Backxwash
Influenced by traditional Zambian music, industrial metal and experimental hip-hop, Ashanti Mutinta has carved out a noisy place in Canada’s rising rap scene. After a prior win in 2020, her most recent album, Only Dust Remains, was also considered for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize. Uncompromising, unpredictable, and deeply political; Backxwash is all this, and so much more. MAGELLAMontreal-based singer-songwriter MAGELLA carefully blends elements of industrial, electronic, experimental and soul, and combines it with the diasporic blues. With her powerful, warm tone, she uses the various colours of her voice to create a sonic canvas, examining themes of isolation, identity and resistance.Lana Del RabiesOn Omnipotent Fuck — the second in a planned trilogy of releases — Lana Del Rabies plumbs the depths of spiritually esoteric thought with clanging sounds and relentless industrial drones. Her confrontational, feral audio assaults hold a dark mirror up to modern pop music. Will you like what you see? Bring earplugs and prepare for sonic possession.
Yolande LarocheA familiar face in projects such as Pony Girl and Orchidae, Canadian Taiwanese artist and producer Yolande Laroche delivers a high-energy performance that melds EDM with haunting pop melodies and raw dynamic vocals. Bringing a commanding presence to the stage while offering audiences a visceral and unapologetic experience, stay tuned for her upcoming album Run Body Run.
DermabrasionGoth duo Dermabrasion have peddled their fleshy post-punk with a deceptively ferocious live show that has landed them supporting slots for the likes of Lydia Lunch RETROVIRUS, Vision Video, and Front 242’s Patrick Codenys. With their debut album, Pain Behaviour, released on Hand Drawn Dracula in 2024, the band received rave reviews and solidified their reputation for menace.Void CompThe solo project of artist and producer David Julé, Void Comp fuses electronica, indie and alternative rock into a uniquely atmospheric sound. Known for lush, dark production, the project indulges in hazy synths, heavy drum machines, electric baritone guitar, and warm, ethereal vocals that feel both intimate and expansive.
ECHTHROSPresenting sheer sonic agony in the form of meticulously arranged industrial/power-electronics, ECHTHROS delivers a central theme of ongoing colonial violence against the Indigenous Peoples of so-called Canada. Their storytelling delivers anguish, vengeance, determination, and celebration through a wall of harsh drone balanced with the calm uneasiness of what is to come next.
Important info:
Start and running times are subject to change. Please check the Sled Island schedule in June for exact set times.
Upon entering a festival venue, the passholder agrees to being photographed, filmed or recorded in that venue, and agrees to the publication, reproduction, distribution and broadcast of all photographs, video or other recordings of the passholder’s voice or likeness without further notice or compensation in any publicity, advertisement or other publication carried-out by, or on behalf of, Sled Island and in perpetuity in any manner and media whatsoever, including print, broadcast or internet.
Everyone has the right to feel safe and included at Sled Island. All festival attendees must abide by Sled Island’s safer spaces and inclusion policy and agree to the code of conduct, which can be found at SledIsland.com/SaferSpaces.
All passes and tickets are non-refundable.
About Sled Island:
Sled Island is an annual five-day independent music and arts festival in Calgary, Alberta that brings together a community of music, comedy and art with over 25,000 attendees in multiple venues across the city. For more information, visit SledIsland.com.
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 Goodstoney First Nations. Calgary is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta (Districts 5 and 6).