With Cruel World just on the horizon and set times out now begins the difficult task of deciding one’s festival game plan. Across three stages, a truly diabolical array of bands will unleash their daunting sonic loads and frenetic frenzies of dance. You could wander from each one with no goal but to soak in as much of it as humanly possible and leave the festival with probably half a dozen discovered favorites.

Our only advice is to get there early to witness all the raw talent holding it down in the afternoon. Whether you’re already familiar with some of the bands below or looking for a new obsession — you can’t go wrong with the five fearsome acts we’ve pinpointed as unmissable!

Produced by Sandra B. Olinger, Written by Steven Ward

All bands are listed in chronological order by set time.

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Patriarchy

Los Angeles-based band Patriarchy meld together a volatile but enthralling concoction of metal and dance across the three albums they’ve released since their debut in 2019. Led by the otherworldly and viscerally haunting Actually Huizenga, the trio uses their music to embark on harrowingly provocative excursions into the darkly beating heart of society’s patriarchal cosmology. Their most recent album, The Unself, has plenty of throbbing tracks like “Good Boy” and “No Touch Torture.” Last year, they also dropped Forcefully Rearranged, a collection of remixes that tease out the feral danceability of their songs.

If you’re craving a heady electro-rock dance trap that will obliterate you with its industrial sonics but caresses you with its siren’s wails — then you won’t want to miss out on Patriarchy when they set alight the Sad Girls stage from 12:40-1:10pm!

ADULT.

ADULT. — comprised of Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus — have waded into everything from techno, punk, industrial, and darkwave. So we fully expect their set at the festival to be one massive fever dream of a dance party. Their expansive discography might be daunting to new listeners, but their early electronically swarming EPs are a treasure trove of glitchy mania. Twenty years later, the pair are still going strong on Becoming Undone, sending you down a wormhole of mind-numbing and body-flailing electronica that will leave you entranced.

In addition to their slot at Cruel World 2024, performing at the Outsiders stage between 12:50-1:20pm, they will also open for TR/ST at The Fonda on Thursday, May 9th.

Harsh Symmetry

Julian Sharwarko dreamily merges post-punk with darkwave under his solo project, Harsh Symmetry. With two albums under his belt — Display Model and Imitation — the now Los Angeles-based artist is poised to enrapture a whole new crowd with his murky but lambent hypnotizers. Sink deeply into either collection to find a stunning reincarnation of new wave that we know will have festival-goers unfamiliar with his sound gathering in curious awe.

Catch him at the Lost Boys stage during his set taking place between 1:10-1:40pm.

Model/Actriz

Wielding a potent affinity for post-punk and noise rock, Model/Actriz released their debut album, Dogsbody, just last year. Frontman Cole Haden injecting queer sexuality into a genre and space woefully lacking in representation. Their live shows possess a reputation for being infernos of raw and deafening theatricality, driving fans into cathartic frenzies of physical and emotional release.

Get ready to thrash and howl when they give the Outsiders stage an afternoon of thunderously convulsing anthems during their 1:25-1:55pm slot.

Nuovo Testamento

Emerging as if from timeslip, the music of Nuovo Testamento embodies the ravishing mystique of decades past with its channelings of Italo disco, Hi-NRG, and synthpop. Their debut LP, New Earth, is the place to start for new listeners, opening on an electronically oscillating soundscape where the crystalline vocal leaps of Chelsey Crowley frolic in sublime dreaminess. For their sophomore effort, Love Lines, the trio leaned more heavily into their dance roots — upping its fiery synthesizers’ tempo, bass, and glow with ecstatic effect.

You will find them over at the Sad Girls stage from 1:40-2:10pm leaving fans in a dazzling daze.