Great Escape Discoveries

A quick video capture of the best new (to me) bands and artists we saw at The Great Escape.

Josh Record

Unintentionally hilarious programme blurb: The saint of singer-songwriters whose charity work warms the heart like his heavenly harmonies

Smashing bloke who then sent us a demo of For Your Love (video below) as we liked it so much we wanted to play it at our wedding and cheekly asked him if he had an acoustic version. Performed un-miked with his band in the Jubilee Library and you could hear a pin drop.

And then achieved the same effect , but plugged in, later that day at Brighton's beautiful Unitarian Chapel.

Marika Hackman

Avant-garde-chasing programme blurb: A captivating vocalist who is more interested in challenging perceptions of what songwriting can or should be in modern times.

We say: along with Josh Record our highlight of 2014 - brilliant! Subtle, rhythmically fluid and unsettling tunes. Currently very much enjoying her free covers LP, especially her version of Lithium.

Famy

I give up, I really do programme blurb: lush pounding rock, ringing guitars and trebly widescreen anthemia is sure to get you dancing.

We say:

Famy have a plaster Venus De Milo on stage and have just finished reinterpreting The Minutemen's History Lesson for the internet age. #tge14
— Tim Atkinson (@Magpiemoth) May 9, 2014

And if anything is widescreen anthemia, this is it, to be fair. 

Tove Lo

Literal-minded programme blurb: singer/songwriter creating a great indie pop mix: witty and honest lyrics, minimal beats and some stringy-synths.

We say: 

Tove Lo - two syndrummers and Euro(deca)dance excellence. #gte14
— Tim Atkinson (@Magpiemoth) May 9, 2014

Cleo T 

Dictionary-brandishing programme blurb: Her songs blend symbolist harmonies and European tones into dark romanticism and shimmering poetry.

We say: highly enjoyable, although we bet she has a few Nick Cave and Tom Waits records lying around, the influences were marshaled expertly.

Honourable mention 1 - some guys called The Kaiser Chiefs

We managed to get into a secret gig with those noted riot-clairvoyants. While I'm not the biggest fan in the world on paper, it was seriously enjoyable. And like Example the previous evening, Ricky Wilson gave a rafter-swinging, crowd-parting masterclass in how to be a frontman, as the clip below illustrates.

Honourable mention 2 - The Lavelles

This video doesn't really do them justice, but these young Brighton folkies were great. I glibly referred to them on Twitter as Babybel(le) and Sebastian, but they are so much better than that gag. Keep doing what you're doing, guys, and good things will happen. :)