Flying Lotus Announced as Sled Island 2017 Guest Curator

FLYING LOTUS ANNOUNCED AS  SLED ISLAND 2017 GUEST CURATOR (January 17, 2017 - Calgary, AB) Calgary's Sled Island Music & Arts Festival returns from June 21 - 25, 2017 for its 11th year of thoughtful, eclectic and independent music and arts programming. Organizers are thrilled to announce Flying Lotus as 2017 guest curator. Flying Lotus' curatorial selections, which will be announced in spring 2017, will join over 250 additional bands, comedy acts, films and visual art projects chosen by the festival in more than 35 venues across the city. In addition, Flying Lotus will perform at The Palace Theatre (219 8th Ave. SW) on June 24, 2017. Sled Island passes grant access (subject to capacity) and are currently on sale at SledIsland.com. Single tickets will be available in spring 2017. Each year, Sled Island's guest curator helps set the direction and tone of the festival with special programming choices and their presence at the event. Past curators have included Peaches, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin), John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees), Tim Hecker, Andrew W.K., Colin Newman (Wire), Fucked Up, Scott Kannberg (Pavement) and more. Sled Island will announce its first wave of 2017 artists in February 2017. ABOUT FLYING LOTUS You see, no one likes talking about death. But Flying Lotus has never been one to lead the people on a simple journey. With You're Dead! he has managed to create a shamanic pilgrimage into the psychedelic unknown of the infinite afterlife. At once reflective, restless, heart wrenching and joyous, this is a melodic ode to those who have died young, suddenly and unexpectedly - those who have passed away into another realm completely - while also existing as a comfort to those mourning the loss of a loved one, those left behind in our here and now. You're Dead! serves as an exploration, a eulogy and a portal between these parallel domains. "My perspective comes from having lost a lot of people. A lot of my family members passed, but a lot of my colleagues passed away too soon," says Flying Lotus. "I felt like in my own experiences, I wanted them to have this same sense of self." Musically, the album treats death as a transition from one experience to another, from one dimension of sound to another. Masterfully, Flying Lotus bathes death in the sensitive, affectionate light of a storyteller. Flying Lotus takes listeners on a consciousness-fracturing journey as they follow those who've passed away as they embark on their tender new existences "on the other side." This life in the new dimension is rife with excitement, adjustments and reconciliation for some who are struggling to make sense of how they got to the other side in the first place. "The album isn't about the end," says Flying Lotus. "It's really the beginning. It's the beginning of a new experience," he says. "It's not hey you're dead," he says somberly. "It's hey you're dead!" he says with an uptick of enthusiasm. "To me it's a celebration of the next experience. Also, it's the transition and the confusion," he adds. You're Dead! is a hefty undertaking, but Flying Lotus aptly creates an engaging sonic delight, part spiritual carnival, part melancholic symphony, all the while coaxing listeners out of their fears of the unknown - and sometimes indulging those same fears. This aural procession through the afterlife does not trade on our clichéd catalog of pop-culture references to extinction. You won't find grim reaper-referencing rote drama, or the pallid somber palette of reverential muzak. This is a sonic, visual and metaphysical fusion of technological innovation and technical virtuosity that amounts to a transcendent, mind-expanding plasm that could only exist between our world and another. ABOUT SLED ISLAND Sled Island is an annual five-day music and arts festival in Calgary, Alberta, that brings together over 250 bands, comedians, filmmakers and artists in more than 35 venues across the city. Since 2007, Sled Island's thoughtful, eclectic programming and independent spirit have fused with Calgary's youthful energy to produce a one-of-a-kind festival experience. Visit SledIsland.com for more information. "For those from Calgary, Sled Island is a week that sees venues pulsing with activity, drawing a range of Canadian talent and international touring acts often making their first appearance in the city." - Consequence Of Sound "Your experience can be as intimate, muted or rambunctious as you want it to be. Any musical taste can be sated with hundreds of acts in dozens of venues over five days." - Pretty Much Amazing "Sled felt like the perfect size, with just enough options to be exciting but retaining individual showcases that you could truly enjoy from start to finish." - Chart Attack "The tenth annual Sled Island festival gave me a firsthand look at how Canadian goodwill emboldens the artistic community." - Noisey "The best part of Sled Island, aside from the fact everyone is now your friend, is stumbling into a ton of great bands one wouldn't see in their everyday trajectory." - Vue Weekly