At the end of July, psychedelic leafy creatures joyfully sprouted from our screens, announcing the news we’ve been eagerly anticipating all summer. Against all odds, Camp Cosmic is making its grand comeback on September 6, this time taking place in a charming open-air location inside the city of Chemnitz where it will bring together 19 live acts and over 70 DJs from all over Europe and beyond for three full days of fantastic auditory escape.

Calypso stole a few minutes from the organisers, to find out more about this year’s gathering and the philosophy behind Camp Cosmic.

New location: the sweet spot between urban and wild

For this year’s edition, Camp Cosmic abandons the occult forest setting and trades it for a more urban, almost glamorous (as in sipping-Aperol-Spritz-by-the-pool kind of glamorous!) experience in Chemnitz Spinnerei.

The guys assure that the new festival location is something to be psyched about:

“It’s a really nice spot where you can still feel the touch of nature. When you’re at the venue, you’re like in another world. There is sand, trees, hidden houses, wildwood constructions, water and so on.  You can tell it’s made with love and passion.

Having the gathering held in the city will be a totally new experience and an exciting feeling of being somewhere else. For us, it was important to find a place where we could come together and have our gathering this year. We need to see each other and celebrate music.”

Everyone is part of the family

Camp Cosmic represents a one-of-a-kind community of left-field music enthusiasts. Although hard to define, and almost impossible to locate since it’s spread all across the globe, this community, or niche, so to speak definitely exists. The organisers simply like to call it one big family:

“Everybody in Camp Cosmic community has their own crew or another community behind them, and all of them are part of the family. If you go through the lineup, you’ll see it for yourself. It’s just wonderful to us that we are all connected. It’s so great to see that this family is growing and the bonds are getting stronger every year. 

“It’s so great to see that this family is growing and the bonds are getting stronger every year.

And, above all, when we talk about “family”, it’s not just the artists. We talk about everybody coming to the festival.”

Camp Cosmic started merely as a private party for a close circle of friends, and even though it has now bloomed into an international summit of artists and DJs, there’s still not a trace of pretentiousness in their approach. If it were up to them, every artist who shares the same appreciation for outsider dance music would be welcome to perform in Camp Cosmic:

“There is no real [lineup] selection. It’s very simple – if you have the same mindset/music taste as we do, you are in! We try to include everyone who wants to be part of the gathering but we just don’t have enough stages and slots.”

A lush and mind-blowing lineup of the most diverse acts

With music as the sole source of enjoyment, Camp Cosmic adopts a rather purist approach to the concept of a music festival. Workshops, discussions, and other extracurricular festival activities are not their cup of tea. Instead, Camp Cosmic offers a coalescing experience nourished by a love for music.

“You can expect artists putting a lot of effort into their DJ sets or live shows to create the most special music experience for the listener. It’s not important how many followers you have when you’re playing at Camp Cosmic. The only value is musical content and you sharing yourself with the community. We think it’s really important to have the kind of festivals where music is the main thing and not the amusement park part.”

“The only value is musical content and you sharing yourself with the community.

And music you shall receive. In 3 stages – Camp Cosmic stage, Moon stage, and one secret installation – you’ll witness all kinds of artistic occurrences. Fancy a rousing drizzle of acidic frequencies? Curious to follow cryptic analogue weirdness all the way down the rabbit hole? How about a hot disco workout with a coach sporting a keytar? In Camp Cosmic, you’ll find it all.

The organisers say boldly:

“We’re excited about every act on the lineup! This may sound arrogant but we think we have the best DJs and musicians from Europe and abroad.”

Expose your mind and ears to the spectrum of Camp Cosmic sounds:

Summer is lingering for a little longer, so don’t put your tent away just yet – not until you’ve performed the summer’s last dancing rituals in a Dionysian left-field music wonderland.

Get your tickets here.