It’s hard to tell when Summer is here when you live in California because we have perfect weather all the time, if you’re into sunshine and no rain.

I think summer music festivals are my favorite way to tell that party season has arrived.

In California we get a fair share of festivals and concerts all throughout the year, many of which feature local favorites and local bands mixed in with some epic headliners.

One of those festivals is happening next week up in the lush woods of Sonoma county. Death Records presents Deathstock, an independent record that started in Spring 2014 out of San Francisco by Colin Arien and Brian Wakefield.

Being part of the music scene up there, they seek out indie bands that stand out above the everyday cluster fuck of bands that are popping up everywhere. The festival is a great way for them to showcase all the great talent that some may not be aware of yet since it does get hard to filter through all the mixtapes, Facebooks, Bandcamps and Soundcloud pages.

Deathstock will feature many of the bands on their labels including Clumsy, Talkies, Smiles and Air Surgeon among many other sweet sounding indie / twee pop bands that around right now.

Other bands playing the festival include our hometown favorites Tomorrows Tulips, The Memories and The Pesos.

Topping the weekend off are indie pop heroes The Mantles, who have made a name in the indie pop through labels like Slumberland Records and Mexican Summer.

Gary Wilson will also be headlining, if you don’t know him he’s a legendary experimental performance artist and musician from the late 1970s who influenced the likes of Beck.

Deathstock has compiled a hearty playlist of all the artists who will be performing which you can stream only here! Don’t slack on this one, hit play right now then think long and hard about what your plans for the weekend.

The festival itself is held just North of SF in Guerneville, CA. There are campgrounds nearby, loads of places to BBQ, and it’s adjacent to a haunted amusement park. Your weekend is set.

Tickets can be purchased here.

Happy summer everyone, start it off right.—Asal Shahindoust