Saturday
-
Brittle, timid acoustic folk songs sung in a falsetto style which conjures up thoughts of Jimmy Somerville. If there's a loud burp in the crowd it will drown this out.
-
Yikes. It's ramrod street punk, twatting you in the ears whether you like it or not. At first I thought I was playing it at double speed, but that's just how fast they have to go to get all their anger out.
-
Asian DJ.
-
Comedian
-
Metal band, mixing their own stuff with Pantera covers. Not one for a quiet pint and a sit down, that's for sure.
-
Nirvana. Just Nirvana. That's the review. It's so Nirvana that they'd better hope they're not served with a plagiarism writ if these songs ever get big.
-
-
An alt-country artist from Manchester. Like a C&W Jake Bugg I suppose. Worth a watch in Tim Peaks if Americana and Nashville stuff tickles your doodah.
-
Big rocky anthems from this girl-fronted outfit. For fans of Garbage and Paramore.
-
30-year veterans who've stayed committed to meaty, if unfailingly commercial, rock all the way through. The British Foo Fighters, you might say.
-
Theatrical goth rock. Kate Bush mixed with PJ Harvey and the Rocky Horror Show.
-
-
Fiery Irish four-piece channelling Deftones, Fontaines, Nirvana and the heavier bits of Radiohead to create accessible noise-pop. You can easily imagine them getting big.
-
DJ
-
Folk-punk with a strong Scottish accent. It's the Pogues, The Jam, Gerry Cinnamon and the Mary Wallopers all in one scruffy package.
-
Ryan Adams and a bit of Springsteen in this Sunderland mob's grown-up guitar-pop numbers. Feels like they're playing within themselves, but it's tidy and well-articulated nonetheless.
-
They seem to do two types of songs: ones that sound like Keane and ones that sound like The Kooks. Decide for yourself if that's a good thing.
-
DJ
-
Melancholy gloom which sits there sulking in between grunge and metal. See you there, yeah?
-
DJs
-
It's dance music at its core, but they give it the big-band jazz treatment. It's happy stuff: lots of audience interaction, "let me see those hands" and all that carry on.
-
Seems to be loads of this stuff around. Could-easily-be-AI sensible guitar pop. Song writing by numbers, but perfectly pleasant all the same. CMAT, Kacey Musgraves, that sort of thing. Her dad plays in Embrace.
-
Not the straightforward tribute act you might expect, but remixers/DJs giving Fleetwood Mac biggees the dancefloor treatment.
-
Hmmm, hard to categorise this mob. Some songs are a like a heavier Fleet Foxes, some are Foo Fighters rip-offs and some are a sort of pared back Prodigy. Fair play for not being one trick ponies, I'll say that.
-
Ed Sheeran in Stone Island (sartorially and musically). Major chord radio-friendly fodder which more able reviewers would probably call something like "infectious pop".
-
Pop royalty with a silky smooth voice.
-
Dubwise, D&B full throttle numbers with south London-style rapping over the top (except they're from Bristol).
-
Same as Park View, i.e., Aldi middle aisle version of DMAs, Catfish and Sam Fender. Dot-to-dot indie. Beige emulsion of music.
-
Another (yes, another) shoegaze-grunge-pop wannabe harking back to the 90s with driven guitars and droning vocals. Garbage, I paid you no mind at the time, but my goodness you have a lot to answer for now.
-
All sorts happening here. Noah and the Whale, lightweight Chilli Peppers and smooth 70s-era Hollies. Harmonies aplenty in each tune. Has the potential to the weekend's wildcard.
Click to listen:
-
If slow motion acoustic grunge was a genre, this would be it. Not particularly unpleasant per se, but it's music that sounds like it's in need of a good feed.
-
Angry space-rockers. The Fall meets Joy Division meets The Sugarcubes and they all have a massive bar fight.
-
Poppy D&B mixed with happy hardcore. Best known for sampling the signature string line from Bittersweet Symphony for her hit Bittersweet Goodbye.
-
The scouse Gerry Cinnamon, doing the whole 'fist-pumping folk for the people' thing to great effect, it seems.
-
For the record, this is the final act I've listened to for this year's review. And it's a sad way to end. Pretty limp, introspective folky pop, a bit like Damien Rice. I'm off to listen to Love Spreads to recover. See ya!
-
DJ
-
I'm calling this Hindu psych rock or Bhangra meets the Grateful Dead. Hard to know if they're taking it seriously or just taking the piss. Either way, I don't think I'll be there to find out.
-
Enormous Wunderhorse influences with this lot, and when they're not doing that, they're being Jeff Buckley. Easy to imagine them being huge for a while.
-
Soulful lounge jazz crossed with a bit of R&B and roots.
-
Sheryl Crow on valium. Nicely put together acoustic pop ditties, lovely voice, but about as much energy as an afternoon snooze.
-
Rock DJ.
-
DJ/broadcaster.
-
Battle of the Bands type competition winner (his prize is to play here) who sounds a bit like Dodgy if they were trying to sound a bit like The Libertines.
-
Not entirely sure, but I think she's a sassy singer/MC taking inspiration from Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse and Little Simz.
Click to listen:
-
DJ
-
Sounds like Five trying to do indie having listened to one Bloc Party album. It is to thoughtful music what Haribo Starmix is to fine dining.
-
Neat and tidy, thoughtful pop reminiscent of Heather Nova. Doesn’t really go anywhere or dish up any surprises, but as carefully crafted pop fodder goes, it just about holds its own.
Click to listen:
-
Mid-paced jungle-reggae crossover tunes, often with snarly political lyrics.
-
Noisy alt-rockers channelling bits of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Pavement to create pretty forceful sludge-rock numbers.
-
Asian DJs
-
Paramore tribute act.
-
Small town versions of DMAs, Catfish, Sam Fender. Hard to say it's shit but it's so predictable in its 'verse, big chorus, repeat' guitar-pop tendencies that you find yourself daydreaming while listening.
-
Gritty shoegaze blues rock, pulling bits from early Verve, Ride and the wall-of-sound guitar attack that Oasis would later get credit for.
Click to listen:
-
DJs.
-
She's at the crossroads of alt-pop and jazz and seems to have one foot pointing in each direction. She sounds like Lucy Rose, i.e., nice voice, but naff all happening musically to stop your eyes getting heavy.
-
Super sedate, ballady stuff that occasionally shakes a leg and gets more poppy. It probably works as wine bar background music, but I doubt there'll be any shouts of 'moooore!' by the end.
-
Badly Drawn Boy covering Married with Children, or something like that. Plod-along acoustic numbers from someone who's no doubt in love with those early Oasis b-sides.
-
Wants to be all ballsy rock like Led Zep, but ends up somewhere much nearer to Bon Jovi and Deff Leppard.
-
Crikey. Lightweight soul-pop straight from the rock n roll hotbed that is…... Norway. Wouldn't be out of place on a cruise ship. More bad moustaches in this band than a 70s porno.
-
Fairly standard grunge-pop. Sounds like Slowdive and lots of other shoegazers of that ilk. It's all a bit on the slow side, like when the batteries in your Walkman used to start running out.
-
Struggling here. Could be an indie outfit who sound like Hurricane #1, or a bunch of teens doing Early Years grunge, or a covers band from West Cumbria doing pop hits. Internet, you have failed me.
-
Ethereal, spindly alt-pop from an introspective guitar and keyboard two-piece. The songs never seem to get beyond about 25bpm. Must be boring as shit to rehearse.
-
Girl duo doing DIY post-punk two-minute pop numbers. Really basic and really catchy. Reckon they probably know four chords between them.
Click to listen:
-
Beyond the Hounds of Love cover, their normal habitat is Maximo Park meets The Jam. Agit guitar pop.
-
Big pop-rock numbers with a faint whiff of grunge. The driving guitars bring to mind Garbage, Ash and Skunk Anansie.
-
Does the DIY indie chaos thing still work when they're in their late 40s and sober? Not for me, but they sure belong in the big print on the bill given the influence they've had on British guitar music.
-
Landing somewhere between St Jude-era Courteeners and The K's, it's as predictable as it is listenable. A ready meal of modern day indie pop. Tasty but cheap.
-
They've just chucked The Libertines, early Arctic Monkeys, early Courteeners and The Pigeon Detectives into a mixing bowl, given it a quick stir, baked it up and claimed it as their own. Yawn.
-
Shrek tribute band. Yes, you read that correctly. They dress in Shrek costumes and knock out covers of pop mega-hits.
-
Genre-shifting survivors who try their hands at disco funk, dreamy pop and electronica, all within the space of a few minutes. Requires concentration, but hats off for not playing by the usual pop rules.
-
Chorus-heavy lad rock from these one-time next big things. Borrows unashamedly from The Enemy, Kasabian and Reverend and the Makers, but they've also got a softer, more melodic side to keep it fresh.
Click to listen:
-
A sort of baggy Krautrock outfit. Eclectic and uncertain of its identity, but quite interesting. Fronted by the son of the late Craig Gill (Inspiral Carpets drummer).
Click to listen:
-
Lad-rock's last heroes, before all that stuff became uncool and passe. A one album wonder perhaps, but they've got big beery anthems and the drummer and guitarist can really play.
Click to listen:
-
Manchester-based orchestra giving pop hits the upbeat classical treatment.
-
Pop video director extraordinaire.
-
Young acoustic folk duo, but it's DIY-level stuff I'm afraid. The kid on guitar can do some nice fingerstyle work, but the songs have the feel of a Year 9 music project about them.
-
Slacker alt-rock, somewhere between Grandaddy, Mazzy Star and the more melodic bits of The Pixies.
-
Foo Fighters tribute act.
-
Asian DJ.
-
Metal/hard rock outfit from Morecambe. I don't think Metallica will be looking over their shoulders any time soon, put it that way.