Sled Island Music & Arts Festival Announces First Wave of 2020 Artists

The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival is thrilled to unveil its first wave of 2020 artists. The annual festival presents a thoughtfully chosen lineup of music, comedy, film and art in 30 venues across Calgary, Alberta each June. The artists announced today, ranging from celebrated icons to contemporary innovators, represent just a small sample of the 200+ bands that will descend on the festival from June 24-28, 2020.

The incredibly diverse sounds of this year's lineup include the torch-bearing neo-psychedelia of The Black Angels, the radical political feminist protest music of Russia's Pussy Riot, the genre-bursting, boundary-pushing experimental R&B of Sled Island's guest curator Sudan Archives, the out-of-this-world free jazz of the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra, and the beautiful ambient soundscapes of Nivhek, the new project from Grouper's Liz Harris. On top of that, we have the spiritual drone metal of OM, the sultry soft rock croon of Australia's Alex Cameron and his saxophonist Roy Molloy, the undeniably progressive black metal of Liturgy, and the No Wave pioneering, fiercely poetic punk rock of Lydia Lunch RETROVIRUS.

In addition to these influential performers, we are also joined by some of today's most exciting artists, including the infectious and infinitely hummable indie-punk band Diet Cig, Scottish purveyors of perfect pop earworms Sacred Paws, featuring members of Shopping and Golden Grrls, incredibly inventive hip-hop artist Delly, the intense and brash post-punk trio Control Top and the boundary-pushing electronica of JOYFULTALK, who will be accompanied by a live string section for a very special performance celebrating the release of their new album A Separation of Being.

Each year, Sled Island's guest curator helps to shape the festival's programming through their own curated selections. This year, Sudan Archives has handpicked an incredible collection of talent, including the banjo-wielding experimental hardcore trio Show Me The Body, the soulful R&B artist SassyBlack (formerly of THEESatisfaction, now defunct), free-form jazz drumming extraordinaire Jamire Williams, who has collaborated with everyone from Solange to Herbie Hancock, Toronto-based electronic infused hip-hop artist Sydanie, transgressive avant-garde harpist/vocalist Ahya Simone, 19-year-old SoCal soft rock sensation Los Retros, Sudanese electronic mastermind Sufyvn, and the mind-bending experimental electro-pop of Daddy, formerly Cat 500.

On top of the outstanding musical acts revealed today, we're also very excited to announce two hysterical comedy headliners, Joe Pera (Adult Swim's Joe Pera Talks To You) and Jo Firestone (Shrill, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon). Sled Island's complete 2020 lineup, including additional headliners, over 200 more bands as well as comedy, film, visual art, special events and conference programming will be announced in the coming months.

Sled Island passes grant access to all Sled Island 2020 shows (subject to capacity) and are currently available at SledIsland.com. A limited number of single tickets to select Sled Island 2020 shows will go on sale this Friday, February 28 at noon MST at SledIsland.com.

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