Summer Concerts: Past + Future = Present, Pt. 1

Snotty Nose Rez Kids

Snotty Nose Rez Kids (SNRK) tore into the music scene with unmistakable talent and an unforgettable name. Showing off their lyrical prowess and natural storytelling ability, Haisla rappers Yung Trybez and Young D jumpstarted the band with two back-to-back albums in 2017. Their follow-up album, 2019’s TRAPLINE, really launched their career with the hit “Boujee Natives,” and multiple awards, including their first Juno nomination. The band took their high-voltage live show on the road, clocking 100 shows in six different countries. Their pandemic album, LIFE AFTER, saw greater industry recognition with multiple music magazine cover stories, and strong streaming platform support, including billboard advertisements in Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square, playlist cover images, and an Amazon Twitch Channel Takeover. Taking the album on the road, the band toured 80 shows across North America. They received their second Juno nomination and performed during the live broadcast. They were invited by the Toronto Raptors to play a half time show and to the Vancouver Canucks to play in-between periods. Their 2022 project, I’M GOOD, HBU?, elevated their career to new heights, and saw them receive their fourth Polaris Prize Shortlist, a win for top music video of the year at the Prism Prize Awards for their Beatles-inspired, DAMN RIGHT, and landed them 3 Western Canadian Music Awards, bringing their tally to 13 wins so far. SNRK have gone on to dominate in hip-hop music, most recently achieving their biggest milestone, signing to Sony Music. SNRK are blazing their own path, weaving together a musical fabric of hard-hitting lyricism, revealing stories about the struggles they and their people have encountered, empowering protest songs for the front lines, and a humor that keeps even the heaviest of topics something you can vibe to. 

Photo courtesy of the artists

Black Belt Eagle Scout

When you stand on ancestral lands it is impossible to be alone. You feel the arms and hands that hold you up, unwilling to let you fall into sorrow or abandonment. In her songs, Katherine Paul, aka Black Belt Eagle Scout, has channeled that feeling of being held. In every note she has written a love letter to Indigenous strength and healing. There is a joy present here, a fierce blissfulness that comes with walking the trails along the river, feeling the sand and the stones beneath her feet. It is the pride and the certainty that comes with knowing her ancestors walked along the same land, dipped their hands into the water, and ran their fingertips along the same bark of cedar trees. Her songs are crowded with loved ones and relatives, like a really good party. And as the songs walk us through the land, it is important we hover over the images and the beauty, the moments that mark this album as site specific. The power of this land is woven throughout, telling the story of narrow waterways, brushstrokes, salmon stinta, and above all, healing. Let it take you. Move through the story and see the land through her eyes, because it is a gift. 

Photo courtesy of the artist

Jlin

During the night's set by renowned electronic composer Jlin, she and Glen Begay of the Bearspring singers will premiere three collaborations commissioned by The Broad. Jlin, a 2023 Pulitzer Prize nominee and 2023 United States Artists Award winner, and Glen Begay, a Navajo/Diné culture bearer and member of the Bearspring family of singers and drummers, have been creating music shaped by their respective Native American and African spiritual practices and how it influences their music. The result is three new tracks by Jlin incorporating recordings Begay made specifically for the project. 

Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has quickly become one of the most distinctive composers in America and one of the most influential women in electronic music. Jlin’s thrilling, emotional, and multidimensional compositions have earned her praise as “one of the most forward-thinking contemporary composers in any genre” (Pitchfork) and a 2023 United States Artist award. She was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize nominee for Perspectives—originally commissioned and performed by Third Coast Percussion. Her mini-album, Perspective, featuring the original electronic versions of the suite, was released to critical acclaim on Planet Mu in 2023. Her much-lauded albums Dark Energy (2015) and Black Origami (2017) have been featured in “Best of” lists in The New York Times, The Wire, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Vogue. She has remixed works for major artists including Björk, Max Richter, Martin Gore (of Depeche Mode), Galya Bisengalieva, Marie Davidson, Nina Kraviz, and Ben Frost. In the last decade, Jlin has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, the Pathos Quartet, legendary choreographers Wayne McGregor & Kyle Abraham, fashion designer Rick Owens, and the visual artists Nick Cave and Kevin Beasley. Jlin has collaborated with contemporary artists including William Basinski, Dope Saint Jude, Holly Herndon, Zora Jones, and the late, iconic SOPHIE. Her latest album, Akoma (Planet Mu), was released on March 22, 2024, featuring collaborations with Philip Glass, Bjork, and Kronos Quartet. Recently, Wesleyan University commissioned two pieces from Jlin using sounds of Javanese Gamelan, performed live by the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble and Paula Matthusen’s Toneburst Laptop Orchestra. In May 2025, Jlin composed and premiered the first-ever piece of electronic music commissioned by the US Library of Congress.

Photo by Lawrence Agyei

Glen Begay and Bearspring

Our family set up as Bearspring for the first time at a small pow wow on the Morongo Reservation at a feed store in 1992. There, we borrowed a drum from a group that was traveling home to Phoenix, AZ. From that humble beginning, our drum group has grown, and we have traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada for almost 30 years. We are involved in our local community, and we assist various organizations with dance workshops, traditional knowledge workshops, drum workshops, and other workshops, as requested by the community and organizations. Our music has given us the opportunity to be involved in various festivals, films, and recordings. One recording of note is a compilation with other artists from the U.S. and Canada at the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in 1999, which won the first-ever Native American Music category award at the Grammys. Since that time, we have had many blessings. We love our music and sharing our music along with our culture. Our drum group is named Bearspring because we come from Shush-bi-toh, which is the Navajo translation for “Bear’s spring.” In our stories of how our clan system came about, the first people were traveling with their protectors, and one of them was a bear. As they traveled, they stayed in a cave, and water was nowhere to be found. One morning, they found the bear lying outside with mud on its claws, so they tracked it and found that the bear had dug out water in this valley. To this day, water still comes out from the ground. Additionally, our Great-Grandfather’s name was Hosteen Shushbitoh, and our name honors his memory and teachings. Hosteen Shushbitoh was a well-respected medicine man in our community and his legacy lives on through the teachings he has passed down within our family.

Photo courtesy of the artist

DJ Noir

DJ Noir is a co-founder, DJ/producer, and co-curator of the international artist collective Juke Bounce Werk. Noir and JBW co-founders Jae and Sonic D have rolled out various outlets to showcase their collective music history and inspirations: weekly events, online mix series, self-produced international tours, and various artist compilations. Over the years, the collective of DJs, producers, and visual artists grew into a celebrated platform and music label that included participants at all levels in underground music worldwide. In 2017, Noir began to expand beyond DJing and curating events to focus on her productions. By 2020, amidst a global pandemic, her production alias Phyliss Jaxson was born. Today, with over 20 years of involvement in nearly every aspect of underground music culture, her DJ sets are journeys through experimental eras that include but are not limited to: breaks, broken beat, electro, house, garage, dubstep, juke, footwork, jungle, and techno. She is a published writer and photographer who has appeared in DJ MAG, Mixmag, XLR8R, The Fader, and the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, she and the JBW family have been hosts to their monthly radio residency on Dublab since 2016. Her work as a JBW curator was recognized in DJ MAG – North America for Juke Bounce Werk presents: JBDUBZ vol. 9. The series volume received the Best Compilation award for 2022. DJ Noir’s notable performances and curations include Music Center LA Summer Sound Waves (curator), Boiler Room “Best of LA” (curator/performer), MoMA PS1 Warm Up, Resident Advisor 22nd Anniversary, and King Britt’s Blacktronika Festival. 

Photo by Jamie Jar