2025 Curator Code
We're very excited to announce that Japanese punk rock four-piece Otoboke Beaver will be joining us as guest curator for Sled Island 2025, running June 18 - 22! The group's fast, fierce and sincere approach to punk is met with unmatchable style, quick humour and feminine rage, making them the perfect guest curator for next year's festival.
Along with guest curator duties, Otoboke Beaver will perform at The Palace Theatre (219 8 Ave SW) on Saturday, June 21, 2025. Sled Island passes grant access to this show (subject to capacity).
Each year, Sled Island’s guest curator puts their stamp on the festival through special programming choices and their presence at the event. Otoboke Beaver’s curatorial selections will be announced in the coming months, along with 200 additional bands, comedy, visual art and conference programming chosen by the festival in multiple venues across Calgary.
Artists selected by Otoboke Beaver include:
...and more still to be announced!
For more information and for passes and tickets, visit SledIsland.com.
Unfamiliar with Otoboke Beaver? Check out one of their KEXP performances for a taste of the raw energy and sheer musicianship they bring to their live shows, which has garnered them heavy praise from renowned artists like Iggy Pop, Tom Morello, Jack White, Dave Grohl and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
For a list of past curators, visit our past lineups page.
About Otoboke Beaver
Before playing a ripping version of “La Dee Da” at Roskilde Festival last summer, Dave Grohl roared, ”I would like to dedicate this song to the coolest fucking band I've ever seen. They're from Japan, they're called Otoboke Beaver, and I got to see them for the first time tonight.” It’s a fitting tribute to the riotous punk-y explosion of this frantic Japanese four-piece.
Named after an Osaka love hotel, Otoboke Beaver took shape in ‘09 when singer Accorinrin and guitarist Yoyoyoshie met at a music club at Kyoto’s Ritsumeikan University. Following several furious years of releases — including the single "Otobokebeaver Daijikenbo" on Jet Set Records and the 2013 mini-album Love Me Sign — the band broke through in 2016 with the album Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver on Damnably Records. This compilation served as both a record of the band’s early work and a mission statement of joyful hardcore delivered with the subversive precision of Manzai — a rapid-fire style of gonzo Japanese comedy that heavily influences the band’s neck-snapping tempo changes.
Adding bassist Hirochan, and drummer Kahokiss to the lineup, Otoboke Beaver has been unstoppable in the years since, embarking on several North American tours and bringing the house down at SXSW, Glastonbury, and Coachella. Their 2019 album Itekoma Hits further developed the band’s rat-a-tat take on noise punk, described by Pitchfork as “a tornado of defiance,” whilst 2022’s Super Champon takes a knife to tradition with sugar-coated girl-gang vocals across songs like “You’re no hero shut the f*ck up you man-whore” and a surf-y fuzz-punk meltdown entitled “First-class side-guy.” Their furious live show — which sold out some of the same venues in ‘23 that Nirvana did in ‘91 — has earned raves from the likes of Jack White (who recently named Yoyoyoshie his new favourite guitar player) and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band even found the time to compose the theme song for the Japanese TV show Susumu Inomata and 8 Mojo.
With ping-ponging melodies over shredded guitars anchored to the playfully confrontational delivery of Accorinrin, Otoboke Beaver’s Calgary debut opens a portal into punk’s future right here at Sled Island.
All-Ager Rager
Schedule
Pin-Bar
501 17 Ave SW
2:00pm - 2:30pm - The Turnarounds
2:40pm - 3:10pm - The Break-Ins
3:20pm - 3:50pm - Rebel Grrrlz
4:00pm - 4:30pm - Neon Detour
4:40pm - 5:10pm - Zoo!
5:20pm - 5:50pm - In Search of Sasquatch
6:00pm - 6:30pm - WACK
6:40pm - 7:10pm - Brain Bent
Sloth Records
736b 17 Ave SW
8:00pm - 8:25pm - Femi
8:30pm - 8:55pm - Malaika Hailey
9:00pm - 9:25pm - LOTUS CHROME
9:30pm - 9:55pm - Ethan Cybril
Loophole Coffee Bar
1040 8 Ave SW
8:00pm - 8:25pm - The Canadian Dispatch
8:30pm - 8:55pm - Oranje
9:00pm - 9:25pm - HARSH
9:30pm - 9:55pm - LOOK ALIVE
2024 Curator Code
New York experimental hardcore trio Show Me the Body will be joining us as guest curator for Sled Island 2024, running June 19 - 23! The group’s cross-genre musical approach, ceremonial live shows, dedication to creating inclusive spaces, and commitment to fostering a global sense of community made them a very exciting choice for this role, and we’re thrilled to be working with them for the 2024 festival.
Along with guest curator duties, Show Me the Body will perform at the #1 Royal Canadian Legion (116 7th Ave. SE) on Saturday, June 22, 2024. Sled Island passes grant access to this show (subject to capacity).
Each year, Sled Island’s guest curator puts their stamp on the festival through special programming choices and their presence at the event. Show Me the Body’s curatorial selections will join over 200 additional bands, comedy, film, visual art and conference programming chosen by the festival in multiple venues across Calgary.
Artists selected by Show Me the Body include:
- Soul Glo
- WiFiGawd
- LUCY (Cooper B. Handy)
- LustSickPuppy
- NGHTCRWLR
- Slauson Malone 1
- HiTech
- Sediment Club
Unfamiliar with Show Me the Body? Start with their 2022 LP Trouble The Water, about which Pitchfork said the band “strike gold” with “daring” music in a glowing review. Also, be sure to check out some of their live footage available on YouTube to get a sense of what we're in store for this June!
For a list of past curators, visit our past lineups page.
BUY PASSES
About Show Me the Body
Punk incinerators Show Me the Body made their major arrival with first album Body War in 2016, drawing on the elemental shape of hardcore to lash out at injustice. Then and since, the trio (currently made up of Julian Cashwan Pratt, Harlan Steed and Jack McDermott) has been a disruptor of the genre’s conventions. Shredding on banjo rather than guitar, vocalist Pratt slips occasionally from howls into poetry, and elements of noise, sludge and electronic music frequently interject the trio’s punk core.
It’s not just in their music that Show Me the Body fights for space to exist and create. Partly inspired by their time spent with youth-run artist collective Letter Racer, Show Me the Body formed their own alliance, CORPUS, to unite artists in a community and connect with DIY scenes outside the five boroughs. The resulting mixtape, Corpus I (2017), saw them collaborate with acts like Princess Nokia, Moor Mother, Denzel Curry and Dedekind Cut.
CORPUS has since grown into CORPUS Family, a more fulsome representation of Show Me the Body and their associates’ values. “It’s supposed to be something that galvanizes people to work on their own communities,” Steed told The FADER. They have worked to increase inclusion in music communities, reclaim space, build solidarity and even advocate self-defense. Their direct-action initiatives have included an annual coat drive for the people of Queens, The CORPUS Studio Residency that gives 36 hours of free studio time once a year, the CORPUS Family Mutual Aid Fund and more.
Second album Dog Whistle took punk on a whiplash ride between minimalist metal, invocation-ritual industrial and experimentations that don’t quite have a name yet. But if you’re looking for a starting point, there are three excellent options all released in the last year: LP Trouble The Water (Pitchfork said the band “strike gold” with “daring” music in a glowing review), a remix album (perfect to get a sense for their genre-agnostic experimentalism) and Live & Loose In The USA (a primer for the glorious chaos they bring to the stage).
While the band was supposed to make its Calgary debut at Sled Island 2020 (selected by Sudan Archives), now is an even-more vital time to encounter Show Me the Body, given their prolific-and-rewarding hot streak.
Job Opportunity: Artist Logistics Coordinator
ARTIST LOGISTICS COORDINATOR
(Seasonal position, February 12 to June 30, 2024)
Who We Are
Sled Island is a charitable organization with the mandate of fostering understanding and appreciation of music & arts underrepresented in mainstream media, and to nurture the local artistic community through performance and educational opportunities. Our main activity is the presentation of the annual Sled Island Music & Arts Festival, a pillar of Calgary’s cultural calendar taking place each June, that brings together thousands of artists, volunteers, partners, and attendees from across the country and beyond. We also present year-round artistic and educational programming through numerous community partnerships, aimed at increasing awareness of Sled Island on an ongoing basis.
Sled Island is a community-centric organization driven by values of curiosity and diversity, on and off the stage, and committed to principles of equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression. We recognize the systemic lack of representation of equity-deserving communities in the current non-profit art space, and strongly encourage members of Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities; people with disabilities; people identifying as LGBTQIA2S+; and women to apply. Would you require any accommodation during the application or hiring process, please contact us at hr@sledisland.com so we may meet your needs.
Who You Are and What You Will Do
Reporting to and working closely with the Executive Director, the Artist Logistics Coordinator will coordinate performance contracts and meet artists and festival guests’ travel, accommodation and immigration needs for the 2024 festival (June 19-23), in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Read More >>2023 Guest Curator Page Draft
Genre-defying indie/alternative artist Bartees Strange will be joining us as guest curator for Sled Island 2023, running June 21 – 25!
Each year, Sled Island’s guest curator puts their stamp on the festival through special programming choices and their presence at the event. Bartees Strange’s curatorial selections will join over 200 additional bands, comedy, film, and visual art chosen by the festival in multiple venues across Calgary.
Bartees’ wide range of musical influences, unique style, and dedication to fostering more diverse audiences and music scenes made him the perfect candidate to take on this role, and we could not be more excited to be working with him on next year’s festival!
Along with guest curator duties, Bartees Strange will perform at the #1 Royal Canadian Legion (116 7th Ave. SE) on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. Sled Island passes grant access to this show (subject to capacity).
Artists selected by Bartees Strange include:
And there's still more to be announced!
For a list of past curators, visit out Past Lineups page.
About Bartees Strange
Bartees Strange is a lot of things but most of all more than just the sum of his parts. A man of varied experience, he was born Bartees Cox Jr. in England, grew up performing opera in Mustang, OK, worked in D.C. for the Obama administration and has played in emo and post-hardcore bands in New York. Today, he’s best known for his anthemic and chameleonic style as a solo recording artist.
Under the stage name Bartees Strange, he arrived on the international music press’s radar in 2020 with the release of Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, a collection of reinterpreted songs by The National informed by his experience of being one of only a few Black audience members he saw at the band’s concerts. It was later that year that his star rose further following the release of his debut album Live Forever.
That album garnered him a Best New Music designation from Pitchfork and showed up on numerous critics’ best of the year lists. The album’s central force lies in the powerful anthems wherein Bartees unleashes a font of emotion in each explosive chorus. Though much of the album is guitar-driven, it shines when Bartees’ wide array of influences are channeled through electronic elements, rap, emo, inventive use of Auto-Tune, horn blasts and the tiniest hint of country-western. New listeners should start with the rave-up “Boomer” and dancefloor stirrer “Flagey God.”
The success of Live Forever built a momentum that seems only to continue to grow for Bartees. His 2022 album Farm to Table (released by elite indie imprint 4AD) is his next level up, a collection of similarly eclectic tracks that explore even more genres and show off his best lyricism yet (just try not to get chills when listening to “Tours” or “Hennessy”). It has gained him additional critical devotion as well as fans and tourmates including Phoebe Bridgers, Courtney Barnett, Metric and Lucy Dacus. In a full-circle moment, he supported The National in 2022 including a stop right here in Calgary.
Now touring major venues worldwide as a crowd-commanding headliner, Bartees has noted that his audience is not the all-white, monocultural blah that perturbed his younger, concert-going self. Now isn’t just his moment, but one for fans of myriad backgrounds and experiences. And so it is with great excitement that we welcome him to bring his one-of-a-kind sensibility to Sled Island through both curatorial picks and as one of this year’s festival-defining headliners.
