We shout out our favourites from around the world in June.
10.
Junction 2
Boston Manor Park, London, UK
June 10
Junction 2 was always going to be a killer festival. Now in its second year, the one-dayer is the brainchild of London Warehouse Events, a promoter who knows a thing or two about throwing a great party. Stage partners include The Hydra, Drumcode and, new for 2017, Time Warp and Into The Woods, expanding the site from three stages to five. The lineup has more than doubled in size, with the likes of Adam Beyer, Tale Of Us, Ben Klock, Maceo Plex, Joseph Capriati, Jane Fitz, Willow and Daphni all heading to West London's Boston Manor Park, a striking location nestled beneath the M4 motorway with no sound restrictions.
RA Pick: Few handle big festival stages better than Ben Klock.
09.
Southport Weekender Festival
Finsbury Park, London, UK
June 10
"Weekender 52 is the final Southport Weekender." With this announcement in 2015, it seemed a UK tradition was coming to a close. For nearly three decades, Southport Weekender had been among the country's most unique and beloved events, rooted in the era of soul weekenders but encompassing everything from house to disco to drum & bass. Now Southport is back, albeit in a more compact form. Rather than engulfing Butlins Minehead for a long weekend, the comeback edition will take place over one day at Finsbury Park—its first time in London. Beyond that, though, it's the same eclectic hootenanny we know and love, with iconic acts like Danny Krivit, Joey Negro, Derrick Carter and LTJ Bukem alongside younger guns like Anthony Naples and Culoe De Song.
RA Pick: It's gotta be Tony Humphries, the New York house legend and longtime Southport favourite.
08.
AVA Festival
T13, Belfast, Northern Ireland
June 2 - June 4
There's no clearer sign of a festival's success than the move to make the whole thing longer, which is exactly what AVA Festival are doing this year, expanding from one day to two. Part exhibition, part conference and part rave, the Belfast weekender elegantly blends visual arts with the best of modern house and techno. By day, attendees can soak up the wisdom of veterans such as Jeff Mills and Leftfield's Neil Barnes at one of AVA's many talks, or drop into a tech workshop by Ableton or Native Instruments. When you're ready to let your hair down, you can find high flyers like Marcel Dettmann, Job Jobse and Denis Sulta spinning on AVA's impressive waterfront stages.
RA Pick: Bicep on home turf.
07.
Terraforma
Villa Arconati, Italy
June 23 - June 25
Terraforma's ambitions are as admirable as they are lofty. Their stated aim is to create atmospheres that make attendees listen to music differently. They construct neon-lit paths stretching through the woods of the Villa Arconati, opening onto grassy clearings spotted with tipis. Great care goes into creating the festival's special aura, but it's the music, of course, that fuels Terraforma. With Objekt, Mala, Gerald Donald's Arpanet, Gas and Rashad Becker on board for 2017, this year's edition is bound for dance floor transcendence.
RA Pick: As the authors of an exquisite 12-inch called Woodlandscene, Dresvn seem a natural choice for this forest festival.
06.
Gottwood
Carreglwyd Estate, Wales, UK
June 8 - June 12
What is it with Wales, isolated manor estates and hedonistic weekenders? Like Freerotation, Gottwood demands its attendees travel away from urban centres into rural isolation. But an ever expanding number of people are willing to go the extra mile. Gottwood's atmosphere is key to its burgeoning reputation, and it's invested in enhancing the finer points of the experience. They've gone in on better soundsystems and a sprawling lineup that manages to go in-depth on a variety of sounds, from Zip-school house to Loefah's bass music.
RA Pick: Get trippy in style with Francesco Del Garda.
05.
Field Day
Victoria Park, London, UK
June 3
Soon, trucks and construction workers will arrive in East London's Victoria Park to build The Barn, a "gigantic, hangar-like construction" that's being used at this year's edition of Field Day. Inside this Barn you'll find, among other things, Aphex Twin, making a rare live appearance in London. Another talking point of Field Day 2017 is the festival's scaled-down format, with everything happening on one day instead of two. Happily, the streamlined programme still overflows with amazing music, with Flying Lotus, ABRA and Stranger Things soundtrackers S U R V I V E just a few of the most intriguing acts.
RA Pick: The RA stage is looking pretty hot, if we can say so ourselves.
04.
Into The Valley
Rummu, Estonia
June 29 - July 1
Estonia is about the same size as the Netherlands but with a fraction of the population. This means there's plenty of open space, which is how Into The Valley ended up with a jaw-dropping place like Rummu, a submerged limestone quarry that feels like a tropical alien landscape. Into The Valley sets up there for three nights starting in late June, and it will be Estonia's biggest-ever house and techno event. It has a killer lineup to match to occasion, with house minimalists such as Ricardo Villalobos, Praslesh and Sonja Moonear sharing the bill with veterans like Regis, Function and DJ Stingray.
RA Pick: Cobblestone Jazz's live show should bring the house down.
03.
Love International Festival
The Garden Tisno, Croatia
June 28 - July 5
There's something deeply comforting about Love International. Every year, groups of friends have returned to this weeklong party in Croatia (and its predecessor, The Garden Festival) knowing exactly what they'll see (friendly faces, sunshine) and hear (feel-good disco and house). The festival has its routine down to a tee, and so do the attendees. Days are wiled away dancing on boats and lounging by the Adriatic, while nights coast by under the stars at Barbarellas. Few festivals can so confidently promise such a fulfilling experience.
RA Pick: Whether it's Italian house, oddball gems or Womack & Womack, Young Marco always pulls out the right tune at the right moment.
02.
Glastonbury
Worthy Farm, Pilton, UK
June 21 - June 26
Having been around for nearly half a century, Glastonbury would seem quite permanent at this point but in fact, there always seems to be questions about its future. There's a new event called The Variety Bazaar planned at a new location sometime after 2018, and it only seems certain that Glastonbury will happen again at its spiritual home, Worthy Farm, in 2020. All the more reason to make the trek for the festival's 35th edition, which, as usual, presents a vast panorama of pop music's zeitgeist, with heavy-hitters like Radiohead and The xx on the big stages and dozens of underground house, techno, disco and bass DJs (Blawan, Steffi, Masters At Work, Midland, Felix Dickinson) in the festival's many dance music areas, from The Beat Hotel and Silver Hayes to the otherworldly Block9.
RA Pick: You have to make it to NYC Downlow at least once.
01.
Sónar
Barcelona, Spain
June 15 - June 18
More than most people realise, electronic music owes a huge debt to Sónar. Back in the mid-'90s, when the Barcelona giant was born, dance music festivals were considered avant-garde. Today, they're commonplace, with hundreds of events all over the world. Despite fierce competition on an ever-changing playing field, Sónar remains on top more than two decades later. The secret is the team's future-facing approach, which extends from the production to the artwork to Sónar+D, the festival's dedicated industry conference. It's the bookings, though, that win the most plaudits, an annual smorgasbord of electronic talent big and small. More than 140 acts will grace nine stages in 2017, from heavy-hitters like Nicolas Jaar, Nina Kraviz, Moderat and Eric Prydz at Sónar By Night, to Total Freedom and Deena Abdelwahed at SónarXS, a new stage for up-and-coming artists at Sónar By Day. The bonus, of course, is that all this takes place in one of Europe's most charming metropolises.
RA Pick: Join Resident Advisor at SónarLab on Saturday, when we'll be hosting debut back-to-back sets from Hunee and Daphni, and Marcel Dettmann and Dr. Rubinstein.
See our full festival listings for June right here.
Comments loading