Considered one of the most popular contemporary art and music festivals in the world, Magnetic Fields celebrates a decade with its 10th edition in December 2024.
The lineup for this milestone edition echoes the festival’s commitment to showcase diverse and future-facing sounds from India and around the world, including sounds and voices that have set the electronic music and adjacent landscape abuzz in recent years with their craft and sound. Today, the festival has declared the artiste lineup:
The Jameson Connects South Stage on the palace lawns hosts some of modern electronica’s most exciting acts, both from India and around the globe. Like one of electronic music’s brightest lights Sofia Kourtesis and German-Italian composer David August. Joining them are Tom VR, whose music traverses atmospheric textural house, euphoric techno and experimental soundscapes, New York-based contemporary musician and composer Shubh Saran, highly acclaimed Bristol quintet who make psychedelic funk disco Cousin Kula, and Takeshi’s Cashew, Viennese musicians who explore the boundaries of club culture, Anatolian funk, and 1970s psychedelia. Paris-based duo Ko Shin Moon bring their otherworldly sound – self-described as where psychedelia meets space disco – to Alsisar alongside the lo-fi and psychedelic soundscapes of Delhi-based band DEE EN, chill R&B producer Tushar Mathur, Delhi-based electronica pop producer SULTAN.
A highlight every year for the confluence of cultures and sounds, festival commission and residency Fieldlines will feature London-based dubstep DJ and producer V.I.V.E.K (live) and celebrated Rajasthani folk musicians like Alser Khan on the saranda, Kutla Khan (dholak and harmonium), Kambhra Khan (murli and algoza) and bapang players Mahmud and Yusuf Khan.
The South Stage will also see the long-awaited return of producer Sid Vashi, who will debut a live set titled Unreleased, and Indian producer Panelia’s new audio-visual live set.
The BUDx North Stage is the home of dance, featuring DJs and producers that have established themselves as pioneers of a certain style or sound. Over the past few years, the night stage has become a platform where rapidly rising sensations and up-and-coming names introduce Indian audiences to fresh and diverse sounds.
This year leading the charge on the North Stage will be a brigade of mint fresh dance music talents like London-based DJ, producer and label A&R Ahadadream, one of the leading tastemakers in the UK club scene; New York-based Nikki Nair who is an expert at cross-genre blending, braiding techno, UKG, breakbeats and more with dexterous ease; Nick León, a part of a newer generation of Miami producers who are redefining contemporary dance music, and Berlin-based selector and producer Gene on Earth, whose slick, warm and wonky melodies that hit sweet spot between blissed-out rhythms and undulating basslines has made him a name those-in-the-know regard highly.
The stage also hosts CCL, a DJ’s DJ and a named revered in clubland and whose borderless sound is rooted in the pulse of dub and the thrum of UK dance music as well ‘Andes-Step’ pioneer, music anthropologist and inventive music producer Nicola Cruz, whose music is an exploration of ancient mythologies and folkloric traditions in a modern setting. Nicola Cruz will close out the North Stage on Sunday.
Opening the festival on Friday afternoon at Ray-Ban Desert Oasis stage and welcoming attendees on site will be the diverse sonic stylings of Delhi-based crate digger Digging in India & Friends (Hong Kong-based DJ, promoter, and community organiser Ani Phoebe and Chicago-based beatmaker/producer Lapgan). On Saturday afternoon, the diehard diggers and back-to-back masters Berlin-based duo The Ghost, who are known for playing hard-to-find tracks, take over the desert stage for an extended set – the only kind they like playing. Curator, radio host and globetrotting DJ, Moe will kick off the show on Sunday morning with London-based DJ, festival organiser and musician Poly-Ritmo to follow and a special set filled with sun-kissed house spun by Gene on Earth.
The garden, which turns into a dancer’s dream come nightfall, will feature late-night, lively sets from beatmakers that inform and entertain crowds in equal measure.
Leading the charge at BUDxYARD will be a bonafide selector of the highest calibre, Jane Fitz, a London-born DJ who has been subtly shaping the sound of British dance floors — and far beyond — for nearly three decades. Joining her will be DJ and Rinse FM regular, Jay Carder whose selections are a concoction of heavy leftfield and lighter psychedelic sounds; the Seattle-raised, NYC-based artist livwutang who honed her skills at DIY raves and pirate radio and is now a regular at cult clubs and festivals across North America; Sao Paulo-based Brazilian producer RHR whose darkly-tinted blend of electro, techno and baile funk has caught the right ears over the past couple of years; dubstep DJ and producer and System Music honcho V.I.V.E.K’s chest-rattling records will set the garden off while Indian DJs Nik and Bombie will make their Magnetic Fields debut at the garden stage which will host its first-ever DJ and producer from Nepal, YNZN.
London-based influential UK dubstep label Hyperdub changed the face of electronic music since its launch as a webzine in 1999 by Steve Goodman aka Kode9. Innovative, iconic producers like Burial, DJ Rashad, Scratcha DVA, Ikonika, and more have called the label home when the digital publication became a label 20 years ago in 2004.
In 2024, the legendary label marks its 20th anniversary with a special showcase at Magnetic Fields featuring the label founder and producer Kode9 alongside label regular, DJ and producer Scratchclart (AKA as Scratcha DVA) for the Ray-Ban secret party on Friday night.
One of the highlights of the festival, the Resident Advisor Saturday night throwdown has come to assume special status, and in 2023, it hosts one of dance music’s breakout stars, the Ghana-born, London-bred and now Berlin-based Yazzus whose high-energy sets ping pong from electro and early hardcore to dark room techno and juke. The night will also host another special presentation, a live, synth-driven, hard-hitting set by Indian producer Monophonik.
The palace dungeons transform into a dance den for Friday and Saturday of the festival weekend, and kickstarts with an all-night long exploration of African music by Focus Group Radio with a special set featuring London-based selector Poly Ritmo. Expect sounds of the 20th century with Afrobeat, Ethiopian jazz, and Afro disco juxtaposed craftily with contemporary club music like kuduro from Angola, gqom from South Africa, soca from the Caribbean Islands, singeli from Uganda, and a whole host of other sounds. Saturday will see an extended set by curator, radio host and globetrotting DJ, Moe.
A multi-disciplinary space that transforms from a storytelling tent in the day into a disco ball-lit dance floor at night, The Peacock Club on Friday night will host a special showcase featuring one of London’s favourite parties, and label, Rhythm Section with founder Bradley Zero, and label regulars Wallace and Private Joy. Expect the unexpected at the 10 Years of Rhythm Section showcase.
On Saturday night, lean into your curiosity for weirder soundscapes with the experimental and ambient showcase by Kolkata-based label Social Isolation & Friends featuring producers Catatacat, Sacred Seeds, Pardafash, Masta Justy, Songs for a Tired City and Kaldi Moss.
New York city dweller, curator and selector DJ Voices brings the frequencies and sounds of what made the Big Apple the dance music capital of the world for the now-legendary Sunday night finale.
Everyone’s favourite sunset stage, Corona Sundowner programmes a brand new live show by Delhi-based electronica producer Sublime Sound as well as an infectious live set from producer duo known as Killzen. Other notable performances include a set by creator of atmospheric electronic Tom VR, promising Portuguese composer and DJ, Caroline Lethô, sonic creator Flux Vortex and the debut of Delhi-based downtempo electronica producer SYEYL - Space in Between.
Magnetic Fields 2024 will be held in Alsisar from December 6-8.