The definitive UK music festival guide of new bands, musicians and singers you should see in 2018
With Great Escape, the festival for new music, and SXSW, the premier destination for discovery, now complete, weve spent many sunny afternoons in basements scouting out the best new music before the festival circuit gets into full swing.
Though we say this every year, the most exciting new music took a step away from the omnipresent synth pop on every radio station that, hopefully, people are finally getting bored of.
Grime and hip-hop continue to innovate, the growth of neoclassical popularity sees new exciting music and theres even a punk revival, which is powerful to watch and a sign of the current economic mood.
Some of the acts below already are working their way towards main stages, others are hidden gems. But here are the new (or as-yet unknown) bands/singers/artists/musicians that you should be hearing a lot more from in the next year:
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Shame
Londoners Shame played countless gigs over the SXSW week and they spent two months trying to break America, gigging at points multiple times a day.
Sounding somewhere between The Fall and The Sex Pistols, the songs heavily reference austerity and Brexit. Singer Charlie Steen literally pulls the crowd in, demanding they get closer as he takes off his shirt.
Its sweaty, its immediate and its brilliant.
While Steen has said that the idea of a rock star is offensive, he certainly is one. The band started as they started to learn their instruments and this inexperience shows but they are a live tour de force that should be seen before they start selling out much bigger venues.
Its punk in a very now way. This, with Lady Bird (below), has a chance of being the big breakthrough sound of this year or next, alongside hip-hop and grime.
Their following is already large in London, the UK will shortly follow and, from this showing, the world wont take much longer.
BlocBoy JB
To call a man who already counts Drake as a collaborator as underground seems a little ambitious but hes only been releasing music this year.
His meteoric rise has become even more meteoric after SXSW and hes actually towards the top of the bill of a grime/hip-hop festival in Birkenhead.
He knows the internet better than many of his peers, starting on Soundcloud and growing YouTube. The Shoot Dance viral sensation was him at first and it make Drake notice enough to release a track together
In style, BlockBoy JBs music is a dirtier, earthier version of Drake. It feels less polished by design and it takes cues from rap of a little while ago rather than directly from Drakes style.
Orchards
Orchards sounds like No Doubt mixed with Foals, somehow making incredibly complex geek music into brilliant pop songs.
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The female-fronted band are perhaps earlier on their journey than a lot of bands on this list but theres something about their live performance that gets you and drags you with it.
Its brilliant pop yet there is so much craft behind each song. Its a band that work together tirelessly, appealing to both the music geeks and those just wanting something catchy to sing and dance along to.
All of us love Foals and Everything Everything, guitarist Sam Rushton tells Metro.co.uk
Gwen Stefani is basically one of the reasons Lucy started singing.
The songs are, for the moment, best experienced live but once you hear them, they stick in the head for weeks. Theyre starting to get picked up on the Introducing circuit, their EP comes out next month and bigger stages await.
Hatis Noit
The biggest compliment to Hatis Noit is that her music is impossible to define clearly. Its her, her voice and a loop/sample pedal on stage. Thats it.
That setup sounds a little Ed Sheeran but thats where the similarities end. As a guide, she went to Fukushima to record the sea so it could play under her vocals. Radio One-friendly this is not.
While not challenging Sheeran for number one any time soon, her range of vocal – from almost baritone to soprano – is captivating. Its beautiful enough that Björk-collaborators Matmos wanted to get involved.
Her press release calls her music unique song-worlds with transcendent vocal interpretations that at once deconstruct and recombine Western Classical, Japanese folk and natures own ambience atmosphere.
Wed say that she sounds like a classically-trained Bjork who makes music that gives you shivers.
Sam Fender
Sam Fenders music has a rock swagger and maturity about it that doesnt normally come from a 22-year-old.
Youll probably hear his song Millennial everywhere before long but its not his best work. Play God, a song about a dystopian future referencing the Middle East protests, is.
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We first saw Sam Fender in a tiny, half-full room at Visions Festival in Hackney last year. Hes come a way since then. He played a big church at SXSW and now we even struggled to get into any of his performances at Great Escape (we just managed it once).
Heres the queue for the venue 40 minutes before his performance with the venue already full:
His debut album, when it arrives, could act as a mainstream antidote to the polite Ed Sheeran imitators filling up the airwaves. Its bigger, tighter and brasher than pop at the moment but can stand alongside Chvrches as a mainstream agitator who just needs that one song to go huge before everyone knows his name.
He deservedly made BBC Sound of 2018 longlist and the festival circuit this year will see him playing bigger venues with bigger queues before long.
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Denzel Himself
2017 was meant to be the year of Denzel Himself according to Wonderland Magazine. That hasnt quite happened (yet) but his following has grown.
Hes part of the growing scene around Tyler The Creator and, less well-known, Milo The Rapsmith of alternative hip-hop.
Denzel Himself says he is a straight edge hardcore punk, finding as much inspiration in punk band Trash Talk as Tyler The Creator, saying that he is often the only black face in the punk crowd.
His music is intelligent, very much part of London scene bursting at the seams with talent. His new EP starts with the lyric I think about death every day so its not always the happiest experience but his live show gets rave review after rave review.
Lady Bird
Alongside Shame and Denzel Himself, Lady Bird shows that punk is back. This band takes its sound more from punks heritage than others.
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While hailing from Tunbridge Wells might not instantly lend itself to a punk revival, theyve signed to fellow punk band Slaves label and they have all the hallmarks of an old-school punk band with a new feel.
In their song Old Man Boot Fillers, they talk about step dads, and how they thought the most recent one was a bit of a c*** but turned out alright.
This plain-speaking runs through their music. It gets close to Blurs Parklife in tone at points but its good. Very, very good.
Theyre new and raw but their live show had a 60/80-person pit at the front bouncing and pushing away. The songs are sharp and witty, the hooks are catchy and this is where guitar music will settle if/when it finally comes back to the mainstream.
Kirill Richter
Nobody in the UK knows Kirill Richter yet… but they will. Hes just recorded Foxs World Cup theme tune for US audiences, hes already filling venues in Russia and, while hes keen to make abundantly clear that hes not related to the better known Max Richter, his music is in the same vein.
The frightening thing is just how young he is, 28. The Royal Albert Hall took over a church for one evening at The Great Escape and Richter captivated the whole audience with neoclassical compositions that pianists twice his age would struggle with.
His music is enchanting, his technical skill is actually frightening and he lives every moment of his compositions. The World Cup theme might not be his best work but it opens him up to a whole new audience. His live show had the entire audience give a standing ovation.
Call him a prodigy, call him a genius, call him the next Nils Frahm/Max Richter all you want. Quite frankly, his popularity will explode over the next year and it wont be long before hes playing the real Royal Albert Hall as his compositions stand up to the tightest scrutiny.
At the moment, we can still see him this close up:
It will not remain that way for long.
Art School Girlfriend
The Horrors labelmate from North Wales is going from strength to strength at the moment and shes just completed her BBC Introducing show at One Biggest Weekend in Cardiff.
Her music is difficult to define. Its one part post-rock, one part PJ Harvey and one point synth-pop, which works very much in her favour as theres always something new to hear in each song.
Having moved to Margate, shes popping up on more and more venue listings and, while her breakthrough might still be a little way away, her strong vocals and interesting, sparse arrangements make for compelling listening.
Bending Back is a highlight and were sure there a lot more highlights to come.
LuxDeluxe
LuxDeluxe are somewhere between Wham and The Rolling Stones, which should get you excited.
Their own PR cites them as being like Wilco with the swagger of Jagger or Bowie but this isnt accurate, the set at SXSW is what would happen if George Michael wrote rock songs, with singer Ned King shimmying and swaying in white jeans, a vest and sunglasses.
Itd still sound like Wham! even without the outfit but the fact he looks the part adds to the whole thing.
They are musically tight, adventurous with pop time signatures and structures and can perform to 20 people as enthusiastically as 200. 2019 is expected to be their year, from what weve been told by people in the know, so get in there early.
(Full disclosure: LuxDeluxe played a SXSW showcase that Metro had involvement in, though the bands werent chosen by Metro)
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Sloppy Jane
We thought their description was going to be nonsense. They promised laughter, xylophone, piano, violin, a naked body, a rotting suit, television, choir vocals, vomiting blue dye, screaming, sleeping, bass, drums, guitar, kazoo, slide whistle, caves and 8am band practices.
Except for the caves and the 8am band practices, they delivered on every one (though a naked singer vomiting blue dye is definitely not SFW).
They were the personification of the best things around SXSW this year, that the angry DIY punk scene is exciting again. It hasnt been for a while. Bigger venues wont book them because of how daring some of the live work was but they should.
Theyre not the finished article yet and Im not sure the top 10 is ready for a slide whistle but strong songwriting and good musical ability alongside their brilliant live energy makes them the most interesting bands this year.
Theyre the only band on the list not confirmed for any UK festivals (yet) but they were such a breath of fresh air that they deserve a place here.
Honorable mentions to other new exciting music from SXSW and The Great Escape
Maisie Peters, Joshua Burnside, Skinny Pelembe, Ghetts, Annabel Allum, Jealous Of The Birds, Lawrence Findlay, Many Rooms, ShitKid, Ider, Durand Jones and The Indications, Dermot Kennedy, Salt Cathedral Advertisement Advertisement
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