Audio Farm Festival

Worcestershire, United Kingdom
September 1 - September 6

An uncompromising rootsy vibe resides at Audio Farm. The Midlands festival, which takes place near Kidderminster, west of Birmingham, offers a refreshing juxtaposition of legends like General Levy, Channel One, Jazzy Lioness, dogger & Mindstate and Quantic with the likes of Ellen Allien, Helena Hauff, Erol Allan, Annabel Aroyo and Alba Heidari. The grassroots event is renowned for being one of the most community-spirited on the scene. The Lakeside Garden (with holistic classes, massages and more) as well as the fully vegan food offerings make health, wellbeing and sustainability an integral part of the festival experience.

RA Pick: Lose yourself in the dance to eclectic big-room tunes from DJ Eclair Fifi.

Dimensions

Tisno, Croatia
September 1 - September 6

If you didn't get enough Croatian sun at Love International in July, Dimensions Festival returns to Tisno for 2022. Unfolding along the breathtaking coastline, the festival will take place once again at The Garden Resort, celebrating its tenth anniversary. This will be the second year that Dimensions, one of Europe's best festivals, will happen in Tisno, seeing attendees frolicking on the beach, cooling off in the tides of the Adriatic and dancing by the beach during the day and Barbarella's by night. This year's edition sports a stacked lineup of formidable selectors from across the globe, spanning premiere UK bass weight, psychedelic house and techno and other effusive club sounds.

RA Pick: T4TLUVNRG's polyrhythmic prodigy ADAB.

Field Maneuvers

United Kingdom
September 2 - September 5

The beloved UK big little rave returns, moving to a new site for 2022. Field Maneuvers is an intimate festival with a capacity of just 1,500, with a community feel bolstered by the fact that many punters, and artists (like Shanti Celeste and Nick Höppner) return year on year. It's been a very tough stint for independent festivals but Field Maneuvers has made it to the next edition. After such a hiatus the vibe will be ecstatic from the off, as the festival's regulars finally reunite. Offering something for every raver, this year's lineup will span house, electro, breaks, ambient, jungle, donk and everything in between, provided by Josey Rebelle, Parris, DJ Flight and lots more. There will also be takeovers from the likes of Daytimers, Dalston Superstore and Touching Bass. See you in Sputnik, Field Maneuvers' very own laser dome.

RA Pick: Eris Drew and Octo Octa's back-to-backs are the stuff of pure rave magic.

Phonetics

Lisbon, Portugal
September 8 - September 11

Phonetics prides itself on cultural exchange. For each edition, the festival moves location, hosts a residency programme for local and international artists and partners with a local crew to co-curate the programming. This year, the nomadic festival heads to Mono Lisboa, an artist-run exhibition space in Portugal's capital, that will host the likes of DJ Danifox, Zaltan and Ziúr as part of a lineup curated with local crew Filho Único. In line with its philosophy of sound as a universal language, a slew of Portuguese and French talents will also play collaborative shows at various venues around the city. Come prepared to learn.

RA Pick: An experimental sound piece about Lisbon's Tagus River, performed by students and led by Phonetics resident Romain Mascagni (AKA Territoires).

Draaimolen

Tilburg, Netherlands
September 9 - September 11

After moving location four times in six years, Draaimolen found a perfect home at MOB Complex in 2019, with stages nestled into clearings in the forest, each designed as part of a series of artist commissions. In 2022, for the first time, the festival will expand to two days. Quite right too, as our review of the 2019 edition noted that the lineup was so strong there were an excessive number of clashes during the one-day event. This year's programming is no different, making space for several unique back-to-backs including Eris Drew and Mystic Bill, DjRUM and Skee Mask and CEM with DJ Nobu. Sets will touch on all corners of dance music across the Friday and Saturday, on a site that benefits from excellent production, slick organisation and, importantly, hefty, crystalline sound systems.

RA Pick: Don't miss Loraine James, whose mix of grime, jazz, IDM, R&B and more makes for a striking live performance.

Nyege Nyege Festival

Itanda Falls, Uganda
September 15 - September 18

Nyege Nyege's first in-person festival since 2019 is their biggest edition yet. Five times larger than their old venue, this year's site at Itanda Falls in Jinja boasts beachside camping on the shores of the river Nile. In addition to pop and rap artists from across Africa, some of the continent's most outstanding electronic DJs and producers are on the bill, including Hibotep, Kampire, DJ Diaki and Otim Alpha. International artists like Low Jack, quest?onmarq and Tash LC will also perform. Traverse the 300-strong lineup and discover why Nyege Nyege has earned such a glowing reputation over the last seven years.

RA Pick: Rapper MC Yallah's performance recently made waves at Dekmantel 2022. Don't miss her mind-bending flow and magnetic stage presence.

Sustain-Release

New York, United States
September 15 - September 19

Every year, Sustain-Release welcomes some of the most interesting names in US dance music. Featuring a mixture of underground favourites and more obscure names, each edition encourages discovery and surprise–an experience which is enriched by the surrounding nature. A serene lake, forest stage and open fields balance out the ferocious sonics, offering a more calming ambience for attendees before and after the powerful performances. Nitemind's masterful lighting also adds to the mystical setting, with the designer's hypnotic visuals encouraging attendees into a state of deep dance. The New York festival tends to focus heavily on techno–its 2021 edition featured hard rave at a pool party–so come prepared for thudding kick drums at any time of day.

RA Pick: Roza Terenzi back-to-back DJ Voices. Both artists are known for breaks, driving rhythms and '90s influences. When combined, the bass levels could reverberate kilometres away.

Waterworks

London, United Kingdom
September 17

London festival Waterworks' debut outing last year was applauded by many for its strong sound (not often the case for dance music events in the city), slick stage design and programming. The festival takes place in Gunnersbury Park in West London, across seven stages, one of which is Resident Advisor's stage Siren. A striking wooden platform hidden in the woods, this year we will host sets from the likes of DJ Storm with Stamina MC, Digital Mystikz and SGT Pokes, Darwin and Yung Singh. Elsewhere across the site, Waterworks is a broad celebration of electronic music that welcomes a switched-on crowd. Expect house, techno, trance, electro, breaks, jungle and more, with some heady singalong edits thrown in for good measure.

RA Pick: Get ready to sweat to four-on-the-floor thumpers, as Midland and Saoirse go back-to-back on the Orbit stage.

Urvakan Festival

Dilijan, Armenia
September 23 - September 26

The programming at Urvakan Festival is so experimental that some of the artists on the bill have been described as scientists in the past. The presence of acts like Jay Glass Dubs, Nicolas Jaar, Mveq, Nancy Mounir and Shaddah Tuum is fitting for an event in a location so astonishing. The first edition, in 2019, took place at a 1937 USSR Children's Railway, which fell into disuse in the '80s before being revived as a historical attraction. This year the festival moves to a new home, the Armenian Composers’ Union Resort in Dilijan, with a diverse lineup of artists hailing from all over, from Greece to north Africa. The move to Dilijan forms part of the festival's work to celebrate a part of the country beyond the capital, while also helping to revive the venue. Beyond the typical festival offering, at Urvakan those on the lineup engaged with dialogues around decolonisation and social activism will share their perspectives across several roundtable discussions.

RA Pick: Rare cuts from the Beirut Groove Collective will be a treat for vinyl junkies.

Making Time ∞

Philadelphia, United States
September 24 - September 26

Philadelphia DJ and event curator Dave P has dedicated his life to building unique, immersive music events under the Making Time banner. For 22 years, he has invited some of the world's most exquisite artists to the City of Brotherly Love to take part in what he calls "transcendental futuristic musical experiences." This year, he looks to top previous endeavours with his most ambitious festival lineup to date. For the first time, Making Time ∞ will take place across multiple days, at Fort Mifflin, one of America's oldest military outposts. Originally built in 1771 on the banks of the Delaware river, the fort has been preserved and repurposed as a National Historical Landmark. Come September it will transform into something else entirely—a mesmerising excursion of light and sound, helmed by the likes of Four Tet, SHERELLE and LSDXOXO.

RA Pick: The mind and heart-melting evocations of rising Ninja Tune affiliate, Yu Su.

See our full festival listings for September right here