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SCION SESSIONS: Get to know these essential Calgary acts at Sled Island

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Calgary’s Sled Island music festival might be a relative newcomer to the game—it started in 2007—but the house that Zak Pashak built has developed into one of Canada’s summer attractions. No surprise: It’s the polar opposite of Stampede, where the city becomes a bike-filled, musical paradise, attracting top-flight acts like Mission of Burma, St. Vincent, Killer Mike, and more.

But the real backbone of the festival is its local acts. Sled Island puts Calgary’s music scene in the spotlight, and Scion Sessions is working to do the same: They’ve selected four locals for a Sled Island 7-inch release, which will be available later this summer all around the city. The four bands they’ve chosen to feature? Feel-good electro-pop dude Mark Mills, Lethbridge-Calgary garage mainstays Fist City (above), jangle-pop institution Lab Coast—who are one of our fave indie pop acts in Canada—and cerebral house producer Dominic Pierce, whose label, Close to Modern, curates some of the best emerging electro in the West.

Even better than a soon-coming free 7-inch? All four acts play tonight at a Scion Sessions showcase at the Palomino (where pro tip: don’t be a dick, or in-house promoter Spencer Brown will throw you up the stairs, Jazzy Jeff style). To get primed for it, listen to all four bands below.