Pitchfork

With their government-sanctioned health care and relative lack of pollution, what do Canadians know from blues? Not as much as they know about crowd-pleasing, indie-leaning rock'n'roll, as it turns out.

The Ottawa Bluesfest-- bending its notes over five stages from July 5-15 at Ottawa's LeBreton Flats Park-- packs quite a wallop in its non-blues lineup: Kanye West, Built to Spill, Metric, Tokyo Police Club, and Final Fantasy are amongst the none-too-downtrodden, which also sports the oft-bluesy strains of Bob Dylan, the White Stripes, and Cat Power. Still, though, they ain't exactly Muddy and the Wolf, but we doubt you'll mind.

So, okay, there's some fine blues, too-- Buddy Guy and Robert Cray top that particular list-- plus a couple folk legends and plenty of your typical-fest throwback fare like Steve Miller Band and the Village People. In fact, no matter the genre, these Ottawa folks have outdone themselves. A full schedule for your glancing pleasure is up on the festival website, but the highlight reel's after the jump.

Thanks to reader Andrew Ryall for the heads-up.

Ottawa Bluesfest 2007: Bob Dylan, the White Stripes, Kanye West, Cat Power, Built to Spill, Metric, Final Fantasy, the Bird and the Bee, Tokyo Police Club, Alejandro Escovedo, George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, Femi Kuti, Manu Chao, Toumani Diabate, Kid Koala.