So much can happen at Lucidity. It’s a place to transform, a place to heal, a place to feel alive, and a place to come together with others.

There’s one additional thing that Lucidity will always provide: a place to dance and feel the music. This year’s lineup has artists from all sorts of backgrounds, of many sounds, who are ready to bring all sorts of good vibes to the festival.

You know that feeling you get when you hear a song and immediately feel it moving through your body? When the bass touches your soul and every beat hits harder than the last? There’s an artist who created that song, that feeling, that spark.

Behind that person, there’s inspiration—a whole story that led them to create that song you’re feeling. Let’s get to know them, so we can all feel the music a little harder. 

Here are 6 artists you don’t want to miss at Lucidity, and the stories that inspire their sound:

1. Zaid Bawab aka Bawab

Genre: Downtempo/Organic House

Bawab grew up in Ventura, California where he started producing music at the age of 18. Though he’s only been producing beats for 4 years, he’s pretty much already a pro. He perfected his skills as an artist at Icon Collective in LA, and hasn’t looked back. 

One unique thing you’ll notice in Bawab’s music, is the Arabic scales & instruments. Staying in touch with his roots, Bawab loves incorporating his culture into his music.

When he’s not in the studio, he uses nature walks and surfing to clear his mind and stay inspired. Speaking of inspiration: he named his 2 cats after his 2 favorite teas: Chai & Boba. 🙂 

2. Bix King

Genre: Disco & Grooves

Bix grew up skating by the beach in Santa Monica, CA, in the squatter punk era of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. He originally started playing bass and mixing music on CDs in his living room in Santa Monica.

As his passion for music grew, he grew even more inspired by the people around him: one of them being his sister. She would go to raves, tell Bix about them, and pass down all her jungle Drum & Bass tapes, which Bix would mix into his own creative mix tapes (coolest sister alert!).

Bix continued making mix tapes, and in college he spent his every dime on used Pioneer CDJs, and the rest is history! He still skates, and has added roller skating and snowboarding to his list of favorite activities.

I’d consider his 3 cats and 2 dogs the luckiest pets on the block, because they get to listen to his grooves everyday!

3. Mary Droppinz

This gal is taking the house music world by storm! She grew up in Nebraska, where she learned to play the piano and would listen to her dad play the drums. She has always had a love for music, but didn’t think you could make it as an artist unless you sang.

That all changed when she moved to California 7 years ago for college, and never looked back. The beautiful California coast is where she discovered her love for house music. The love of the house music culture made her feel at home, and you can feel this passion and soul in her music. She’s truly inspired by her experiences, feelings, and emotions, and when she plays music, she feels free and connected spiritually.

Her sound has been constantly evolving since she started DJ’ing, and continues to evolve with whatever gives her goosebumps, creates a vision in her head, or moves her. Let’s vibe with her on the dancefloor, and join in with that house music love she pours her heart and soul into. P.S- look out for her outfits because she’s a fashion queen!

Tracks To Listen To: Acid Mother, Crypto Queen, Do It For Yourself, Cool Intentions

4. Beard & Stache

These two central coast boys bring sounds that span from funk to techno, but their main musical focus can best be described as house.

They originally started throwing shows together and promoting the music scene in their local hometown of Santa Maria, CA. They were both djing and playing various solo gigs until one day they were playing a B2B when a friend called them Beard & Stache- and boom, the legendary duo was born!

This duo has diverse and eclectic taste in music, and draw their inspiration from artists such as: Prince, Zapp and Roger, The Gap Band, Dr. Dre, Timberland, Claude VonStroke, and Jamie Jones. The most important part of playing music for them is playing the sounds they love and helping to create special memories for everyone on the dancefloor. 

Favorite Tracks They’re Listening To:

“Paradise” - Payfone

“Lady - Hear Me Tonight” - Modjo

“IT’S A FEELING” - Another Chemical Love Story

5. Boiz House

If you want to hear a mixture of house, funk, tech, hip-hop, songwriting, jazz, AND bass - look no further because Boiz House is here for you. These Boiz create music that is unique, yet familiar. They’re inspired by the grooviness of house music, the playfulness of hip-hop, the unpredictability of psychedelia, the melodies of nostalgia, and the raw brute strength of subharmonic frequencies.

They combine all their tastes into a lively, energetic, and fun experience for everyone to enjoy. The Boiz all met on various timelines during their undergrad college years at UC Berkeley where they would get together for intimate after-parties- sharing music and bridging the gap bringing together different friend groups.

After Berkeley, they went to Icon Collective- a music production school in Burbank, where they made the decision to move in together and hone in on their production skills. Their living room was transformed into a 24 hour studio of constant production and collaboration where at least one or two Boiz were always working.

The speakers never turned off. These Boiz continued to grow and play together, sharing their different influences and ideas with a common end goal: to make music that they hadn’t ever heard before. 

They originally started Boiz House as a collective/record label to have their own platform to promote their strange, silly music.

As they started making more music with 4+ Boiz contributing to a single record, they decided Boiz House should be the artist name for their collaborative tracks as well. Thus, Boiz House was born and they started developing a live Boi Band act with the idea of sharing living room jams on stage; they want the audience to feel at home, and part of their living room. 

Lucidity holds a special place in these Boiz hearts, because the FIRST ever live show as a Boi band they played at Lucidity 2019. They’re so stoked to be back, and want you to know that “A ‘Boi’ is a person who likes to have fun. Anyone can be a ‘Boi’, and anyone is welcome in our living room.”

You can catch them each walking around with a stuffed animal counterpart, which they embody on and off stage, or in a cuddle puddle filled with stuffed animals and squish. 

Tracks To Listen To:

Comfortable, Ooga  Booga, Best Friends House (unreleased)- This one’s a crowd favorite for those who have seen them live ~ and if you haven’t heard it yet, come to the Nook Friday @ 5pm to hear what all the hype is about. 🙂  

6. Enigma Beats

Enigma Beats, also known as Nate, grew up around the Sierra Nevada mountains, which is near Black Rock City, Nevada.  His life changed when he decided to go to Burning Man. There, in the desert, he fell in love with bass music. The bass showed him a whole new world, and he has been developing his style ever since.

His music is a weave of worldly rhythms & sounds infused with hip hop and high altitude bass. His unique style is heavily inspired by CharlesTheFirst, Noetik The Alchemist, Thriftworks, Ivy Lab, & Great Dane. His passion for music doesn’t start and end with creating. He currently works full time at a non-profit called Note-Able Music Therapy Services, where he teaches drum & piano lessons.

Not only does he teach lessons on classic instruments, but he started an electronic music class for kids and adults of all abilities. In this class, he brings his own beat pad and helps provide tools for expression through electronic music to anyone who wants to learn. Nate is truly passionate about music, which you can see through his shining personality and music (which we will all get to enjoy together). 

Tracks to listen to: Celestial Seas / Kumoi Jishi

Just as these artists draw inspiration from the people around them, their fellow musicians, and their environment, we’re all inspired by their music.

Imagine standing up on that stage, having put so much thought, heart, and soul into your music, and seeing people dance, groove, and vibe to it. The thing that unites each of these artists is the love they feel when people are dancing to their music.

This exchange of energy flows right from the starting point of the inspiration behind the music, through the musician, into the crowd, and back up to the DJ stand. I can’t wait to feel and share the energy on the dancefloor with all of you!

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