The Halluci Nation

Formerly known as A Tribe Called Red, The Halluci Nation are pioneers of powwow step, which fuses Indigenous musical traditions with hard-charging styles of EDM. Their story began in 2007 when Ian "DJ NDN" Campeau and Ehren “Bear Witness” Thomas launched Electric Pow Wow, a monthly Ottawa club night for fellow First Nations youth where they spun classic powwow music alongside dubstep and moombahton. This radical hybrid took a clearer shape on 2012’s A Tribe Called Red, threading powwow drums and traditional vocable singing through ragged synths and rave-ready drops, and they fleshed out the novel style on 2013’s Nation II Nation and 2016’s We Are the Halluci Nation. After a handful of lineup changes, The Halluci Nation—subsequently reconfigured as the duo of Bear Witness and Tim “2oolman” Hill—continue to sharpen both their sound and their politics: Take 2020’s supremely funky “Land Back”, which turns Canada’s pipeline protests into a righteous dance party.