OSHEAGA 2022 - IDLES, Pinkpantheress, TURNSTILE Wet Leg and more!
It's that time of year again; get your best festival outfits ready; Osheaga 2022 is back with an all-star lineup for its 15th anniversary edition. We have our selection of (what we think) are the coolest shows to go to.
Whether you're into hyper pop, hardcore, or feminist post-punk, this year's lineup has diverse acts that will keep you dancing all day long. Listen along to our playlist to get a taste of what to expect!
First up, we have Canadian sweethearts Luna Li, Sophia Bel, and Ceréna.
Luna Li is a multi-instrumentalist based in Toronto, where we've been catching her shows since early 2016. She creates a hyper-lush universe with dreamy tunes that integrate a blend of pristine pop with psychedelic indie rock.
Sophia Bel is Montreal's pop punk princess, inspired by divas of the 90s emo-rock. We caught her show earlier this summer at Foufounes Électriques, which you can check out here.
Ceréna (she/they) is an experimental dance-pop artist from Toronto, Canada. Their debut album launched off the platform and community she co-founded via Club Quarantine (read our Club Q interview here).
Next, we have Wet Leg and PinkPantheress, who took the internet by storm via the TikTok pandemic algorithms.
Wet Leg, whose debut album we covered here, is a post-punk band from Isla of Wight. Amidst a night of hazy scenes in their hometown, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers found themselves at the summit of a Ferris wheel. They decided to start a band. The band is called Wet Leg. Arming themselves with guitars, a penchant for French disco, effervescent imaginations and a shared love of The Ronettes and Jane Birkin, through to Ty Segall and Bjork, they set about making some recordings of their own.
Pinkpantheress is the 20-year-old London-based artist responsible for introducing Gen-Z to classic drum and bass beats. After using TikTok as a focus group for her songs and learning how to work the algorithm, she skyrocketed to internet fame with each new release. Although she's joked about her set only being 15 minutes long due to the short nature of her songs, her set is not one to miss.
Khruangbin will also be gracing the Osheaga stage with their wonderfully sparkly tunes. If there's ever a time to pretend you're at a concert in the 60s, living your best psychedelic life, it will be during this set. Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk, and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony.
Wrapping up with the loudest bands of the bunch, we have IDLES and TURNSTILE.
IDLES, the Bristol-based hardcore post-punk band, will play Sunday evening, closing the festival with a bang. Our personal favourites from their discography include Joy as an Act of Resistance, the band's second deeply passionate album that asks the listener to face themselves with brutal honesty.
TURNSTILE, possibly one of our favourite bands, takes on the hardcore genre with a multitude of fresh influences and, most importantly, an incredible amount of kindness.
From the moment they hit the ground a decade ago, TURNSTILE have never stopped moving forward -- and they're sure as hell not about to look back. The Baltimore band, comprised of singer Brendan Yates, guitarists Brady Ebert and Pat McCrory, bassist Franz Lyons, and drummer Daniel Fang, immediately distinguished themselves from the pack with their infectious, aggressive punk fusion; their welcoming, satisfying live shows; and most importantly, their willingness to experiment. The only constant in the TURNSTILE universe, aside from love, is progression.
Osheaga runs from July 29th to 31st at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal.
Get your tickets here.
Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.