Presenting a yin-yang balance of established and emerging bands and DJs at Whistler’s favourite watering holes, the Kokanee Freeride Series is set to introduce Festival goers to the fine art of aprčs.

And the artists are:

TOKYO POLICE CLUB | SUNDAY APRIL 15TH | GLC

Breathless energy, spazzy beats and angular riffs, these indie darlings from Toronto will leave you sweaty and sublimated with their wide-eyed post-punk from just-released A Lesson in Crime.

DJ JESSE JAMES | MONDAY APRIL 16TH | MAXX FISH

Funky, banging beats is what Jesse mixes up behind the decks. Criss-crossing the globe, he plays events in Asia, Europe and North America alongside some of electronic music’s great producers and DJs, including Eric Morillo, Pete Tong, Roger Sanchez, Bob Sinclar, and Felix Da Housecat.

DJ TIMELINE | MONDAY APRIL 16TH | MAXX FISH

From Ibiza to Whistler, Timeline has played over 750 events, and is one of Canada’s biggest DJ’s, with productions released on New York labels Black Van and Decibel NYC, along with his own Live To Tape Recordings. Set to be a night of seamlessly mixed, big bassline, ass shaking electro-house music.

BUCK 65 | TUESDAY APRIL 17TH | GARFINKELS

About to launch his Death Dance tour through the US, Buck 65 has been relentless is his quest to pare it down to the quick. Juno award winner for Best Songwriter and Best Alternative Album in 2003 for Talkin’ Honky Blues, and master collaborators (with Gonzales, Tortoise, D-Styles and PJ Harvey’s producer Head) on its sequel A Secret House Against the World, Buck 65 is still shooting to write the perfect record. Handling production, lyrics, and DJing duties solo, the former b-boy turned no-nonsense honky has been called the next Messiah, the one who just might rescue hip hop from the gangsta fake-outs.

ANDY CALDWELL | TUESDAY APRIL 17TH | TOMMY AFRICA'S

San Francisco born and L.A. based DJ/Producer/Songwriter, Andy Caldwell established his name with his electronic soul band 'Soulstice'. He’s also renowned internationally for remix of Yoshimoto's "Du What U Du" which topped the European Dance charts and co-writing/producing Kaskade's hit single Everything (Billboard #1 Dance Club Play and Top 10 Dance Commercial Radio Charts). He has composed music for films such as Forces of Nature and Skulls, as well as popular television series Six Feet Under, Boston Public, and Chromium Blue.

BLISS N ESO | WEDNESDAY APRIL 18TH | MERLINS

The trio – a diverse bunch comprising American born MC ‘Bliss’, Australian born MC ‘Eso’, and DJ ‘Izm’ of Moroccan heritage – has come a long way since forming in the late 1990s as three high-school students busting rhymes at the local bus stop. In 2000, they burst onto a growing hip-hop scene with the release of their debut EP, aptly titled, The Arrival. With its thumping beats and raw rhymes, the EP was quickly embraced by the Australian hip-hop community, and Bliss n Eso was billed as an outfit to look out for.

ANIMAL NATION | WEDNESDAY APRIL 18TH | MERLINS

Deconstruct the intellectual indie hip hop duo known as Animal Nation and you’ll find a local crew made up of Steige “Tall Man” Turner, Mike “Armadillo Slim” Armitage, a generous slather of irony, layers of sounds from jazz standards to pop-culture icons like the Sound of Music and Sesame Street, to rock and back to hiphop, and an insomnia-fuelled debut album “Selfless Mind Indulgence.” So tasty you’ll be begging for more.

TOOTS & THE MAYTALS | FRIDAY APRIL 20TH

2005 Grammy winners for Reggae Album of the Year Toots is one of the true architects of reggae - so much so that "Do the Reggay," a 1968 single by Toots and his group, the Maytals, is credited with giving the genre its name.
Toots Hibbert is one of the great voices of Jamaica; a legend whose career spans every development in Jamaican music, from ska through rock-steady to reggae. Toots and the Maytals have helped to chart the course of Jamaican music with unrivaled delivery and dynamism, setting new standards of excellence, and becoming the most enduring of all Jamaica's groups.

TROUBLE ANDREW | SUNDAY APRIL 22ND | BUFFALO BILLS

Lil' Trey, in wintery Nova Scotia, age 9, dresses in his mother's over sized hiking boots, wrapped in socks and taped into the bindings of an old snowboard three times his size. He is determined to conquer the slight and icy mountain at Martock, the local ski resort where his mom worked. He goes on to become a pro snowboarder, sponsored by Burton Snowboards, Analog Clothing, Gravis Footwear, and Oakley Optics. He competed in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics. After a fall in his final run, he landed in 8th place as the highest ranking Canadian in the half pipe. In 2004 Trevor suffered a knee injury forcing him to sit out much of the season. By the time the 2005 snowboarding season rolled around, Trevor was not only ready to ride, he had recorded half of what would become his debut, under the name, "Trouble Andrew"

For more details on the line-up, visit www.whistler2007.com