before checking out the final pair of headliners of the festival: Electro-House phenom Zedd, and Excision ― the master of mechanical mayhem.
The two producers offered completely opposing views of the electronic music world. Zedd’s main-stage show offered a plethora of soaring synths that kept the crowd bopping and dancing; many of my house-oriented friends who were in attendance left the set raving about how his shows keep getting better and better. On the other end of the grounds, Excision flexed his insane bass-driven production to a crowd of headbanging freaks. Twenty foot streams of fire shot through the night sky in tandem with Excision’s downright animalistic beats. Switching between dubstep-like wobbles and shock-inducing distorted sounds, Excision stole the show for night two, and provided a finale whose aftershock can probably still be felt in the area surrounding Pimlico.
Moonrise 2015 introduced me to a new world, and the past twelve months have helped me establish myself as an electronic music fan. Moonrise 2016 proved to me that Baltimore’s annual festival is a source of magic that will keep growing, building, and improving upon itself for years to come. As we left through the same tunnel we’d arrived in that weekend, I thought to myself one thing: Moonrise is mandatory.
