For years, Los Angeles dominated the Southern California conversation around underground electronic music.
San Diego is now firmly part of that discussion.
CRSSD Festival returned to Waterfront Park on September 26 and 27, bringing together an extensive selection of house, techno and electronic artists across three stages.
The Palms offered much of the weekend’s house-driven programming, with names including Carlita, Chris Lorenzo, Rossi., Layton Giordani, Sonny Fodera, Prospa and KETTAMA.
City Steps moved further toward techno and underground club culture, hosting artists including Ben UFO, I Hate Models, VTSS, KAS, Mathame, Helena Hauff, Boys Noize and 999999999.
Meanwhile, the Ocean View stage provided the wider electronic dimension, culminating on Sunday with Chris Lake b2b Disclosure.
This combination explains much of CRSSD’s growing importance in the United States.
The festival does not rely on one narrow definition of dance music. Instead, house, techno and electronic live acts are programmed as different parts of the same ecosystem.
DJ Mag has previously highlighted CRSSD’s role in changing San Diego’s electronic landscape, noting how local fans once regularly travelled north to Los Angeles for underground events.
Today, the traffic can move in both directions.
Eleven years after its launch, CRSSD has helped turn San Diego into one of the most recognizable house and techno destinations on the American West Coast.