Not Many Experts

Perennially fantastic urban-festival Dot to Dot tomorrow descends upon Bristol, depressingly just in time for my departure from the city. Seeing as most of the internet doesn’t live in Bristol I would imagine that many of you are in a similarly frustrating situation. Worry not, though, because the line-up is teeming with exciting new bands which you can hear many of below. And if you are making it along to the festival, you should definitely take some time out to point yourself in the direction of some of these brilliant new bands…

Friends

Unless you’ve spent the past six months in a coma or you actually don’t like music, then you’ve probably seen the name Friends popping up everywhere. There’s a few good reasons for that as well; they’re making the sort of self-confident, single minded pop music that deserves all of the many words that have already been written about them.

Lucy Rose

Lucy Rose is another well established artist that I just thought I would mention to guilt trip you into listening to if you’ve let her pass you by so far. Over the past year she has steadily been putting her fragile folk moments into the world, somehow surpassing herself each time and establishing herself as a hugely talented young woman. She’s distinguished by an inventive edge that puts her beyond any Fleet-Foxes-aping beard enthusiasts.

Being There

Fuzzy retro-shoegaze is a fairly crowded market, given that Yuck and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart have pretty much got the whole thing worked out. Yet there’s still room for bands like Being There who bring a luminescent energy to what can be an otherwise uninspired and far too comfortable genre.

Doldrums

Canada based producer Airick Woodhead, aka Doldrums, will definitely be worth staying up for. This is one of his last shows before his “Egypt” single is released on June 4th, and as you can hear below, his erratic sound collages are amongst the most exciting new sounds to surface this year. In fact, “Egypt” is what I wish Animal Collective’s new album will sound like; it’s got that perfect a stranglehold around the gently psychedelic and gloriously eccentric. Not one to miss.

Kwes

Of course Kwes is signed to Warp; he finds melody in the most unusual of places and twists it into something unusual, and yet completely appealing. And sandwiched as he is between Clock Opera and Willis Earl Beal at Thekla, there are next to no excuses not to catch the man himself doing his things.

Bondax

Drug users and those with incredible stamina will be deservedly rewarded when Bondax take to Thekla’s stage at 3 in the morning. Their intoxicating, fidgety house music is quickly establishing them as a very exciting new artist, following hotly in the footsteps of Disclosure and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

Idles

Idles are first on at the Cooler, and you may as well just go home after their set – things are unlikely to get any better. Just get your ears around “Thieves” below. It takes the grit of Black Lips but adds the polish and melody of back-in-the-day The Maccabees. Throw in the taut darkness of Interpol and things definitely start to sound exciting. An immensely exciting new band.

The Rumour Said Fire

If sobbing into your overpriced pint to evocative Danish folk music is more of your scene then the gut-wrenching The Rumour Said Fire are definitely the band for you. Taking to the Fleece’s stage early evening, they are guaranteed to leave the room feeling satisfyingly melancholy with heartbreaking tracks like “The Balcony”.

Seasfire

Preceding them at the Fleece will be Bristol-based Seasfire. Dominated by haunting electronics, their tracks are the sort of ethereal soundscapes that Esben and the Witch would be proud to call their own. Their fragile cover of fellow Dot-to-Dot-er Lucy Rose is pretty essential, too.

Vacant Shores

Going even further illogically back in time, Vacant Shores will be opening the Fleece in the early afternoon with their uneasy electronic jams. The kaleidoscopic paranoia of “Non +” should be more than enough persuasion to go and see them.