Tuolumne, Calif. – While much of the electronic-music world seems to be pushing for more and bigger mega-festivals, underground crew Desert Hearts has maintained its alternative path with something quite the opposite: an intimate “microfest.” Held this past Oct. 1-5 at Northern Cali’s Deloro Valley, the 2026 Desert Heart Microfest delivered a slew of house and techno sets from the Desert Hearts crew, plus renowned talents like Justin Martin, DJ Minx, Doc Martin, Stacey Pullen, and Danny Daze. With its five-day camping-art-and-music event that drew about 700 die-hards, the longtime Cali-based collective once again proved that, sometimes, less is more.…
Author: Saxe Coulson
Tuolumne, Calif. – Electronic-music industry mainstay OM Records marked its 30th anniversary this past July 2-5 at the Deloro Valley retreat in the Sierra Nevada foothills with a DJ-driven celebration that coincided with America’s 250th birthday. The San Francisco-based label has maintained a diverse catalog of releases over the past three decades that includes such genres as house, downtempo, hip hop, and whatever Mark Farina’s landmark Mushroom Jazz series constitutes. According to OM owner/partner/label manager Gunnar Hissam, this past July 4th weekend drew over 500 house-music heads to the event. The crowd skewed towards an older, deeply ingrained, and experienced…
This past weekend saw Desert Hearts celebrate its 10-year anniversary with its biggest festival to date. Running April 28 to May 2 at Lake Perris in Cali’s Inland Empire, the event drew over 6,000 fans, according to organizers. The festival not only doubled in size from the previous years, but it also added an extra performance platform near the lake, the Desert Stage, which played host to festival regulars like Atish, who has played the festival every year since 2013. Other frequent performers – Francesca Lombardo, D!NK, RYBO, and Lubelski – highlighted the stage and spun melodic and uplifting beats…
When the Desert Hearts Festival touches down in Lake Perris, Calif., April 28 through May 2, there will be plenty to celebrate – namely, a decade of existence that has seen the organizing collective grow organically from humble beginnings to the artistic force it is today. In 2012, Mikey Lion partnered up with Marbs, Lee Reynolds, and his younger brother, Porky, to put together the first Desert Hearts party, which drew 200 people. Ten years later, Desert Hearts is not only a festival and event brand, but it’s also a label, a collective, and a community that has grown to…