'Rural', indeed. Since starting life in the mountains of Yamanashi Prefecture in 2009, this self-styled underground dance party has emerged as a pint-sized progeny of the more established Labyrinth festival. Much like its most obvious spiritual forebear, Rural offers an alternative to Japan's major dance fests: the techno is served deep and dubby, the international acts are exclusively European, and your chances of hearing an electro-house remix during the entire weekend are approximately zero. The chief attractions at this year's fest include Berlin scene heavyweight Mark Ernestus (of Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound renown), Finnish electronica genius Vladislav Delay and Italian deep techno producers Claudio PRC and Ness, who'll be performing both separately and in their The Gods Planet duo. Here's the complete lineup...
Milton Bradley, Circus, Claudio PRC, Mark Ernestus, Ginga, The Gods Planet, Gonno, Kero, Killy, Koba, Mitsuaki Komamura, Komatsu, Brando Lupi, Atsushi Maeda, Mamazu, Nanae, Nao, Ness, DJ Nobu, Okuda, Ozmo aka Sammy, Paradice, Ryo, Seco aka Hiro3254, Maki Shimoda, Takahashi, Teant, Tyme, Uechi, Vladislav Delay, Yasu, Yoshiki