In late July, some of electronic and house music’s hottest names – including Egyptian Lover and Eris Drew – will gather under the stars at Madruga, an intimate festival-slash-mansion party where artists and guests blur into one, and community is placed above all else. Rather than being yet another day festival run by KKR or Live Nation, Madruga is entirely independent, meaning its organisers have a direct stake in building a communal space for partygoers instead of simply pleasing shareholders. “There’s a feeling that you really belong here,” Madruga’s creative director, Sammi Aljak, tells Dazed.

“Madruga comes from the Spanish word madrugada, which means the special time of the sun rising – kind of a hint at staying up till dawn,” says festival co-founder Erica Travis. It will be the festival’s fourth year at Baskerville Hall, a 19th-century manor overlooking the Black Mountains of Wales, and this time around the team is stepping up the range of activities on offer.

Alongside pub quizzes, bingo and craft sessions, there are all the essential recovery rituals too, including hot tubs, saunas, cold plunges, massages, yoga and sound baths. “We’re a weekend to remember, not a weekend where you’re not going to remember anything,” Travis explains. These activities help facilitate a sense of community, resulting in a crowd that genuinely cares for one another.

Madruga’s strict no-backstage policy plays a big part in that – no green room means you can be watching someone perform one minute and dancing with them the next. The egalitarian atmosphere is intentional and part of what makes Madruga so distinctive. “It boils down to the overall ethos of the festival, which is that everyone is in the mix together,” Aljak continues, explaining how the team consciously books established and rising names side by side. “Some of my mates that I’ve grown up with were warming up for Joy Orbison – there is no question of ‘who’s that guy’, it’s part of the experience.”

That tight-knit feeling doesn’t just come from sharing the dancefloor with the artists; it’s also a product of the venue itself. “You can get from one side to the other in less than five minutes, and the stages and rooms don’t exceed 400 capacity. So everywhere you go, you’re automatically in an intimate environment – that feeling never really fades,” explains Aljak. Attendees either stay in the mansion or camp a stone’s throw away, so being part of the community is built in. “You can’t lose your friends at Madruga, and if you do, it’s for 20 minutes max. And in those 20 minutes, you’re guaranteed either to bump into someone else you know or make a new friend while queuing for burgers or dancing together the night before.”

The small scale also means getting to see your favourite artists up close. “We’re taking some of the most in-demand electronic names in the world and placing them back into rooms similar to the spaces they first started in. For instance, last year Helena Hauff was playing for 20,000 people in London the day before she came and played with us,” Aljak says. Those rooms become electric in such an intimate setting, and the experience can even be emotional for the artists themselves. In a sweaty, quiet moment after his set two years ago, Joy Orbison told Aljak: “That hour and a half reminded me why I started DJing”.

Madruga takes place July 24-27 this year. Grab tickets here.