Sled Edition: Cell Press, Poolgirl, Kingdom of Birds, and Spec Realists

Written By Jeff MacCallum

Cell Press - Tabula Rasa

Pummelling your senses with a wall of noise, Montreal’s Cell Press deliver a thunderous EP that wraps metal, hardcore, and noise-rock into an experimental conglomeration of heavy as F genres. For the uninitiated, Cell Press is comprised of members from The Great Sabatini, Architect, Bleak, The Chariot, I Hate Sally, Typeface, Obelisk, Biipiigwan and more. They are gracing our presence at Sled Island this year on Friday at Palomino and Saturday at Loophole.

Poolgirl - Still Not Getting What I Want

The debut EP from Montreal’s Poolgirl is fully realized and one helluva a statement to signal their emergence into the Canadian indie scene. They’ve been garnering a lot of attention in their hometown off of the strength of their live performances and now they bring their Riot Grrrl inspired brand of modern punk to the prairies. Unfortunately this review comes out on Friday and they played both Wednesday and Thursday at Sled… we hope you caught them.

Kingdom of Birds - Vermin

With a knack for channeling late 90s grunge, Toronto’s Kingdom Of Birds use that template and pepper in Riot Grrrl ferocity that makes these young rockers a band to keep on your radar. If you’re taking in Sled Island and that sounds up your alley, my apologies because their only appearances were both on Wednesday night. I was lucky enough to catch them at Sloth and they were super fun.

Spec Realists - On A Frolic Of Our Own

Calgary’s Spec Realists dropped their debut album at the end of March through Vancouver imprint Neon Taste Records and it took my combing through the Sled Island lineup to discover this gem. Loose, ramshackle garage-rock that teeters on the verge of collapse is right in my wheelhouse and I’m blown away by how good this band does it! They solidified my decision to skip billy woods and go to Tha Retail Simps set of which they are the direct opener. Friday night at Palomino.

Jeff MacCallum

Jeff MacCallum is our founder. He created Cups N Cakes simply because he had a love of local music. Soon the platform grew beyond the confines of his scene in Edmonton to include all of Canada.

"I did it all very DIY. Everything you see was me learning on the fly. I'm a carpenter not a musician, or a journalist, or a publicist... I'm a carpenter and a weird crazy music fan that thought he could do something fun that might benefit something I care about"

Over the years, MacCallum's commitment to elevating Canadian music earned him a spot as a Polaris Prize Juror, a WCMA Juror, a consultant for music festival curation, and a dear friend to independent music in Canada.

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Closed City, Holy Fuck, Arielle Soucy, and Bossanova Frankenstein