Imagine Music Fest: Official Schedule Release & 1 Week Countdown

Photo Credit: Imagine Music Festival Facebook

Written by: Rebecca Hollman

Imagine Music Festival is a home-grown EDM festival based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Imagine was created from the local Atlanta EDM event and promotion company Iris Presents. Iris has been throwing electronic parties in Atlanta for over 20 years and has played an integral part in the Atlanta and Southeast rave scene. Iris hosts weekly shows called ESP101 that brings in big name producers from all over the world.

Iris started Imagine Festival in 2013 as a smaller two-day city festival located in the outside section of the Masquerade Music Park. Even in 2013, Imagine had an insane lineup filled with all sorts of diverse producers and this continues today. Everything else about Imagine has changed though, from its location to the size, to the production level, and everything in between. Now Imagine has transformed into a full-blown, 3-day, camping festival located at the Atlanta Motor Speedway with 5 stages and tons of art installations, merch vendors, food vendors, workshops, and amazing music that could compete with any other major EDM festival in the US.

Imagine just released the official schedule so check out Festival Squad’s suggested day by day schedule and 5 underground artists you shouldn’t miss at this year’s Imagine below.

THE ULTIMATE IMAGINE SCHEDULE

This year’s Imagine lineup is packed with huge headliners like Armin van Buuren, Alesso, Bassnectar, Kaskade, and Zeds Dead. Not only do they have massive headliners, but the lineup is also filled to the brim with amazing smaller name artists from across all genres of EDM. The lineup highlights local Atlanta talent and showcases tons of Atlanta producers. Most of the Six Feathers stage is filled with sets from local talent.

Check out Festival Squad’s suggested schedule below so you can experience the most diverse range of sets at Imagine- from big headliners to small underground names, and from house to bass and everything in between.

Friday

Start off Friday afternoon with some of Atlanta’s own, Corey von Waters on the Aeria stage and Exit 9 on the Disco Inferno stage. From there, stick to the Disco Inferno stage for a couple sets of experimental alien bass from Andy Bruh, Shlump, Protohype and Joker. Try to catch at least half of either the Glitch Mob’s set on the Oceania stage or Weiss’s set on the Aeria stage between Protohype and Joker. Head back to Disco Inferno, for a heavy trippy bass set from Boogie T b2b SQUNTO. End out the night with Noisia, three Dutch producers who have been producing drum n bass for years and have now expanded into more experimental, slow and low bass. If you’re more into trance, head to the Oceania stage to close the night out with the king of trance Armin van Buuren. After music ends at 3 AM, make sure to check out the silent disco stage for sets from local talent and surprise guests that go until 7 AM.

Saturday

Kick off your Saturday with an early afternoon trippy bass set from Zen Selekta. From there head to the Aeria stage to check out a little bit of the drum n bass takeover or walk around and explore the art installations and vendors. Head back to the Amazonia stage to catch another trippy bass set from Levitation Jones. Switch it up from bass to house by going to Green Velvet’s curated stage at the Disco Inferno for a minimal tech house set from Latmun. Stay for the beginning of Walker & Royce – the minimal tech house duo famous for their track “Take Me to Your Leader.” Halfway through Walker & Royce, head back to Amazonia for the future bass artist Ekali. Stick around for a future house/indie dance set from Jai Wolf before heading back to Disco Inferno for the king of tech house himself- Green Velvet. Follow up the king of house’s set with a set from the king of bass- Bassnectar. Bassnectar just released the third part of his three-part album Reflective and will most likely be playing tons of fresh, new tracks at Imagine. Finish out the entire Bassnectar set on the main Oceania stage and then catch the rest of the Zhu set back on Amazonia. After Zhu, finish up your day by watching the rest of Alesso’s old school main stage house set on the Oceania stage. If you’re still feeling like a million bucks by the time Alesso ends at 3 AM, you can always go check out the artists at the silent disco until 7 AM.

Sunday

Sunday is jam-packed with artists and is the shortest day, ending at midnight instead of 3 AM like Friday and Saturday. Naturally, this is going to lead to more artists conflicts so be prepared to hop around from stage to stage. Start off Sunday with an afternoon bass set from the local Atlanta producer, Midnite Panda. From there, stick around for the first half of Getter’s set but then head to Amazonia for the second half of the Yheti b2b Toadface experimental bass set. After, catch another local Atlanta set from the awesome deep house duo Halogen. Stay at the Disco Inferno for most of Wax Motif’s G house/bass house set. From there, head to Oceania to watch a set from the iconic bass duo – Zeds Dead. Zeds Dead is famous for their iconic dubstep sound back in 2010-2012 dubstep years, and have now made a comeback and have transitioned into the more weird realm of experimental bass. They have also been promoting and curating tons of new artists on their record label Deadbeats so this set will be weird, fresh, and one for the books. After Zeds Dead, check out an ambient but extremely trippy set from Shpongle on Amazonia. This will be unlike any other set all weekend and I highly recommend getting weird at this Shpongle set. From there, it’s a toss-up between Kaskade, Griz, and EDX based on what subgenre of EDM is your cup of tea. Head to Kaskade if you want an old school trance and main stage house fusion, Griz if you want some funky saxophone jams and bass fusion, and EDX if you want a melodic, deep house set. After any of these three artists, head back to the Heldeep curated Disco Inferno for Oliver Heldens to close out the night with a banger deep house set. Even though music ends at midnight on Sunday, the silent disco runs all the way until 7 AM with smaller, local talent.

5 UNDERGROUND ARTISTS YOU CAN’T MISS AT THIS YEAR’S IMAGINE

1. Ivy Lab

Ivy Lab, a duo from London, is known for being at the leading edge of the UK bass music scene and for producing experimental future beats utilizing hip-hop and drum machine electronica. They are currently releasing their tracks on their own record label, 20/20 LDN, as well as on Bassrush, Mixmag and Critical Music. Check out their SoundCloud page here

2. Weiss

Weiss is a minimal tech house producer from London that regularly produces and releases music on the famous record label, Dirtybird. He is an up and coming name in the house scene and is heavily supported by the Dirtybird label, playing at both Dirtybird Campout East and West Coast. Check out his SoundCloud page here

3. Wax Motif

An Australian-born producer, based out of Sydney and now also Los Angeles, Wax Motif is known for his mixture of G-house and hard-hitting bass house. He adds influences of rap, RnB, and UK dub into his sound creating a truly unique style. He has produced tracks with the likes of AC Slater, Dillon Francis, Destructo, and many others. Check out his SoundCloud page here

4. Shlump

Based out of Santa Cruz, California, Shlump is known for his experimental sound that he calls “alien bass music.” Shlump releases music on the experimental bass record labels Wakaan and also TRUTH’s record label Deep, Dark and Dangerous. Check out his SoundCloud page here.

5. Latmun

Latmun is a minimal techno/tech-house producer from Nottingham, United Kingdom. Latmun produces and releases tracks on record labels like Repopulate Mars and Relief Records, and has worked with the likes of Camelphat, Green Velvet, and many others. Check out his SoundCloud page here

LEARN MORE ABOUT IMAGINE

Learn more about how to get there, camping FAQs, and general information at the Imagine website and purchase tickets here.

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