Water From Your Eyes

Brooklyn duo Water From Your Eyes finds a strange harmony between avant-pop and harsh dance music. Drawing from references as disparate as New Order and Rothko, debut album Structure vacillates between eerie baroque tableaus and blistering eruptions of manic electronic music. It’s a shocking but compelling mix, one best experienced on stage.

PACKS

If in a parallel universe the epicentre of ‘90s slack rock took place in storied Laurel Canyon, there would probably be dozens of bands like PACKS. In our reality, there is not — Maddie Link’s recording project is a little Liz Phair, a little sunbathing on acid. 2023 album Crispy Crunch Nothing (that title!) is a serious showing of her distinct songwriting style and eerie vocal delivery.

Eye of Newt

Eye of Newt is precisely the sort of wonderful weirdness you’d expect to come from the warped minds of scene vets Nate Waters, Brock Geiger, Samantha Savage Smith and Chris Dadge. So far left-of-centre as to be not-quite-right, the band, on songs such as “Yoga Girls Get Off My Waterfall” live in their own bloopy, blippy, freeform world, writing songs as if by lava lamp.

Hair Control

Using synthesizers and drum machines to create a unique brand of hypnotic and energizing new wave music, Hair Control’s sound and aesthetic is rooted in both vintage workout tapes and trendy dance clubs. This is music to sweat to while smiling, wherever you find yourself listening to it.

About Sled Island

The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival is a five-day, multi-venue festival taking place June 21 – 25, 2023. For more information, visit SledIsland.com.

Everyone has the right to feel safe and included at Sled Island. All festival attendees agree to abide by Sled Island’s safer spaces and inclusion policy, which can be found at SledIsland.com/SaferSpaces.

Sled Island acknowledges Calgary as the traditional territory of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Ĩyãħé Nakoda First Nations, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley First Nations. Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III.

Please note: This is an 18+ event.