Grimes, Silly Kissers, Duzheknew, DJ James Reid

When Catherine Boucher---the face behind Grimes---tries to compare the music she enjoys to the music she produces, she laughs. "The kind of music I'm into is never the music that I'm producing," she says. "When I first started playing, I was into country music. Hopefully those recordings are burned or destroyed." It's hard to imagine the country twang hidden in this Montreal-based, gothic pop artist when listening to her debut album, Geidi Primes: filled with psychedelic loops, pop beats reminiscent of decades past and an ethereal voice that makes sure to root the listener in the present, there are no dead-beat boyfriends or porch-swing rockers with shotguns to be found. Just 22 years old, Boucher recently played her first show outside of Montreal at NXNE in Toronto, and her trip to the east coast will be her first official tour. Boucher's reasoning for waiting to play in other cities: "I was unbelievably bad for a really long time, just because I can't really play any instruments"---she makes her music digitally---"and I get nervous and shaky, and can't breathe very well. I've just been working on it." Having started producing music at the age of 19, Boucher has plenty of time to find her performance feet---and we're looking forward to what happens in the meantime, while we look for those country recordings. –Holly Gordon