On October 5th, electronic music fans flocked back to the Pine Barrens for the third annual Submersion event. For the second year, the three-day festival was hosted at the picturesque Paradise Lakes Campground, nestled among moss-covered pines providing ample shade from the waning summer’s sun. The second and highly-anticipated installment of the Submersion camp-out once again housed two distinctly and carefully curated stages showcasing global and domestic veterans of the festival circuit, U.S. debuts, and up and coming stars of the underground, including DJ Shadow, Justin Martin, Mr. Carmack, Mark Farina, Pola & Bryson, Spoonbill, Luke Vibert (and his Wagon Christ alias), Monty, Mike Wallis, Krafty Kuts, Mickman, BOU, Resonant Language, and over 60 other artists. In the wake of its 2023 installment, Submersion proved that when the right teams come together, lightning can in fact strike twice, allowing creativity and inspiration to flourish while providing an exemplary experience for all of those who attend and perform.

The sun shone brightly as clouds littered the skies on a warm and breezy Thursday afternoon, as early arrivals, staff, and artists eagerly awaited to settle into their new homes for the weekend. A sense of communal anticipation for what was about to ensue over the coming days was clearly evident, along with a freshly minted confidence on the back of the first success on those same grounds the year prior. What makes an event like Submersion so impactful is the tangible sense of community that exists on the premises; it’s a place where you’ll likely have a mutual connection with virtually everyone around you, and a large part of that is thanks to the proximity and frequent collaboration of the event’s promoters, The Rust Music and Aspire Higher, with the assistance of their longtime partner in crime, Sermon (an organization that is absolutely, 10000% not a cult), creating a constant cross-pollination of likeminded social scenes between New York City and Philadelphia. The longer the event runs, the more it begins to feel like a family reunion to those who return.

The fanfare starts with the Beach Stage, the veritable home base, which hosted an impressive and bone-rattling Funktion-One rig, courtesy of One-Source Productions, and a crisp LED wall manned by Fungui Productions that allowed VJs to display dazzling visual journeys throughout the weekend. Directly across from that stage begins the Shakedown, featuring options for all dietary lifestyles and hosting Bam Bam’s beloved 24-hour cafe, essential to those who choose to party long enough to see the sunrise each day. Running parallel to the Shakedown lived the visual arts hub, brought to life by Andrew Croz, alongside the resting waters of Paradise Lake, where dedicated works of art came to life as visions manifested throughout the weekend, drawing in a constant stream of onlookers making their way from one end of the festival to the other. Virtually every angle was covered, from an abundance of legal weed, to clothing and accessories, on-site glass blowers created pieces all day long, Hear Ringz’s functional jewelry with built in ear-protection, DanceSafe’s onsite hub, and a new addition to the festival, a fully deck-out video game arcade which allowed attendees to flex their prowess with classics like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Clocking in at just under a three minute casual stroll from the Beach Stage, you’ll begin to hear and see the Woods Stage in all its splendor, bolstering an incredibly clear and thumping Intent Audio rig manned by none other than Sean Hennessey and partner Abby Skelton, whose combined 10 years of experience in the music industry gives tenure to the high-fidelity and solid dynamics of their new in-house designs. Once again rocking the weekend sans LED panels, the focus at the Woods Stage is largely on the music. However, the newly anointed, loudly-lauded professional disco ball sporadically lit up the dance floor and the surrounding pines, sending frequent surges of life into an already rambunctious forest frenzy.

As the sun underwent its first gradual descent of the weekend on Thursday evening, music kicked off at the Woods Stage with D.C.’s own Crawdad Sniper. The rest of the night featured sets from established acts like Poldoore, Smigonaut, and Snakes & Stars, while upstarts like Parkbreezy, 3420, Ooga, and McWavy helped set the stage for the weekend with their chilled-out, groove-laden music. Early entry attendees were also treated to the debuts of new projects and collabs in the forms of Face Plant’s scintillating new project, SkyLab, Charles Nimbus providing a breaks and UGK set, the inaugural Thought Process b2b Duffrey set, a journey from Keota, and a rare festival slot from Beeswax (Wax Future, Jesse Miller of Lotus and Zone Drums).

As Friday came into focus, and the first official day of the festival began, those who had arrived for the pre-party awoke to a cooler and cloudy day, allowing ample time for those late-night owls to rest in comfort while others had time to explore various workshops and attend a relaxed yoga session, helmed by Colleen Kropp, and later by Tanner Adlard the following morning. Beginning at 1pm at the Woods Stage, Dave Scichman manned a Drum & Breakfast set to kick off a prolific run of DnB in the shaded oasis, featuring world-renowned talents from the likes of Hugh Hardie, Degs, the US debut of Pola & Bryson, Justin Martin, and a widely-lauded debut set from BOU. While the DnB curation was well underway at the Woods Stage, Brother Bear brought his seminal Boom Bap Brunch to a live audience at the Beach Stage at 2:30pm as attendees rolled in with brunch cocktails and beach games. Teeing up a curated run of hip-hop inspired, low-end driven music, Squalpat and Tygris provided a custom live performance of instrumental cuts and pocketed bass lines, leading into a legendary Krafty Kuts Golden Era of Hip-hop set, and capped off by the all:lo Collective flagship trio Groovsauce, (Thought Process, Parkbreezy & pheel.) ushering in the evening as the sun set behind scattered clouds.

As night settled in, veterans stepped up to the decks, featuring trip hop/glitch hop pioneer Mike Wallis setting the pace, performing a nostalgic set of pivotal tracks from across the many years of the Colony Productions catalog. In quick succession was the second annual appearance of Luke Viberts’s Wagon Christ project, and DJ Shadow, who played unopposed and treated attendees to a masterclass in DJ fundamentals and tools of the trade. Over at the Woods Stage, Justin Martin brought his venerable cuts out to play in a lively house set, followed by UK Underground legends Dusky with even more electricity, before Philadelphia's own Rob Paine closed down the stage for the evening with a sensational and deeply groovy journey, putting the final touches on the frenzied pine forest party until next afternoon. Keeping the party rocking well into the morning light, the beach stage was continuously brandishing budding domestic talent, crushing low-end, and unmistakable rhythms from Mickman, Resonant Language, Copycatt, Inspect3r, Charles Nimbus, Lusine’s uptempo set, and finally coming to a zenith at Mr Bill’s IDM Sunrise as a thick fog began to roll over the shoreline, the sun early in its path across the sky.

Mcnulty and Wessanders, a Rust affiliate and a label-side act, opened up the final day of festivities, and set the vibe at the Woods stage with dreamy house sets as the festival once again come to life attendees began occupy the dancef loor and find their day’s footing with Postal., the latest project between impasta and Relativity Lounge paying homage to their Chicago roots. The atmosphere was electric by the time Mark Farina performed one of his iconic Mushroom Jazz sets just prior to the sunset, as beams of sunlight delicately shone through the foliage from the treeline. The rest of the day at the Woods stage would only escalate in tempo and energy from there, as regional fan-favorite Nic Baker (Inspect3r and Vide) hit the stage prior to an extended set from France’s finest, Monty, who put the crowd through the paces as he effortlessly guided listeners from dubstep to sensational DnB. Hamdi elevated spirits even higher during his b2b with Sir Hiss, putting a quintessentially American crowd through deep garage fundamentals. Closing out the Woods Stage in style for its final three sets of the weekend, special performances from Commodo & Kahn & Neek, Khiva & Distinct Motive, and XL & Freq, who all pushed the Intent Audio rig to its absolute limit with one final bellow into the darkness of the pine barrens.

Running in parallel back over at the Beach stage, the day began with regional favorites JamL, Mindset, and Entangled Mind before one of the more anticipated sets of the weekend, Cloud Conductor - Daily Bread’s alter ego, typically performing deeper soulful cuts from his expansive discography. Kicking off hours of infectious dance floor energy, Chmura & Location kept the party going before Integrate (Black Carl! And VCTRE) rocked a set of familiar classics and anthems had the Beach Stage positively bouncing. A big standout moment during the final evening, kLL sMTH & Friends took on a larger-than-life visage, as the stage gradually flooded with a Last Supper’s worth of friends, collaborators, and fellow artists in attendance for the weekend. Headliner Mr. Carmack made good on his long-time tenure, delivering a set full of fan-favorites and new routines that rang out into the night before entering the final stretch of the weekend programming. Featuring psychedelic rhythms and intricate compositions from the debut of Tripp St b2b Maxfield, the first set of Spoonbill, Supersillyus, Random Rab, Somatoast, and Malakai, the last waning minutes of Submersion Festival 2023 were graced with Spoonbill reprising the stage for his second and final set. Performing his seminal Tinkerbox in its entirety, alongside a grab-bag of other accessory tracks, the joyous and tired cheers of the subdued crowd brought about the end of another wonderful weekend at Paradise Lakes Campground.

With the weekend in our rearview, we feel confident that Submersion once again achieved its goal of delivering a phenomenal experience to all who make the coastal journey, while highliting and placing a necessary emphasis on the importance of our communal and social relationships. The roots run deep and continue to strengthen as the festival and those who put it together continue to grow in tandem, with an evergreen future clearly on the horizon. While work has already begun in earnest on 2024’s installment of Submersion Festival, be sure to keep an eye on their homepage for sporadic and thematic events throughout the year under the Submersion banner, including their upcoming NYE event at the Armory in Philadelphia.

FOLLOW Submersion: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Official