By: NhanStop and Sabrina Cornejo
The August leg of Splash House 2023 has arrived and Raver Magazine was excited to attend day 2 of weekend 1 and bring you exclusive coverage. Set in the desert town of Palm Springs, California, everything about this music festival was hot: music, people, vibes, and of course the temperature. With temps hitting over 100+ degrees that did not stop attendees from shuttling around to 3 different hotel pools (The Renaissance, Margaritaville, and The Saguaro) to listen to some of their favorite electronic dance music artists.
So lets dive into vibes shall we??
We kicked things off at The Renaissance catching Dillon Nathaniel, a fast rising star from Southern California in the house/tech house scene. Fresh from his Lollapalooza debut, he too made his debut at Splash House. He brought heaters in his set mixing some top tech house tracks and some of his originals most notably his remake of House of Pain’s Jump Around. One particular track stood out for everyone, myself included was his re-work of Kaskade’s Move for Me. The crowd lost their minds and went off. Keep your eyes and ears out for Dillon because he will hit John Summit status very soon. He’s already toured and co-produced with the likes of Sacha Robotti and CID so he is legit.
Following Dillon Nathaniel was THE house legend himself, Felix Da HouseCat. This took me back to reliving the glory days of house and it was such a treasure and pleasure to witness. Chicago house and deep house just hits different. He brought out modern versions of his classics Sinnerman and Madame Hollywood. This was Da HouseCat at his finest.
Next we hopped on the shuttle and headed to Margaritaville and we stumbled upon Dj Adapter dropping bangers that blew our minds!! His set was very afterhours-esque but at golden hour. He had everyone in the pool, day beds, and dance floor raging like they lost their minds. Jackin house, tech house, pop mash-ups…he moved that Margaritaville crowd!
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better…..Lee Foss goes b2b with Deeper Purpose as the closing headliners for Margaritaville. Holy sh*t they blew the roof off the place. They dropped high energy track after track then brought it down sexy to a house version of Smooth Operator by Sade only to build it back up and raged out for the rest of their b2b set. It was definitely a treat and one of the most memorable sets of the day.
Last stop, we headed over to Saguaro to catch the tail end of Sam Divine. This was a nice change up as this UK beauty brought the dubstup bangers and had everyone breakneck. This venue was definitely more for the bass heads because closing out this venue was J Worra! She had an eclectic mix in her set that consisted of tech house, DnB, dubstep, and techno. High energy and fast paced, she energized the crown to new levels and did not let up.
Finally we made our way back to The Renaissance to see CID close out day 2 of weekend 1 of Splash House. After a long hot day of endless amazing music and vibes, CID was the cherry on top as the sun had already set and he took us into that night hitting us in our feels. We were so immersed into CID’s set, it felt like time stood still. Some notable tracks: house remix of Horse with No Name by 70’s folk rock band, America and a house track that teased Outkast’s piano riffs of the hit song Roses.
All in all, this Splash House weekend was one for the books. Fun, memorable, sexy, and more intimate compared to the other big music festivals. Since it’s debut in 2013, Splash House has grown so much through the years and now has become one of the main staples of music festivals in Southern California and a must attend!!
Splash House photos courtesy of:
Blake Daryaie
Carlo Cavaluzzi
Ysabella Lopez
NhanStop
