Kevin Bronson on October 11th, 2018

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Like the artistic vagabond it’s dressed up as, Desert Daze keeps moving. West. For this weekend’s seventh annual affair, it’s moved from the desert to the beach — its waterfront spot being Moreno Beach at Lake Perris State Recreation Area, 72 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

And what began as a Coachella-adjacent anti-festival in Desert Hot Springs in the spring of 2012 (then moving to Sunset Ranch Oasis for three years and Joshua Tree’s Institute of Mentalphysics for two) has evolved into one of the most immersive experiences on the festival landscape. Desert Daze veterans say that it’s more ritual than festival — not to mention as close to a psychotropic experience you can get without putting anything in your mouth.

The music is loud and involves guitars and can mostly fit under the broad umbrella of psychedelic — from shoegaze to drone to garage to metal to punk to pop to indie to goth to noise to whatever it is that Death Grips do, which is good but leaves us flat out of words.

So, aside from the genius back-to-back scheduling of L.A. Witch and All Them Witches (Friday) and Earth and Earthless (Sunday), below are 10 reasons to be excited for Desert Daze.

Tickets, including single-day passes, are still on sale here.

Get the set times, in text and graphic form, here.

These maps very handy, especially the part about entering the festival from the north.

And here we go:

► The new location: If there has been a common denominator at past Desert Daze, it’s been dust. Maybe the festival’s new home in a state park will give everybody’s sinuses a reprieve? And who knows what might visually present itself on Lake Perris itself?

► Ten years after their return, shoegaze legends My Bloody Valentine will play a 90-minute set Sunday that people might be able to hear in Riverside. If you’re not there for the whole festival, this alone will be worth the price of a single-day ticket … and whatever you spend for ear plugs. It’s the must-see of must-sees, not to take anything away from the Friday and Saturday headliners, Tame Impala and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, respectively, or the other shoegaze hall-of-famer on the bill, Slowdive.

► “Deserter’s Songs,” the most majestic peak in symphonic rockers Mercury Rev’s 10-album catalog, turned 20 years old this year. And they’re going to play it Saturday evening at just about sunset. And we probably won’t be able to feel our legs.

► Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker will perform with his new project JARV IS … and while the buzz has been mixed from the few shows they’ve played, it’s well worth a look.

► King Khan & the Shrines will bring the wild and whimsical late Sunday. Really late. Will anybody still have the energy for wild and whimsical? Maybe it’s worth saving some.

► There are Q&A/discussion sessions in the theater with indie legend Steve Albini and Devo’s Gerald Casale, so we might learn something.

► Speaking of Albini, Shellac.

► Besides Warpaint (who are playing, by our count, their fifth Desert Daze) and DD staples JJUUJUU (found Phil Pirrone’s band) and Deap Vally (the duo in which his wife Julie Edwards drums), there are a bunch of other Los Angeles artists on the lineup. And they’re playing new music. In no particular order, we’ve circled these on our lineup: Ty Segall & White Fence, Death Valley Girls, L.A. Witch, Julia Holter, Sextile, Wand and Vinyl Williams.

► If the music doesn’t adjust your attitude, there are various sessions in the Mystic Bazaar (for campers only, unless you can beam your way in) offering: sound baths, metal yoga, water massage, communing with plant spirits, tarot, mushroom medicine, healing circles and pretty much everything else except finding your way back to your car. Our favorite: “Divine Dating: Witch Hacks for Love.”

► And we’re not sure we can be among them, but we’ll welcome stories from the overnighters — there’s a pre-dawn set Sunday  featuring Wand & Friends, followed by Mattson 2 Presents: Sunrise. … What’s in your coffee?

||| Also: Sample from this massive Desert Daze 2018 playlist