Sled Island 2023 Preview
Sled Island Preview
Jeff MacCallum
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We are very quickly coming up on our favourite time of year... Sled Time!
Yes that’s right, with Sled Island music festival publishing their schedule earlier this week, I’m like a child on Christmas. Excitedly combing over the routes, planning paths (yes plural… always need backup plans), and taking pause to grieve for acts I’ll be forced to miss due to conflicting timelines. As I’ve been digging deep through the schedule this year I’ve noticed that more than ever before, I’ll be jumping around a TON! I’m not sure there’s ever been a year where I’ve felt the wristband was the only feasible way to enjoy the festival. I also find myself equally excited for some of the lesser (or unknown) acts that will be playing. Sled has done a bang-up job filling up their festival with up & coming Canadian acts that most people may have never heard. So while I’m excited for Osees, DEHD, Bartees Strange, Sun Ra Arkestra, and a slew of other incredible headliners… I’m equally exited for names like La Sécurité, Super Duty Tough Work, Mother Tongues, Booter, and TJ Felix. That’s what this article will be about, I’m here today to deliver some of the in-depth knowledge I have about the Canadian indie scene and tell you about 16 acts you may not know, but shouldn’t dare sleep on.
If Hip-Hop is the vibe you need, make sure you check out Winnipeg’s Super Duty Tough Work, playing twice on Friday (3:30pm & 9:30pm). Live jazz fuelled beats lay the foundation for Brendan Grey’s smooth as silk rap delivery. And if that sounds like your jam, then add K-Riz to your list. Since leaving Edmonton for Calgary, K-Riz has gone down the “live band” path and delivers pure gold in this setting. His cadence is better than ever and he pulls a renewed energy from the live band setup (Wednesday at 10:30pm & Friday at 3:00pm). Keeping with the “jazzy-hip-hop” theme, one of the acts on my “must-see” list is Winnipeg’s JayWood who is coming off a massive year (his album Slingshot was in the #4 spot on the CnC list of the Best Albums of 2022). JayWood is in a class of his own— R&B, Funk, Pop, Jazz, Hip-Hop, and even Psych all come together to create a rich tapestry of sounds for JayWood’s feel good vibes (Tuesday at 9:00pm & Wednesday at 9:00pm).
Veering away from Rap and Hip-Hop, we need to discuss the sugary R&B/Soul vibes of Aladean Kheroufi who has cemented himself as one of the best live acts in Western Canada. Kheroufi’s take on retro Soul sounds paired with his gigantic stage persona make him a must see (Wednesday at 5:00pm & Thursday at 10:30pm). Sticking with retro vibes, Regina’s Beach Body deliver downtempo Beach-Pop with melodies that can transfer you back to the 60s. Just a dash of Yacht-Rock and a smidgen of Psych make them one of Saskatchewan’s best acts (Friday at 8:00pm). Speaking of Psych, one of the acts I’m most excited to check out this year is Mother Tongues and their unique blend of Psych, Dream-Pop, and Krautrock. This Toronto act has recently released two new singles and announced their debut album will arrive this summer (Friday at 11:00pm).
So you want to dance? Sled has you covered. Don’t miss the Electro-Pop/Dance vibes of Jane Inc. This is the project of Toronto’s Carlyn Bezic who played with U.S. Girls and is half of the acclaimed Dance-Pop duo Ice Cream. Both Jane Inc. albums were incredibly well receiving by the CnC team and we are beyond excited to get sweaty on the dance floor to Bezic’s infectious beats and ear-worm melodies (Thursday at 9:30pm). Another fantastic band to shake your booty to is the rising Montreal Art-Punk band La Sécurité. Yes, I said this Art-Punk band will get you shaking your booty (Friday at 12:30am & Sunday at 9:00pm). La Sécurité are one of the most hyped acts in Quebec and for good reason, their two song EP released last year made our list of the Best EPs of 2022 and their forthcoming debut album was listed as one of our Most Anticipated of 2023.
So you say you want loud music? Well, there’s plenty of big name loud acts this year but let me suggest you make it out early to Osees to catch Toronto’s Gloin. I’m so excited to see this band deliver their dark take on Post-Punk that peppers in elements of Noise and Goth (Friday at 9:00pm). What about Punk music? Over the last couple years, Vancouver’s TJ Felix has amassed a prolific output of some of the rawest, dirtiest, Lofi-Punk you can imagine. Swerving into Post-Hardcore territory at times, TJ Felix is one of the acts I’ll be dropping everything to see (Thursday at 10:00pm). Finally, for the uninitiated, Calgary’s Still Depths are the most exciting Noise band in Canada. Tongue-in-cheek snarl over a wild patchwork of sounds has had me listening to their 2023 album, Best plan for your life, on repeat as I try to decipher its cacophonous assault (Friday at 9:30pm).
Did that paragraph scare you away, don’t fear! Come back! Sled has found some lovely up & coming acts that lean heavily on Pop sounds. We are particularly excited for Winnipeg’s Booter whose Power-Pop sounds are reminiscent of 90s indie rock and are fronted by Alannah Walker who was half of Cannon Bros, a bygone Winnipeg band the we loved deeply (Saturday at 4:00pm). Like your Pop with synths? Montreal’s Bodywash are an exciting Dream-Pop duo who elevate the genre with the help of Shoegazey forays (Saturday at 3:00pm). Finally, what would it sound like if the guitarist from Toronto Noise-Punk act METZ made a Pop record? Maybe it would sound like a Weird Nightmare! Alex Edkins leans heavily on those sugary melodies of the 60s, crafting extremely catchy tunes but he does so with some of the violent distortion we’ve grown accustomed to with METZ. The juxtaposition of sounds keeps me coming back in awe (Saturday at 12:00am & Sunday at 8:30pm).
Finally, what about the singer/songwriter types? We heavily urge everyone to check out PACKS, the project from Toronto’s Maddie Link. A warm bedroom aesthetic permeates the Alt-Rock and Folksy-Twang found on a PACKS album (Saturday at 2:00pm & at 10:30pm). Finally, I’ve been enamoured with the Alt-Country, Folk, and Psych vibes of Calgary’s Bennett Mitchell after discovering his amazing album Mouse at the end of last year, just in time to squeeze it onto our list of 2022 album that “Slipped Through The Cracks.” I can’t wait to hear how those songs translate in a live setting (Thursday at 8:30pm).
To make your decisions easier, we’ve crafted a Spotify playlist featuring a couple tracks from each act listed here. Give it a spin then realize that we wouldn’t steer you wrong. There are some insanely good Canadian acts well worth the price of admission. See you there!
- Jeff MacCallum