The Idyllwild Arts campus that we’re honored to call our home reflects the spirit of FWB and FWB Fest so well - it’s vast, diverse and has surprises in every corner. Considering all of that, I’ve been working to make sure that the range of music represented at FEST reflects this, with artists representing genres from ambient to pop to R&B, dance and more and artists of all sizes and points in their career - some artists are brand new, some are a couple albums in, and one released his first album before I was even born.

We’ve got so many acts playing the amphitheater, it’s hard to boil it down. Friday, we’ve got folks like Nala Sinephro, who is one of my favorite new artists and plays experimental jazz with a harp, as well as Arushi Jain who is a modular synthesist, plus web3 community favorites Iman Europe and Vérité, capped with Perfume Genius who is one of my favorite artists of the last decade. Saturday, we’ve got Harmony who used to be in this band Girlpool, she just put out her debut releases, plus one of the godfathers of ambient music Laraaji, and two other favorite electronic-based musicians Jessy Lanza and Tirzah. Headlining we have A. G. Cook performing his new Britpop roadshow live set, which I’m very excited for - he came to the first FEST in 2022 just as an attendee, then came back last year and DJed with Charli XCX at Rush, so now it seems fitting for him to perform his brand new live show as a headliner.

The Envelop stage has always been a collaboration between the Envelop crew (Christopher Willits and co.) and FWB. Envelop are really exploring the full spectrum of creativity within their community. In Christopher’s words, their programming runs “from deep immersive listening, and sound baths, to full-on dance parties”. Layered on top of their curation are a handful of incredible artists we selected. On Friday, Jacques Greene will be returning for his third year in a row, practically the resident FEST DJ at this point, playing his third stage in as many years, plus Boreta who is a bigtime friend of FWB. On Saturday, we have the inimitable Zack Fox DJing and community favorite Latasha playing before him.

Floating is a music collective based out of LA that’s been at FEST every year since we started. They curate incredible musicians from their orbit to play at out-of-the-box locations and that’s what we love that they do at FEST. Their sunset set overlooking the mountains each day is probably the worst kept IYKYK secret onsite but is always one of the most special. They’re collaborating with FEST favorite Toby Shorin as well as PlantWave, creating a plant-powered soundscape that will catch people by surprise. If you don’t know where the sunset sets take place, just ask around when you’re on-site and you’ll find it quickly.

Rush was co-curated with the wonderful folks at Refraction, so I’ll let them talk about it! “For this years Rush at FEST, we wanted to both curate and create a really fun space with the FEST team that speaks to the type of experiences that Refraction is known for.  With an updated sound system, lighting and space design, we’re excited to have Rush feel akin to a small club or warehouse for this year’s iteration. On Friday we’re excited to bring in Kim Ann Foxman to play in conversation with SoFTT, who will continue the yearly fest tradition of Trevor performing, which is a really beautiful sort of thing with Trevor founding FWB and all else.  For Saturday,  DJ Python will play open to close.  Python’s sets have become something of legend, and we're excited for him to go throughout the whole night.” - Malcolm Levy, Refraction

Oneohtrix Point Never’s set in 2022, his first live set in I think 5 or 6 years, was absolutely unbelievable, and Mary Lattimore’s set last year was I think a massive sleeper hit for the crowd and myself. I had never seen her before, and seeing her play in a space as unique as the amphitheater really created a vibe I didn’t know I needed but now always want more of.

Musicians and creatives have always had a strong tie to technology, so it’s not surprising to me that so many musicians and other similar folks are attracted to a community that focuses on how to utilize and adopt technology to push culture forward. FWB’s motto is “culture drives adoption of emerging tech” but I also feel strongly that the reverse is true and that technology can not just promote but change culture at large. It’s always really special to find like minded people, especially when there are often such large anti-technology narratives in music & art, so I think that the folks who embrace technology love that they can join FWB or attend FEST and not be the only ones. We’re a community/festival of black sheeps who found each other online.