Music

CMW announces M.I.A., Tegan and Sara, and Ellie Goulding for 2014

by Mark Teo

Is it that time of year already? It seems like just last week, Canadian Music Week 2013 was wrapping up. But festival organizers, apparently, never sleep, and they’ve released their initial round of headliners today—and undoubtedly, they’re off to a hot start.

Why? Because this year, they’ve announced some veritable A-listers: Along with seeming CMW regular City and Colour, the festival announced that Tegan and Sara, M.I.A., and Ellie Goulding are heading up the proceedings. New wave legends Television, rap faves Flatbush Zombies, and alt-country staple Neko Case round up the festival poster’s top half, but dig deeper, and there’s even more to be found.

Louder fare is well represented, thanks to Keith Morris’s ageless OFF! project, Brooklyn’s Cerebral Ballzy, and local firestarters the Dirty Nil on the bill. As are the P4K blessed: Brooklyn independent staple Woods are also on the bill, percussion-heavy outfit the Dodos, the always-excellent duo No Age, and garage-soul shaker King Khan are on the bill (and hopefully the latter will play tracks from his incredible side project with Bloodshot Bill, Tandoori Knights). And, of course, it wouldn’t be Canadian Music Week without that Canadian content: Hip hop stars Rich Kidd and Sonreal, JMC acolytes Indian Handcrafts, and beloved Toronto performer Maylee Todd have also been announced.

We’re pleasantly surprised—it’s shaping up to be a solid year for CMW. Wristbands are available right now; the fest is slated to go down from May 6-10.