Sled Island Festival Picks
by Web Editor · June 11, 2017
With Sled Island coming up next week we’ve picked the shows and artists we’re most excited for! We hope to see you there!
Wares (Edmonton, AB)
Cassia Hardy returns to Sled Island for another set full of stomp and shredding. While that wild stage presence is what draws in many Wares fans, Hardy’s softer side is a major part of the project as well. Tender piano ballad “Beach Date” has been nominated for an Edmonton Music Award. With an LP hinted at for 2017, we’re keeping our eyes on Wares to see what they come up with next.
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Employing passionate, ethereal vocals over atmospheric compositions, Mothers bring a wrought sense of lyrical drama to the indie-folk style. Deftly switching between tender numbers heightened by the presence of classic folk instrumentation and pastoral indie-rock that sways just as much as it stutters and shakes, the Athens, Georgia quartet have a constant, brimming intensity.
PERFORMANCE TIME
The Garrys (Saskatoon, SK)
For a trio that comes from the landlocked prairies of Saskatchewan, The Garrys craft a shockingly surf-indebted soundtrack to windswept, middle-province malaise. Their album Warm Buds finds the trio perfecting their self-described “doom-wop” while still finding ways to smile through the disappointment.
PERFORMANCE TIME
WED 21 8:00pm FRI 23 3:00pm
Waxahatchee (Solo) (Birmingham, AL)
Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield has a knack for turning a lo-fi, 90s alt-rock-influenced song into something that sounds absolutely timeless. With melancholic and confessional lyrics that never waste a word and a voice that’s equal parts confident and disarming, she effortlessly moves from the specificity of her experiences, both joyous and hurtful alike, towards a universal and powerful feeling.
PERFORMANCE TIME
Shonen Knife (Osaka, Japan)
36 years and 19 albums in, Shonen Knife is still one of the most energetic pop-punk bands in the world. Influenced by acts like The Ramones and The Buzzcocks, their bouncy tunes are all hooks, simple, speedy chords and giddy, playful vocals. Their adoring fans include Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Red Kross and soon enough, you.
PERFORMANCE TIME
Iansucks (Winnipeg, MB)
On their last album, iansucks stated Don’t Give In to the Bad Feelings . That album is a collection of slacker-pop gems that sound like The Postal Service covering Pavement, incorporating rose-coloured sentimentality without the shlock. With music this good, bad feelings don’t have a chance.
PERFORMANCE TIME
Flying Lotus (Los Angeles, CA)
Steven Ellison is one of the most inventive, exploratory and intrepid artists working today. In the 12 years he’s been making music, the 34-year-old producer, rapper, DJ, label owner and filmmaker known as Flying Lotus has cemented himself as a one-of-a-kind talent, melding genres to make some of the most head-turning music ever created on a computer.
As the creator of influential record label Brainfeeder, Flying Lotus has helped foster some of today’s most notable new artists, including Thundercat, Kamasi Washington and DJ Paypal, to name just a few. His collaborators include some of the most visionary names in music: Kendrick Lamar, Thom Yorke, Erykah Badu and George Clinton. The appeal is obvious: his iconic production style simply can’t be found anywhere else.
PERFORMANCE TIME
All artist bios from sledisland.com
