Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 bands to search out at Khatsahlano Street Party

From History of Gunpowder’s “freak out orchestra” to Amanda Sum’s intimate confessionals: five acts worth a place on your West 4th schedule

By Janet Smith

History of Gunpowder.

SIX CONCERT STAGES will fill West 4th Avenue with music on July 6—the Khatsahlano Street Festival offerings ranging from indie rock to global fusion to hip-hop.

There are two plans of attack as the onetime hippie-mecca-turned-shopping-and-dining-haven morphs into a big outdoor festival. You could just wing it, follow your ears, and stumble upon your new favourite acts. Or you could check out just a smattering of the Stir-approved discoveries below. Either way, you’ll have fun in the sun—all of it culminating in the headlining act Hotel Mira, who Stir speaks to here.

#1

Alex James Morrison and History of Gunpowder

History of Gunpowder

Macdonald Stage, 2 pm

Anyone who’s caught History of Gunpowder’s recent shows—including, mindblowingly, a January Circus Freakout Extravaganza at the W.I.S.E. Hall—will tell you the group’s stage presence goes far beyond lead singer Alex James Morrison’s magnificent flailing hair. The Vancouver-spawned band, back from a years-long stint in Montreal, describes itself as a “freak out orchestra that tightropes the delicate balance between order and chaos.” Think blues-funk guitar pyrotechnics and raw vocals alongside supercharged violin, slide guitar, and sax. History of Gunpowder’s songs are layered and bombastic, sometimes scaling rousing prog-rock-symphonic heights you won’t expect. Going far beyond just a party band, though, the group debuted its powerful video album Swallows, following a week-long residency at a church-turned-studio in Cumberland, last year. It features the moving “Untitled #751”, written for the families of the Indigenous children found in unmarked graves—building to a cathartic, harmonic frenzy of voices, winds, and strings. Elsewhere, for a sense of how big and wild History of Gunpowder can get, give “Buenos Aires” from 2019’s The Epileptic Volume 1 a listen below.

#2

Amanda Sum. Photo by Lula-Belle Jedynak

Amanda Sum

Maple Stage, 5 pm

To understand how achingly candid Amanda Sum’s music can be, unpack the the title alone for her new EP: does it make me naive if i’ve never been part of something where i’ve meant more to them than they did to me?. The soul-baring suite consists of 18 short songs, all culminating in one flowing journey. True to form, the first single is an instantly relatable confessional (below), in which she talks about putting her “first date face on”, “’cause all the guys that I’ve really liked are gone”. A rising star in the city’s theatre scene (spotlight standouts have included the lead role in East Van Panto: The Little Mermaid), Sum released her debut album in 2022. As at ease with acoustic guitar as with piano, Sum has a quirkily gorgeous singing voice that has a naked vulnerability that brings to mind Fiona Apple and Agnes Obel, songs drawing on indie-pop, jazz, and classical. At the core of it all: quirky laughs, painful awkward moments, and devastating truths.

#3

Tambura Rasa.

Tambura Rasa

Macdonald Stage, 3 pm

This longtime Vancouver band’s name is a pun on the Latin phrase “tabula rasa”—or “blank slate”—and the tambura, a Serbian stringed instrument. That sets you up for the far-flung Balkan, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Latin rhythms this eclectic group draws on. The style springs in part from the wide travels of guitarist and leader Ivan Tucakov, who was born in Serbia, lived in Turkey, then moved back to Belgrade to play in a rock band as a teenager; after that, he headed to Canada, studying at UBC and picking up acoustic guitar skills here. Throw shades of bluegrass into the mix and you have a raucous spectacle in which there’s often as much dancing onstage as in the crowd.

#4

Serengeti.

Serengeti

Burrard Stage, 4:30 pm

Combine the laid-back vibes of the West Coast with the sultry breezes of Afro-soul and you’ll come close to geolocating the singular smooth sounds of Serengeti. Compared to everyone from Erykah Badu to Lauren Hill, charismatic Nigerian-Canadian singer Sadé Awele formed Serengeti in 2019 with bassist Kaitie Sly and guitarist Amine Said. Funk, Latin, soul, R&B, and Afro beats all make a vivid match for Awele’s vocal prowess. On social media, her bandmates credit the songstress as “the secret sauce to get the crowd moving”.

#5

Goat String Orchestra.

Goat String Orchestra

Balsam Stage, 1:30 pm

The Goats released their debut EP, Barking Dog, only last month, the indie-folk rock songs powered by blazing fiddles and exuberant mandolins. Fronted by composer-guitarist-vocalist Jack Patrick Warner, the orchestra has a rotating team of about nine members at any given time, working improvisational elements and contagiously fun live chemistry into a show that hits GOATed new territory between old-timey hoedown, psych, and roots.

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