As it is every year, the 2009
Sasquatch Festival in Washington state will be a huge gathering of some of the biggest acts on the touring circuit this year. With headliners Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, the return of Jane's Addiction, Ben Harper and Relentless7 (who thankfully play material completely unlike "Steal My Kisses"), TV on the Radio, and many other big names, it shapes up to be another stellar year.
But did they invite any Canadian bands to join in on the fun? Well.....a few. It would seem with the festival being located in such close proximity to Vancouver, BC, that they would invite some of the great talent residing there to come down. Not a single Canadian artist West of Ontario was selected to come down this time around. A bit perplexing since there's an overabundance of bands from the Portland/Seattle area.
So then which Canadians will be there? Crystal Castles, Chromeo, Deadmau5, and King Khan & the Shrines (who are actually based in Berlin, but Khan is originally from Montreal). It would seem that Canada is ripe with dance/electronica artists, but nothing in the full rock band category. Somewhat disappointing, but this festival is located in the U.S.A., so what am I complaining about?
From Toronto,
Crystal Castles have been burning up the festival circuit, playing mega-fests like the Reading Festival and Glastonbury Festival over in the UK. They'll also be featured at Bonnaroo and Lolapalooza this summer in the US. Their self-titled first album was released last year on
Last Gang Records and has gotten nothing but glowing reviews from the major music publications. You've heard their boom-bap electronica likely on the TV in ads and in all the clubs. They'll be playing the dance tent Saturday night.
Another group on the Last Gang roster is
Chromeo, who are much more sex-drenched-funk-dance-sound in their delivery. This duo bills themselves as "the only successful Arab/Jewish partnership since the dawn of human culture", featuring P-Thugg (Patrick Gemayel) on keys, synths and talk box, and Dave 1 (Dave Macklovitch) on guitar and vocals. Their last album, "Fancy Footwork", was a huge success and found them headlining the Exclaim! cross-Canada tour. They've done some great re-mixes and will be doing a DJ set in the dance tent on Monday night. Don't miss these Montrealers, it will be a sweaty set for sure.
Completing the Canadian conquest of the headline spots in the dance tent is
Deadmau5, who'll be bringing the house beats in on Sunday night. Producer Joel Zimmerman is the mastermind behind this project and is based out of Toronto. I'm not a massive fan of his stuff, but he's built up a big following in the club scene and deserves the attention he receives. He also won a Juno in 2008 for Dance Recording of the Year.
The only (sorta) Canadian act to not be relegated to the dance tent is
King Khan and the Shrines, who'll be playing the Wookie tent at 3:40pm on Saturday, the perfect way to start off your Sasquatch Festival experience, as they'll be one of the first groups playing all weekend. Sounding like the perfect throwback to the sounds of R&B 60's groups, they are notoriously out of control during their live performances. A huge party is guaranteed at this set, with the 11-piece band taking the crowd on a wild ride through the grooves and rock gems from their garage/soul/psychedelic songs from their back catalogue.
The beautiful location and magnificent line-up ensure this year's Sasquatch Festival will be another huge success. Tickets are left for Monday only, so get them while you can, or suffer the consequences of dealing with scalpers because you definitely want to be there this weekend.
Labels: Chromeo, Crystal Castles, Deadmau5, King Khan and the Shrines, Sasquatch Festival
