Daniel Simon

The Desert Sun

Top EDM acts for this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival are strong, but they lack a bit of diversity.

Though the top dance acts are all white males, they do come from different parts of the world, showcasing different subgenres within dance—so there's that.

Also the acts that appear lower on the Coachella lineup poster vary in terms of style, race and gender, which is always welcome because some EDM-focused festivals bring in big names, but the music they play during their sets lacks creativity.

Annoyingly, these festivals have become monotonous due to the acts tending to play the same songs in their set that another artist played earlier that day. At other times, the acts resemble the same big room house sound that many have begrudgingly begun to associate with larger EDM festivals.

But all of the EDM subgenres at this year's Coachella are pretty-well covered for the top acts with music ranging from trap, hip-hop and moombahton to house and trance.

Sunday might have the best EDM "headliners," but Friday and Saturday's "undercards" are loaded with talent and experimental artists like SOPHIE and Snakeships. Nosaj Thing, who performs Sunday, is also an artist worth checking out (he's produced songs for top hip-hop artists Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi and Chance the Rapper).

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Friday

The genres covered Friday are moombahton, dubstep, and early progressive house, but the trance music coming from one particular group helped set the stage for many EDM artists that call dance music their home today; so the sound is not your typical progressive house of the 2010s (or even the 2000s).

Friday isn't particularly strong on the EDM front, but the Jack Ü set is enough to hold fans off for much of the day. Jack Ü, the duo of Skrillex and Diplo, combines two of this generation's most noticeable DJs.

The first official single from these American DJs was with dance songstress Kieza in "Take Ü There." Their YouTube video already has over 21 million views.

Diplo, who is also working on projects with his other group Major Lazer said in an interview with a Boston radio station that he plans to drop a single just in time for Coachella.

We haven't heard anything about the single just yet, but with Major Lazer and Jack Ü on this year's lineup, expect Diplo to drop some real heat. Maybe Sunday?

Though they may be less popular in the states, Underworld provides an opportunity to surprise fans with their archaic, minimalist trance sounds. The British group, who has been active since 1980, has had a major influence on artists all over the world, including the likes of Radiohead who dedicated a remix to their song "Everything in its Right Place" to the group.

Their sounds have even made it on soundtracks of movies like "The Beach" featuring Palm Springs resident and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Unfortunately, that's it for Friday's big-name dance music stars, unless you consider Ellie Goudling, Sufjan Stevens, M83, or Purity Ring EDM (I don't, by the way).

But there still one act worth catching.

2manydjs will also have their time to shine the festival's first day. The Belgian DJ duo, comprising Stephen and David Dewaele, which has been active for over 21 years, will represent a sharp contrast to contemporary acts like Jack Ü, whose music videos and sets tend to focus more on the DJ behind the machines than the actual music.

If you don't believe that there are two types of EDM (one that is performance-based and the other that is music-based), then look no further than the concept of Despacio: the sound system created to put the focus back on the music.

The Dewaeles (with help from LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy), recently created this 50,000-watt, 11.5-foot tall made-for-vinyl speaker system in an attempt to help people find their "sweet spot" or groove.

As reported by 6AM, Despacio will be making a Coachella appearance "all weekend long" (it's also listed at the bottom of the Coachella poster as well), but it's still not clear when or how the system will be integrated into the festival.

In an interview with The Vinyl Factory, Stephen said, "(A concert with Despacio) wasn't about us. I mean, it wasn't like ... there was no spotlight on us. So ... And there's this big barrier behind (the crowd, separating them from the DJs). So it was about the people, the stacks, the music and them having a good time."

(fast forward to 3:20 mark on video to hear the trio discuss the Despacio concept, club culture and crowds)

Also performing Friday (not as an EDM headliner) will be the popular hip-hop producer, DJ Mustard, also known for his work as Los Angeles rapper YG's DJ.

He has worked with nearly all of the hottest and most relevant rappers and pop stars of today. If you wan't your track to blow up, the word around town is to get in contact with Mustard.

He's best known for producing 2 Chainz's "I'm Different," Tyga's "Rack City," and YG's "My Ni**a." He was also the runner-up producer of the year in 2013 by HipHopDX.com.

Recently he worked with the Amsterdam group Yellow Claw (who performed at Coachella last year) on the hit song "In My Room" featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Tyga off Yellow Claw's album "Blood For Mercy."

Other honorable mentions for Friday include Nicole Moudaber & Skin, Lido, Goldroom, Snakehips, Marco Carola, Parov Stelar, Black Coffee, Nic Fanciulli, Sam Feldt, Lemaitre, Louis The Child, George Fitzgerald, DJ EZ, Gallant, Miami Horror, SG Lewis, Nina Las Vegas and Nora En Pure.

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Saturday

Saturday may have the best EDM top acts of the festival with genres covered this day covering house, progressive house and trap.

Those acts include festival-familiars Disclosure, Zedd and RL Grime. Disclosure and Zedd both released the sophomore albums "Caracal" and "True Colors," respectively. The A.V. Club gave Disclosure's album a B+ while YourEDM.com rated Zedd's album a 9.7—meaning both artists are not one-album wonders and were able to beat the curse of the sophomore slump.

Disclosure's strength is in making "underground sounds more accessible" writes The A.V. Club in their review of "Caracal" while "True Colors" was able to walk "the line between pop and electronic music."

RL Grime, who doesn't have an official album out yet, still sways crowds with his creativity like when he tapped R.L. Stine and Hannibal Buress for his 2015 Halloween mix. This is the kind of creativity that keeps fan coming to his sets.

The trio headlining Saturday is definitely mainstream, but they have enough skill to mix it up with sounds from the underground, top-notch songwriting and music unique enough to capture audience's short attention spans.

But I think the more intriguing acts are listed further down the lineup poster.

The surprise on Saturday will be to catch ZHU, who has been blowing up airwaves since his hit song "Faded," which has 18 million YouTube views and peaked at No. 1 on the US dance charts in 2014.

"Faded" was also nominated for a Grammy in 2014 for the best dance recording.

ZHU is already a personal favorite because of his style of house music. His house sounds remind me a lot of the music that got me into EDM like Nightcrawlers' "Push the Feeling On." Sometimes house music can become too mundane and redundant, almost lulling you to sleep, but it seems as though ZHU has found a happy medium.

In his interview with The Los Angeles Times, he said, "This project is all about art, and we try to make it all about the songs and the response. Being able to have everyone focus back on music is the first step. But the second is to have influence and have people care."

One of my biggest pet peeves with music festivals is the lack of people dancing and enjoying the music. It feels like people are there to mindlessly stare at the DJ and take selfies so they can post to Snapchat and IG—very few are actually enjoying the moment. Because ZHU wants to put the "focus back on music" and isn't concerned with fame (from what we know), he has an opportunity to drastically change the genre and how fans interact at music festivals.

The elusive DJ who's done very few interviews (and has been seen very few times in public) and grew up in San Francisco is hopefully the one to bring some balance back to EDM (see what I did there?).

Honorable mentions for Saturday include Nina Kraviz, Dubfire, Tchami, Snails, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Lost Frequencies, Vanic, Justin Martin, Mano Le Tough, Shamir, DJ Koze, Mr. Carmack, SOPHIE, Matthew Dear, Matoma, The Black Madonna, Amine Edge & DANCE and Phases.

Sunday

Sunday's EDM headliners could give Saturday's acts a run for their money with Calvin Harris, Major Lazer, Flume and Miike Snow.

The genres they'll be covering are dance-pop, moombahton and sythpop, respectively, so this might not be the best day to catch EDM if you're of the underground crowd.

Two years ago Calvin Harris attracted the second biggest crowd in Coachella history with his performance, so it's safe to say this pick to finish off the festival was a smart move.

Major Lazer has been putting out music consistently since last summer (with a special single expected to be dedicated to this year's festival) while Flume released new music Jan. 4, teasing to his upcoming album "Skin."

Sunday's honorable mentions include Maceo Plex, Baauer, KSHMR, Adam Beyer & Ida Engberg, Hudson Mohawke, Claptone, TOKiMONSTA, John Digweed, Thomas Jack, Nosaj Thing, Soul Clap, Cassy, Fur Coat and AC Slater.