Friday 4 p.m., April 15
Fort Knox Five
Well, they're not from Fort Knox and there are only four members but let's try not to hold it against 'em. This Washington, D.C.-based electro-funk quartet has never played B.C. before, and are apparently wildly excited about it, which means their set, normally quite excitable, may just be, like, explosive, with even heavier bass and beats and handclapping and so on. - Stephen Smysnuik
Saturday 4 p.m., April 16
Swollen Members
The Vancouver-based hip-hop duo seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth, but 2011 looks like their comeback year, whether we like it or not. Mad Child and Prevail's new album Dagger Mouth was released on Tuesday and now they'll grace Whistler Village with their West Coast flavoured hip-hop. - SS
Mat the Alien, 7 p.m.
Did Mat really get abducted by aliens? You'll think it's plausible when you take in his extra-terrestrial sound that spans the realm of hip hop, glitch hop, dubstep, funk, dancehall, break beats, electro, drum & bass and rock. - Susan Hollis
Sunday, April 17
Brother Twang
Local, laid back, lounge-y and legendary, Brother Twang are a mix of styles and influences, all of them good. They are one of those rare bar bands that doesn't play covers as much as score homages to their musical influences. - Andrew Mitchell
Spirit of the West
They're a Celtic-inspired bar band that has managed somehow to sell out theatres and remain a staple of the Canadian music industry for over two decades. They're this week's quintessential parent-pleasing act that will force everyone to get their jig on. - SS
Delhi 2 Dublin
It's a kaleidoscope of world music, fusing urban electro with traditional Hindi music and a whole lot of Celtic fiddle. The Vancouver-based quintet blew Olympic audiences away with their set here in 2010 and maybe, just maybe, they'll do it again. - SS
Monday, April 18
The Acorn Project
Blending electro-funk grooves with and indie songwriting sensibility, Acorn Project takes listeners on a sonic journey accompanied by hard-hitting dance beats, lush soundscapes and thought provoking lyrics. Utilizing collective improvisation, Acorn Project promises that no two live shows will ever be alike. - SH
Brasstronaut
"Indie" as a genre is a much different beast than it was 10 years ago, blending a cross-section of weird musical influences into music for people who actually care about music as art.
And so, as the mainstream tastes push toward more intricate music, Brasstronaut's brand of complicated pop tunes are striking the right amount of people. They have earned a steady following in their hometown Vancouver and elsewhere, earning a spot on the for the 2010 Polaris Prize long-list for their album Mount Chimaera.
The seeds of Brasstronaut were planted as a jazz duo consisting of trumpeter Bryan Davies and pianist/vocalist Edo Van Breeman. They found jazz too constricting for creative expression and as they added more people to the line-up, began refining the songs into something more palpable for a wider audience.
"I don't want it to come off sounding like there's a lot of commercial interest because it's really not about that, says clarinetist Sam Davidson .
"It's about creating some music where there's something for everybody." - SS
Tuesday, April 19
Stars of Boulevard
Vancouver's Stars of Boulevard are going places and getting national radio play for reasons that have nothing to do with CanCon. This is rock and roll from its skin-tight leather-pants glory days. It's spine-whipping stuff, loud and hairy, with no apologies required. - AM
YUCA
These Vancouver-based arena rockers have yet to actually headline any arenas but they certainly have the "tasty riffs" down. And any way, they may very well go down in Whistler like a snifter of brandy after a hard day of work. - SS
Wednesday, April 20
Dilated Peoples
Formed in 1992, Dilated Peoples has been a staple of the underground hip hop scene ever since. With a legion of fans and respect, they count among their greatest achievements "This Way," a 2004 collaboration with Kanye West, as well as two tracks that have made the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, the Kanye track and "Worst Comes to Worst."
They might also consider a beef with Eminem part of their success. The Detroit-based rapper threw two couplets at Dilated Peoples in his 2001 track "Quitter," which came in response to the latter group's own track "Search 4 Bobby Fischer." In that track they called Eminem a "blonde fag" and took shots at him for allegedly taking credit for other people's work.
With the beef long behind them, DJ Babu and emcees Evidence and Rakaa Iriscience will play the mainstage in Skier's Plaza on April 20 as part of the Axe Concert Series at this year's Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival.
Iriscience, speaking to Pique via e-mail, said he came to the group after working as a graffiti artist and dabbling in DJing. The music he likes is "honest, unapologetic and raw," a style that allows you to "travel the world through your ears."
Hip hop, Iriscience said, sparks dialogue and inspires communication that leads to action. - Jesse Ferreras
Lyrics Born
This is a way better than grammar class. Lyrics Born throws down phonemes, internal rhyme and double entendres better than any teacher you had to listen to back in the day. His style binds lyrical mastery to melody , and his signature, sandy baritone voice and Bay Area drawl has drawn comparisons to Barry White , Tone-Loc , and Tom Waits . - SH
Thursday, April 21
Black Mountain
Vancouver's Black Mountain are the psychedelic rock saviours of their home city's music scene. Before their 2005 eponymous debut dropped, the City of Glass had been harbouring bands like Theory of Deadman and a whole lot of resentment from genuine fans of music.
And then Black Mountain came along; tearing up whatever venue they played, pummeling the senses with riff-heavy space outs. It was true rock and roll in a city that needed it and now they're considered heroes.
Their popularity could only have been cultivated in Vancouver, a city that is so far removed from record industry headquarters that the homegrown talent - the true talent - develops out of an indifference toward playing any kind of game or writing a hit single.
"We're very industry unfriendly," says drummer Joshua Wells. "If we had gone to some other town to 'get big' or something, it never would have happened because we aren't those kind of people."
Instead, they just slayed their live shows and waited for people to pick up on what they were putting down. And it's worked.
Tokyo Police Club
Five years ago, the boys in Tokyo Police Club they were barely out of high school, playing around in a GTA-basement for kicks and giggles. One year and an EP later, they're one of the biggest buzz bands, circling the Internet like a swarm of bees that even Pitchfork couldn't ignore.
"That was fickle," says keyboardist Graham Wright. "It was exciting when it was happening, but I think the accomplishment now is just being here as a solid band and going to keep making material as long as we want to."
Meaning, the Hype Machine spun them around and spat them out, and while it has caused a great many to quit or implode, the four indie boys from Toronto stuck it out, gaining a wider following after each tour.
But for the most part they're just a regular band, making a living. They still tour in a van and play to crowds of 50 people in Des Moines, Iowa.
Wright says, "(People at home) think it's like this luxurious ride the whole time if front of thousands of adoring fans. I wish! I wish it was like that, but there's definitely the ones where you have to work for it a little harder." - SS
Darker the Sky
Moody and minor one minute, sonic and triumphant the next, Darker the Sky built their trademark wall of sound one beautiful brick at a time. There's nothing cynical or condescending in this North Shore band's approach to emotional songwriting. Nothing is rushed - every note is given time and space to work it's magic, and songs are as long as they need to be. If Metropolis were made today, they would be writing the soundtrack. - AM
