2 YEARS AGO

Treefort Music Fest is very excited to announce the second round of artists planned to party at Treefort 2019: March 20th-24th! With over 200 bands on this year’s lineup so far (and more to come in the third announcement!), looks like you have some music to explore.

Dive in to some of the artists in the second announce below. Need to catch up on first announcement? Click here.

But first, check out what the Fort Family products have to offer in the latest Treefort video produced by our friends at Retroscope Media.









VINCE STAPLES ( long beach, california )

Recording artist Vince Staples has come a long way from his trying upbringing in Long Beach, California’s Ramona Park neighborhood. Releasing his critically acclaimed debut Summertime ’06 album in 2015, the then twenty-year-old saw his life turned right side up, going from being nearly trapped to having what appeared to be complete freedom. Yet, as his most recent projects suggest, appearances can be deceiving. The LPs delves into the confusion of sudden fame and acclimating to a lifestyle antithetical to the one he’d known in Long Beach – one wrought with gang violence and poverty. It’s a fundamental narrative in hip hop, but rappers have always found a new way to breathe life into it. Staples brings forth a vision that’s brutal, elegant, playful, and despondent in one breath. Such is the nature of his music, as self and socially aware as it is comical. With FM!, Big Fish Theory, Prima Donna and Summertime ’06 behind him, Staples has set the tone for what’s yet to come. A standout rapper in today’s hip hop world, he keeps his sound deeply tied to his west coast roots and his message one that knows no boundaries. In a world full of painful departures, his art gives listeners reason to believe that, somehow, as he advances, the people who have left him and the people who he’s left behind will still be waiting for him at the end.





AMERICAN FOOTBALL ( chicago, illinois )

American Football’s original triumph, on their 1999 self-titled debut, was to reunite two shy siblings: emo and post-rock. It was a pioneering album where lyrical clarity was obscured and complicated by the stealth musical textures surrounding it. Like Slint’s Spiderland, or Codeine’s The White Birch, even Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, American Football asked far more questions than it cared to answer. But there wasn’t a band around anymore to explain it, anyway. The three young men who made the album — Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos — split up pretty much on its release. Fifteen years later, American Football reunited (now as a four-piece, with the addition of Nate Kinsella). They played far larger shows than in their original incarnation and recorded their long-anticipated second album, 2016’s American Football (LP2). The release was widely praised, but the band members still felt like their best work was yet to come. Enter American Football (LP3). ‘We put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it,’ says Mike. ‘We were all thoughtful about what we wanted to put out there. Last time, it was figuring out how to use all of our different arms. This time, we were like — Ok we have these arms, let’s use them.’ The band used the same producer, Jason Cupp, and recorded the album at the same studio (Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska) as its predecessor — yet they approached it in a markedly different way. There was a determination to let the songs breathe, to trust in ideas finding their own pace. The final result is a definite, and deliberate, stretching of the band.

BUILT TO SPILL ( boise, idaho )

Treefort wouldn’t be the same without local indie rock band Built to Spill playing a set or two (or three). The band has played every Treefort Music Fest with the exception of Treefort 2017 where Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch played an acoustic set at the Boise Contemporary Theater. Built to Spill started in 1992 and have a large discography covering eight albums, a few compilation albums, and a good amount of extended-plays. Every album is led by Doug Martsch but each album has a different lineup of musicians, though some members make appearances on more than one album. Their first album, Ultimate Alternative Wavers, came out in 1993. Built to Spill made their major label debut with their third album, Perfect From Now On. Both 1997’s Perfect From Now On and 1999’s Keep It Like A Secret are featured on Pitchfork’s Top 100 Albums of the 90s’ list. Their eighth and latest album, Untethered Moon, was released in 2015. Built to Spill has returned to the band’s original concept of having a shifting rotation of non-permanent members. The first incarnation features psychedelic Brazilian rockers Lê Almeida and João Casaes and longtime BTS contributer, Doug Martsch. Lê and João are musicians partners at the label from Rio de Janeiro, Transfusão Noise Records. They played together in the bands Lê Almeida, Treli Reli Repi, Babe Florida, Carpete Florido and GAAX. Lê also plays in Oruã.

CHERRY GLAZERR ( los angeles, california )

Cherry Glazerr is a LA based, genre-bending rock trio, and the brainchild of guitarist/lyricist Clementine Creevy, who began creating music when she started the band in high school. With searing guitar riffs, catchy vocal melodies, cynical, witty lyrics, and tight drums, Cherry Glazerr has been on the rise in the rock scene since the release of 2017’s Apocalipstick, co-produced by Carlos De La Garza and Joe Chicarelli. “Cherry Glazerr’s last album Apocalipstick was an absolute blast of a record, that saw the Clementine Creevy-led act exploding into a more well-rounded sound. They’ve now announced the follow up: it’s called Stuffed & Ready and comes out on February 1st through Secretly Canadian. Speaking about the development between records, Creevy says: “With Apocalipstick, I was an over-confident teenager trying to solve the world’s problems. With Stuffed & Ready, I’m a much more weary and perhaps a more cynical woman who believes you need to figure your own self out first.” That weariness is certainly audible in lead single ‘Daddi’, where a relatively restrained Cherry Glazerr weave through an bruised blue, electronics-imbued verse, Creevy asking all sorts of worrying and untoward questions. This turmoil comes rocketing to a head in the chorus, where the band gives us their trademark guitar detonation, but this time the message is clear and confronting: “don’t hold my hand/ don’t be my man.” It’s a coercive sign of what’s to come on Stuffed & Ready.” – The 405, November 2018





MEWITHOUTYOU ( philadelphia, pennsylvania )

Since their formation in 2001, mewithoutYou have become a standard-bearer for their genre (whatever genre that may be). Across six full-length albums and a handful of EPs, the Philadelphia band—alternately labeled experimental punk, post-hardcore, indie rock, etc.—have long put a premium on progression, never anchoring themselves to a single sound and instead gracefully wandering across stylistic lines. It’s that same spirit that informed the band’s upcoming seventh album [Untitled], their second for Run For Cover Records, as well as its accompanying EP [untitled]. “In any conversation about post-hardcore, mewithoutYou has remained the legend of its poetry-centered spoken word crossover. Even as the words of Aaron Weiss got less bombastic and aggressive, they remain as vivid as they are personal. The band’s cult following has largely stuck with it through a transition away from punk, but anyone who missed the older mewithoutYou sound will find several returns to form on [Untitled].” – Riff Magazine, Max Heilman’s Top 50 Albums of 2018

TIGERS JAW ( scranton, pennsylvania )



Tigers Jaw is an indie rock band from Scranton, Pennsylvania often described as the middle ground between Saves the Day and Fleetwood Mac. Their sound notably features intertwining male and female vocal harmonies, catchy melodies, and heartfelt lyricism. The most recent full length spin is a sincere and dynamic album about Pitchfork claims Tigers Jaw “stays above the fray but true to their roots.”





JPEGMAFIA ( los angeles, california )

Often art is considered the safe space for dangerous ideas. JPEGMAFIA is a reminder that in a dangerous world, sometimes nowhere is safe. Operating out of Baltimore Maryland but born in New York to Jamaican parents, JPEG spent the bulk of his childhood in East Flatbush, Brooklyn – a neighborhood deeply rooted in West Indian culture and black pride & the majority of his mid teens in deep south rural Alabama – bouncing from place to place due to rough circumstances at home & after a short stint in prison due to a racially-charged altercation in his late teens, JPEG joined the military where he’d be deployed to different parts of the world, meeting fellow artists and adding new elements to his producing and rapping repertoire. If trap music is the sound of the street, then JPEGMAFIA is trap’s subconscious; dark but not without a humor that makes things even more uncomfortable. His role as villain or satirist, hood protector or nihilist is intentionally hard to put one’s finger on. What more appropriate way to embody the frightening and confusing reality of America today?

GAELYNN LEA ( duluth, minnesota )

When Gaelynn Lea won NPR Music’s 2016 Tiny Desk Contest, her two decades as a hardworking and talented Minnesota musician finally crystallized in a beautiful moment of national recognition. It was also just the beginning of a grand adventure. With the wind of her award at their backs, Gaelynn and her husband Paul sold their house, quit their jobs, bought a van, and hit the road. Since then, Gaelynn has played over 425 shows in 42 states and seven countries, adding nearly 100,000 miles to their Ford Econoline’s odometer. The singer-songwriter and violinist has graced the stage of renowned venues like Nashville’s Music City Roots, The Kennedy Center, House of Blues and even BBC World News. This June she was featured at arts festivals in Iceland and Switzerland; she then played Winnipeg Folk Fest in July, Travelers Rest Festival in August and Halifax Pop Explosion in October. In addition to performing and recording, Gaelynn also loves to do public speaking engagements about disability awareness, accessibility in the arts, and living an enriching life. She has a congenital disability called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or Brittle Bones Disease. Gaelynn is a strong voice in the disability community; she uses her music as a platform to advocate for people with disabilities and to promote positive social change.

SUDAN ARCHIVES ( cincinnati, ohio )

Sink, the anticipated follow up to Sudan Archives’ self-titled debut, continues to define the experimental R&B artist as a singular new voice. Her unique blend of ethereal R&B vocals, violin figures and hip-hop beats has already won over the likes of Pitchfork, the New York Times, The Guardian, NPR Music, and more. “Sink describes the way I want my music to make you feel,” she says, “It’s inspired by my love of fluidity, movement of jellyfish and water.” Sudan Archives (Sudan for short) taught herself to play the violin in elementary school, mostly by ear. After discovering the violin playing style of both Northeast and West African fiddlers and musicians like Asim Gorashi, Ali Farka Touré and Juldeh Camarah, her eyes opened to new ways of incorporating this instrument into her sound. “The way they played the violin was different from classical music. I resonated with their style, and I was like, maybe I can blend it with electronic music.” “The genre-defying violinist levels up as a songwriter on an EP of experimental pop and R&B. It explodes conventional musical logic with disarming ease.” – Pitchfork, May 2018 review of “Sink” EP

SIERRA HULL ( nashville, tennessee )

Sierra Hull, the singer, mandolinist and former child prodigy who signed with Rounder at age 13 and distinguished herself by becoming the first bluegrass musician to receive a Presidential Scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music, released Weighted Mind, her first new album in five years, on January 29, 2016. 15-time Grammy winner Béla Fleck produced the recording, which features eleven compelling new compositions written or co-written by Hull, and one traditional tune for which she and Fleck provided a new arrangement. While Hull’s ethereal voice and fluid playing take center stage here, she receives ample support from bass marvel Ethan Jodziewicz. Béla Fleck’s banjo adorns the elegant “Queen of Hearts/Royal Tea,” and Alison Krauss, Abigail Washburn, and Rhiannon Giddens add enchanting harmonies.

NAPPY ROOTS ( louisville, kentucky )

“Country and proud of it, Nappy Roots formed in 1995 around a sextet of students attending Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. Four members of the group were Kentucky natives (Skinny DeVille, B. Stille, Ron Clutch, and Big V), bolstered by an Oakland transplant (R. Prophet) and a Milledgeville, Georgia native (Fish Scales). Nappy Roots began making music together at a local record shop-cum-studio named ET’s Music, and released their full-length debut, Country Fried Cess, in 1998. Drawn to the group’s distinctive twist on Southern bounce, the major labels began flocking, and they eventually signed to Atlantic. Their label debut, Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz, was released in 2002, and the follow-up, Wooden Leather, arrived one year later. After several delays, the group released its anticipated album The Humdinger in August 2008; it was the first not to feature R. Prophet, who had left the group to pursue a solo career. Their second album as a quintet, The Pursuit of Nappyness, was issued two years later. Their fifth effort, 2011’s Nappy Dot Org, was a collaboration with famed Atlanta production team Organized Noize. While they released a mixtape in 2012 titled Nappy Roots Presents Sh!ts Beautiful, the group would not return until 2015 with the release of album six, The 40 Akerz Project. A sequel, Another 40 Akerz, arrived in 2017 and featured guests like Ashley Rose, Gareth Asher, ForteBowie, Jarren Benton, and more.” ~ John Bush, Rovi

FLINT EASTWOOD ( detroit, michigan )

“It’s hard to find an artist as open-hearted as Flint Eastwood’s Jax Anderson. The Detroit singer-songwriter has found fans for her politically conscious, bombastic alt-pop bangers, like her triumphantly queer “Real Love,” (which she wrote after her childhood pastor won an award for performing gay conversion therapy) and feminist pump-up “Queen.” But her indie-bred sound has transformed almost constantly since she started out in Detroit’s DIY scene at age 12, growing steadily bigger, bolder and more pop-centric. She started Flint Eastwood as an alt-rock project while in high school, and quickly started scoring coverage beyond Motor City: she got an ESPN song placement, gigs alongside Foster the People, Misterwives, Betty Who and Pvris, and last year she landed a record deal with her dream label, Lizzy Plapinger’s Neon Gold (Ellie Goulding, Christine and the Queens, Icona Pop, Tove Lo). Despite her rapidly amplifying sound and rising pop-queen status, Anderson is fiercely loyal to the scene that made her, and to her own authentic, intimate experiences. Two years ago, identifying a need for more community in the Detroit music scene, she pooled money with her brother, Seth Anderson (also a musician who goes by Syblyng) and a couple of friends, Nicole Churchill and Garret Koehler, to found Assemble Sound: a DIY music collective and studio housed in a revitalized church in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.” – Paper Mag feature October 2018



TEEN ( halifax, nova scotia / new york, new york )

The band TEEN came together at the turn of the decade, but its members have known each other their whole lives. Teeny, Lizzie, and Katherine Lieberson are sisters. Although they grew up in a musically vibrant Halifax home—their father was the esteemed composer Peter Lieberson—their first band jelled once they all lived in New York. Good Fruit, the band’s fourth and newest album, is its sharpest thesis yet. A meditation on life after love, it’s thematically the opposite of its predecessor, 2016’s Love Yes, which The Guardian praised as “reminiscent of…inventive late-70s to mid-80s pop groups.” Musically, though, Good Fruit is the logical evolution of Love Yes’ massive uptick in synth use and sticky-hot choruses. Good Fruit comes out March 1st, 2019 via Carpark Records.

JEFF CROSBY AND THE REFUGEES ( donnelly, idaho / nashville, tennessee )

Born and raised in Idaho, Jeff Crosby has been sharing his unique perspective of Americana throughout the US and beyond for the past decade. His songs are a collection from growing up in a small town in Idaho with all of the hardships and beauty of living in small town America, to five years living in a shoebox apartment off Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles CA, then to traveling and living on the road playing 250 shows a year. Though recently making the move to Nashville TN, Jeff continues to spend majority of his time touring.

AVA LUNA ( new york, new york )

Ava Luna has always been a conversation between its members—sometimes inward-facing, but always uniquely worth eavesdropping on. Soul and funk, krautrock, post-punk, R&B, gospel and even reggae influences all bounce off each other in sync with each participant’s idiosyncratic background and interests. With Moon 2, that specificity has only tightened but, as in any relationship that has existed for the better part of a decade, the conversation has evolved. Moon 2 came together in Wilmington, Vermont, and Hull, Massachusetts in the fall and winter of 2017—two off-season vacation destinations perfect for carving out new sonic territory.

THE LIBRARIAN & MAT THE ALIEN (B2B) ( squamish, british columbia )

Mat the Alien and The Librarian take the dance floor on a journey through sound during their back to back sets. Over the past ten years, the two have logged thousands of hours together behind the decks which started with a weekly residency in Whistler, BC and then evolved into a bi-weekly radio show on sub.fm, which is the longest running internet pirate radio station out of London UK. They have toured the USA and Canada playing festivals and clubs including Shambhala, Bass Coast, Wormhole, the Black Box and many more.







GOOPSTEPPA ( vancouver, british columbia )

Goopsteppa is Montreal raised Producer/Dj/Artist Alex E. Fascinated by music, arts and their effects on people from an early age, he was introduced to DJing and electronic music culture in 2007. After many years of performing as a DJ, he started releasing his own musical creations in the early spring of 2013, making an instant impression on the scene with his blend of futuristic melodic bass music, subversive soundscapes, captivating beats and surreal textures. This lead to an appearance on Seattle based Mycelium Music, followed by releases on the Luminosity Project winter solstice compilation and an EP on bay area’s Street Ritual Records(not to mention many free releases on SoundCloud!). After appearing at various events last summer throughout Western Canada, as well as Austin, Texas and at Burning Man’s Fractal Planet, he started developing a name for himself and a network of friends, fellow artists and promoters. He currently resides in the snowy mountains of interior BC, spending most his time in his studio or out in the mountains. With a deep passion for music, a heart full of love and inspiration, you can expect to hear many new pieces coming soon!

LIZ COOPER & THE STAMPEDE ( nashville, tennessee )

Joined in the studio by bassist Grant Prettyman and special guests Leah Blevins, Will Brown, Steve Dawson, Emily Kohavi, Michael and Ben Ford and Gianni Gibso, Window Flowers follows Liz Cooper’s earlier self-released EPs—Monsters(2014) and Live at the Silent Planet (2016). Alongside Cooper, “The Stampede” consists of Prettyman and drummer Ryan Usher. Already known in Nashville for their electric live shows, Liz Cooper & The Stampede experienced their first breakthrough in 2016 with the release of their Audiotree Live session, which has attracted over 220,000 views on YouTube, and over 1,000,000 streams on Spotify.







CALIFONE ( los angeles, california )

“Tim Rutili (born Temistocles Hugo Rutili) is a singer, guitarist, and keyboardist, and frontman/lyricist for the American rock band Califone. Originally from Chicago, Rutili now lives in Los Angeles. He was raised in Addison, IL. After moving into Chicago in 1988, he found success with the band Red Red Meat. The band was signed to the Sub Pop label, where they received high praise and moderate success. He was also a member of the Indie rock supergroup Ugly Casanova, which included Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock, producer and former Red Red Meat bandmate Brian Deck, and others. He also appears on Joan of Arc’s album Guitar Duets, performing a duet with Jeremy Boyle. Rutili directed his first feature-length film All My Friends Are Funeral Singers in tandem with the creation of Califone’s 2009 release of the same title. The film was accepted for competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. He is also a Soundtrack composer.” – Wikipedia









LINQUA FRANQA ( athens, georgia )

Linqua Franqa is the hip hop project of Athens, Georgia-based linguist-turned-legislator Mariah Parker, whose passion for social justice and scientific fixation with hip hop language are obvious in the intricate, self-aware rhymes she interweaves with boom bap beats. Parker holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Georgia, where she now pursues a PhD in Language and Literacy Education. Her lyrics, garnished with haunting neo-soul hooks, tell unflinching tales of chemically-induced heartbreak, reproductive justice, racial politics and feminist swagger, and longtime hip-hop heads will hear echoes of nineties New York underground in both her playful vocal delivery and piano-centric, classic R&B-inspired compositions. In the wake of a critically acclaimed first album and narrowly-clinched election to the Athens city council earlier this year, Parker has garnered the attention of CNN, The New York Times, Teen Vogue, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, Afropunk, Blavity, The Hill, The Root, Impose, Performer Magazine and others for her outspoken commitments to racial and economic justice and her electrifying live performances, which call listeners to self-reflection and critical action in their lives and their communities. “Linguistically speaking, Parker studies hip-hop patterns and tools, such as slant rhymes and syllables per second, but what she finds most interesting is “the way hip-hop language kind of flips the traditional value system upside down. ‘Metaphor-making in general really relies on that,’ she says. ‘For example, I have a rhyme that’s like, ‘Like the scent of cyanide, I’m a little bitter’… That’s a sense experience of a smell, but now you’re equating it to an emotion, so now you’re opening up that frame to encompass more meaning than is expected.'”

– Flagpole











CHONG THE NOMAD ( seattle, washington )

Chong the Nomad is the alias of Alda Agustiano, a 22-year old Seattle-based musician and recent graduate from the Cornish College of the Arts. She spent much of her college career learning to score compositions for film, and she draws from this cinematic background to create her own consistently evolving style of dynamic, quirky, shape-shifting music that blends sleek electronic production with an addictive pop sensibility. She released her debut EP love memo earlier this year on Valentine’s Day and has followed that up with a string of singles and captivating live performances that have quickly made her one of Seattle’s most exciting new artists of 2018. “Judging by her output so far, she’s shown the ability to delve into dark and strange electronic territory while also flaunting the requisite rhythmic buoyancy and tonal radiance to rock parties for hiphop heads and EDM aficionados. With her deep academic background and film-composing studies, Agustiano has the potential to spring into many directions. It wouldn’t be surprising to see her lace up some beats for Nicki Minaj or soundtrack a horror flick.” – The Stranger





















Have a listening party with our playlists on Spotify, SoundCloud and Apple Music.

For a full list of artists announced, check out our lineup page.

This is the second of a series of artist announcements so be prepared for more to be announced.

Don’t forget — buy your Treefort pass before the new year!