As the culture of spring and summer music festivals gets more bloated and overwhelming each year, it's become difficult to discern one from the other. Nearly identical lineups, experiences and locations are all starting to garner a certain amount of safety and same-ness. So it was nice to see, at least after the fact, that one of the farther flung festivals out in Vegas has already tried to establish itself as an antidote to all that. Last May, the Further Future festival on the Moapa River Indian Reservation in the desert just outside Las Vegas. While its probably even more of a trek for OC locals than EDC Vegas, Further Future–brought to us by the creators of Robot Heart (one of the better known camps at Burning Man)–has also shown itself to be in an entirely different world. They must be doing something right to already be named Best Music Festival of 2015 by Las Vegas Weekly their first year out of the gate.
]
With over 70 acts spread across four stages, the event's soundscape featured an eclectic who's who of global talent, though it didn't rely on huge names to pull in festival goers.From left-field, boundary-pushing electronica, to the stirring performances of live indie, rock, and experimental acts, to house music pioneers, Further Future was a mecca for music-lovers with talent including: Actress, Hundred Waters, Rhye, Thugfucker, Warpaint, FaltyDL, Dauwd, Miguel Migs N Lisa Shaw, AEONIX, Damian Lazarus N The Ancient Moons, Henry Saiz (Live Band), John Tejada, Bob Moses, Com Truise, DJ Garth, Foreign Fields, Lone, Nosaj Thing, and a multitude more.
One similarity it has to festivals like Lightning in a Bottle or the recent Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas are their intellectual discussion panels. The Further Future Visions speaker series presented a range of accomplished speakers such as SoundCloud CEO/Founder, Alex Ljung, Google[x]'s Captain of Moonshots, Dr. Astro Teller, and Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh sharing critical insights on entrepreneurialism, the future of music distribution, and other topics for the intellectually curious to ponder. In line with the visionary and experiential approach central to their mission, Further Future also hosted workshops and sessions designed to evoke expanded consciousness and channel wellness, such as: Conversations on Consciousness, Sunset Yoga, a Gameletron Shavasana Gong Bath, and Open Poetry with Jim Clark.
Today, the festival released an official recap video letting us in on a bit of what we missed. While we are bummed we didn't go, it does give us something to put on our agenda for next year. Check out the video below.
See also
10 Punk Albums to Listen to Before You Die
10 Goriest Album Covers
10 Most Satanic Metal Bands
Follow us on Twitter @ocweeklymusic. Like us on Facebook at Heard Mentality.
