Northern Nights electronic music festival has an exclusive lineup -- and camping

Summer means music festivals, and with them complaints that it has become increasingly impossible to tell these events apart. The same artists seem to circulate between dueling festivals, making the lineups less and less special.

This year, however, the Northern Nights electronic music festival is featuring a roster of artists who are not performing at other summer music festivals.

Black Star (Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli), Shlohmo, and the Polish Ambassador and Guests will headline the three-day festival when it kicks off Friday at the Cook Valley Campgrounds in Northern California.

Rufus Du Sol will make their first West Coast festival appearance at Northern Nights while Gold Panda will play his only U.S. summer festival at the event.

For its third year, the festival is introducing a new performance area -- the River Stage. It will feature daytime music from artists such as Autograf, Justin Jay and Griffin Camper that audience members swimming in the South Fork Eel River can enjoy.

Following the daytime and evening performances, Silent Disco will be played into the early morning hours. Rather than using speakers, Silent Disco music is broadcast through a radio transmitter and picked up by wireless headphone receivers worn by guests.

Yoga, art installations and sustainability workshops will continue to be part of Northern Nights as well. Scattered throughout the forest floors will be local vendors selling food, drinks and merchandise. Those 21 and older can purchase craft beers, boutique wines and specialty cocktails.

Three-day passes are still available for the event, which is 200 miles north of San Francisco. All tickets include free riverfront camping next to the Eel River and in between redwoods. Guests can upgrade to reserved redwood camping, car camping, or RV parking if they choose.