The Drums—This won’t be the first time Brooklyn indie poppers The Drums play El Paso—their show at Lowbrow last year was awesome. The Drums play spacey-dream rock with elements of pop, and span influences from The Shangri La’s to The Smiths. Expect to hear jams from their latest album, Encyclopedia, released last September, or sing along to something from way back from their self titled first album—“Down by the Water” or “Me and the Moon” will be crowd favorites.
Flume—Australian electro DJ/producer Flume will bring the beats and get the crowd moving to his hypnotic dance music. He creates a soothing wall of sound in his music backed by smooth beats. For the past few years, Flume has been skyrocketing in the Australian music scene and crossing over into other markets; his résumé includes remixes for artist such as Lorde, Sam Smith and Disclosure, but as an artist himself, Flume has 1 album (self titled) and several EPs and singles.
Ximena Sariñana—Local fans can’t wait for Mexican singer/songwriter Ximena Sariña to return to El Paso; her performance at Club 101 brought out her fans that helped sing along to jams like “Monitor.” On her latest album, No Todo lo Puedes Dar, released last year, the music is mellow and is a mixture of acoustic guitars, keyboards and synths, sounding at times like Linda Perhacs, with some delicate electro beats or live drums, doest stress voice much, keeps it soft like Astrud Gilberto too.
White Fence—Psych Rock invades Neon this year with the acid drenched sound of White Fence from Los Angeles, CA. The bands fifth album, For the Recently Found Innocent, has gone to almost a full on straight forward 60s sound, no elements of indie rock from the early days. The album, which has been out almost a year, has the British elements of early mod, sharing the same musical blood as The Smoke, The Action or The Move. Drink some Kool-Aid and watch White Fence this year.
Cypress Hill—Keeping it old school at this year’s festival is the El Paso approved and much appreciated, Cypress Hill. Expect to hear 90s backyard northeast El Paso tagger party favorites such as “I Want to Get High” and “Hits From the Bong.” With 8 studio albums since 1991 and a collaborative EP with dubstep producer Rusko in 2012 titled Cypress X Rusko, Cypress is also set to release another album this year. This is where the party is going to be at when they come on.
Anna Lunoe—Electro pop sensation Anna Lunoe was already huge in Australia before transporting to Los Angeles, CA and lighting up the dance floors with her catchy dance music. Her distinct vocal carries over layered across her hot club hits, with elements of pop, techno, disco and house, sounds at times like Chic. She’s had huge sets at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Electric Forest and Splash House, and toured with The Weeknd, Banks and Destructo. Her undeniably good vocal sits at the focal point of her music.
Earl Sweatshirt—Put on your shades and bring your swag when Los Angeles based hip-hop artist Earl Sweatshirt hits the stage. With his heavy booming beats and stoner drawl rhymes, he sits comfortably as one of the hottest artist out right now—part of that crazy crew known s Odd Future. His new album released just a few months ago, I Don’t Like Shit, I don’t Go Outside, is getting nothing but good reviews, keeping hip-hop interesting. Get there early for this one, it could be crowded.
Bondax—Electronic British duo Bondax brings their all night warehouse dance beats to the festival this year. Fairly new with just having a few singles and an EP, Bondax are enjoying the high after the buzz they sparked in the in the world of house music—which is spreading fast. Their soul infused garage/house style is filled with good female vocals, reminds me a lot of the early to mid 90s, an era where this duo where mere babies—they’re young age is hard to conceive with such a mature sound.
The Suffers—Straight out of Houston, TX come the 10 piece soul/rock combo The Suffers. The band play hard hitting soul with heavy horns and percussion, borrowing honorably from 70s heavies such as Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes, but nothing shines brighter than the beautiful vocals of Kam Franklin, who at times can sound like Tina Turner. Their music stretches out further than a lot of the neo-soul sound because of the intricacies of the musicians and the importance to subtle details.
The Local Bands—Support local music! Fusion magazine loves the music scene in our region that expands across El Paso, Juarez and Chihuahua, and encourage for all of those people that never make it out to the local shows, to check out the local bands. Neon Desert will host a handful of some of the best El Paso’s got; catch sets by long time ska-punks Fixed Idea, indie-rockers The DA, electronic beat machine Eureka the Butcher, synth-dreamers Part Time and alternative rockers The Other Half.
