In the early evening of Friday, December 9th, as the sun first made contact with the horizon, a small crowd of ravers, weary from a long day of travelling, trudged up four flights of stairs at Alsisar Mahal, the 17th century fort-turned-heritage hotel that's home to Magnetic Fields Festival. We threw ourselves down on the charpais (a traditional woven bed made of wood and jute) spread across the sun-dappled terrace, as an all-star cast of Rajasthani musicians—dressed in traditional white kurtas and turbans—put on a Rajasthani folk masterclass.

Abhimanyu Alsisar—scion of the Rajput family that once ruled the region and a patron of the festival—stood stage-side like a proud father, occasionally interjecting to introduce a song or applaud the performers. There was something almost fantastical about the scene I found myself in: an 18th century baithak (a traditional sit-down performance) overseen by an erstwhile royal, but with a distinctly 21st century audience complete with drag and glitter. It was a respectful nod to the rustic, old-world charm that, alongside some of the most exciting electronic music programming in the subcontinent, makes Magnetic Fields India's most beloved dance music festival.

According to regular attendees, the 2019 edition of the festival was incredible, but it had left them with a few lingering questions about the festival’s future. Namely, how would the influx of cash-rich casuals from North India change its intimate, communal feel? There were fresh doubts, too. Putting on a music festival of any scale in a small desert village is a logistical challenge at the best of times—picture a long line of trucks stuck on the village’s narrow single lane roads—and the pandemic had only made the process more fraught. Would the organisers be able to recapture the magic after a two-year hiatus?

A few arrival hiccups and one poorly conceived attempt at brand activation aside, any fears were unfounded. Alsisar Mahal and its surroundings were once again transformed into an Indo-futuristic wonderland, as around 4,000 attendees explored the fort's centuries-old nooks and crannies in between sets of propulsive techno, bone-rattling bass and melodic house. One of the standout performances took place on the first day, as Elsewhere In India—a collaboration between local virtuosos Murthovic and Thiruda—debuted their idiosyncratic display of sitar and flute, weaving nimble melodies around rugged bass and '90s techno rhythms. As they played, a screen displayed steampunk characters with neon instruments navigating an AI-generated landscape of post-apocalyptic blight and ingenuity.

This year's Magnetic Fields saw festival favourites making triumphant returns and leftfield newcomers earning legions of new converts. In the words of one raver, whose eyes blazed in the dawn sun, “I wonder how they’re going to top this next year.”

Here are eight records that captured the vibe across the weekend.

Shantam at Peacock Club
Shantam - "The Late Kate Jam"

Nestled in a corner of the desert campsite, the Peacock Club was a tiny, velvet-draped club that harked back to smoky speakeasies and mid-century jazz venues. This genre-agnostic stage was where festivalgoers could pop in for a hazy, mood-enhancing break from the relentless BPMs and cold winter winds of the main stages. This was especially true on Friday, when the programming was hosted by Kolkata ambient and experimental label Social Isolation. Shantam’s set was a perfect example—sprawling ambient jams haunted by lilting xylophonic melody, sharp shards of atonal drone and industrial noise, all propelled by tightly sculpted slabs of sub-bass, such as his own sonic palate cleanser "The Late Kate Jam."

15 Years of Hessle Audio at BudX North Stage
Hagan feat. Bryte - "Welcome To Ghana"

The beating heart of the festival was the BudX North Stage. Set in the palace’s main courtyard, the dance floor was surrounded by the palace walls adorned with ancient murals, Indo-Islamic arches and lattice windows. As I made my way in for the Hessle Audio takeover, holographic fireworks exploded on the wall behind the stage. This dizzying visual set the scene for six hours of rib cage-rattling bass and off-kilter rhythms dished out by the triumvirate of Ben UFO, Pangaea and Pearson Sound.

Two of the three label founders had played the festival before. It showed, as they mixed crowd favourites with deep house, bass and techno cuts from the Hessle Audio catalogue and the wider UK underground, with plenty of detours into glitch, jungle and UK funky. The grimy and propulsive "Welcome To Ghana"—with its dense African rhythms and global South triumphalism—perfectly captured the unique energy of this globe-spanning party under the Indian desert sky.

DJ Fart In The Club at Ray-Ban Afterparty
Bertie - "Tinyard"

After a short break to catch my breath, I wandered towards the palace’s parking area, which hosted the Ray-Ban Afterparty. By 4 AM on the first night—following a long day of travel—only the most hardcore dance music fans remained. Those of us still standing were primed for DJ Fart In The Club’s eclectic mix of colourful and irreverent house, techno and electro. The Berlin DJ more than lived up to her playful nom de guerre, as exemplified by the rolling breakbeats and bright-eyed vigour of Bertie’s "Tinyard."

Onra at Sundowner
Onra - "Keep On Loving Me"

With stunning views of the palace and the desert beyond, the (slightly cramped) Sundowner stage on the rooftops was the perfect setting for the festival’s more downtempo artists. Mumbai’s CHRMS played a lush LA beats-inspired set, selecting cuts from his upcoming debut album, Lucky CHRMS, that perfectly teed up French beatmaker Onra’s glitchy soul and R&B-indebted instrumental hip-hop. "Keep On Loving Me" was the high point of the first 30 minutes, all chromatic synths and silky R&B grooves that had the crowd tapping their feet in unison.

For the remaining half hour, the Parisian artist—whose grandfather hails from Puducherry, a French colonial settlement-turned-union territory in South India—unveiled a collection of tracks crafted especially for this one performance, a riotous mashup of Indian classical, film music and raw, glitched-out hip-hop, swathed in the grainy crackle of old vinyl.

Four Tet at BudX North Stage
Four Tet - "Two Thousand And Seventeen"

After a couple of strong but straightforward sets by Chloé Robinson and Anthony Naples, Four Tet took to the BudX North stage ready to warp some minds. I felt the crowd take a collective deep breath as an ominous drone drifted out of the PA. Alongside shuffling, garage-leaning rhythms, which built up to guttural crescendos, there were wistfully pastoral comedowns and myriad hard left turns. It was everything I've come to expect from a Four Tet set. He finished with a couple of back-to-back Bollywood flips (a nod well-received by the audience) and the dreamy, sitar-hued "Two Thousand And Seventeen."

Jossy Mitsu at Resident Advisor Stage
IsGwan - "Bleng"

At the Resident Advisor stage—a metal structure illuminated by bright white strobes—Jossy Mitsu mixed the crowd into a frenzy. The Birmingham DJ took no prisoners in a set that spanned footwork, Baile funk, house and diamond-tipped techno. It was the last opportunity of the night for ecstatic release and the crowd responded in kind. The unruly mass heaved to cuts like IsGwan’s trippy, breathless "Bleng," as if they believed they could keep the sun away with their relentless dancing.

Chloé Robinson at Ray-Ban Desert Oasis
Chloé Robinson + DJ ADHD - "Steamin"

Having already played one set at the Budx North Stage, Chloé Robinson returned to the decks on Sunday afternoon at the Ray-Ban Desert Oasis. A 3:30 PM set time in the desert under the blazing sun would be a challenge for anyone, especially for an artist who specialises in house and techno. But Robinson quickly proved she was ready to throw down the gauntlet. Favouring the warmer, more melodic tracks in her collection, Robinson dropped cuts like Joy Orbison's bright-but-bruising "Pinky Ring'' and Faithless’s timeless anthem "Insomnia," among harder tracks like "Steamin," her grime-meets-techno collaboration with DJ ADHD.

Four Tet back-to-back Ben UFO at Ray-Ban Desert Oasis
Sully - "5ives"

The unannounced closing sets at the Ray-Ban Desert Oasis stage—set right in the middle of the campsite—are a Magnetic Fields tradition, invariably providing some of the festival's most memorable highlights. This year was no different. Having failed to get into Young Marco’s set at the Peacock Club (apparently getting there 15 minutes early wasn’t enough), I joined the rest of the attendees at the Desert Stage. Batu and Jossy Mitsu played a compelling, if slightly unadventurous back-to-back before handing over to Magnetic Fields veterans Four Tet and Ben UFO, who played a set so good it warrants both artists appearing twice in this list.

The pair nudged and teased the weary crowd to find untouched reserves of energy as they spun up a storm of eclectic jungle and UK garage, peppered with forays into industrial techno, gqom and darker ambient. Coming up on the heels of Gold Panda’s icy, futuristic "Plastic Future," Sully’s "5Ives" slammed into the dance floor with its maximalist jungle swagger and post-dubstep wobble. It didn’t matter that the beer had run out, or that many of us hadn’t slept for 48 hours, this desert dance floor felt like the epicentre of the world. It was an apt closer for a mind-bending weekend of music and dance.

Shantam at Peacock Club Shantam - "The Late Kate Jam"

15 Years of Hessle Audio at BudX North Stage Hagan feat. Bryte - "Welcome To Ghana"

DJ Fart In The Club at Ray-Ban Afterparty Bertie - "Tinyard"

Onra at Sundowner Onra - "Keep On Loving Me"

Four Tet at BudX North Stage Four Tet - "Two Thousand And Seventeen"

Jossy Mitsu at Resident Advisor Stage IsGwan - "Bleng"

Chloé Robinson at Ray-Ban Desert Oasis Chloé Robinson + DJ ADHD - "Steamin"

Four Tet back-to-back Ben UFO at Ray-Ban Desert Oasis Sully - "5ives"