Nightmare Festival: Five Can’t-Miss Friday Night Sets
–Written by Kevin Madert
Nightmare Festival – the East Coast’s premiere Halloween event – is already underway, and whether you’re already on site, heading out from your hotel rooms, or still en route, we’ve got the inside scoop on who’s sets you’d better catch. Whether you’re a fan of in-your-face dub, trippy trap, melodic bass, or dark and deep house, the Friday night lineup has something you’ll be glad to hear.
Liquid Stranger (1:00-2:00 am in the Warehouse)
Whether playing old-school reggae dub, slambang electro, or no-holds-barred dubstep, Liquid Stranger is a man with one goal: to get your asses moving. This could well be the set of the festival; don’t be that guy and miss it.
CRYWOLF (10:00-11:00pm in the Pavilion)
As I sit at my house and mourn missing the festival of the fall, co-founder Michael Hogan will representing Alternate Frequency (and enjoying himself, surely) deep in the Ramblewood campgrounds. Your best chance for a sighting will be at the pavilion during melodic-dub virtuoso act CRYWOLF. Bonus points to anyone who can snap a pic of him curled up in a ball crying.
Christian Martin (12:00-1:00 am in the Barn)
Co-founder of Dirtybird (along with the likes of Claude von Stroke and his brother, Justin), Christian Martin has been playing deep, ominous house music since the early 2000s. A lot has changed in the decade-plus since, but Martin’s no-nonsense approach and on-point production & track selection is as on-point as ever.
Apashe (11:00 pm-12:00 am in the Pavilion)
“Trap” is a non-descriptive term for *unpopular opinion alert* a nondescript style of music, but there’s plenty of good stuff hidden amongst the generic masses. Apashe falls into the “good stuff” category – if you’re signed to Kannibalen chances are you’ve got something special going on. Definitely be sure to catch his wonky, weighty bass beats at Nightmare.
Tittsworth (10:00-11:00 pm in the Barn)
This DC staple has been consistently and constantly killing it of late – even after his recent move to LA took him away from the city where he assisted in the birthing and explosive expansion of moombahton with fellow local Dave Nada. Having seen him plenty of times at U Street Music Hall (a club he co-owns) I can safely say two things: show up expecting the unexpected and prepared to party.
Tickets are still available for Nightmare Festival – you can scoop them right here if you haven’t already. Connect with them over on Facebook to stay up-to-date during and after the festival.