10 Acts Making Their Debut at III Points 2024

It’s no secret that Miami is often overlooked by acts when it comes to tour dates. The city’s geographic isolation makes it usually a needless – and expensive – detour for many. Thankfully, since III Points’ debut in 2013, the festival has lured acts to the Magic City for memorable musical moments. Gorillaz, the Strokes, James Blake, SZA, Fred Again – the list could go on.

However, the best aspect of III Points is how organizers strive to bring acts that have never performed at the festival or performed in Miami, period. Naturally, for its 2024 edition, the festival is bringing its most newcomer-heavy bill yet. For two days, bands, DJs, and musicians from far and wide will perform at Mana Wynwood on October 18 and 19, but here are ten acts making their III Points debut this year worth checking out.

HorsegiirL

Social media has already had its fair share of comments on HorsegiirL’s attitude (a DJ that is some percentage horse) and appearance (a DJ wearing a giant horse mask). While the critics cannot keep silent, there is also plenty of love for HorsegiirL’s production and vibe. The artist hit the ground running with her seismic track, “My Barn, My Rules,” a full-throttle rave tune that touches on the joys of individualism and our equestrian farm friends. A HorsegiirL set is usually speedy and fun as hell. You will dance, you will love, and you will trot to HorsegiirL’s beat.

Justice

The French duo has played in Miami only twice in the last 12 years, both at Ultra Music Festival. Nonetheless, Justice (Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay) has been crowned as performing some of the best shows in the Magic City. This time, the duo returns to the Magic City following the release of its fourth album, Hyperdrama. The album featured Justice’s patented elements: suave French house overtures, gritty rockstars-smashing-guitars synths, and chunky disco bass riffs. But there is also the duo’s talent in recruiting unexpected collaborators like Thundercat and Connan Mockasin. The crowd should expect a mixture of new and old cuts and an otherworldly visual production with an illuminated cross in the center.

Pachanga Boys

Germany’s Superpitcher and Mexico’s Rebolledo partnered up to form Pachanga Boys 12 years ago, never gracing the city with a performance. If you were to dissect them, you would hear each other’s penchant for making weird electronic music. There are the chopped, uneasy vocal cuts and glass-breaking percussion from Rebolledo. Then you have the introspective, desert-dancing music from Superpitcher. The duo is known to have fun with scat singing and IDM sounds while also playing house and disco music for the crowd. The Boys’ euphoric bumper “Time” has more than 7 million views and shows a softer side to the peculiar.

Parliament-Funkadelic Featuring George Clinton

In 1979, Parliament’s song “Aqua Boogie” appeared on the iconic variety show Soul Train, playing out of those Goliath-sized analogue speakers. The thick bass strings had the crowd dancing in a frenzy and without a care in the world. George Clinton spearheaded the band and later merged his two closely related projects, Parliament and then Funkadelic, into one traveling band. The band’s nearly 60-year discography has stood the test of time with iconic rhythms shaped by their afro-futurism aesthetic and ethos. George Clinton’s works alone have almost 3,000 samples accredited to him on WhoSampled from artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Dilla. The world can feel filled with turmoil, but as Parliament-Funkadelic will show us, any anxiety does not have to slow down the funk.

Rick Ross

We didn’t know how good we had in 2006. Rick Ross’ “Hustlin'” was the undisputed hit track, gracing any dance floor from club to a middle school homecoming. The trill drum percussion, an homage to the Dirty South and that notorious chorus, was as recognizable as looking at your palm. What came next was Ross being a household name in Miami. Today, he sits on almost one billion streams on Spotify with his track “Money in the Grave,” in collaboration with Drake. Watching Ross is a real-life Miami fairy tale: He is a man coming into the Magic City with little more than a song and a dream, only to be spit out but strong enough to climb to the top.

Sara Landry

The American producer’s meteoric rise demonstrates that the resurgence of hard techno is here to stay for good. Landry has trademarked her style as “witchy warehouse techno.” Her bravura on stage pumps pure energy into the crowd, making what should be scary and claustrophobic into the feeling of a wide open floor where all are welcome to dance. One should expect fast techno spun even faster, resembling a mixture of psytrance and hard techno crafted by Landry and her beating war drum.

Seth Troxler

Few DJs are as fine-tuned as Detroit’s Seth Troxler. He can go back-to-back with any DJ, any place or time, and plays in every city as if he’s had a residency there for years. Whom Troxler will play before and after at III Points may inform his track selection, but it’s ultimately a battle to look inside his mind. However, the crowd should expect new and old, house and techno, digital or vinyl. If a fair bit of calculus is required to figure out how the DJ will play to the crowd, only to be wrong when you get there, then you’re in good hands.

Skee Mask

It was thought that the young, erudite German producer Skee Mask would never come to the U.S., sticking only to Europe. Miraculously, however, he played Miami for the first time last May and now wants a taste for more. The producer’s cache includes blurry IDM melodies, tried-and-true ’90s breaks, deconstructed techno, and house that he reconstructs his way. As a DJ, the artist’s taste goes well beyond his years, spinning everything from ’90s techno to white-label UK dubstep from the heyday. There is frankly nothing Müller cannot play to rumble up the crowd.

Thee Sacred Souls

The trio from San Diego will provide a needed contrast to the electronic music and fast-paced night of III Points. Thee Sacred Souls – Josh Lane (vocals), Sal Samanom (bass), and Alex Garcia (drums) – tap into soul music and R&B from the ’60s that makes you want to dance slow and close with your special someone. The group will come to III Points on the heels of its latest album, Got a Story to Tell. If the band’s Tiny Desk concert is any indication, you should expect smooth, sweet-as-sugar singing from Land, a slow-moving bass line via Samanom, and a head-bobbing beat from Garcia. Ultimately, what Thee Sacred Souls can guarantee is a celebration of music.

Yung Lean

The 28-year-old Swede has been going at it for some time now, breaking through with his 2013 debut, Unknown Death 2002. The tracks were not what a high-school sophomore would produce off their MacBook. Sure, the vocal work and rhymes could be refined, but the beat stands strong, and the sound was bizarre enough that he must have known he was onto something. Today, Yung Lean releases emo-adjacent works like Psykos, lacing his music with nostalgia. He often touches on his tribulations with substance abuse and mental health with refreshing honesty. It’s proof that Yung Lean can make a crowd move while showing all his scars.

III Points 2024. 3 p.m. to 4 a.m. Friday, October 18, and Saturday, October 19, at Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW Fifth Ave., Miami; iiipoints.com. Tickets cost $199.99 to $619 via iiipoints.frontgatetickets.com.