Sled Island hosts block party for electronic music fans
By Chris Adams, June 12, 2014 —
Sled Island Music and Arts Festival is upon us and Calgary’s electronic music lovers have plenty to be excited about.
The East Village Block Party — co-hosted by East Village Calgary and Sled Island and curated by the Hifi Club — will bring electronic dance music’s underground tastemakers to Calgary.
Sled Island’s marketing coordinator Drew Marshall says the Block Party started as a way to extend the reach of the festival.
“We realized there was a huge contingency of music fans in the city that weren’t necessarily being represented through the festival, meaning electronic dance music,” Marshall says. “We pay attention to what people are interested in, and Sled Island is a very inclusive festival. We’re really trying to represent a wide-range of genres, or not necessarily be confined.”
Marshall says the event came together after East Village Calgary reached out to Sled Island with plans to host an event at Riverwalk East Village.
Started in 2012, East Village Block Party has attracted serious talent in the world of electronic music. The first lineup included Flosstradamus — an act that has emerged as one of trap music’s most popular artists — Vancouver-based duo Humans and Calgary’s Smalltown DJs.
Curators from the Hifi Club are known for bringing electronic music’s elite to Calgary.
“We have some really progressive acts performing. Cashmere Cat has been blowing up within pockets of electronic music for the last year or two. We have this guy Stwo who’s coming from Paris. And Jacques Greene — certainly someone that has established a lot of credibility and is viewed in high-regard within electronic music,” Marshall says. “Definitely dudes to watch.”
Portland’s Natasha Kmeto, Vancouver’s Project Pablo and Hifi residents Smalltown DJs are headlining. Local electronic acts Beach Season and Kline round out the bill.
Market Collective will set up a mini-market, Big Rock Brewery is sponsoring a beer garden and several of Calgary’s food trucks will cater the event.
East Village Block Party takes place on Thursday, June 19. It is a free, all-ages event. DJs hit the decks at 4:00 p.m.
– See more at: https://www.thegauntlet.ca/story/sled-island-hosts-block-party-electronic-music-fans#sthash.IVOpPszJ.dpuf