The Cellar Family - Last.fm Stage - Saturday - 13:30
The Cellar Family are the outsiders amongst outsiders. Too arty to fit into Oxford’s metal fraternity too heavy to fit alongside Blessing Force, it’s testament to the immediate talent of The Cellar Family that they’ve played plenty of gigs with the former and are hosted today by the latter. Ideally, they would play alongside Mclusky and Fighting With Wire. And there’s surely no greater compliment than that.
The Duke & The King – Main Stage - Friday - 20:45
Simon Felice stands at the same crossroads of country, folk, and soul that was crossed by Sly Stone, Levon Helm, and Gene Clark. Coming from Woodstock (NY), he first found success as drummer in the Felice Brothers. After writing a book, ‘Goodbye Amelia’, he hooked up with a violinist and two funk musicians to make the Duke & The King, a band well aware that in music fact isn’t as important as fiction.
The Neon Violets - Last.fm Stage - Friday - 16:30
Poetry readings and errant violinists have peppered this band’s live shows already, but it’s as a duo that The Neon Violets blossom. A primal whirl of dense, bass-heavy riffs that focuses with repetition reminiscent of Wooden Shjips spin-off Moon Duo, at their best they manage to use the basic set-up of bass and drums to create something powerfully psychedelic.
The Oxford University Sinfonietta - Wood Stage - Friday Evening
No, this not your traditional festival show, because The Oxford University Sinfonietta are a small-scale orchestra, featuring ensembles of between ten and thirty players. With a repertoire including pieces by a whole range of composers such as Stravinsky, Messiaen, Haydn, MacMillan, Mozart, John Adams and Tippett, If you’re feeling like you want something different this weekend be sure to head down to the wood stage on Sunday.
The Rockingbirds - Clash Tent - Saturday - 16:00
Originally formed in 1990, The Rockinbigrds were a country-punk band that had more in common with their transatlantic cousins The Jayhawks and Uncle Tupelo than any British band at that time, releasing two albums - including the minor classic ‘Whatever Happened To…’ - on Heavenly Records before disbanding in 1995. Since reforming for the Heavenly 18th party, the band have been revitalized, and played a raucous show in Oxford this February
The Rock Of Travolta – Last.fm Stage – Friday - 01:00
The Rock of Travolta return to Truck, and they are set to headline the BBC Introducing in Oxford stage. A decade on from tearing the roof off the Truck at the festival in 2001, the Oxford five-piece return to the scene, a band on form and revitalized since the release of ‘Fine Lines’, their first new album in eight years.
Treefight for Sunlight - Clash Stage - Sunday - 14:30
Their eponymous debut is a glorious sunshine head-rush of an album, drenched in the vibrant harmonies of the Beach Boys, the wonky pop of MGMT and the multipart song structures of label-mates The Kissaway Trail or fellow Danes Mew. Treefight For Sunlight are an exuberant technicolour trip of a band, the perfect fusion of retro psychedelia and contemporary luscious pop.
Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou - Clash Stage - Saturday - 17:15
It’s with a lot of pride that we’ll be watching Trevor and Hannah play as part of the Heavenly takeover, just to see how far they’ve come. This couple’s story is as naturally idiosyncratic as their music. As likely to tour the length of a canal as they are to pack seed-grains into their records, they make simple harmonized songs, alluding to a Britain that is as much forest as it is skyscrapers.
Tribes - Last.fm Stage - Sunday - 16:40
Taking the fun route to stardom, this brigade of Camden natives had enthralled Blaine from the Mystery Jets by their fifth gig, and brought Camden to a standstill making a video for ‘We Were Children’. Their melodic take on grunge is more Nine Black Alps than Nirvana, and the fervour of their steadily-swelling fanbase has drawn comparisons with - whisper it - The Libertines.
Trophy Wife - Last.fm Stage - Saturday - 19:50
Trophy Wife might already be ruing the day they decided to describe their music as “ambitionless office disco”. It’s this merging of fragile uptempo beats into a faded atmosphere which has already (they’ve barely been around a year) caught the attention of Two Door Cinema Club, Moshi Moshi, and our good selves. Music for sitting around a campfire as the sun rises.
Tunng - Main Stage - Sunday - 18:30
Tunng join us again after headlining Wood in 2010. Recently, they’ve completed their evolution from a bedroom project into a group that’s focused its sound amidst line-up changes and tours with desert-blues icons Tinariwen. Last year’s widely acclaimed ‘…And Then We Saw Land’ added an uptempo twist to their palette of electronica-infused folk to much success, bridging the gap between Four Tet and Hot Chip.
Two Fingers Of Firewater - Main Stage - Saturday - 14:00
On tour with your hosts The Dreaming Spires at the time of writing, Two Fingers Of Firewater came to our attention last year when they featured on The Anglicana compilation ‘Divided By A Common Language’. Saying they sound like Uncle Tupelo in a bar fight might be oversimplifying things, but their authentically British take on Americana is as intoxicating as two shots of bourbon
Water Pageant - Wood Stage - Friday - 17:00
Water Pageant grew up in the landlocked home counties to the hum of hoverflies in country gardens and the creak of sun loungers. The three-piece line-up features a member of The Ralfe Band, a Christchurch chorister, and singer-songwriter Nick Tingay. They roam in the shadows of alternative icons like Kate Bush and Tom Waits.
We Aeronauts - Last.fm Stage - Sunday - 12:00
One of the Oxford bands that are ‘most likely to’ sometime soon is We Aeronauts. Last year they released the ‘Chalon Valley’ EP through Brainlove Records, a collection of songs telling the story of a bucolic holiday spent in France. The way they crash together Los Campesinos! raggle-taggle melodicism with patches of ‘Lions’-era Jonquil’s pastoral fluidity can only be a winning combination.
Wild Swim - Last.fm Stage - Saturday - 16:30
Since changing their name from Picturehouse, Wild Swim have drawn favourable comparisons to Mount Kimbie and Wild Beasts. The thrumming rhythms backing Richard Sansom’s Bunnymen croon owe as much to liquid DnB as it does to ‘rock music’. With an overall sound that feels at once precise and loose, deliberate and natural, Wild Swim are floating with the stream. Why don’t you join them?
