12 Most Anticipated Acts at Sonic Bloom Festival 2022

The anticipation is gearing up for this year’s Sonic Bloom Festival. Located deep in the Colorado Mountains at Hummingbird Ranch, the four-day experience is packed to the brim with worthy acts across the vast EDM spectrum. Whether you’re getting tipped at Tipper’s headlining performance, celebrating CharlestheFirst’s legacy with Lab Group, or discovering up-and-coming forces in the bass industry, this year’s festival is sure to be one for the books. Here are 12 acts we’re especially excited about on this year’s expansive lineup.

Lab Group

Hearing the words “Lab group, Lab Group” chanted across the crowd during one of their emotional, surprisingly fluid performances is what the EDM community is all about. Gracing the cover of MP3’s 2021 print edition, we have some serious love for Lab Group’s unique approach to hip-hop-infused, downtempo electronic music. A supergroup made up of Supertask, potions, and the late Charles The First, whose passing shook our beloved electronic community last December, Lab Group has turned into something a heartfelt memorial for one of electronic music’s most respected artists. Charles The First lives on through Lab Group in the most beautiful way, and the meditative flow state Supertask and potion create together for these shows cannot be understated. Charles is smiling down.

Kyral x Banko

Kyral x Banko has spent the last few years creating a universe — The Snoitchverse — for their art and music to exist in. Snoitch is more than just a silly made-up word. It’s creative expression manifested in incredible music, a well-defined artistic vision and, more than anything, it represents the fun-loving spirit of the bass community. Kyral x Banko embraces the weird side of the sonic spectrum, but they keep their roots firmly planted in traditional bass music. Their set at Sonic Bloom this year will definitely be a special one – the duo actually honed in on their creative vision after experiencing Sonic Bloom for the first time in 2017. They’ve since found their Snoitch, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find yours during their set this year too.

A Hundred Drums

Fresh off the SPIRAL tour with REZZ, A Hundred Drums is quickly becoming one of the most recognizable names in bass music. There’s a certain tribal nature embedded in her tracks, which often include traditional African instruments. Her visuals are definitely part of the experience, calling back to classic horror movies and embracing the dark side. Whether she’s dropping drum and bass, dubstep or reggae-dub, it’s always deep, and always enjoyable. 

HoneyBee

HoneyBee is a relatively new face in the EDM industry, but you wouldn’t know that listening to her music, which is clearly defined and guided by lovely melodies and glitch aesthetics. With collaborations with Yheti and opening performances for Ivy Lab, Daily Bread, and Eprom under her belt, it’s only a matter of time before HoneyBee becomes a household name in bass music. 

EAZYBAKED

Arguably one of the hottest DJ duos in bass music right now, EAZYBAKED’s identifiable sound and hip-hop influence create a truly unique experience designed to be blasted through massive speakers that can handle the deep frequencies scattered throughout their earthly sound design and elemental take on the genre. EAZYBAKED is laidback, unrestricted music infused with lo-fi aesthetics and a strangely calming atmosphere that sounds as if mother nature herself is spinning on cloudy CDJs.

Black Carl!

Black Carl!’s most recent release, the “Fallen Petal” two-pack with Player Dave, should be more than enough to get you excited to see his set at Sonic Bloom. Like much of his discography, “Fallen Petal” is a dark, melodic experience waived together with world-bass sounds and instruments. Black Carl! is no stranger to putting his own unique spin on classic EDM genres like drum and bass and even riddim, which makes for a pleasantly surprising experience filled with quiet innovation.

Tripp St.

Tripp St. is an anomaly who’s taken the industry by storm with the support of CloZee and her Odyzey Music label and a co-sign from GRiZ, who’s given Tripp St a spot on his upcoming “TRIPPLE RAINBOW” festival. His music teeters on world bass, dancing with jungle vibes and natural soundscapes. It’s melodic, musical, and strangely soothing. While much of his music resembles the trip-hop genre, he doesn’t stray away from harder drops and gritty, original mixes like the recently released “Who is Tripp St.” mix, an epic, cinematic dive into epic sonic exploration.

Khiva

Khiva’s sound and visuals are a trippy ride to the dark side. With a dark, dramatic style that utilizes the lowest frequencies she can find, Khiva stands out as a bass artist who’s not afraid to take risks. It makes sense, then, that Khiva originally discovered her passion for dubstep through her love for metal music. Although her sound isn’t the kind of metal EDM you’d expect from artists like Sulivan King and SVDDEN DEATH, it’s clear she draws inspiration from that culture. From her loud performances and screeching production, Khiva is full of raw energy. If you can handle the haunting soundscapes and creepy aesthetics, Khiva is a no-brainer.

Lucid Vision

Known for implementing live instruments into his funky, electro-jam-driven sets, Lucid Vision is a true musical experience. With contemporary influences ranging from Pretty Lights to SoDown, Lucid Vision’s music is unbound, drawing sounds across the sonic spectrum of bass, jam, and hip-hop. His music is melodic and upbeat, which will surely be a breath of fresh air between the heavier acts at Sonic Bloom.

Daily Bread

Often compared to acts like Pretty Lights and Marvel Years, Daily Bread’s sound is hard to pin down. Rhett Whatley, the creative mind behind Daily Bread, clearly draws influence from the hip-hop genre with songs like “The Greatest Comeback” and “Gone on a Purple Cloud,” but he’s also known to get funky on tracks like “In The Darkest Hour (Trouble On My Mind)” and “Moreland Ave Blues.” Whether he’s dropping lo-fi beats or electronic jam tunes, he always keeps it groovy.

Templo

Evoking sensations of lucid dreaming and astral connection, Templo makes psychedelic-trance music that lifts the listener into the colorful clouds of wubs and celestial soundscapes. At the core of Templo’s unique, downtempo approach to music production is a meditative force that soaks the imagination in a jungle of bass and low frequencies. Paired perfectly with the natural world, removed from the noise of daily human happenings, Sonic Bloom is the perfect atmosphere to dive deep into Templo’s chasm of heavenly design and musing nature.

Molokai

Molokai’s music is the soundtrack to heaven’s — or hell’s — gates. A leisurely stroll on the ancient purgatorial beach bridging the gap between the physical world and the spiritual one. There’s definitely two sides to Molokai’s music. Some tracks, like “Secret Valley” are strangely calming and meditative, while others like his most recent release, “Meeks” explores a darker, glitchier design that sounds like the undoing of a grand matrix. One thing is for sure, no matter what sound Molokai dives into, it always warrants full attention.