Festival 506 Week: 4 (of Many) Reasons To Be Excited

With shows starting Friday and running through Sunday spread across several venues, there's a lot of talent to take in as part of Festival 506. I picked up my weekend pass to make sure I can take advantage of as many shows as possible; I've had a look at the artists and set times to plan out how to maximize the music, as it were, and I'm sure there will be frantic moments trying to get from one venue to the other in time for the next show (luckily, the majority are within a few minutes walking distance of each other).

Later in the week, I'll be highlighting artists from a few of the most represented cities in the province; today is more of an overall list, with four intriguing artists from all over that should be reason enough to get excited for the weekend to come in Miramichi.

Here are the first four artists you should plan on seeing at Festival 506:

EARTHBOUND TRIO
Rock N' Blues Stage
Kin Centre, Friday @ 11:45pm

They've only got one EP and one album under their belts (2013's Lettuce Turnip the Beet and 2015's Ditch Flowers respectively), but Earthbound Trio are already well on their way; they've been nominated for three Music NB awards and an ECMA. Their warm, acoustic rock sound is reminiscent of both timeless artists like Neil Young and more modern fare such as John Butler Trio.

THE KENDRA GALE BAND
Rock N' Blues Stage
Kin Centre, Friday @ 12:30am

Winner of the Rising Star Award at 2013's Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival (generally regarded as one of Atlantic Canada's biggest jazz/blues fests), Kendra Gale has five albums in her discography; in 2012, though, the first Kendra Gale Band album was released, which saw a notable shift in style, from acoustic to electric. Their latest, 2014's Carousel, is their grittiest yet, home of beefy riffs, confident singing and a whole lot of ass kicking.

ELEPHANT SKELETONS
Electro N' Hop Stage
Kin Centre, Saturday @ 1:15am

Certainly one of the most unique artists on the bill this weekend, Elephant Skeletons use a base of EDM, but pile on all sorts of interesting sonic layers; saxophones, vocoder, worldly percussion, all coming together into an original, intriguing blend. The first half of The Traveller is out digitally, and a vinyl pressing including the second half is due to be released by year's end. I have a feeling this performance is not to be missed.

LISA LEBLANC
Festival 506 Headliner
Carrefour Beausoleil, Sunday @ 7:30pm (w/The Divorcees)

After a highly successful francophone debut in 2012, Lisa Leblanc (based out of Montreal now but born in Rosaireville) just released her second LP, the mostly-anglo Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen? It's a vibrant, honest record that calls a more rootsy Courtney Barnett to mind; if you saw my pick for 2015 Album of the Year (spoiler: it was Courtney Barnett), you know how big a compliment that is. Leblanc is opening eyes nationwide with this record, and her live performance should be amazing.

That's it for today. As promised in my previous post, tomorrow I'll be talking specifically about artists from the Fredericton area.

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