Quebec City’s Le Phoque OFF festival is just around the corner, running February 10-18 at various venues around the city. The well curated lineup features artists from NYC, Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Brussels, Lille, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and includes: the Canadian debut performance by Felukah, Toronto punk trio METZ who are playing a 10th-anniversary-of-their-debut-album-release-show, Toronto-based Indigenous Colombian cumbia hip hop artist Beny Esguerra, Quebec supergroup DOODOODOO (ft. Quebec music scene giants Hubert Lenoir, Lou-Adriane Cassidy, and PE Beaudoin), hotly-tipped New Brunswick pop rockers Motherhood and more!

Local talent at the festival includes; First Nations multidisciplinary artist Soleil Launière, the avant pop of Besnard Lakes’ queen of the keys Sheenah Ko, dream-pop-psych-krautrocker Jonathan Personne – who recently released his self-titled 3rd album to great acclaim, the solo debut of Mantisse from Montreal hip hoppers LaF, experimental rock trio Yoo Doo Right, Vanille aka Rachel Leblanc who’ll be celebrating at the festival with her album launch party, experimental pop super-duo Totalement Sublime (ft. Montreal music scenesters from Choses Sauvages & Foreign Diplomats), hotly-tipped (by the likes of Under the Radar, Consequence of Sound, and CBC) queer, bilingual singer songwriter Maryze, Rip Pop Mutant – the new solo project from We Are Wolves’ mainman Alexander Ortiz…

This is the first in-person edition of the festival since 2020 The lineup is bigger and better than ever with almost 100 artists performing, over 35 of which are Montreal artists The festival is dedicated to supporting emerging & independent artists, is a great place to discover up-and-coming music, as festival head honcho says, it’s an event that influences the influencers.

For music lovers who can’t make it to Quebec City, Le Phoque OFF will be returning to the metaverse on 21 Feb (as was the case with the entire 2022 edition of the festival)! Select in-person live shows by 10 to 15 Quebec and Canadian artists will be recorded during the festival, and turned into a series of 20-minute metaverse shows accessible globally online.

“After nearly 3 years of developing the festival for an in-person edition, it is a highly enhanced program that we are proud to offer on the occasion of our reunion! This programming is more international, diverse and cutting-edge than ever. We have evolved a lot over the last 2 digital editions and this is finally an opportunity for us to emancipate the know-how of our team and the high quality of the artists and craftspeople who make up our musical scene” – Patrick Labbé, Managing Director

Other highlights from the festival include, LAROIE will offer us an evening noted in RnB, rap and pop. At home for La danse de Québec, a vibrant electro evening will bring together many artists from important female collectives of the current Belgian scene such as Azo, Sara Dziri, Laryssa Kim and Elfo Van de Velde. February 17 will be branded by an effervescent and unexpected return of the post-rock group Milanku on a double set with the talented violinist Jessica Moss as well as by the premiere of the singer-songwriter Mantisse (of the group LaF). The festival will close with style with the arrival of the experimental rock trio Yoo Doo Right.

Forged in the alternative culture and faithful to the tradition of doing things differently, the showcase component will take place during the late evenings, when night has more than fallen. From February 12 to 15, nocturnal music lovers will be pampered by the discovery of artists of all styles such as Sheenah Ko, Atsuko Chiba, Fovelle, Peanut Butter Sunday, BAIE, LYD., Gawbé, Electric Neon Clouds, Vivresse, Dogo Suicide, Hidden Bliss, Allô Fantôme, Totalement Sublime, Jalouse, and many more!

Of course, Le Phoque OFF wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for the famous highly festive late nights at the iconic Cuisine! On the menu, DJ Pøptrt, a surprise DJ Set for Lisbon Lux’s 10th anniversary as well as the return of the Chivi-Chivi party.

The PRO component aka Le Phoque OFF PRO will also be back from Sunday February 12 to Wednesday February 15, 2023 with professionalization and networking activities.

Purchase tickets for Le Phoque Off HERE