6 Must-See Artists at Treasure Island Music Festival 2015

By: Josh Terzino –

San Francisco is a great destination for any tourist, but especially for a music fan this weekend. Treasure Island is the golden city’s last music fest of the year and they put together a great lineup. They have a lot of familiar names playing, and some new faces being given a chance at one of the year’s final blowouts.

Here are the 6 artists that make the trip worth the cash!

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Big Grams
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In the music industry, mutual admiration ends at artists acknowledging one another. However, Big Boi and Phantogram took it much further and recorded an album together. It’s actually really good, as the hard-hitting MC contradicts the duo’s ethereal electronic sound. Phantogram by themselves can get a bit stale because a lot of their songs have a similar sonic palette-the addition of Big Boi revitalizes both parties and brings a fresh new sound to the festival circuit.

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Ex Hex
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If you like your punk rock a little spacey, look no further than the ladies of Ex Hex. Their festival sets have been universally lauded and their 2014 record Rips was one of the best of the year. The guitar riffs are frenzied and fuzzed out, the drums are chest-rattling, and unlike most punk they keep the vocals pushed out front so you can hear what Mary Timony has to say.

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Deerhunter
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Despite some recent line-up changes, Bradford Cox and Moses Archuleta have kept Deerhunter at the forefront of the indie rock genre. Every release is greeted with critical praise and massive delight from fans. Now seasoned veterans of the road, Deerhunter’s live set is tight as can be, and they’ll have a bevy of new material to play with their new album, Fading Frontier, out this week.

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Ought
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Ought is better suited to a small club where people can gather around the stage and be completely focused on the music. Lucky for us, Ought has been playing festivals for over a year and knows how to turn a huge space into a home show. They draw you in with their dynamic arrangements to make indie rock that actually feels like art. Last month the band released their hotly anticipated follow up to More Than Any Other Day and it delivers on every level.

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DJ Trackstar (Silent Disco set)
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Run The Jewels is playing Treasure Island, as is mandatory for any 2015 music festival. The special surprise here is that their DJ Trackstar is also curating a silent disco party the same day the group plays. He cuts up all the samples live on stage when he plays with Killer Mike and El-P, so you know he’s got a ton of talent flowing through those hands. And as a big part of the Rap Fan family, he’s bound to pull out some Questlove-level deep cuts no one else would think to play.

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Jerrod Carmichael
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If you were lucky enough to catch “The Carmichael Show” over its summer-season run, you know Jarrod Carmichael finds humor in daily life and nothing is too sacred to be joked about. In six short episodes they tackled issues like guns, race, and sexuality in a way most network television programs shy away from. His HBO Comedy Special, “Love At The Store” goes to some pretty dark places, but Carmichael has an infectious charm that allows him to say things you would be appalled by from anyone else.

Tickets for both days of the Treasure Island Festival (October 17 & 18) can be purchased here.