CRSSD Festival returns to San Diego’s Waterfront Park at the end of September, bringing another sprawling lineup across its waterfront stages. With so much on offer over the weekend, narrowing down a schedule is no small task. Here are five sets worth building your CRSSD around.
There’s a particular kind of joy that comes with an outdoor festival by the water, and CRSSD has built its reputation on exactly that. Waterfront Park does the heavy lifting: palm trees, a sea breeze, San Diego sunshine, and skyline views that make even a bar queue feel like part of the experience. Add a lineup that stretches from headline house to hardware-only techno, and it’s easy to see why CRSSD has become a fixture on the festival calendar rather than just another stop on the circuit.
Taking place on the weekend of 26th and 27th September, this year’s edition is as broad as ever, which is exactly the problem. You never get to see everyone you want to see. The options are too numerous, so you have to be choosy. If you are not sure what to attend, these five suggestions should act as a guide, and you can go from there.
For anyone new to CRSSD, the festival runs across three stages, each with its own character. Ocean View lives up to its name, an open-air stage looking straight out over the water, usually reserved for the biggest names on the bill. City Steps takes its cue from an amphitheatre, tiered seating built into the landscape, and tends to host the heavier, more club-focused sets. Palms is the smallest and most intimate of the three, tucked among, unsurprisingly, palm trees, and is where you’ll often find the more leftfield or underground bookings.
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Mochakk
Few DJs have had a rise as steep as Mochakk’s. Born Pedro Maia in Sorocaba, São Paulo, he started producing hip-hop beats at 13 and was DJing locally by 15, drawing on a childhood soundtrack of jazz, funk, disco and Brazilian bass. That range still defines him. His sets weave classic house, hip-hop, techno, and Latin rhythms into something hard to pin down yet easy to love.
His 2022 breakout year, propelled by viral clips of him dancing behind the decks and tracks like “Sombrero Sam”, turned him into a fixture of Ibiza’s Circoloco residency. Since then he’s released the acclaimed “Locomotiva Ibiza 2099” EPs, opened his own club, OBLIQO, in his hometown, and climbed into DJ Mag’s Top 100. He headlines CRSSD’s Ocean View stage this year, and it’s a fitting stage for an artist who has become one of house music’s most magnetic live presences.
Catch Mochakk at Ocean View on Sat 26th.
horsegiirL
There is no artist on this list quite like horsegiirL. Performing behind a chestnut horse head mask and going by the alter ego Stella Stallion, the Berlin-based DJ and producer has built a devoted following on a diet of happy hardcore, Eurodance and hyperpop mashups, delivered with a wink and total commitment to the bit.
Her rise began with a HÖR Berlin set in 2022, only her second public performance, followed by a Boiler Room appearance that turned her into a genuine phenomenon. Viral tracks like “My Barn, My Rules” and “Pegasus” racked up millions of streams, and she’s since signed to Live From Earth and RCA. Beneath the absurdist theatre is a serious selector with a knack for reading a crowd and taking them somewhere unexpected.
Catch horsegiirL at Palms on Sat 26th.
999999999
If you want techno stripped back to its rawest, most physical form, 999999999 are the ones to see. The Italian duo, formed in 2016, built their reputation on hardware-only live sets: no laptops, no pre-programmed tracks, just drum machines, synths and sequencers played in real time.
Attack has followed them closely for years, and they’re one of the artists featured in our book, Secrets of Techno Production, sharing insight into how that hardware-only approach shapes their sound.
Their breakout moment came with “300000003” on Planet Rhythm in 2018, an acid techno cut that went through repress after repress. Since then they’ve become festival mainstays, running their own label, NineTimesNine, and hosting their own 9×9 Invites parties across Europe. Expect intensity, improvisation and very little mercy.
Catch 999999999 at City Steps on Sunday 27th.
Helena Hauff
Helena Hauff makes no concessions to convenience. The Hamburg-born DJ and producer records exclusively on analogue equipment, usually in one take, and has built a reputation as one of electronic music’s most uncompromising purists. A former resident at Hamburg’s Golden Pudel Club, she became the first woman named BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix of the Year in 2017.
Her albums, “Discreet Desires” (2015) and “Qualm” (2018), both released via Ninja Tune and Werkdiscs, showcase a sound built from acid house, EBM and industrial influences, dark, gritty and entirely her own. As a DJ, her sets are equally uncompromising: raw, vinyl-driven and built for a dancefloor that wants to work for it.
Catch Helena Hauff at City Steps Sunday 27th.
Ahadadream
Ahadadream, real name Ahad Elley, moved to London from Pakistan at 13 and has spent the years since reshaping what a UK club set can sound like. His productions fuse percussive UK club sounds with influences from his Pakistani heritage and the African diaspora, and his tracks have become set staples for the likes of Fred again.., Four Tet and Peggy Gou.
Beyond his own music, Elley is a genuine force behind the scenes: he co-founded More Time Records and set up the No ID and Dialled In events, both dedicated to spotlighting South Asian talent in UK dance music. He’s played Glastonbury, Sónar, Printworks and Fabric, and his sets bring the same restless, percussive energy that defines his productions.
Catch Ahadadream at City Steps on Sat 26th.
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