Brutalismus 3000, Eli Brown, Caribou & more set to throw down at Waterfront Park
Since its debut a decade ago, CRSSD Festival has cemented itself as one of San Diego’s premier live music gatherings — a biannual convergence of house, techno, and cutting-edge electronic culture. Set against the palm-lined backdrop of Waterfront Park, with the sun setting over the bay and planes gliding into downtown, CRSSD offers one of the most picturesque settings in the festival circuit. Twice a year, the event transforms the park into a seaside dance utopia: a place where underground credibility and big-room energy intersect, and where festival-goers can flow between the chilled, daylight groove of the Ocean View stage and the sweat-soaked, late-night thump of City Steps.
Part of what makes CRSSD unique is its balance. The festival radiates relaxed, West Coast ease — grassy lawns, craft beer, and plenty of sunshine — yet carries the immersive aura of a proper rave, complete with world-class selectors, hypnotic visuals, and after-hours energy that lingers long after the final beat drops. Over the years, CRSSD has built a reputation as a tastemaker’s festival, consistently curating lineups that spotlight both legendary names and ascendant talent. More than just a weekend party, it’s become a cornerstone of the U.S. electronic scene: a communal ritual where house heads, techno fiends, and casual newcomers alike gather to celebrate the pulse of modern dance music.
CRSSD’s identity is shaped as much by its stages as by its lineup. Ocean View, the festival’s largest, leans toward live acts and bigger spectacles — the place where bands and crossover electronic artists stretch out into widescreen performances framed by the bay. The Palms is pure house energy: a palm-tree-dotted haven for groove, swing, and four-on-the-floor bliss that feels like the festival’s heartbeat. And then there’s City Steps, a slightly smaller but notoriously rowdy zone where techno reigns supreme — gritty, pulsing, and unrelenting, it’s the closest thing CRSSD has to a proper underground bunker, even as it basks in the San Diego sun.
There’s a flavor for everyone, and as the festival approaches, we’re stoked to highlight some of our favorite acts on the lineup. Below, you’ll find a guide breaking down each artist’s sound, live reputation, and what you can expect when they take to the stage starting on Saturday afternoon. Bust out those HOUSE X TECHNO jackets, because CRSSD Fall 2025 is nearly upon us!
Blawan (City Steps)
Blawan is a veteran UK underground/experimental/industrial techno DJ-producer – and one-half of the renowned duo KARENN – known for his raw, stripped-down, heavy-hitting techno with a jagged edge. He’s respected in the techno community for pushing boundaries, using distortion, glitches, tricky percussion, and off-kilter rhythms, while still maintaining powerful dancefloor impact. His reputation as a performer is solid: sets that are intense, relentless, and technical, but also capable of surprising moments. If you like your techno less polished and more visceral, Blawan will likely deliver some of the most immersive, raw energy of the weekend early at the City Steps.
Boys Noize (City Steps)
Alexander Ridha, aka Boys Noize, is a veteran in electro/techno/acid/progressive house crossovers. Based out of Germany, he’s built a reputation both for heavy, dancefloor-destroying bangers and edgy experimental releases, plus a strong pedigree of remixes and collaborations. He also tends to bring high energy and unpredictability to his live shows, not shying away from distortion, acid lines, or darker tones. His status in the scene is well established: both underground credibility and crossover recognition. At CRSSD, you can expect Boys Noize to push the limits of intensity: big drops, lean structure, but also enough weirdness to keep ears perking up.
Brutalismus 3000 (City Steps)
The buzzy Berlin gabber duo – who met each other on TINDER – is known for wild, chaotic, high-energy sets that blur hardstyle, techno, punk, rave, and a healthy dose of irreverence. They tend to favor raw, aggressive beats, often with distorted or noisy elements, but they also throw in moments of chaos that are fun and performative. Their impact lies in how they bring a sense of underground rebellion to spaces that might otherwise lean more polished: crowd interaction, unexpected breakdowns, pushing sonic limits. At CRSSD, Brutalismus 3000 will probably be a go-to if you want the stage rattled with sweat, urgency, and no apology.
Caribou (Ocean View)
Dan Snaith, aka Caribou, straddles that sweet spot between the cerebral and the dancefloor. His work moves easily from lush psychedelia and folktronica to deeper house/IDM textures. He’s been active since the early 2000s (first under the moniker Manitoba), and over the years has built a reputation for hypnotic albums that age well—Swim, Our Love, and most recently Honey — each balancing emotive songwriting with textural experimentation. Live, Caribou brings a full-band setup, immersive visuals, and ability to stretch songs out, making his performances especially compelling and emotionally rich. For CRSSD, he’s likely to deliver atmospheric crescendos, surprises, and moments that are more about feeling than just peak-time energy.
DARKSIDE (Ocean View)
DARKSIDE is the notorious collaboration of Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington (joined more recently by drummer Tlacael Esparza), blending electronics with psychedelic guitar, ambient textures, improvisation, and moments of intense, meditative release. Since forming in 2011, they’ve released critically acclaimed works (Psychic, Spiral, and Nothing) that move through moody soundscapes, experimental jams, and deep introspection. Their live reputation is killer; their shows are often immersive and sprawling, transforming studio tracks into dynamic, live-instrument driven performances that leave room for the unexpected. At the Ocean View stage, expect DARKSIDE to deliver an otherworldly set that pulls the crowd toward both trance-like reflection and lush sonic tension – with ominous visuals to boot.
Eli Brown (City Steps)
Formerly known for breakbeat and drum and bass excursions under the moniker Xample, UK DJ-producer Eli Brown has reinvented himself as a modern maestro of peak-time techno with tracks that hit hard on the dancefloor – often combining whirlwind BPMs, strong drops, and accessible rhythms. In recent years, Brown has bridged underground club credibility with festival visibility. His sets are usually well paced: building tension, dropping into moments of high energy, and mixing in enough surprises to keep things fresh. For CRSSD, he’s likely to appeal both to the older techno heads and newcomers who want something accessible that they can dance to late into the night; he’s one of those acts whose peak moments can feel like the main event. Not one to miss late on the City Steps.
Fcukers (Ocean View)
New York indie sleaze revivalists Fcukers are one of the newer up-and-coming live electronic acts on the CRSSD roster, with a sound that recalls the swaggering Meet Me in the Bathroom-type NYC dance-punk of the mid-to-late 2000s. Blending sleek but scuzzy synths, bass-revving grooves, propulsive time signatures, and shimmering vocal performances, the duo thrives on dazed, sun-baked energies, and their reputation on the festival circuit shows that they’re carving out a space as a crowd-moving rising buzz band. The perfect act to hype up the early afternoon Ocean View crowd, Fcukers will bring a hands-in-the-air spectacle that’ll have everyone shuffling from start-to-finish.
¥ØUSUK€ ¥UK1MAT$U (City Steps)
Japanese rising star ¥ØUSUK€ ¥UK1MAT$U has been riding a tidal wave of hype ever since his Boiler Room set went viral earlier this year. Delivering jagged, spastic beats that straddled breakbeat, big beat, drum and bass, industrial techno, and everything in between, he galvanized the crowd and internet, parlaying that success into a number of high-profile festival gigs including CRSSD, Portola, and next year’s edition of Coachella. Real heads would know that Yuki is actually one of the more versatile DJs around, capable of playing to any setting or crowd. As such, it’s impossible to predict exactly what he’ll deliver, but those expecting a re-tread of that Boiler Room set should temper expectations a tiny bit and just ride out whatever vibe he conjures.
Feel free to peruse set times below to prepare for your CRSSD weekend!
