CKXU at Sled Island 2026: Day 1!

The time has come for another year of Calgary’s premier underground and alternative music festival, Sled Island! The festival features Los Angeles-based experimental noise-hop trio Clipping. as Sled Island guest curators. Still, before their headlining performance at The Palace Theatre on Saturday night, there are an enormous number of bands and artists from near and far playing Mohkinstsis the rest of the week.

 

 

 

As I was navigating the Sled Island schedule for this year’s edition, I found myself getting excited, but not because there were lots of bands I had heard of, but because of the absence of bands I recognized. It’s been posted on this yearly blog many times, but the beauty of Sled Island is discovering your new favourite band and finding up-and-coming acts. With that said, the first show I saw was the opposite of that. 

 

Laraaji is best known for his collaborations many decades ago with Brian Eno, most notably working with Eno to create the blissful sound sanctuary that is Ambient 3, but in the years since he has continued to grow his sound and himself and it is wonderful that his artistic journey has brought him to Sled Island. Laura and I actually had a chance encounter with Laraaji. We were sitting in Sled Village, and he was just chilling on the couch, so I swallowed my nerves and asked him if he could record a station ID for CKXU, which he did. It’s not the most exciting story, but he was such a gentleman and it was very surreal.

 

The show itself was gorgeous; the Central United Church was glowing with the evening dusk and Laraaji was wearing a stunning orange coat that made him shine. There were waves of autoharp slowly bending through the pews of the church and while the music obviously had no percussion, there was a shared process of melodic digestion passing across everyone lining the walls of Central United. What surprised me the most about his performance was his ability to surprise himself and turn his surprise into an improvisation. He would create a drone through the autoharp then slice blues piano chords over top of the airy melody, and while my words won’t do those sounds justice it was stunning to listen to.

 

After Laraaji, Laura and I headed over to the Legion to catch Jed Arbour…

 

Jed Arbour 

After seeing such a great performance at the Central United Church, Jeremy and I headed to the #1 Legion to see Jed Arbour open up the night for the other artists on the main floor. This Montreal-born, Calgary-based musician brought on such deep emotions in me that I genuinely had tears in my eyes by the end of the set. With a rich post-rock sound and grungy vocals, I was moved deeply by the performance. I knew I’d shed a few tears during Sled due to all the feelings of frisson I’d be feeling, but so early on was a shock. This show brought on such an amazing sound with slow-rolling drums, guitar and bass, along with an almost eerie-sounding clarinet in some songs; then to top it off, the most emotionally deep-sounding vocals ever. They were seriously nothing short of amazing, and if you want to shed a tear like I did, check out “Parasite” off their 2023 album titled Disappointing Dog Park. It is truly an incredible musical experience that you do not want to miss if you can catch it

 

Shunk

A Montreal-based four-piece band was not on my radar until I saw this set. The vocalist put on a performance that perfectly complemented the sound; I will never forget it. A theatrical mix between exaggerated and sustained vocals, almost opera-sounding, in songs such as “Rat King” paired with eclectic on-stage energy and engagement with the guitarist and bassist made this band such a fun and exciting time. The vocalist has such an intriguing stage presence with the way they purposefully moved their eyes side to side to every beat in between singing and the manor they danced with their hands sound the mic stand, then running around the crowd to incite a mosh pit. Truly, all of it was so amazing I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to. Following such a great performance, I was fortunate enough to catch the guitarist and bassist for a quick interview. During the show, I was standing on the left side of the stage near the bassist, but although I only saw one guitar, it really sounded like there were two. In the post-show interview, I learned the guitarist had connected the left and right speakers separately to make such a wicked stereo rig; the sound was amazing. Shunk’s genre is hard to fully describe, but I will try my best before you readers inevitably check it out. At times theatrical with big, loud lyrics and upbeat riffs and drums, almost like Blondie but more new age and at times grunge, songs like “Snake” and “Tennis” are a perfect example of this unique style. But wait, these guys also get down and give you some of the smoothest sounds in today’s indie rock that I’ve heard in a long time, with lovely calming riffs and French vocals found in songs such as “Banale” and “Cloud”. The whole experience entranced me. I highly recommend giving Shunk’s latest album titled Shunkland a full listen, as there is bound to be at least one song you fall in love with.