Since 2011, the community-building West 4th Avenue Khatsahlano Street Party has been uniting thousands of Vancouverites for a day of food, fun and music. And, as sure as the summer sun will be a scorcher, the free, all-day outdoor festival on July 8 this year will be a great way to brush up on the local band scene.
Over three-dozen acts will be playing stages set up along the shop-happy stretch of 4th from Burrard to MacDonald, with punk lifers DOA, indie trio the Courtneys, and pop rock unit the Zolas acting as the headliners. While some festgoers may want to hold fort at a main stage all day, you've got to check out all that Khats has to offer. That means, of course, making your way past a scrumptious blur of food trucks, sidewalk sales and the Australian Boot Company's famed boot toss. On the music side of things, here are Westender's top picks for scoring the rest of your day.
Prado
1pm at the Maple Street Stage
Prado is a singer/producer who’s been perfecting her craft on the SoundCloud circuit for a few years now. Her songwriting style hops from hard-slapped beat work to laidback late-night R&B. She can likewise work the mic with a silky singing voice or a cool-as-ice trap flow. Latest single "Likeline," a lovelorn tune that masterfully mixes together an ironclad boom-bap with crystalline piano hooks, is reason enough to get to Khats early.
Tulip
3pm on the Coast Capital Savings Stage at Vine Street
If the summer sun is beating down hard on Saturday, there's more than one way to cool down at Khatsahlano. Slapping on a hat would help, as would keeping hydrated with a bottle of water or a brew from the beer garden. Another option would be to plant yourself in front of Tulip's mood-chilled set on Vine. Recent Bandcamp single "Ether" is a low-key rumble of bass and drums, ethereal vocals and textural drones that eases the foursome into the same wheelhouse as UK outfit the XX.
Peach Pit
5pm at the car2g0 MacDonald Stage
Peach Pit's just-released Sweet FA 7-inch EP is a breezily swayed collection of modern jangle pop that could easily score a day of swingin' on a hammock with a lemonade by your side. That said, the joyful, just-ripe riffs on "Seventeen" will probably get more than a few toes tapping down by MacDonald.
Louise Burns
5:30pm at the TD Burrard Stage
Louise Burns is a veteran of the Vancouver scene, having performed in teen group Lillix in the '90s before establishing herself through a series of pop-exploring solo albums. Her latest offering, Young Mopes, is anything but miserable. The mélange of watery '80s guitar textures, cloud-soft rhythms and Burns' Stevie Nicks-grade vibrato on pieces like "Pharaoh" and "Who's the Madman" recently landed the album on the Polaris Music Prize's Long List. All told, it's her greatest treasure yet.
Minimal Violence
7pm at the Maple Street Stage
Vancouverite Ashlee Luk has slung her fair share of snarling licks in angsty post-punk trio Lié, but there's a different kind of energy surging through her electronic project Minimal Violence. Trading six-strings for sequencers, she and collaborator Lida Pawliuk are getting expressive with a mix of blissful synth patches and pumped-up Acid House rhythms. Don't be surprised if you find your pulse-quickening the closer you get to Patagonia.
