Now in its fourth year, Saskatoon’s MoSo Fest aims at bringing a variety of artists from different genres that span the creative tapestry of the Canadian music scene. Featuring 80 bands in a number of venues tucked in to the city’s hip Broadway Business District over three nights, the festival quickly grows into one big collective party.
As a disclaimer, I should mention that this year I was one of the handful of people who painstakingly combed through hundreds of submissions trying to piece together a well balanced music festival that really represents the dynamic local and national music scene with exceptional acts. This week’s playlist features five of those bands, and a little snap shot of why they were selected to perform at this year’s festival.
This Montreal musician blends Arabic and electronic music interwoven into 16mm film projects to create a truly ethereal listening experience. For MoSo, getting an act like this to perform is a great way of featuring a rising area of musical creativity in Canada that sees visual and auditory art work as one. This kind of artist also combines the festival with it’s sibling MoSo Conference, which takes three days to talk about all things mobile and digital.
Stinson is considered a local ’round these parts, although he is known for haunting parts of Alberta too. Stinson has spent years fine tuning his production skills, meshing beats together and mixing sounds. He’s now one of Canada’s best producers, working with some of the best in the Canadian hip hop scene including D-Sisive and Ghettosocks. He has played MoSo in the past and he always draws a crowd that’s ready to dance.
This year, Stinson is performing as part of Saturday’s Hip Hop set at the famed Amigos Cantina. The bill includes, among other artists, Halifax’s golden boy Ghettosocks.. Hopefully, just maybe, we can see Stinson and Socks come together to perform this:
Hip hop artist Mitchmatic is an emcee who is really starting to turn heads. Hailing from Edmonton, Mitchmatic will fit into the MoSo lineup quiet well. He’s got a fantastic grasp on creating a groove that will get people moving and spitting a fantastic phrase over top.
A party-pop band that aims at entertaining fans with melodic tunes and toe-tapping rhythms. The band recently released a new single and are currently putting the finishing touches on a new album. This local band’s sound has been warmly received across the country, making them fantastic on their own or a spectacular paring with out-of-towners Bend Sinister.
Whitehorse, Yukon’s Jona Barr creates some lazy folk sounds under the moniker Old Cabin that make you want to sit on a porch, drink a beer and read a really good book. When it comes to MoSo we try to create sets that highlight a group of artists who’s sounds work well together and we had a hard time trying to figure out where to put him, as his sound fits so well with many other acts playing the festival this year.