Counting down the last days until “Crossroads” Lucidity can be stressful! Packing the right clothing for unpredictable weather, making sure your headlamps are ready to rock for hours, meal prep, crafting, getting those gifts ready… tis the season ya’ll!

To help you close up those loose ends and at least feel like you are prepared, we have a three simple tips to make your weekend fun, comfortable, and conscious.

First things first, weather. Santa Barbara is pretty temperate, but the nights can be surprisingly cold. Make sure to bring boots, plenty of socks, mittens and a warm hat or scarf to keep toasty throughout the night. Lucidity offers a Silent Disco for those of you who like to get groovy late night, but after about 2AM the temp drops significantly for the next few hours.

Next, water and food. Lucidity has water stations around the festival. Make sure to bring reusable water bottle to eliminate plastic bottle waste. Bring your own cups, bowls, plates, and silverware for grubbing- the food vendors encourage and appreciate this. Meal prep is an awesome way to cut back on food costs and ensure you are eating what you know your body needs.

Last, plan ahead for your camp’s trash situation. Trashcans are an easy way to localize camp trash and keep it contained. Large, pop-up laundry hampers work beautifully. Try to make signs for your recycling, trash, and compost so everyone is on the same page. If you smoke, bring an empty Altoid container to put those butts in.

Though brief, once you have the above points checked off your list, it’s pretty much smooth sailing with the promise of a good time from there on out.

Though some festival patrons are lucky enough to call Santa Barbara their home, others are commuting from all over CA. To kill the inevitable anxiety as we await our Lucid journey, we have been releasing a mix a week featuring artists from Music is Love’s Nomad’s Stage. Starting with San Francisco’s Sex Pixels, we have taken you to Utah with X&G, to central CA with LA’s with Wood Holly, and now back to the Bay with Queen Dirtybird, J.Phlip.

It is pretty safe to say that J.Phlip (AKA Jessica Phillippe) has secured the spot as everyone’s favorite house-loving princess, and if not, it’s probably because you haven’t been #blessed enough to see this superstar behind the decks. Snagging her first DJ rig at the tender age of 19, Illinois-born Phillippe started making a name for herself in Chicago. In 2008, J.Phlip signed with Dirtybird, often seen opening for heavy hitter Papa Claude. Driven and full of life, it wasn’t long before J.Phlip was traveling the world, residing in Berlin for a bit she acquired a fresh sound to bring back to the Bay. Coming back to the States at the perfect time, when Dirtybird was finally getting the recognition it deserved, worldwide.

J.Phlip’s sets are always ones to look out for. She plays off the environment creating a personal and rather intimate experience with her listeners. Whether that be breakbeat, tech-house, or the deepest shit you can find, this babe will not let you down, and will feed into your audio desires.

If J.Phlip is anything, it’s versatile, Jess just gets it. Her exclusive mix for “Crossroads” shows her range as an artist making you wonder, “How many tracks does she have in her library?!” A softer side of house, indie-inspired, enchanting, and fanciful, while still incorporating that funky bass you crave, transiting to worldly tech-house, gently picking up the tempo to soulful house. Easy listening, you can play this out wherever and whenever.

Grab our last promo mix for Lucidity 2016 and if you haven’t purchased tickets to the event, grab them here.

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Track list:

01  T_A_M – esthar

02  justin martin – hello clouds (feat. femme)

03  ??? (upcoming on omnidisc)

04  silvestre – floresta

05  kenton slash demon – dok

06  bruce – steals

07  bwana – muscle power’s final hours

08  justin martin – midnight (feat. christian martin)

09  leon vynehall – paradisea

Follow J Phlip on SoundCloud & “Like” her on Facebook.

Crunch time music lovers! In just a couple weeks, we will be pitching our tents and making a temporary home under the coastal Santa Barbara sky blanket for a weekend of dancing, loving, sharing, and creating.

While last week we were praising the diversity of Lucidity, this week we want to focus on the intimacy of this magical festival. If you have been once, you probably recognized Lucidity’s huge focus on local community. Lucidity is the kind of festival you walk around and are constantly, and wonderfully, bombarded by friends- everyone from old classmates, to your favorite local bartender, Lucidity is the homie festival, highlighting the collectiveness of this beautiful city, whether you have been blessed enough to live here or not, you will feel right at home.

For all you just about an hour away in La La Land, we have one of your very own, Wood Holly for this week’s promo mix. Gathering recognition just a few years ago from Dirtybird heavy-hitters, Holly’s hip-hop and electronic background proved the be the perfect addition to the San Francisco based booty-bumping tech-house crew, allowing him to release “Ass Out” with Sage Armstrong under the label last winter. In addition, Holly is a member to the Perfect Driver label. Based in LA, Perfect Driver is an exiting new label focusing on nu bass house from talent world wide.

In this week’s mix, you can expect a trip from deep house to West Coast bass-forward house to the transcendental sounds of Berlin inspired tech, Holly is all about that dark, sexy, full-bodied house music.

Grab this week’s mix below, and if you haven’t (shame on you) grab your ticket to Lucidity 2016 here.

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Track list:

Guy Gerber & Puff Daddy – Floating Messiah

Beth Lydi – Jump The Couch (Adrian Hour Remix)

Get Real – Snuffaluffagus

Ciszak – I Want

Ardalan – Thunderdad

m.O.N.R.O.E – On Fire

Aaron Snapes – Sausages (Walker & Royce Remix)

The Glitz – Dirty Bride

Dilligas – Pinball

Hoagie – Don’t Touch

Yerboi – Freak That

Wood Holly – Booty Camp

Eyes Everywhere & Wood Holly – Snow Birds

Follow Wood Holly on Soundcloud and “Like “ him on Facebook

Time to tell your mom you’re off “camping”, festival season is creeping up on us quickly, and we couldn’t be happier!

We invite you to Lucidity’s 5th chapter in their ongoing 6-part saga. Initiating our collective journey with Awake In Your Dreams, the first chapter introduced awareness and self-discovery. Following, “Totem’s Return, encouraged it’s patrons to delve into themselves a little deeper, finding our totem, our personal strength, and self-confidence. Once we had focused on healing and understanding ourselves, the third chapter reveles itself, Universe. Here is where we realized that it is all in the same, we are all one, we are everything, everything is us. This recognition does not come without the initial chapters, reminding us to love ourselves before we can fully be whole-heartedly accepting and completely free. Next, Kindred Quest brought us from the Universe, back to Mother Earth, grounding us, reminding us, not only that we are not going through this life-thing solo, but that our actions and words affect those around us. While the journey feels subjective, it’s ultimately objective, a collective. In Kindred Quest the importance of tribe, family, friends, community- whatever you want to call it- comes into focus.

This year Lucidity’s chapter arguably mirrors the current state of our nation. Entitled Crossroads, this chapter is where you are tested. A combination of cleaning out and planning, “Crossroads” challenges you to focus on what strengthens you and your soul and what doesn’t, encouraging you to rid yourself of anything that doesn’t benefit not only you, but your tribe. It is not an easy chapter, but possibly one of the most important.

Only a few weeks before we embark on this extremely important chapter together and we need music, right?! To help initiate the intent you plan to set for this festival, we will be promoting four artists performing at Music is Love’s curated stage, Nomad’s Nook during this year’s adventure, Crossroads.

Our first mix of this year’s promo series features San Francisco DJ duo, Sex Pixels. We are excited to begin our series with a wildcard, dare we say “crossroad”? House or big-bass trap: what are these bay babes going to whip up for you? Generally when you seek out a DJ, you know what you are doing to get, they are a dubstep DJ, a techno DJ, an electro DJ… they all seem to maintain their “place”. Not these boys, they truly love all forms of music, which, as a listener is not only exciting, but reassuring as their broad spectrum of taste enables them to successfully put together sets that completely capture the moment.

Comprised of bay area locals, Tyler Tan and Brendan Trudell, the duo claims they don’t have a favorite genre, and it definitely shows at events like Burning Man where you can find them playing chilled out daytime house at Pink Mammoth, or a 3Am trap heavy set at  Basshenge. Put simply these two are “equal opportunity” employers when it comes to the music game, truly promoting what we are all about- Music is Love, all of it!

Going on to play their 4th Lucidity, the Pixels have been impressing us with their West Coast inspired house sets featuring deep, booty-bumping tech house that’s as fun to dance as it is to listen to. No clue what they will be playing at their set at this year’s Lucidity, but as for now, we have a their set from last year at Nomad’s Stage to get your brain noodle into fest gear.

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*Montez – Call My Name (Mankinde Remix)
*Trent Cantrell – Any Way I Want
*Rudimental – Right Here (Hot Since 82 Remix)
*Wehbba – Machines
*Shingo Nakamura vs Jody Wisternoff & James Grant – Another Tone
*Sammy W, Alex E, Dubfound – Inamorato (Nikitin Remix)
*Sirus Hood & Still Boyz – Jango (Original Mix)
*Intermodal – Mr Business (Original Mix)
*Wen & Parris – Caught
*Mark Starr – Bass Chant
*Claude Vonstroke – Who’s Afraid of Detroit (MunniBrotherz 2011 rework)
*Phil Kieran – Saturdays
*Daniel Avery – New Energy (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Re-Animation)
*Escape – Just Escape (Justin Martin Remix)

Follow Sex Pixels on SoundCloud & “Like” them on Facebook.