READING Festival is mere weeks away, and music lovers around the country are packing their tents, bum bags, and factor 50 sunscreen (and–let’s be honest–rain macs).
With well over 100 acts set to perform across the three-day August Bank Holiday weekend, including legends such as Chappell Roan, Hozier, and Travis Scott on the bill, it can be difficult keeping track of some of the emerging and under-rated artists making appearances this year.
Here are six indie gems well worth catching when the festival returns this summer:
Please note that some of the music featured in this article will feature very strong language from the outset.
Good Health Good Wealth
London-duo Good Health Good Wealth are slick, slinky, and smart, marrying infectious electronica with bold, assertive songwriting.
Their eclectic influences shine through in their output, diffusing into well-informed, down-to-earth music, not only in the brash turns of phrase, but in the coarse yet charismatic vocal delivery.
This is perhaps best evidenced by songs such as Snatch, laced through with heavy, bass-laden beats and an almost snarling, yet charming, London delivery, which feels like being chatted up in an underground nightclub at 2am.
The duo has continued to hone their craft at festivals such as Glastonbury, Isle of Wight, Dot to Dot, and Great Escape, as well as sharing bills with the likes of Big Special, Hard-Fi, and Noisy.
Royel Otis
Royel Otis is another two-handed operation, however this duo swaps the sweaty underground for sunny Australia.
The Syndey-borne outfit brings sunbleached indie pop-rock tempered with new-wave, post-punk, and even psychedelic influences.
Their performance at this year’s festival will come just one week after the release of their upcoming sophomore album, and just weeks after.
They were named one of The Grammys’ 25 artists to watch last year, since which they’ve made their mark: their cover of Sophie Ellis-Bexter’s Murder on the Dancefloor for Triple J reached the top of the US Alternative Radio chart.
Tracks of theirs have made the roster on videogame series EA Sports FC, and have featured on The Sims 4.
Overall, Royel Otis are the perfect accompaniment to a scorching summer afternoon and an ice-cold fruit cider.
Songer
From nearby Wokingham’s confines, a new force in British underground hip-hop has emerged in Songer.
This year Songer will make a triumphant return to the festival following an explosive set tat the BBC Radio 1Xtra stage in 2023.
While eminently abrasive, Songer’s bravado belies an openness which is compelling, and his vocal and songwriting ability are immediately obvious at every turn.
Since dropping his debut single in 2019, Songer has already released five albums, which, while he is barely 25, betray a wisdom and philosophy of his very own.
Among them is SKALA, much of which is a rallying cry to grab life for all it is worth and the mental wellbeing which comes with seizing the happiness in every day.
The album reached the top 40 album charts in the UK, and garnered him an appearance on the cover of NME, after sharing the stage with the likes of Chase & Status, and D Double E.
But while Songer has a lot to be proud of, and even more to boast about, his approachability in live performances makes him one of the unmissable acts at this year’s Reading Festival–especially for fans of homegrown talent gone global.
Lambrini Girls
At this stage, it might be a stretch to describe Lambrini Girls as anything other than musical giants, but their world domination is just beginning.
Despite the well-earned hype around the band, it was only at the start of this year that they released their debut album, Who Let The Dogs Out.
That album immediately shot to number 16 in the UK album charts, however, vanquishing any doubt about the band’s status as punk icons.
Their output is abrasive and acidic, and fittingly so, as they form one of the most arresting rallying cries against much of the injustice of modern society; they scream in the face of prejudice and howl in defence of the marginalised.
Songs like Help Me I’m Gay, Big D*ck Energy, and White Van Man are positively acidic in their presentation, but engender acceptance for women, LGBTQIA+ communities, and victims of violence and abuse.
Even aside from their fierce and commendable politics, their live performances fizz with an energy almost unmatched, teetering on the brink of revolution at any given moment, their sets drenched with searing guitar, shout-along songwriting, and white-knuckle angst in equal parts.
If previous appearances, not only at Reading but even at the likes of Truck Festival, are anything to go by, Lambrini Girls are a guarantee of the show of a lifetime.
Still Woozy
On the other side of the musical spectrum is Still Woozy, hailing from small-town California.
His work is spaced-out and laid-back, combining a casual yet accomplished vocal style with psychedelic, funk, and electronic influences into a heady, sticky-sweet mix of sunshine-infused bedroom pop.
While his output feels eminently relaxed, Still Woozy radiates an eager judiciousness, and he professes to releasing much of his work as soon as it is finished, in lieu of leaving any lead time for his releases.
With two albums under his belt, he has continued to hone his live performances at the likes of Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo.
Reading will, however, be his first major UK festival appearance.
Reading Festival returns to Richfield Avenue from August 21-24, with headliners Hozier, Chappell Roan, Bring Me The Horizon, and Travis Scott.
More information and tickets are available via: readingfestival.com
