May feels like the moment where the starting gun is properly fired on festival season. The calendar is bulging this weekend - Sean's at Dot To Dot in Bristol, I'm at Slam Dunk in Hatfield and there's plenty of other big stuff too, from Radio One Big Weekend in Sunderland to Derbyshire's Bearded Theory.
In just a few weeks' time, there'll be an exciting new addition to festival season unfolding in east London. We've been hyping up Bulletproof Festival ever since we spoke to Jeremy Corbyn about the Peace & Justice Project's Music For The Many Campaign and the event's inception in September, and now, it's almost here.
It'll be taking place from 4th-6th June across EartH Hackney and a second stage rotating across The Shacklewell Arms, The Jago and The Victoria, headlined by Maruja (Thursday 4th), Sprints (Friday 5th) and Pussy Riot: Riot Days (Saturday 6th).
There's an absolute feast of exciting new artists on show across the three days, and I thought I'd point you in the direction of some that have stuck out to me. Even if you're not planning on coming down, you can still get some new names in your ears. I've also caught all of these names live at one point or another.
🎟️ If you fancy seeing these acts and joining us at Bulletproof, final tickets are available here.
Hongza
Armed with a big pedalboard and a bottomless well of emotion, London shoegaze newcomer Hongza writes a swirling soundtrack to coming of age. Freshly signed to new label Killabop, he has the potential to court a broad church of admirers, from the emos to the indie diehards. This'll be the chilled tonic you need on the final day of a festival.
Sunday Best
Sunday Best write explosive, galvanising post-hardcore fueled by a determination to wave the flag for anyone who's ever been made to feel othered. They're merely two years into their existence, but they've already honed their live show into an unpredictable, dynamic powder keg of energy. They had the stamp of approval from Decolonise Fest not long after they formed and Bulletproof is where it gets even bigger.
Speit
Among a riff-heavy line-up, Speit strikes a different slant with a cooler, softer tone but just as much sharpness. His astute spoken word storytelling champions resistance and freedom from a deeply personal place, thanks to his Palestinian and Irish roots. In a way, he represents what Bulletproof is all about.
Jools
Feral, furious, sensual, stylish, wracked with grief - Jools can be and do seemingly anything. Punk to the core but blending inflections of hip-hop and shoegaze, the sextet's explorations of identity, religious guilt and sexual harassment are intense but life-affirming. Live, they're a shapeshifting force with a chaotic edge but with unbridled emotion. (During one live show, they made me cry three times. I don't cry at much.).
Yakkie
Yakkie are the epitome of punk, fighting the system with bared teeth and hopeful hearts. With big, mean riffs taking cues from '90s grunge and metal just as much as their punk forebears, they've tackled everything from femicide to chronic illness to resisting internalised oppression. It certainly helps that live, they're as furious as they are fun.
There's a ton more to check out ahead of Bulletproof too, which we compiled in this handy Qobuz playlist:
Listen to all the acts playing Bulletproof Festival with this week's DiS playlist powered by Qobuz - your neatly packaged starter pack to the line-up. Browse our playlist archive.
Three Podcasts To Bookmark For Later
What links Dua Lipa, Addison, Rae, Taylor Swift, and consent?
This Week's Drowned in Sound Podcast rummages through three big stories involving copyright, ICE, deep fakes and trademarks, to clarify the double standards of the AI era.
This episode aims to make these complex topics easy to understand so that fans and the industry alike can make sense of stuff (hopefully it answers some of the questions people are often too embarrassed to ask) but also begin to work out how we can organise to take on the Broligarchs.
Who better to join journalist Helena Wadia and our founder Sean Adams than an academic who specialises in intellectual property, hosts a podcast about copyright, and literally wrote the book Copyright in the Music Industry A Practical Guide to Exploiting and Enforcing Rights (grab your copy here). Hayleigh returns to the podcast for a second time after helping us make sense of AI back in series one.
Check out Sean's interview with Tori Tsui
Sean's appeared on CounterPunch Radio for a conversation with Tori Tsui, who appeared on the Drowned In Sound podcast in November to discuss how music fans could save the planet and her work with Billie Eilish and Brian Eno.
On this follow-up conversation, they get into things like Spotify, AI, militarism, capitalism, independent music, and how we can harness music’s power for social change.
CounterPunch Radio
Mohammed Usrof talks art, ecocide and occupation on Sounds Like Change
This week's episode of Sounds Like Change (part of our new podcast network) gets straight to the heart of the interconnectedness of the problems we face in what we've often referred to as the polycrisis.
Palestinian researcher Mohammed Usrof sits down on Sounds Like Change this week to energy sovereignty, the Palestinian Institute for Climate Strategy (PICS), manifesto for ecological justice, and why art cannot be neutral.
He maintains that we cannot separate ecology from occupation, climate from colonialism, politics from imagination, and why should we?
Two News Headlines
The taxman's taking advantage of the grassroots levy
The grassroots levy's been in the spotlight again this week as the Government's been accused of “swelling the coffers of the Treasury” by raising VAT money from LIVE Trust’s £1 voluntary contribution.
However, some of the £6million raised so far has not been going where it was supposed to, taken directly by the treasury through “stealth” VAT charges, amounting to £1.2million according to The Telegraph.
I wholeheartedly agree with Mumford & Sons' Ben Lovett when he said the policy "is about as circular and upside down as this sentence sounds.” This was not what the levy was designed for - this money should very obviously be going to the artists and organisations that genuinely need it, not the Treasury's bank account.
A government spokesman said: “We support charities and grassroots sectors with over £6.7bn a year in tax reliefs, additional support for venues via business rates and the £30m Music Growth Package.
“VAT is applied to the full amount paid for a ticket, and the £1 contribution forms part of that price. Excluding it from VAT could create inconsistencies across the tax system, which would increase complexity, blur the boundary between ticket prices and donations, and risk opening up scope for avoidance.”
Suno assumes control of Songkick user data
This happened a couple of weeks ago, but since I only just became aware of it, I thought I'd flag it now. Songkick, a platform used for finding concerts in your area, is now formally under ownership by AI music generator Suno. As of the beginning of this month, they have formally assumed control of Songkick user data after the sale went through late last year.
Music Business Worldwide reports that Songkick is currently recruiting a General Manager, whose job description said the platform had “a well-established artist and venue data layer” and “a massive untapped opportunity to reimagine what live music discovery experiences look like when powered by AI.”
I had a Songkick account for a while, but I've deleted it as a result of the takeover. The question was rightfully asked at the time of the sale why a platform spewing AI slop would want to stick its hands in a handy tool for fans looking to find gigs in their area, and there still seems to be no logical answer besides profit. Surely, the human-to-human experience of live music has no business being muddied with AI especially when it's invaded so many other tech problems. In short, the verdict on this is: absolutely no thanks.
TO DO
Take part in the University of Bath's music inclusivity study
As we mentioned, Sean's got Dr Hayleigh Bosher on the podcast this week, who is involved with a study at the University of Bath examining the inclusivity of live music spaces. Anyone over 18 can fill this in, and they're particularly interested in the experiences of anyone who is neurodivergent or has a neurodevelopmental difference.
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Emma Wilkes
Emma Wilkes