North Coast Music Festival - Five Picks for Friday

The young (but up and coming) North Coast Music Festival kicks off tomorrow with a line up of hot electronic music - and a few big pop stars. While you might be familiar with Wiz Khalifa and David Guetta - you may not be aware of some of the other rising stars they've got on the bill for tomorrow.

The day opens with Orchard Lounge and 40 oz. Kings. The former are a Chicago based DJ collective made up of 2 parts Lokken (Spencer and Bethany) and one part Ben Silver. Their palate for electronic music is pretty wide ranging - so while you don't know exactly what to expect - it should lift you from the couch to the dancefloor (and back).

Immediately following Orchard Lounge on the Red Bull stage is The Hood Internet. These mash-up kings are some genre-blending Chicagoans too. Their recent remix of Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks" that features Hollywood Holt has made quite the rounds in the blogosphere, although I still think their best work is "Cult Logic Forever" mashing up Lil Wayne with Miike Snow.

Mask wearing SBTRKT hits stage at 6:30 - delivering his Chicago house/two-step/dubstep blends. With an album out this year on Young Turks and a constant presence on Beatport recently - SBTRKT is worth peeping if you haven't seen him. Here is a video of "Wildfire."

Toward the end of SBTRKT's set, I expect to travel toward the Magic Hat Local Stage to check out the electrofunk of Ghosthouse - a project spearheaded by Jamie Wineman. They were one of the first recording artist to have a hat made by Grassroots California - who happen to be making the official North Coast Festival hat as well.

Last but certainly not least is Wolfgang Gartner - set to rock the North Coast stage immediately before David Guetta. The originally anonymous brainchild of Joey Youngman, Gartner has been rocking dance floors since late 2007 although has been generating considerable more buzz in the past few years. With eight of his compositions having reached the #1 spot on Beatport, performances at EDC and Ultra in both 2010 and 2011 and an album, Weekend in America, coming out September 20, 2011 - Gartner is not leaving the spotlight anytime soon. Make sure you catch him while he's living in it...here is his video for "Illmerica."

Then stick around for Guetta....

More recommendations for Saturday and Sunday to follow soon.