Everything you need to know about Coachella Day 2DSCF2107

Everything you need to know about Coachella Day 2

Everything you need to know from Coachella Day 2

Stealing the spotlight on day two were rising stars and underground forces within the electronic music world. While Disclosure brought one of the largest crowds to the Main Stage, and RL Grime one of the rowdiest to the Sahara Tent, the Yuma hosted a range of pristine talent from start to finish, kicking things off with Lee K and ending the night with a Justin Martin-hosted Dirtybird party. Other standout acts of the day included RÜFÜS DU SOL seducing ears inside the Gobi and Dubfire keeping people dancing till the bitter end underneath the Mojave Tent.

Read on to check out everything you need to know from Day 2 of Coachella 2016, and don’t miss our recap of Day 1.

Words by Will McCarthy, Alex Hitchcock

RÜFÜS DU SOL make a stunning Coachella debut

With chart-topping albums such as Atlas and Bloom already under their belt, coupled with Saturday night’s stunning live set, it’s clear RÜFÜS DU SOL are on a swift rise to the top. The Australian trio that is Jon George, James Hunt, and Tyrone Lindqvist has carved a discernible niche for themselves amongst the electronic music scene. Mixing percussion that draws influence from minimal techno with deeply soothing melodic builds, they brought a little slice of early evening relief to the Gobi Tent, cooling things off by laying down one increasingly progressive beat after the next.

RÜFÜS have certainly joined the ranks of those forging a new standard for live electronic music production, performing what will indubitably go down as one of the best sets of the weekend. Slipping into hit after hit with “Say a Prayer for Me,” “Take Me,” “Like an Animal,” and the nine-and-a-half minute epic that is “Innerbloom,” those that didn’t get to attend Saturday’s set will have a chance to catch the trio again; as rumor has it, they’ll be playing a surprise set in the Do Lab this afternoon.

The Yuma Tent continues to draw in a steady stream of talent

Year after year the Yuma Tent continues to knock it out of the park, drawing in both house and techno’s rising stars and verifiable legends. Between its slippery hardwood floors and thinned out crowd, the Yuma acts as a cool, club-like oasis amid the overstimulation that lies just outside its doors. Saturday featured a whirlwind of talent, showcasing sets from Matthew Dear, DJ Koze, Mano le Tough, Nina Kraviz, and Justin Martin, among others.

Two standout acts of the day were delivered by Irish producer and DJ, Mano le Tough, and Russian techno queen, Nina Kraviz. The former kicked things off at 7:45 and proceeded to shred the dance floor into filthy little pieces, attracting more and more people as his set went on. Nina Kraviz took over the decks shortly thereafter, infusing the tent with a mixture of acid house and techno rolled into one warehouse-ready set.

Dubfire closes Mojave with Live:Hybrid performance

As one of the most anticipated acts of Coachella 2016, Dubfire showed up and delivered. Those who were yearning for a little something darker to close out Saturday night found solace in the Mojave as Ali Shirazinia brought exhausted limbs back to life with his Live:Hybrid show. Described as a “fusion of physical expression” with top-of-the-line dynamic a/v solutions, the Mojave Tent underwent a brief transformation into a cinematic 3D world for the duration of his set. Despite the closing time slot, Shirazinia opted to mix an incredibly upbeat and diverse set, blending all subsets of techno into one of the most captivating audiovisual sets of the weekend.

RL Grime showcases new levels of depth

The eclectically talented Henry Steinway cannot seemingly execute a performance or production that is unspectacular – or similar to anything he’s purveyed in the past. Having evolved from complextro prodigy Clockwork into the project-turned headlining act of RL Grime, fans can never be quite sure what to expect from the capricious composer.

A motif that seems to have evolved within Steinway’s RL Grime project is the haunting minimalism of his live show. Where the stark light beams and sole set piece of a tombstone, Steinway’s Void tour channeled Gesaffelstein’s live show heavily in aesthetic. At the Sahara tent Saturday he revealed the ominous tropes that fans have come to expect from an RL Grime performance, however, his method to induce mystique differed vastly. He performed within a lit cube – à la Eric Prydz – atop a towering pedestal. Steinway himself was invisible for roughly 90% of the show, and for the majority of its duration, his cube was totally engulfed in a thick shroud of fog.

The mystique of RL Grime’s Sahara stage production was undoubtedly compatible with his musical selections. Hauntingly epic future bass tracks took priority over his trap mainstays. The chilling music and ethereal uncertainty of RL Grime’s Coachella set showed any fans who may have been previously unaware that RL Grime is much more than a trap producer. Henry Steinway is a visionary in the early stage of his quest.

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