Floating Points’ Sunflower Sound System is Making its Way to Head Trip

Set for its North American premiere at Head Trip, Floating Points’ custom-made rig offers a one-of-a-kind listening experience. In just a few short weeks, music fans will once again make the pilgrimage to Indio, California. This time, it’s not for Coachella, which is held in April, but for Goldenvoice’s Head Trip, a one-time-only EDM event that features some of the leading voices in dance music. On October 10-11, Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, and many more will perform at the Polo Fields, a site near and dear to music history. In keeping with that tradition, Sam Shepard aka Floating Points is presenting his custom-made Sunflower Sound System for the first time in North America. The rig, which Shepard has been continuously working on for more than a decade, is a two-by-ten-stack audio system inspired by the many speaker setups he’s played on throughout the years. At your standard music festival, PA systems are anchored to face the crowd. They’re typically designed to project sound at long distances and provide consistent audio coverage for thousands of people. Although these rigs are sophisticated in their own way, Sunflower challenges how we experience music through...