Is there any question that Calgary’s Sled Island is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after summer music festival tickets in Western Canada? In its third year, the festival running June 24 to 27 has greatly expanded its scope and should be a major destination for anyone into all that the mainstream doesn’t play.

I’ve lived with a lot of hipsters in my life (and hippies too, for that matter), and say what you will about their subcultural obsessions with dress and, well, analog media — they know some damn good music. Stuff you can dance to, stuff you don’t have to look all serious to like, stuff you can listen to with your mom, stuff that gets into your head and rolls around a little bit to be forgotten, only to be remembered months later when it’s sampled endlessly in something more mainstream. Stuff that fails in all capacity to embrace the cheesy schmaltz that’s essentially devoured most popular culture in the last decade. Or if it embraces it, it does it so whole-heartedly that you can’t help but admire their balls for lampooning both their own culture and counter-culture. It’s the kind of music you listen to and think, “Wow, I want to revisit this album when I’m smoking some of what they were.”

Sled Island is a festival created for and by the hardest of the hardcore hipsters — but the fun and creative kind, not the kind that will judge you for wearing a Metal t-shirt to a Synthpop show. These are the kind of people who will hold "Big Buck Hunter" and "Magic: The Gathering" competitions for free tickets, organize shows that everyone grows an awful mustache for and stage concerts at hotdog restaurants. Further, the number of genres represented at the 4-day festival means that most music fans will be able to find something they like, with everything from Dubstep to Dance Rock. In addition to the wicked lineup, this year also features a marketplace and concurrent movie festival for those just wanting to chill out a bit between shows. The venues are located in and around the downtown core and are all accessible via transit.

The real focus, however, is on the music. These aren’t stadium shows, where you’re separated from the band by two lines of security personnel, a fence and 10,000 screaming fans (All of whom inexplicably want to form a massive tightly-packed clump in the center of the floor and will fight you to the death for their little bit of space in the sardine can) but intimate venues where the musicians can really interact with the crowd. Such is the case with Tuesday’s show at Tubby Dog (the aforementioned hotdog restaurant), with the Sub-linguals and SSRIs starting things off for DJs Jonathan Toubin and Calgary's Noah York, the former of whom is also spinning at Wednesday’s not-to-be-missed Factory Party #6. Wednesday also has Dubstep pioneers Excision and Dieselboy at Dicken’s Pub, as well as an earlier all-ages show featuring indie darling Final Fantasy at Central United and punk legends SNFU at the Ship and Anchor pub. Thursday’s show at the the Distillery features Israeli rockers Monotonix (Also playing Tubby Dog on Friday) and is sure to be absolutely off-the-wall insane, while Japanther and Japandroids hit the Downtown Legion in a show with two surprise guests that goes later than the rest.  Japandroids also play Broken City on Friday with local up-and-comers Azeda Booth and Vancouver’s Ladyhawk, while Local 522 boasts a hip-hop set featuring Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab. The open-air Olympic Plaza is the mainstage on Friday and has acts as diverse as The Summerlad, Biz Markie, Anvil and The Breeders. Make sure to hit up the Tricky Woo show at the Palomino shortly after, or see them again on Saturday at Vern’s. The Underground and the Warehouse are right beside each other and have concurrent shows featuring Fine Mist and Sex Party at the former and Women, HEALTH and Holy Fuck at the latter. Sunday closes down the film festival and features a performance by DJ Organic and a showing of the documentary “Anvil: The Story of Anvil.” If you have not heard of a single one of the above bands, you need to get out more and should especially go — this festival is about exploring the coolest stuff coming out (or in some cases, has been out for ages) and having a wicked time doing it.

Going to Sled Island? Blog about your experiences and post photos to the Hotbox Community. The top 4 articles this month will receive 800 points each!

       

Written by :

Ændrew Rininsland