Sled Island Day Two: The Furnace, Kari Faux, Soul Glo, & More
Bad Bodies
Photo Credit: Liam Dawe
There aren’t many bands in Calgary like Bad Bodies. Amidst the punk-heavy local landscape, Bad Bodies offer a soulful palate cleanser of R&B-driven indie rock. Fresh off of their debut 6-song EP release BB01, the hometown baddies brought a robust mix of old, new, and unreleased to their setlist atop of Modern Love’s patio on Thursday evening. As the sun set on Sled’s second day, it wasn’t hard to tell that the crowd taking in the show was willingly but involuntarily immersed in the sultry, disarming vibrations put forth by the group. If you missed out on last night’s set, you’ll have a shot at redemption as their second and final show of the festival will go down at Eighty-Eight Brewing on Saturday, with a 1:30 pm time slot. - Liam Dawe
Kari Faux
Photo Credit: Liam Dawe
Many of us were faced with tough decisions ahead of Sled Island’s Thursday night schedule, with so many great acts taking the stage at venues around Calgary simultaneously. If you made the choice to hang around Commonwealth for long enough to see Kari Faux close out the evening, you probably have little remorse about it.
From Los Angeles by way of Little Rock, Arkansas, the independent MC worked her way through a sneaky-deep discography, engaging with casuals and day ones alike. Bringing the South with her to Sled Island, Kari Faux danced and rapped various cuts, mainly from her two most recent releases Lowkey Superstar (2021) and last year’s Real Bitches Don’t Die!. The emotional finale to the set came in the form of lead single “WHITE CAPRICE”, where an homage to the late, great Gangsta Boo’s feature verse was rapped passionately by both Kari and the room enveloping her. - Liam Dawe
Myst Milano
Photo Credit: Liam Dawe
Although she may reside in Toronto these days, last night Myst Milano felt right at home performing in the province she originally hails from. “It feels so good to be back in ‘Berta,” she teased. For the crowd; feelings were mutual, as folks of all shapes and sizes packed into Commonwealth to take in the show. The excitement was palpable.
From start to finish, energy flowed ubiquitously between stage and audience, with each number in the setlist raising the temperature higher and higher. Backed by her pair of performance dancers, Myst Milano served audacious raps and flawless choreo that gave headliner vibes, rather than the opening slot she was scheduled into. Moved by the incredibly warm reception, the Edmonton native gathered herself before continuing on. “You guys are gonna make me cry” she claimed, smiling. Happy tears. - Liam Dawe
Malcolm Mooney & The Eleventh Planet
Central United Church
The strongest edict I hold about the potential of going to shows is jumping at the chance to see veteran artists as they come to your town, as you never know if they will return. It began for me personally when Tom Petty passed away in 2017, being a long-time fan of his work and seeing Petty come to Calgary over the years, putting it off and being like “i’ll catch him next time!” and sadly there was never a next time. Since that point, I make it a point to prioritize seeing artists I have loved for many years/decades, which has led me to see 89-year-old Herb Alpert and 75-year-old Nick Lowe in the past year alone. This is a chief reason why the opportunity to see the original lead singer of Can, 84-year-old Malcolm Mooney, was my most anticipated set at this year’s Sled Island, not to mention earlier this year when we saw the tragic passing of Damo Suzuki, the second singer of Can, who has made his own indelible memories in Calgary as part of the MTT Festival in 2012 at the #1 Legion
Now, I am talking a lot about mortality and longevity, but witnessing Malcolm Mooney on Thursday night in the Central United Church, he showed zero signs of slowing down and had as much vitality as artists more than half his age. Part of that might be due to his band, The Eleventh Planet, an eight piece, which includes luminaries like Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, and Calgary saxophone titan Jairus Sharif, a real mix of local and international greats, headed by the maestro Mooney. Most of Malcolm Mooney’s set consisted of spoken word pieces, with instrumental accompaniment, which ranged from quiet beauty to startling power, as Mooney always emoted deeply with his whole heart. The highlight of these new pieces was the piece “Brother Sky,” a tribute to the late Damo Suzuki, where Mooney said the refrain “no need to cry, no need to cry” and then shouted with full strength “DAMO, REST IN POWER,” as it then transition into a a kraut rock groove that could have landed on any Can release, as Mooney then repeated “Brother Sky” as the band led into a freak out. It is as moving of a tribute to a fallen comrade as you will hear and I am grateful to have been in the room for it.
The highlight of the set for me, bringing it back to the opening paragraph, was hearing Mooney perform “Outside My Door,” a song from Can’s 1969 debut album Monster Movie. Never in my life would I have imagined I would get the opportunity to hear THE VOICE OF CAN, Malcolm Mooney, perform this song, backed by Steve f’n Shelley of Sonic Youth (What’s your favourite Sonic Youth song? Shelley played on it) and so many other incredible musicians. I felt a hundred feet tall and like I wanted to flip the church pue over!! Malcolm Mooney and The Eleventh Planet performing “Outside My Door” is something I will remember for the rest of my life. I was so excited, so elated, that I screamed YEAH!!! at the end of the song, like my sports team just won the finals. Those are the moments for why I love to experience live music, moments you can’t replicate just listening to a record. Seeing the human being who made these timeless songs play rows away from you in a literal church, how can it ever get better than this? - Ben Goodman
The Furnace
Loophole Coffee Bar
Photo Credit: Ben Goodman
There are few people who have done more positive things for the Calgary music scene in the past year than Kaiden Jackman. They have helped organize countless noise/experimental shows in the Calgary area filled with burgeoning artists who wouldn’t have had the platform otherwise, including their own Black Ice Festival (which is returning again later this year) which was a multi-venue festival that combined new artists with veterans like Jesse Locke and Jeremy Curry’s Sorcerers. On top of that, they also helped curate the TRANS RIGHTS = HUMAN RIGHTS charity compilation, which charted at #1 on CJSW’s Chartlist back in April. If all of that wasn’t enough, Kaiden’s own music project, The Furnace, played Sled Island for the first time, at Loophole Coffee Bar, the venue that has often hosted Kaiden’s events over the past year. It is a genuine full circle moment, a big milestone in Kaiden’s career, a feel good moment for the next generation of Calgary’s scene.
If you are not familiar with The Furnace’s music, it is aggressive, nosey, and transfixing, quiet beauty mixed with screaming agony at the injustice in the world. Now, not to break kayfabe, but Kaiden is a very kind, soft-spoken and thoughtful person. Once they step into The Furnace, however, all bets are off. It’s Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley, it’s Frank Goodish becoming Bruiser Brody, it’s Kaiden becoming The Furnace, a pulverizing mix of raw power, which was on full display on Thursday. Bathed in red light, bringing to mind a Nicolas Winding Refn film, armed only with a laptop and a microphone, The Furnace brought you into the deepest pits of despair, in the greatest possible way. With a mixture of work from their The Desire To Become Human release, plus a tantalizing tease of an unreleased song, The Furnace left it all out on the field on Thursday (and I mean that literally, as they walked into the crowd a couple times mid-performance), and I can’t wait to see what the next year and beyond brings for The Furnace. - Ben Goodman
Kue Varo and the Only Hopes
Photo Credit: Michaela Neuman (@Equidem)
There’s no other way we would rather celebrate the full moon than with Kue Varo and the Only Hopes. From witchy ballads like “Gates of Hell” to sentimental odes like “Sweet One”, Kue Varo captivated the audience with her charm and onstage chemistry with the Only Hopes. Joining Kue was Easy HD’s infectious bass playing, Bobby EQ with slick slide guitar techniques, and Matt Doherty moving the band effortlessly along on drums. Acclaimed producer Russell Broom, who worked on their latest record Cowboy Witchcraft, also joined the band for their performance, which brought to life the album’s collaborative history to the stage.
Soul Glo
Photo Credit: Shannon Johnston (@me_onlylouder)
Perhaps one of the most packed shows of the night, Soul Glo brought the energy from the very start with their hardcore punk time signatures at Dickens. The crowd instantly pushed to the stage commemorating some of the first moshpit and crowdsurfing moments for this year’s festival. The band played a solid set of songs spanning their discography and as a curator pick of Show Me The Body, it set the themes for what’s to come for the rest of the week: let’s get rowdy and sweaty.
Photo Credit: Shannon Johnston (@me_onlylouder)