With the warm months finally getting nearer, it seems like social media feeds are awash with music festival lineup posts as all the big name festivals throughout the country announce a seemingly similar list of headliners. Amidst all the noise, Sacramento’s inaugural Sol Blume Festival on Saturday, April 28, is standing far above the pack for a number of reasons.
Sol Blume is boasting a lineup packed with artists spanning the genres of R&B, soul, chill hip-hop, and funk, presented in the tree-lined Caesar Chavez Park sitting in the center of Sacramento’s downtown. One area where Sol Blume shines is in its artists selection – shying away from a list of radio-friendly marquee names, the festival has instead curated a lineup consisting of not just emerging artists but emerging headliners.
Topping the fest is Jhene Aiko, whose most recent album, “Trip,” is a chilled voyage into LSD-painted tropics and cerebral explorations where R&B harmonies and hip-hop vocals converge. Having just recently finished a headlining tour of the Philippines, Jhene Aiko heads to Sol Blume with The Internet – the neo-soul project started by members of hip-hop collective Odd Future – and GoldLink.
A string common of many artists performing is their relatively fresh backgrounds, in that most don’t have more than a single full-length release. NAO performs a cool R&B, Smino lays his atmospheric delivery over almost jazzy free form beats, Rexx Life Raj puts a hardened vocal delivery over dusky beats, and Sabrina Claudio – easily a highlight of the festival’s lineup following a recent sold-out club tour – lays a cool Miami-nightclub sexiness over musical direction that seems to set her two EPs in a league beyond most other R&B singers.
In all, 12 performances will alternate between two stages beginning around noon and lasting into the urban night. Sol Blume seems to have taken the formula for curating a music festival and gotten rid of the excessive and redundant parts, bringing a danceable R&B and soul-filled lineup to the local musical landscape.
All ages are welcome. Drinks available with ID. For complete lineup details and additional information, check out SolBlume.com
Early tiers of tickets already have sold out. Don’t wait on this one!
– Shaun Astor
