Scorching hot dubstep icon Skrillex, the man who snatched that Grammy Award from local wünderkind Deadmau5 last February, has announced a huge concert extravaganza scheduled for July 13 at Fort York. Dubbed the Full Flex Express, it is said to be inspired by the Festival Express tour from 1970, which featured Janis Joplin and The Band.
The event will feature performances by Skrillex along with Pretty Lights, Diplo, KOAN Sound, Tokimonsta and Montreal’s own Grimes. All the artists will travel from date to date aboard a passenger train, and get all chummy along the way, so expect droves of darkly dressed hipsters at your local train station soon.
Other Canadian dates include Ottawa as part of the Ottawa Blues Fest (no, really, blues fest) on July 14, Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau on July 15, Winnipeg’s Shaw Park on July 18, Edmonton’s Kinsmen Park on July 20 and Vancouver’s PNE Coliseum in Vancouver on July 22. Here is a rundown of the artists involved:
Skrillex
The American Grammy Award-winning artist describes his current sound as “a mix of dustup, electro and glitch all thrown together.” His latest album, released in 2011, is Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.
Pretty Lights
The musical project of Colorado-based producer Derek Vincent Smith is pretty straight ahead big beats and cutting-edge party music. On his website, his six albums have been downloaded more than 1.4 million times. Yeah, that's a lot.
Diplo
Born in Mississippi, Wesley Pentz released his first album as Diplo back in 2001, which was dubbed Florida. His influences are all over the map, from dubstep to punk. He's also done plenty of work in film and TV, including a documentary on the slum favelas of Rio de Janeiro. He's a seriously cool renaissance artist of the electronic world.
Grimes
Montreal's Claire Boucher kicked in the door this year with the release of her stellar Visions album, still tearing up the charts in Canada and around the world. She combines fine musical chops with a brave, selfless artistic vision and edgy aesthetic that has garnered her an adoring and rapidly-growing fan base.
KOAN Sound
Based in Bristol, England, KOAN Sound is an electronic group featuring Will Weeks and Jim Bastow, but they have roots in more traditional musical styles, resulting in a rather interesting and funky sound. They've also been working with off-the-charts breakthrough British artist Ed Sheeran. That's how big these guys are.
TOKiMONSTA
TOKiMONSTA’s Jennifer Lee has a background in classical piano, and she uses her natural musicality to full affect in her electronic music project to create incredible, textured musical tapestries with live instruments, percussion, digital manipulation and “dusty noise.” She’s definitely one to watch out for, and her live performances are fearless.
