The Communion Records-led Bushstock Festival enters its fifth edition in 2015, with over thirty bands playing across six venues in West London. We've already highlighted some excellent bands on the line up in previous festival previews - Sophie Jamieson and The Amazons in our AYL Festival round up, and Matt Woods and Port Isla in our preview for The Great Escape. Here's a fresh batch of additional festival recommendations:
Charlotte OC
Not only reminding us of one of the most enjoyably melodramatic US teen dramas of the noughties, the Blackburn singer's own career was similarly fraught as she had a record shelved by her label while still in her teens. A few years on, she's re-establishing herself as one to watch, thanks largely to her striking vocals.
Frances
The parallels to Rae Morris, who I saw in a packed pub at the festival a few years back are somewhat uncanny - with their similar piano-basis, and even sharing songs called 'Grow'. This Berkshire-based solo artist could well match her contemporary's success, with a single already scheduled to be out on Kitsuné later this year.
Honeyblood
An unexpectedly pleasant surprise at the recent Dot To Dot festival, the Glasgow duo belie Bushstock's folk roots with their lo-fi, heavy sound. Sure to be a refreshing palette cleanser.
Michael Kiwanuka
Alongside Lucy Rose and Villagers, Kiwanuka is arguably the biggest draw of this year's Bushstock. The winner of the BBC Sound Of 2012 poll released his only album thus far in 2012, which was a commercial success and garnered a Mercury nomination. We're excited to hear some of his newer stuff.
Nadine Shah
There's something piercing about Shah's music that few other artists can replicate. Influenced by the likes of PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, her dark, incisive efforts will particularly stand out at Bushstock.
Nathaniel Ratliffe & The Night Sweats
Communion veteran Rateliffe was a star of music documentary 'Austin To Boston', providing heartfelt insight into his career and inspirations. Hopefully the accompaniment of eight piece band The Night Sweats won't mean that we lose too much of the American's engaging intimacy.
Samm Henshaw
Ignoring the fact that Samuel Henshaw's curious spelling of his first name has personally annoying ramifications for this writer, his gospel-infused offerings are mesmerising. With shades of D'Angelo but also something effortlessly timeless, Henshaw's time is coming.
Strong Asian Mothers
We've featured one part of this enigmatic trio on FG in the past, in the form of KHUSHI. While that project has brooding folk at its heart, this is quite a different beast. An unholy beast at that, a bizarre experimental electronic outfit.
Find more info and purchase tickets at bushstock.co.uk.
We're a collaborative British music, film and TV blog. "Trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop."
