If you don't give a flying F about festivals, then...why are you on this site? Anyway, we've got some flipping fabulous picks for you to check out, so have a read while you're here. They're so fetch.
Who: Foster the People
From: LA
Playing: Big Day Out
Overnight hit 'Pumped Up Kicks' took frontman Mark Foster by surprise, more than anyone. After struggling as a musician for six years, delivering pizzas and making lattes, an upbeat ditty he wrote about a homicidal kid suddenly went viral. The song instantly resonated around the world in the way it struck a strange tone between carefree and chilling. "It's a 'fuck you' song to the hipsters, in a way," Foster said in an interview with Rolling Stone. "But it's a song the hipsters are going to want to dance to."
Foster the People aren't interested in being a one hit wonder though, and their first album
Torches shows a glimmer of exciting potential. If you don't see them at
Big Day Out or one of their sideshows, we will track you down and slap you. Yes, we're serious.
Who: Flying Lotus
From: California
Playing: Summadayze, Summafieldayze
Is it relevant that
Flying Lotus' great uncle was
John Coltrane? Maybe not. Coltrane's 20th century jazz definitely doesn't sound like Lotus' brand of discordant glitch-hop he produces today. But maybe there is some abstract connection - the obsession with the instrumentals, abandonment of structure for free form, the hip underground following. It's safe to say Flying Lotus isn't everyone's taste, but he's certainly taking experimentation in the right direction.
Who: Fatboy Slim
From: England
Playing: Future Music Festival
Fatboy Slim is back in business. After a pretty drunken and disastrous set at Good Vibes in 2009, he's taken some time dabbling in side projects, going to rehab, and getting fit for his return. If the kids of today think dance music is David Guetta, please smack them and put on
You've Come a Long Way, Baby. It's the funky breakbeats, big piano and horn hooks, and splashes of hip hop and jazz that have proved his tracks transcendent to trend.
Who: Frank Ocean
From: New Orleans
Playing: Future Music Festival
Frank Ocean insists he's not an R'n'B artist, he's a singer/songwriter. It's just semantics maybe, but he feels it gives him freedom of versatility. It's understandable he doesn't want to be pinned down to an (often) shallow genre, especially at this point in his career. His silky voice and slow beats may point to R'n'B, but the high quality production and vulnerable lyrics point to something entirely different. His collaborations with Tyler the Creator and Jay Z have put him in the spotlight, but it's his individual work that's really starting to shine.
Who: Feist
From: Nova Scotia
Playing: LanewayFestival
You'd think once you get to sing a duet with your childhood idol you would assume you've just hit the peak of your career and stop there. But would you know it, even after
Feist got to sing with Elmo on Sesame Street, she still went on and recorded another album,
Metals. Her tunes are consistently catchy, perfectly sweet and summery (and likely to stay on high rotation).
Words: Tacey Rychter