Your Bass Roadmap to Goldrush: From the Bottom To The Top
Goldrush is the kind of festival where you can walk into Rawhide with one plan and somehow leave with an entirely different one. The lineup stretches across the electronic spectrum, but for the bass heads, there is an entirely different festival hiding inside Goldrush. There are filthy riddim drops, emotional melodic bass, wobbling funk, drum and bass, trap, bass house, metal, and enough low end to make the desert floor feel like it is moving around you. So, instead of giving you another list of bass artists you should see, consider this your Bassmap to Goldrush. Think of it as a journey. Every artist is another stop, every sound takes you a little deeper, and somewhere along the way, you are probably going to discover a new favorite.
STOP ONE: VALENTINO KHAN
Every good road trip needs a starting point. Valentino Khan is where we begin, bringing bass house, electro, and heavier club production into the mix without immediately throwing you into the deep end. His sound gives you groove, bounce, and plenty of low end while keeping the energy accessible. This is the stop for the bass fan who wants to dance before they start headbanging.
THE METALHEAD’S SHORTCUT: SULLIVAN KING
Then things get heavier. Sullivan King is what happens when dubstep walks into a metal show and decides it wants to stay. His music is built around massive bass, crushing drops, guitar-driven production, screaming vocals, and an energy that feels more like a live rock performance than a traditional DJ set. If someone tells you they do not like bass music but they love metal, send them here.
THE TRAP TURN: ROSSY
Bass does not always mean dubstep. ROSSY brings a different kind of weight to the roadmap, pulling from trap, future bass, and emotional bass production. Her sets can hit hard while still carrying atmosphere and melody, making her an important stop for anyone who considers bass music a much bigger world than just riddim and dubstep. This is your turn onto the scenic route.
THE HEADBANGER DETOUR: RAY VOLPE
Now we are getting serious. Ray Volpe is the point where the roadmap starts feeling less like a drive and more like a controlled demolition. Massive festival dubstep, enormous drops, ridiculous energy, and the kind of low end that makes you instinctively brace yourself before the drop even arrives. Your neck may want to take a vacation afterward.
MONSTER MIDNIGHT TYRANNOSAURUS
If your ideal bass experience involves sounds that seem physically incapable of behaving normally, Midnight Tyrannosaurus is your stop. Heavy dubstep takes over here, with guttural basslines and drops designed specifically for the headbangers. This is not background music. This is the part of the journey where you stop asking what is happening and simply accept it.
RIDDIM ROUND-UP: JOUST B2B MONGREL
JOUST B2B MONGREL keeps the heavier side of the roadmap moving, bringing a pairing built for the riddim crowd. If you came to Goldrush specifically looking for the nastiest bass you can find, mark this stop.
THE EMOTIONAL BASS STOP: MITIS
Every bass journey needs a moment to breathe.MitiS brings melodic bass, piano-driven melodies, and drumstep into the picture, creating a completely different emotional experience without abandoning the weight that brought you here in the first place. This is the set where you might find yourself staring into the crowd for a second, realizing bass music can make you feel just as much as it can make you move.
THE LIVE BASS DETOUR: KNOW GOOD
Know Good is the product of two kindred spirits bound by both blood and bass. Cousins Tanner and Sylas Morgan are the latest in a family legacy of musicians, crafting a genre-defying sound that’s as dark and dynamic as it is unexpected. Their music pulses with low frequencies woven through pop, rock, and rap elements. Know Good takes the roadmap somewhere particularly interesting, blending heavy bass and dubstep with live instrumentation, guitars, violins, drums, and original vocals. It is a reminder that bass music does not have to stay inside one box. Their sound can hit hard while still feeling like a live musical experience.
THE DARK SIDE: KAIVON AND DEATHPACT
Kaivon brings melodic bass with a darker, cinematic edge, giving the roadmap another emotional turn before Deathpact pulls everything into something far more mysterious. Deathpact exists in that darker, experimental corner of bass where atmosphere becomes just as important as impact. It is heavy, strange, and immersive, like the road suddenly disappears and you are driving through the desert at midnight with no idea where you are going. And honestly, that is part of the fun.
THE DRUM & BASS EXPRESS: DELTA HEAVY
If you have been waiting for the tempo to change, this is your train. Delta Heavy brings drum and bass into the roadmap, with their sound also pulling from dubstep and two step. The energy moves differently here. It is faster, more frantic, and built around momentum that can turn an entire crowd into one moving body.
THE WOBBLE ZONE: BOOGIE T
Then comes Boogie T. Dubstep, riddim, bass, funk, and an almost impossible amount of personality collide here. His production has that unmistakable wobble that makes you want to move before you even realize what your body is doing. This is where the roadmap gets weird but in the best possible way.
THE GRAND BASS FINALE: GRIZ
The final and upper level, the funk soul legend, GRiZ. That funk, soul, live instrumentation, electro, dubstep, and bass all collide inside a sound that refuses to stay in one lane. GRiZ is proof that being a bass artist does not mean you have to sound like everyone else. His music can make you dance, cry, scream, hug your friends, and lose your mind in the same set. That feels like the perfect place to end the road.
Remember this rule, though, as you work through the map. You do not have to see every artist. You just need to know what kind of bass you are craving. Want filthy riddim? Take that path. Want emotional melodies? Well now you know where to go. Want metal and dubstep? Easy detour. Want fast, frantic energy? Are you thinking about what I’m thinking? Want something funky and weird? Find Boogie T. Want something dark? Follow Deathpact into the unknown. Goldrush has enough bass to satisfy every craving; all you have to do is pick your road.
I found EDM in my early years as a high schooler, with artists like Avicii, Afrojack, Tiësto, Martin Garrix, Krewella, and so many others filling my playlists. In 2017, Voodoo Music Festival became my first festival and live music experience, and honestly, I have not stopped since. Since then, I’ve made my way through 20+ music festivals and at least 43 shows that I’ve actually remembered to count, but the numbers have never been the best part. It’s the people I’ve met, the memories made, the unexpected moments, and that feeling of being surrounded by thousands of people who all came to feel something together. I write because I genuinely love this community and the music that brings us together. My hope with every article, review, and story is to capture even a little bit of that feeling and share it with you. I want you to feel the excitement I feel standing in that crowd, hear the details that made a song stick in my heart, and understand just how much I appreciate the artists, fans, and experiences that make this community so special. There is so much magic in this world of music, and I’m just happy I get to be here for it, listen to it, and put some of that love into words.
