Genius Loci goes green for an expansive weekend under the stars

Not just any event can successfully summon gringos from miles and hours away to travel across international borders deep into Baja, Mexico, but Genius Loci is proving to be a haven for Southern California acolytes and other mecca-seekers.

Or, as DJ/producer Lonely Boy said last weekend, “It’s the one festival that is an absolute must every year.”

Genius Loci, the four-day festival festival billed as a connection between the surfing, music and yoga communities of Baja Norte and SoCal, returned to the rocky bluffs of remote Punta Cabra, offering a unique experience among so-called consciousness festivals. It was evident during Lonely Boy’s dancefloor-destroying set, when one longtime attendee proposed to his girlfriend onstage and the crowd collectively partook in their love, accentuated by Baja’s majestic dune-decorated shores. It felt as if walls were being torn down and a bridge erected in their place. The divisive world could learn a thing or two.

Thanks to the remoteness of the location, Genius Loci — in all its south-of-the-border spiritual splendor — allowed attendees to truly disconnect from the constant grind of daily life. For three to four days, attendees seemed to return to a simpler time, the focus redirected to family, friends and lovers, not to mention music and art.

Hippie love aside, it wasn’t long after arrival that attendees realized things were a bit different at this year’s sold-out affair. The small parking lot had been extended far into the backside of the peninsula, foretelling expansion both in size and in responsibility. While those returning from past Genius Locis felt certain things were missing — namely showers and lighting — the overall feeling of the weekend was positive and gracious. Some amenities may have been trimmed due to budgets or deadlines, but most truly did not seem to care, if they even noticed. This is the advantage of an event frequented by a community of Burners accustomed to radical self-reliance. New this year (and perhaps deserving of more attention) was an increased emphasis on the use of solar power as well as almost entirely eliminating all Styrofoam and single-use plastic. The green initiative, together with the support of the local community and food and clothing drives, magnified an event focused more on the greater good than merely the need to escape. The weather, too, seemed to fall in line with some divine order, the thick marine layer fading away halfway into the festival. The daytime Playa stage was always radiating with sun-drenched vibes while the nights were cracked wide open with more stars than our city-residing hearts could handle. Who needs worldly amenities when the universe gives you a glimpse of infinity?

While some of the more folk-leaning live music felt a bit out of place after the Playa stage’s booty-shaking house music, there were enough planned (and unplanned) musical rewards to redeem the festival multiple times over. Musical triumphs, in chronological order:

Aaron Jacobs at the Peninsula After-Hours Stage on Saturday morning

Before he even descended upon the Peninsula stage– the picturesque after-hours stage situated dangerously at the base of a wave-smashing rocky platform– Wulfpack co-founder Aaron Jacobs promised me that he would need to be “beaten with a billy club to be removed from his set,” and he was not lying. Adorned with a shirt that read “PATIENCE,” the scheduled two-hour set extended far into the early morning, seemingly exaggerating the coming dawn with epic Dionysian confidence. Days later, attendees were still complimenting his expertly-delivered extended set with praise and disbelief. The Monday evening announcement of Synergy — the second annual Wulfpack and Chinosound endeavor this Fall — couldn’t have been planned more perfectly.

Joe Pea at the Playa Stage on Saturday afternoon

Dance Klassique curator Joe Pea once again proved he is a go-to architect for those unique daytime bouncy vibes required to shake sleep from the eyes of the sleep-deprived. Whether it be from behind the disco ball-crowned pirate ship of Genius Loci’s playa stage or previously from Leyenda Eterna’s pool-side bacchanal, this Afro-crowned cartoon of a messiah knows how to raise the dead.

Henry Pope x Littlefoot at the Main Stage on Saturday night

Genius Loci co-founder Henry Pope expertly laid the digital groundwork for another fantastic live set, accentuated by his longtime collaborator Littlefoot’s mystic drumming. Pope is no stranger to the festival circuit, but seeing him at the helm of an event of his own creation carried a certain spark of pride and commitment to quality. They had fans dancing like a tribe reconnecting with the earth through fancy footwork, expertly setting the stage for Justin Jay’s mind-blowing live setup shortly after.

Justin Jay’s Fantastic Voyage at the Main Stage on Saturday night

Perhaps the standout set of the weekend was Justin Jay’s Fantastic Voyage, a live set that blew the crowd’s collective minds, setting the bar for what a DJ/full band hybrid should be. Like a multi-headed hyrdra of hypnotic classically-trained house heads reincarnated from the likes of the Beatles, Jerry Garcia, Daft Punk and Funkadelic, this truly unique sonic orgy of sight and sound captivated a crowd truly awestruck. The multiple purple tentacles of the Octopus’ Garden in the background seemed truly fitting for this time-transcendent nod to the Yellow Submarine.

Ray Kash at the Peninsula After-Hours Stage on Sunday morning

Temple Tuesday’s Ray Kash is accustomed to giving the spotlight to the community’s vast network of L.A. DJs at his weekly Pattern Bar parties, so it was refreshing to witness the slow-building journey he had crafted on Saturday morning. This was a welcome deviation, a cosmic journey that captivated a crowd well into a multi-day adventure. As the sun rose in the background, every molecule hanging from the dew-drenched flora hung on for dear life refusing to let go, serving as a kaleidoscopic allegory for hearts and souls full to the brim. Set and setting indeed.

Justin Martin B2B Justin Jay Surprise Set at the Peninsula After-Hours Stage on Monday morning

These are the moments that festival promoters and attendees alike live for — a time and place collaboration that cannot be missed. Seeing Chino himself (the man responsible for not only the festival’s killer soundsystem, but for the around-the-clock attention to detail for the seemingly simple goal to provide a perfect experience) stop the constant hustle for more than a few minutes to take in the reality of this special gift will be imprinted on mind for years to come. Not to mention the expertly-delivered B2B set these two Dirtybird fixtures delivered in the final hours of the festival. You truly felt bad for those that couldn’t muster the energy to see this, or who hit the road early for real-word responsibilities. In an ode to the cross-generational parallels with the love generation decades before, the words of Jim Morrison seemed to ring true: “No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.”

Photos by Leonard Donjuan

||| Previously: Genius Loci 2018