Festival organizers ID&T took a considerable risk in 2013 when they made plans to expand their Belgium based music festival Tomorrowland to the US. Spinoffs have rarely worked in television (take “Joey” the “Friends” spinoff from 2004), but TomorrowWorld has proven to be the outlier. In its inaugural year in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, TomorrowWorld boasted over 140,000 in attendance and won the International Dance Music Award trophy for Best Music Event. Now in its third year, TomorrowWorld is back and bigger than ever. Just this week ID&T announced “The Gathering,” an official opening party at the Dreamville camping grounds featuring an eclectic, all-star cast of Yves V, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Tujamo, Ftampa, Garry & Jay,Brian Cross, Stereo Killah, Mashpop, and Comrad & Coin .

We’ve pinned down five of our absolute must see acts at the festival, happening September 25th-27th. None of them are “headliners” in the traditional sense of the word, but they definitely deserve that status.

Giraffage

We first caught wind of Giraffage a few years ago with his zonky bootleg of our favorite diva Janet Jackson and her single “Someone To Call My Lover.” The San Francisco based producer has since then continued to tickle our dancing bone and is a favorite to call upon for head nodding and booty bouncing certified remixes.

Jamie Jones

Let’s get serious for a second and say that we’re deeply saddened that Hot Natured will not be making an appearance at TomorrowWorld, BUT 1/4 of the duo Jamie Jones will be in attendance and that is enough news for celebration. Hot Natured (Jamie Jones, Lee Foss, Ali Love, and Luca C) was behind one of our favorite albums of 2013 “Different Sides of the Sun,” a club driven record with deep pop sensibilities.

Maya Janes Coles

Maya Jane Coles is one of the few female faces you’ll see on TomorrowWorld’s line up and an artist known for her wide array of skills. Besides being a talented producer and sound engineer to rival any of her male counterparts, Coles is also an accomplished songwriter, as evident on her 2012 EP “Easier To Hide.”

Samo Sound Boy

Los Angeles by way of New York’s Samo Sound Boy released his debut full-length “Begging Please” earlier this year via his label BODY HIGH (co-founded with JeromeLOL), a heart-wrenching LP following the dissolution of a relationship. We’ve all been there before, and Samo Sound Boy just happened to make the perfect album to cry alone in your room to. Samo Sound Boy proves that dance music can be poignant, especially with the use of looped vocal samples “what can I do” to really drive the heartbreak home.

Touch Sensitive

Australia’s Touch Sensitive’s 2013 single “Pizza Guy” two years later still has some legs. The track was recently featured in an episode of the new HBO show Ballers (you know that one with Dwayne Johnson?) and frankly, it’s one that we still can’t get out of our head. It’s effortlessly cool, yet with the way with synths layer on throughout the track, is a song with a driving punch. Touch Sensitive doesn’t fail to utilize his experience as the former bassist of the band Van She when he plays the bass on stage during his sets, which is such a treat to see.

You can view the full TomorrowWorld artist line up here.

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