Desert Daze 2018 Adds Slowdive, Wooden Shjips, Idles, & More
Whether you’re looking for an antidote to the sameness of many major American festivals or whether you’re looking for the opportunity to watch a bunch of stoner-friendly artists in the desert, California’s Desert Daze has often boasted pretty intriguing lineups. That’s been characteristically true in the build-up to the fest’s 2018 iteration, starting with an initial announcement with Tame Impala sitting atop the poster and continuing with incremental phase additions. The most recent, Desert Daze 2018’s third round, added My Bloody Valentine as a headliner as well. Things looked pretty great already, and it seemed like the festival was probably done adding artists. Today, it turns out that is not the case.
Desert Daze’s Phase 4 announcement kicks off with another titan of shoegaze joining the lineup: Slowdive. That makes for a pretty serious trio of headliners when you see Slowdive’s name alongside MBV’s and Tame Impala’s. For fans of artists who take guitars and wring all sorts of new sounds out of the instrument, those headliners are enticing enough alone. Whether it’s MBV’s hurricanes of technicolor noise, Slowdive’s beautifully narcotic washes of sound, or Tame Impala’s contemporary interpretation of various strains of psychedelia, there’s going to be a whole lot of mind-altering guitar sounds echoing out over Lake Perris in October.
The announcement features plenty of other names besides Slowdive, of course. There’s also the psych-rock journeymen Wooden Shjips — whose latest album V. was an Album Of The Week back in May — and the young, beloved punk outfit Idles. Rounding out the rest of the lineup news are artists like Cosmonauts, L.A. Witch, Death Valley Girls, Vinyl Williams, Goon, Sugar Candy Mountain, and the Mad Walls. Check out the full lineup below.
Tame Impala
My Bloody Valentine
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Slowdive
Death Grips
Mercury Rev (performing Deserter’s Songs)
Warpaint
Jarvis Cocker (introducing JARV IS …)
Shellac
Ty Segall & White Fence
Earth (performing The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull)
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
Damien Echols
Chelsea Wolfe
Connan Mockasin
Wooden Shjips
Beak>
A Place To Bury Strangers
Shannon & The Clams
Kevin Morby
Preoccupations
Malcolm Mooney of Can
HINDS
King Khan & The Shrines
Pond
Idles
Julia Holter
DAKHABRAKHA
Earthless
Kikagaku Moyo
Boogarins
Wand
Gum
Follakzoid
Bedouine
Escape-Ism
All Them Witches
The Holydrug Couple
Ex-Cult
True Widow
Imarhan
Sons Of Kemet
Cosmonauts
L.A. Witch
Death Valley Girls
Vinyl Williams
Cut Worms
JJUUJJUU
Ulrika Spacek
Here Lies Man
Mary Lattimore
Yonatan Gat & The Eastern Medicine Singers
Goon
Hand Habits
Sextile
Tropa Magica
Stonefield
Sugar Candy Mountain
Al Lover
Gladys Lazer
Mannequin Pussy
Cat Scan
The Mad Walls
Opening Ceremonies w/ Ian Svenonius
Talks feat. Steve Albini
Late Night Experimentations / Open To All Visitors featuring:
Kikagaku Moyo + Boogarins + JJUUJJUU
Deap Vally
Lumerians
Prettiest Eyes
Desert Daze takes place 10/12-10/14 at Moreno Beach in Lake Perris, CA. Tickets and daily lineups are available here.