Enviornment images by Brandon Densley for Skyline. Cover image by Jamal Eid for Skyline.

The production overhaul this year was the most striking change beyond the venue itself, and each stage was visually stunning in a way that felt intentional instead of decorative. Our four venues here are Eastside, Westside, Downtown, and Arts District, all repping a distinct style and only a stones throw away from their actual namesake. Naturally each was designed to serve the particular energy of the acts they nurtured. 

Eastside leaned hard into a techno-industrial aesthetic that drew from the actual power lines, metallic and harsh geometry it was pocketed between. Downtown and Arts District operated similarly. The former, hosted in partnership with Resident Advisor, leaned experimental and selective. Arts District championed local and rising talent, giving the festival’s community roots a physical stage. Together the four stages morphed together like Voltron and created something greater than each part individually. 

The line up was a blur, and I found myself unfamiliar with most of the artists featured this year. It was a learning experience that I admit was a bit daunting, especially walking into the festival grounds. Quickly though, I learned. Danny Daze and Ryan Elliott brought the kind of complementary chemistry that B2Bs promise but rarely deliver. Two selectors with distinct sensibilities trading off in a way that felt conversational albeit a bit competitive as well.  Beltran, over on the Eastside stage, spun with rhythmic confidence, with a great track selection. 

Adrián Mills brought an explosive energy: channeling trance and bass influences into sets that felt propulsive and alive. I Hate Models has been blowing up the past year, and their urgent and powerful set was dangerously close to gabber than I thought they would dare.

It was Eli Brown on the Eastside stage for me though that took the evening. Weaving together trance, bass, and classic house records with a sense of narrative that DJs only manage in their best club sets. Pyrotechnic-lined transitions, the crowd responding in real time to the build-release, and everyone in that space knowing they were adjacent to something special. Brown played like someone with something to prove and by the end  it was beyond a shadow of a doubt. 

Gay Felony‘s vinyl-only set at the Arts District stage was massive. At the risk of sounding like everyone on Earth, there’s something magnetic about watching an artist work with wax. The deliberate physicality of it, the commitment each selection requires. It’s terrifying. Gay Felony made that format feel like a statement: a warm, textured, bouncy and deeply engaged set with raw craft at the forefront.

Gay Felony by Scott Hutchinson for Skyline.

Skyline’s greatest asset this year was the crowd. Every person I met over the weekend was open, friendly, laughing and genuinely happy to be there. There was a sense of mutual care running through the whole event: people checking on each other, sharing water, sharing dances and lighting up the blackened sky. The festival felt safe in the way that the best underground parties feel safe, not for lack of heavy-handed security but because the community itself holds the room. Los Angeles is all right, man. Everyone was there for the music, and that shared purpose created something that’s hard to manufacture. Skyline’s fifth anniversary was a rebirth. The move to Ace Mission Studios gave the festival more of an identity, and it added up to something that felt unmistakably like Los Angeles. The underground culture Skyline was built to celebrate. 

I walked out in shambles. Ringing ears and sore legs, completely shattered to the core. Dead to the world. Catch you next year.

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In addition to the three stages we’ve seen last year (West Side, East Side, Arts District stage), the organisers are adding a new, Downtown stage. The new stage will be hosted in partnership with Resident Advisor, creating a warehouse stage environment. This new stage allows Skyline to expand its full experience to over ten hours of music per day, welcoming over sixty artists, marking this its most ambitious sonic offering yet. 

The Resident Advisor stage will welcome techno’s pioneering and influential figures, Richie Hawtin, Ben UFO, genre-defying DJ and producer Avalon Emerson, the raw energy of MCR-T, global clubland favourite SPFDJ, and the experimental productions of Nick León and Verraco. Here, attendees will also find back-to-back sets including Danny Daze B2B Ryan Elliott and Jyoty B2B Zack Fox, Germany’s tINI, plus a range of emerging names.

On the East Side stage lineup this year are Spanish standout Dennis Cruz, Up The Stuss label head and tastemaker Chris Stussy, Brazilian fire starter Beltran, the LA-born-and-bred Hank, and dynamic back-to-backs bridging rave-ready sounds and groove-driven house from The Blessed Madonna B2B HAAi and Toman B2B Miguelle & Tons. 

The West Side stage will be host to the hard techno duo 999999999, longstanding dance music globe trotter Joseph Capriati, Polish techno vanguardist VTSS, versatile selector Quest, among others. Added highlights include the emotionally charged stylings of DJ Seinfeld, genre fluid architect Ahmed Spins, Tunnel Worldwide founder OZA, and rising acts fumi, ChaseWest, Dee Diggs, and Wakyin.

Learn more and buy passes on skylinefest.com.

Cover image by Jamal Eid for Insomniac Events.

Travelling for the event? Find a hotel in Downtown LA

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People thought it would get canceled, I’m kind of surprised it didn’t. All were on board to brave the rain and mud amidst greyscale skies. Perhaps the cold energized our constituency. Everyone’s attire was hardly updated to reflect the harsh weather. Day one was brutal – half of the grounds were closed until 3 hours in, resulting in Layla Benitez playing the longest set possibly of the entire weekend. Her 150-minute show kept people occupied and gave folks a reason to bundle up with each other. Good practice for her upcoming Lighting in a Bottle set in May. There was warmth deep within the crowds. The bounce was the answer: just keep moving.

I think somewhere between Michael Bibi and Eli & Fur I got lost in thought about why every west coast electronic festival is destined to fall on the receiving end of the most frigid weather California has to offer. Albeit, subjectively cold – Canadians can laugh at me all they want I don’t care. Countdown Festival had to battle through the same tribulations. Why must 2023 throw us such curve snowballs, I whispered to myself while E&F played an actually very impressive mix at the West stage. This song, in particular, is where it’s at. Having only passed by them briefly last year, I’m happy to have them cohabitating in my playlists nowadays.

The journey there was notable as well. Crowds were packed to get to the West stage because its opening was delayed, resulting in a gaggle of noise heads basically just loitering for 2 hours. Waiting for that opportunity to get the front row in a completely new zone. And so it was. The sound was better on that side as well; the East side was not adequately shielded from the rain enough. I’m not sure if that made the bass sound muddy but it sure was less thorough. In that sense, the West stage was the main stage – bold, brash, and baritone.

Day Two cleared up a little, with even a bit of sun there to remind us we’re still in the solar system. Shiba San was possibly my favorite Sunday set – a friend of the mag Mau P made a vicarious appearance through the latter mix. “Drugs in Amsterdam” played in tandem with Alice Deejay’s timeless “Better Off Alone” was a hit and a half, really impressive mixing there. I covered Monsieur Frazier extensively in our Skyline preview article, he and the entire Understated Recordings are worth writing home about. Pure Los Angeles house crafted with loving ears and test-driven in quaint, seedy warehouses across the county. Was awesome to see Insomniac throw some love in that direction, even just a little.

Diplo closed the weekend with a rare, mostly pure, house set. He also apparently was watching The Last of Us at the same time as his mix, because if you’re at that level you can kind of just hang out and do whatever. It’s like seeing a Disclosure CDJ set in 2014 – regardless of how big your debut album was, it doesn’t mean you have to learn how to DJ. It’s like a free-money glitch.

But his set struck a balance between regular Diplo antics and honorable house cuts. I think I even heard that Skrillex/Missy Elliot collab in there somewhere. The man is a showman. He plays songs that garner reactions regardless of how indulgent or crass they may be. He’s like a wedding DJ on amphetamines, and if that’s a hot take then ask yourself who else would play a Crank That remixes outside of matrimony.   

Skyline Fest is worth your time because if we had to experience the most difficult version of it, a year with proper weather will go even harder. The best part is that Skyline is not just in one place: Chicago and Orlando share the experience as well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Insomniac tailors this to even more pockets of the world. Keep in the loop at their website and Instagram, and maybe peruse Insomniacs’ 24/7 twitch channel in the meantime.

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