Wake Island is a music duo originally from Beirut and now based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal and composed of Philippe Manasseh (he/him) and Nadim Maghzal (he/him). Through their music, they attempt to reconcile their Arab roots with their North American lives, infusing Middle-Eastern sounds into a wide range of original music ranging from pop songs to electronic and ambient compositions.

Vid Cousins is an audio producer, sound designer, mix engineer, and composer with an impressive international career in music, film, digital arts, and education that spans over two decades.
He has been sought out by many award winning artists for their projects including Squarepusher, Kid Koala, Amon Tobin, FOXTROTT, Colin Stetson, Esmerine and ‘!!!’.

Tim Hecker is a Juno Award-winning Canadian composer, producer, and soundartist. He is known internationally for experimental ambient recordings released under his own name, and soundtracks. He has released eleven albums and a number of EPs, with No Highs (2023) being his latest. He has collaborated with artists such as Ben Frost, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Daniel Lopatin. His Imaginary Country (2009) and Virgins (2014) were longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, with Ravedeath, 1972 (2011) winning the Juno award for Electronic Album of the Year.

To encapsulate the career of Montreal-based harpist Sarah Pagé, one would have to draw long, constellation-like shapes across genres, borders and histories. While perhaps best known as a founding and longtime member of roots rockers The Barr Brothers, a brief consideration of her resume reveals the fact that she's equally at home within traditions as without them, having recorded with acclaimed artists such as Amon Tobin, Leif Vollebekk, Patrick Watson, Esmerine, Lhasa deSela, Nadah El Shazly, Land of Kush and Bùmarang.

Rebecca Foon is a Juno award-winning composer, cellist, singer, artist, and producer. Foon has been a fixture of the Montréal music community for two decades, performing and recording in a wide array of contexts, most notably as co-founder of the modern chamber post-rock ensemble Esmerine, as a member of Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra (2001-2008) and Set Fire To Flames (2001-2004), and more recently at the helm of her electro-acoustic songwriting project Saltland. With these four entities, Foon has performed around the world and released over a dozen albums on various imprints.

As the red-headed polymath and multi-instrumentalist at the heart of the endlessly inventive art-rock band Arcade Fire, Richard Reed Parry has performed in front of immense crowds and sold millions of records across the world. But this is only one aspect of an artist whose unconventional trajectory has resulted in work that is as varied as it is surprising and unique.

Formed in 1995, The Dears released their first, ultra lo-fi album, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story, in 2000. The orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows cemented The Dears at the foundation of the then-emerging Canadian indie- rock renaissance. In 2001 and 2002, they released two separate concept EPs Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique and Protest, respectively. In 2003 they released their second full-length album No Cities Left in Canada, and a string of highly anticipated shows at SXSW ‘04 prompted the international release of No Cities Left with Bella Union. Gang of Losers came in 2006. In 2008 the group partnered with Dangerbird Records to release Missiles, followed by Degeneration Street (2011), Times Infinity Volume One (2015) and Times Infinity Volume Two (2017). Marking their 20th year, the group released Lovers Rock on May 15, 2020.

The doomily dreamy duo No Joy began in November 2009 and soon established themselves at the forefront of the shoegaze revival. They formed when guitarist/vocalist Jasamine White-Gluz was living in Los Angeles and guitarist/vocalist Laura Lloyd was living in Montreal. The pair wrote songs as long-distance collaborators until White-Gluzmoved to Montreal and they could play shows together. The band's moody, interlocking guitars and ethereal vocals allowed them to fit on bills with bands as diverse as Wavves, Harvey Milk, and Besnard Lakes. Meanwhile, Best Coast's label Mexican Summer signed No Joy and issued their self-titled 7", which was produced by Miracle Fortress' Graham Van Pelt in 2010. The band expanded to a four-piece and enlisted the Raveonettes' Sune Rose Wagner to mix their full-length album, Ghost Blonde, which was released in November 2010. In 2012, a stopgap EP entitled Negaverse was released while the band worked again with Wagner on the follow-up to their debut. Ultimately, however, the band was unsatisfied with the results and shelved the sessions, opting instead to work with producer Jorge Elbrecht on what would become their 2013 sophomore release, Wait to Pleasure. For third album More Faithful, the band members split their recording time between studios in Brooklyn and Costa Rica. Working again with Elbrecht behind the desk, No Joy dove headlong into their most intricate and reaching ideas thus far, incorporating expanded instrumentation and advanced studio trickery into their established shoegaze sound.

MURRAY A. LIGHTBURN is a composer, musician, performer, and music producer. He is best known as the lead singer and principal songwriter of Montreal chamber rock band The Dears. Hear Me Out is Lightburn's first proper solo album, following 2013’s experimental concept record MASS:LIGHT.

Michael Feuerstack is a Montreal based singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Widely acclaimed for his work as Snailhouse, a name under which he toured extensively and released a staggering amount of music since the mid-1990s, Feuerstack is now starting fresh under his own name.

Hua Li’s hazy R&B and revolutionary rap cuts to the bone and shakes your frail ass to the ground. Her Za Zhong EP, which “abounds with charisma,” (No Fear of Pop) will be followed up by her debut full-length, Dynasty, out September 2019 via Next Door Records. She is also an active DJ, spinning alt rap favourites and cloudy house cuts. Subversive and sexy, Hua Li is the only half-Chinese, half-militant, half-rapper of your heart.

Esmerine was co-founded by percussionist Bruce Cawdron (Godpseed You! Black Emperor) and cellist Rebecca Foon (Thee Silver Mt. Zion, Saltland). They are joined by percussionist Alden Roberge (Ian Tamblyn), multi-instrumentalist Brian Sanderson, and bassist Philippe Charbonneau (Scattered Clouds). The group has always been a laboratory of rotating regulars and a portal for numerous guest collaborators.

Colin Stetson was born and raised in Michigan, spent a decade in SanFrancisco and Brooklyn honing his formidable talents as a horn player, and eventually settled in Montreal. He has developed a unique voice as a soloist, principally on saxophones and clarinets, while his technical prowess is matched by his exhilarating and emotionally gripping skills as a songwriter. Stetson's astounding physical engagement with the bass and alto saxophones produces emotionally rich and polyphonic compositions that transcend expectations of solo horn playing. Stetson pushes the boundaries of his instruments through the avant jazz traditions of circular breathing, embouchure, etc., and is also at home at the nexus of noise/drone/minimalist music that encompasse dark metal, post-rock and contemporary electronic genres.

Bell Orchestre is a collaborative instrumental group based in Montreal. Its six members come from wildly divergent musical backgrounds, and the unlikely chemistry that results from their collaboration is the very thing that sustains their connection.

Kid Koala is a world-renowned scratch DJ who has made a name for himself both with his music and visual art. He has released four solo albums on Ninja Tune: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (2001), Some of My Best Friends Are DJs (2003), Your Mom's Favorite DJ (2006) and 12 bit Blues (2012) and two graphic novels: Nufonia Must Fall (ECW Press, 2003) and the award-winning Space Cadet (Uni Books, 2011). He has also been involved in collaborations such as Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, and The Slew.