Gorilla vs. Bear Fest turns 5: How local blogger keeps world tuned in to indie music

When Plano resident Chris Cantalini founded the blog Gorilla vs. Bear in 2005, he had no ambition to be one of the most influential voices in indie music. But a decade later, the website, which Cantalini created as a personal archive of tunes to share with friends, has become a benchmark for up-and-coming musicians and a brand that extends far beyond a URL into radio programming and concert production.

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Gorilla vs. Bear has built a reputation on spotlighting "relevant" artists, a term Cantalini defines loosely -- "artists that are meaningful/exciting/important to us for whatever reason," he said recently by email. And every summer, Cantalini puts a handful of those bands on display with the annual Gorilla vs. Bear Fest, returning for a fifth year to Granada Theater on Friday, July 31.

The event spawned from a partnership between Gorilla vs. Bear and local music maven Ryan Henry, who served as Granada's talent buyer until late 2014. Though Cantalini had never considered throwing a namesake music festival, he was inspired by Henry's enthusiasm to try something unprecedented. Henry's recent transition to talent buyer at Transmission Events also opened the door for Gorilla vs. Bear to expand the event to Austin for the first time in 2015. It hits the Mohawk on August 1.

This year, the fest's hipster elite include English producer Jamie xx, indie rockers Lower Dens and singer-songwriter Tei Shi. (Learn more about the bands below.) If you're wondering how Cantalini chooses who plays Gorilla vs. Bear Fest, it's simple. The lineup is a reflection of what's on his radar (and blog) at the time.

"There are a lot of factors we consider when trying to book the lineup, but we don't spend too much time worrying about how the bands might fit together or flow into one another," Cantalini says. "That said, what I love about this year's lineup is that we somehow ended up with a sort of loose, serendipitous common vibe where all of these bands make perfect sense playing on the same stage."

Tickets to both Gorilla vs. Bear Fest Dallas and Austin are sold out. Regardless of whether you were able to get in on the action, consider the following roster a guide to what's trending in indie music.

Jamie xx

Many know producer/DJ Jamie Smith as a founding member of acclaimed indie band The xx, but he's made waves as a solo artist in 2015 with the release of his debut effort, In Colour. The album pulls from several genres, including downtempo, hip-hop, and deep house. The best part about it is how no two songs sound similar.

Lower Dens

A date with this Baltimore four-piece can feel like psych-tinged melancholy. But critics and fans agree the band's latest album, Escape From Evil, is more upbeat work than it's ever released. Driven by front woman Jana Hunter's unique voice, Lower Dens' new-ish sound capitalizes on the ever-present synthesizer and packing a bigger punch into every wavy guitar strum.

Tei Shi

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Valerie Teicher spills liquid vocals across sun-soaked electronic beats. It's easy to call her sound ethereal with its layers of reverb, but there's a grounding pop sensibility, too. Either way, Tei Shi's easy breezy energy is inescapable.

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Yumi Zouma

Expect a dose of dreamy pop tunes from this New Zealand trio. The band's released a couple of EPs over the last year and a half that effortlessly swim between vivacious and chill vibes. It's easy to get lost in melody, but baseline beats always seem to bring listeners back to reality.

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Prince Innocence

Electro-pop duo Talvi Faustmann and Josh McIntyre may have driven the sound of their first album with unrelenting synthesizer, but attendees at Gorilla vs. Bear Fest can expect more depth and diversity when they hit the stage. That's because Prince Innocence is due to release a new album entitled Easy Life, which is said to lean on hip-hop and R&B.

DJ Sober

A Gorilla vs. Bear Fest veteran, North Texas' DJ Sober has been enlisted year after year to keep the party hopping. No genre is off limits when he hits the decks, and as half of the DJ duo Booty Fade, Sober has a knack for making rumps rattle, whether it be to smooth R&B, old school hip-hop or fast-paced dancetronica.