Reading and Leeds Festival: Why this weekend will be the best of your year.

The best weekend of every year is about to start. As of today hundreds of thousands of you will be descending on the muddy, overcast fields of Reading and Leeds. It's without doubt one of the highlights of the festival season for both fans and artists alike, but how do you make it the best festival you've ever been to? Well, asides from raucous fires, lots of booze and a trip to silent disco at 3am, there's more than enough music to get mental to. Here's 10 of the best accompanied by a playlist of the best of the rest for you to devour over the weekend (or watch online like me).

LIMP BIZKIT
NME/Radio 1 Stage, Reading Friday, Leeds Saturday
Fred Durst and the lads are bound to bring a whole load of nu-metal mayhem after a long overdue Reading + Leeds return! Expect the classics and plenty of disgusting red-capped obscenities!

RUN THE JEWELS
NME/Radio 1 Stage, Reading Friday, Leeds Saturday
Hip-hop's latest craze Run The Jewels have become notorious for their live performances, so it'll be well worth your time to head over to see Killer Mike and El-P spit bars like no one else can.

GOD DAMN
The Lock Up, Reading Friday, Leeds Saturday
Northampton duo God Damn will tear the tent apart and crush your bones with their grizzly noise and screams. Go see them, you will make it out alive, promise!

BABYMETAL
Main Stage, Reading Saturday, Leeds Sunday
Three Japanese teenage girls doing synchronised dance routines and singing k-pop over some of the heaviest riffs you'll hear all weekend. Yeah, it's crazy and weird but it's "hella kawaii" and will be one of the biggest talking points of the weekend.

TEMPA T
BBC Radio 1 XTRA Stage, Reading Saturday, Leeds Sunday
Yeah yeah yeah, he's still about, TEMPSSSSS! If you want laughs, grime and flat top afro fun then you need to see Tempa T this weekend.

PVRIS
The Pit, Reading Saturday, Leeds Sunday
Fresh off Warped Tour, Pvris (or Paris to you and me) are now heralded as the next big thing on the alternative scene. Lynn Gunn will capture your heart and mind and Pvris will be your new favourites in no time at all.

BOY BETTER KNOW
BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage, Reading Sunday, Leeds Friday
Too Many Man. That's all you need to know.

WHILE SHE SLEEPS
The Pit, Reading Sunday, Leeds Friday
Riffs, hair and all the fury, While She Sleeps are one of the best metal bands on the scene right now and right from the start you will be blown away. DO NOT MISS THESE MEN!

TURBOWOLF
The Pit, Reading Sunday, Leeds Friday
Party starters Turbowolf are on a high right now which means they will be on top form this weekend! They've got groove with a dirty rock n roll edge and are going to get you dancing.

SINGLE MOTHERS
The Pit, Reading Sunday, Leeds Friday
These five men are the happiest punks you'll ever come across. They're shows are full of energy, expression and smiles and nothing will stop them once they get going.

 

Subliminal Criminals by Stray From The Path

It's been two long years since Stray From The Path made a name for themselves with 2013's Anonymous and it's been an even longer seven years of hard graft to get to a place where they can release an album as purposeful as Subliminal Criminals. Album number five continues with themes of the aforementioned Anonymous but ramps up the anger by about a thousand to really make a mark among all the angry bands of their kind.

Drew is spitting pure venom over some of the ugliest, gnarliest riffs this band have every created and it's just absolutely grizzly. From Outbreak which really hammers home the title of the album ("subliminal criminals" is bound to be a new fan favourite chant at shows) to the frantic These Things Have To Fall Apart, Subliminal Criminals is something no one else could have created. Badge And A Bullet Pt. 2 fills you full of the anger that SFTP are emanating with shouts of "where the fuck is the justice?" and then roars of "can't hide in your brick house, pussy" on D.I.E.P.I.G. However, it is the spattering of guest artists that make this album a force to be reckoned with. First world problem child could be a bit of a gimmick with war cries of "every rich white kid's got something to say - shut the fuck up!" but Architect's Sam Carter's vocal saves the day. One of this blog's favourite men, Rou Reynolds, features on Eavesdropper which nearly drops by the waist-side until Drew unites with Rou and the song takes on a new life. Cody B Ware features on Future Of Sound which almost creates a respite on the album but not for long as the track drops back into a beastly attack in keeping with the rest of the album.

Subliminal Criminals is full of disgust about the injustices of the world and is a conversation which is creatively illustrated through the warped and wonderful genre of hardcore. Stray From The Path haven't created a masterpiece here but they've certainly created a talking point and that is why you should get your hands on this album asap.

7/10
Listen to: Outbreak, Badge And A Bullet Pt. 2

Life's Not Out To Get You by Neck Deep

Who would have thought the UK's brightest pop-punk stars would come from a little place like Wrexham? Yeah, we're talking about Neck Deep because they have just dropped their second full length album and it's a bloody firecracker! Now heralded as the boys to compete with amidst the massive pop-punk revival, these five lads from North Wales have seriously proven they are the best of the best. Life's Not Out To Get You is bigger, better and ballsier than anything this band have done before, and considering they were already pretty damn great, that's really saying something!

LNOTGY opens with Citizens Of Earth which is the most versatile Neck Deep have sounded in their career so far. It's heavier and surprisingly it suits them. "Fuck Neck Deep, they're shit, Ben's Dad owns a record label" the band mock at the end which just shows these boys aren't letting the critics bother them. Singles Can't Kick Up The Roots and Gold Steps are illustrations of a more traditional Neck Deep and sandwiched between them is the awesome Kali Ma, featuring Jeremy McKinnon of A Day To Remember and a pretty gnarly breakdown. Not only is he featuring on the album (making it even more rad) but he also helped produce it, which is evident from the riffs and style weaved throughout the album as a whole. The Beach Is For Lovers (Not For Losers) is reminiscent of emo cuties Cute Is What We Aim For and I Hope This Come Backs To Haunt You has hints of new school Blink 182 to it, showing that although Neck Deep have their own sound, they're still influenced by some of the best. Then there is December which will undoubtedly reach the same acoustic adoration A Part Of Me has as Ben odes "I hope you get your ballroom floor, your perfect house with the rose red doors." The lyrics, as always, are a highlight of the album and they come as purposeful as they do cute: "so 'fuck you' to the world and stand your ground" calls Ben on Can't Kick Up The Roots.

Neck Deep have created a gem of an album here and all the hype has been more than worth it. If this band can reach greater heights than they already have then who knows where that will be, but if they're going beyond the stars, Life's Not Out To Get You will certainly take them there.

9/10
Listen to: Citizens Of Earth, Kali Ma, December

Automatic by Don Broco

It feels like we've been waiting a life time for this Don Broco album. Automatic is the band's second LP and comes a very long three years after their massively successful debut, Priorities. Now an extremely popular band, loved by champions of all music genres, Don Broco look set to dominate hearts and minds everywhere. Automatic is an effort based on living up to the hype and making music that pushes the traditional conception of the alternative scene and this is exactly what Don Broco have achieved.

Automatic is all funk and groove infused with the trademark Broco pop rock we all love and it's pretty much a massive party. It's an album that has allowed Don Broco to push and develop their sound into something far more mature and something that is unique to them. It certainly sounds more vast and the Tropicana 80's vibe they've weaved through the entire album is quite impressive. It is different but it works because this isn't a false pretense. Rob and co. genuinely love what they've created here and that transpires and makes you love it just as much. The spark these four men possess burns it's brightest during the likes of Automatic and Superlove, which feature some of the grooviest, lip-biting funkiness you'll hear all album and the same can be said of Wrong Place Wrong Time too. Okay, there is the odd song like Nerve or Further (which is reminiscent of The Corrs...) where the fire diminishes, however, the more familiar Priorities style-Broco re-ignites the spark with songs like Let You Get Away, Money Power Fame and You Wanna Know.

Don Broco always bring the sort of fun that will wrap itself around you and manifest in your skin until you're doing the running man with them at their live shows. That's what this album was built for, the live circuit and that is where it's going to shine, so get on your white two-piece suit, or your neon mini skirt, grab a pina colada and get dancing because Automatic is your new summer soundtrack.

8/10
Listen to: Superlove, Wrong Place Wrong Time

Positive Songs For Negative People by Frank Turner

If you aren't familiar with Frank Turner, where have you been for the last eight years!? This singer/songwriter/musician from the humble earth of Hampshire has been creating beautiful acoustic nuggets to sooth the soul and mind across five very successful albums. He's been so successful (he played the London Olympic opening ceremony for Pete's sake!) that he's even had time to go back and dabble in his punk roots in the form of his gnarly side project Mongol Horde. But now he's back as adorable as ever with his latest offering entitled Positive Songs For Negative People.

PSFNP is upbeat troubadour folk. It's full of fast and furious acoustic guitar playing that would make a set based on this album a huge party rather than a stare and sway affair and he truly has taken a bunch of songs that could pick the saddest of us off the ground and lift us up with positivity. Frank Turner has always done honesty beautifully and that is no different on this album. "Life gave me demons but I made friends with the devil so I'm invincible" declares Turner triumphantly on Demons and with similar conviction he shouts "we can get better because we're not dead yet" on the stomping Get Better. Lyrics from song after song on this album could be pulled as perfect examples of just how serious Turner was about writing positive songs for negative people and similarly, riff after riff, melody after melody, could be discussed as examples of the passion and talent that this man has for his music.

This is an album of classic singalong folk-rock; it's uplifting and heartfelt and it is one of Turner's best efforts to create a consistently great album from start to end.

8/10
Listen to: Demons, Song For Josh

In The Moment: WACO

WACO are a quartet of lads from this beautiful land we know as the UK and in their own words they make songs about "great times, great loss and Great Britain." The first thing you should know about them is that one listen is all it takes to get you hooked, so don't listen to them unless you're prepared for a long term commitment. The second thing you should know is that they're party starters. It's not just their music that makes you want to jump around like a human-possessed, it's their all round presence and enthusiasm for the music they make. Sound wise, it sounds like rock/punk/party magic with a hint of old school nostalgia and they intertwine such a sound with conversation about real and honest things like the fact no one really knows what they're doing with their life (Agitation) and that ultimately all we do is our best (Dungeness). What's more, the video for latest single, Wrangler, is utterly bonkers in it's compelling psychedelic madness. It's this wonderful recipe, as well as having a frontman who looks a little like Hollywood heartthrob Matthew McConaughey (just a little, maybe it's the jawline), that make WACO ones to party with and ones to tell your friends about.

Listen to: Wrangler

Boardmasters: Who you should see this weekend

So it's forecast to be a bit of a cloudy weekend in Newquay for this years Boardmasters festival but hey, stay happy campers because you've got a lot of lovely music to enjoy! This year boasts one of the most eclectic line ups the festival has seen yet, so here's who to see on your weekend by the sea.

LOWER THAN ATLANTIS
Main Stage, Friday
Mike Duce and the boys are bound to give you the most raucous main stage set you'll see this weekend as they perform all the classics as well as their newest pop-sprinkled hits. Whether you're a long time fan or just a dabbler, it's worthwhile checking them out, even if just for the showmanship.

SPRING KING
Mavericks, Friday
Spring King are one of the most urgent bands you won't have heard of yet. They're bound to be the next big indie thing following in the footsteps of Catfish and the Bottlemen and Peace, so be sure to catch their set for grooves and melody galore.

LETHAL BIZZLE
Unleashed, Saturday
Bizzle on the beach is the only thing that you'll be able to think about until you've seen it for yourself. He'll bring the noise in the form of all his greatest hits as well as new firecrackers such as Fester Skank and Playground.

DRENGE
Mavericks, Saturday
Want some sludgy indie rock? Drenge are your boys. The Sheffield two piece will get your ribs rattling and get your body moving in weird and wonderful ways and there's a chance they'll turn up wearing dresses too.

GOD DAMN
Mavericks, Saturday
Do not miss God Damn. As another two piece, you will be amazed by the noise that comes from these two long haired beauties and although they might make your ears bleed, they'll be your new favourite band for sure.

THE DARKNESS
Mavericks, Sunday
I believe in a thing called love, just listen to the rhythm of The Darkness. Justin Hawkins is a marvel and will strut around in glam rock glory and make you fall under his spell. If you want to end your festival in true rock n roll party style, there's only one band to see, and that is The Darkness.

There's A Price On Your Head by Enter Shikari

Those four mad men we all know and love as Enter Shikari have just dropped a brand new video! This time, it's for absolute corker of a track There's A Price On Your Head, and is a continuation of the brilliant Slipshod video. Created by Peter MacAdams, the video sees a cartoon version of the band go back in time to deal with the history of the class system. It's bonkers and features more roughed-up chickens so strap yourself in and feast your eyes on this visionary masterpiece!

Another One by Mac DeMarco

It's 2015 and there's still people in this poor deprived world who don't know who Mac DeMarco is. So here's a quick education: Mac is a 25 year old singer/songwriter/musician/ producer from Canada and the kids love him. Known for his hilarity, his unmistakable soothing tone and for just being a loveable gap toothed guy, Mac has just released Another One, eight tracks of chilled out dreamy bliss.

The Way You'd Love Her opens Mac's latest selection of tracks with the unmistakable DeMarco vibe. It's all chilled out melody with upbeat quirky chords, the sort of style of music that makes you sway and bop with a smile on your face. Title track, Another One, takes the mood down a peg or two but before you know it, No Other Heart and Just To Put Me Down restore the sunshine melodies that make you love this album so much. "Give up my life for the rhythm, for the beat of a heart like hers" swoons Mac on I've Been Waiting For Her, the albums sweetest track and probably most heartfelt. It's clear this album is one about love and unlike most which are sickly sweet and make you want to cry, Mac has a formula that makes you want to fall in love and be part of another person. The talking point of the album however is final track My House By The Water where Mac reads out his address accompanied by the sounds of the river where he does actually live. He's already let the world know he's had kids stopping by for coffees as he offered and the fact he's brave enough to do such thing is really testament to the kind of artist he is.

Some would say crazy, some would say just a regular guy but one thing that is certain is that Another One reaffirms that Mac DeMarco is a true gem to the world of music.

9/10
Listen to: The Way You'd Love Her, I've Been Waiting For Her

Marks To Prove It by The Maccabees

Marks To Prove It is the fourth full length album from indie underdogs The Maccabees who have been creating some of the best indie rock that the UK has to offer since 2007. This album has been three years in the making and it is the result of a band who have worked harder than most to create a sound that is evolved but still explicitly them. Marks To Prove It is far from the sound of the band's earliest effort, Colour It In, but just as that album in 2007 proved them worthy of adoration, this album does exactly the same.

Title track and album opener Marks To Prove It is the sound of a band we are familiar with. There are obvious melodies carried from their previous albums and it grabs you by the heartstrings right from the get go. As that buoyant melody becomes Kamakura, you're left with less of the old and more of the new as Orlando's soft voice washes over you in a song that is as visceral as The Maccabees have ever been. By the time Silence is reached, this band becomes less recognisable. The vocals change and the melody depleats into something more fragile. It's not quite what we're used to but it's an insight into where this band can go and how they have matured since 2013's Given To The Wild. River Song continues this theme with an almost foreign sound and shortly after you find Something Like Happiness. This is the most recent single taken from the album and it brings you back to the sound of 2009's Wall Of Arms. It has the potential to sound huge live as Orlando pours "you just know when you know" and it's certainly known that this is an album highlight. Marks To Prove It peters on out through it's last few tracks ending with the ethereal and beautiful Dawn Chorus, a track that is well worth the wait to hear.

With an album like Marks To Prove It, The Maccabees have proven themselves to be versatile creatures. Their sound is no longer the happy, traditional indie rock n roll recipe we all love, but it is still something a little bit special.

7/10
Listen to: Kamakura, Dawn Chorus