In an age of online media and instant gratification, discovering a new artist for the first time at a gig has become a rarity. Nevertheless, Radio X’s new music guru John Kennedy has attempted to do exactly that for the last few years. The DJ’s annual showcase involves a packed day of relatively unknown, handpicked bands he feels are on the cusp of greatness that the crowd may just be discovering. Omeara – a recently opened venue owned by Mumford & Sons member Ben Lovett – played host to the festival.

Taking to the stage at 3pm, Dead Pretties were in no way effected by the relative calmness and sobriety of the early arriving audience. “I’m living outside my mind,” cried frontman Jacob Salter in ‘Social Experiment’, the band’s only release to date. He wasn’t lying as he bounced around the stage with an aggressive and sinister streak – even knocking a pint out of one innocent bystander’s hand with his guitar. Baring all the hallmarks of all your classic extroverted frontmen, his band may well be at the vanguard of a new garage rock movement that possess mainstream appeal.

With a highly-rated album of material to fall back on, Scarlet Rascal were one of the day’s highlights. The krautrock tinged post -punk of the Bristol four piece explodes into life when placed into a live environment. Opener ‘Pearl’, is one of the standouts, with the deep bassline providing the framework for the swirling sonic wave of distortion to take hold. The elongated album and set closer ‘Last Day’ is perhaps the band’s finest effort though. Clocking in at over six minutes, the bass guitar and drums initially glide along at an unassuming pace as Luke Brookes attempts to muster the strength to ignite some vocal delivery. At the same time, delicate strumming patterns arrive at irregular intervals leaving the crowd in an unnerving state, craving for an intense crescendo. This assuredly comes in the form of a final three minutes of piercing textures in a song that could only ever act as a climax to a gig.

Anglo -Swedish group Francobollo were next up and displayed an excitable innocence with a variety of tracks that left you just as perplexed by the end as you were at the start of what genre the band belonged to. Rasping vocals and a fiery rhythm section make the four-piece an engrossing spectacle with potential to grow.

Displaying facets from the likes of Grizzly Bear and Summer Camp, Wovoka Gentle’s trippy -folk hybrid claimed the title of most left -field performance of the day. Positioned in a triangular -shaped instrumental island, the three members were consistently alternating positions, as new instrumentation was introduced seemingly every minute. Ranging from delicate harmonies under the banner of twee folk to spoken word over synthetic soundscapes, the environment for the London band’s music wasn’t ideally suited to a guitar heavy festival such as this. However, they give off the impression that with a proper sound check and a more attentive audience, the London band have the ability to put on a tantalising spectacle.

“This is the calm before the storm,” enthused John Kennedy, as he introduced the day’s most memorable band, Idles. With a support slot on The Maccabees’ final ever show booked in, the Bristol group’s brand of noisey post-punk is an enticing and at the same time threatening spectacle to behold. Self-described as a “nosebleed for the ears”, the politically charged lyrics of Joe Talbot are a welcome antidote to the heaps of throwaway records clogging up today’s musical landscape. With the frontman’s menacing stare and guitarist Mark Bowen’s relentless stage presence, the entire venue was in awe and fear in equal measure.

With far more reverb and falsettos but no less intense, Throws’ quirky live show was a welcome addition to the now booze -infused night. Orchestrated by Sam Ganders, he faces off with fellow frontman Mike Lindsay as the pair tussle for superiority in their alluring compositions. The results range from glam -rock to ice -cold synthetics all under the banner of intelligent, well -written pop.

The infectious enthusiasm of headliners Spring King was then the perfect recipe to round off an intense day of new music. The Mancunian’s have positioned themselves somewhere inbetween the realms of post-punk and garage-rock, flanked by a multitude of catchy four -part vocal choruses; a potent combination which lends itself to this type of jovial situation. The quartet’s songwriting chief Tarek Musa orchestrates proceeding from the drum kit, with his three loyal bandmates helping to bring their seemingly never ending stream of singles to life. Although the majority of the set stemmed from the debut LP Tell Me if You Like To, the set highlight comes in the form of They’re Coming After You – a track brought from an early EP release. “How many of you had heard of us before tonight?” asked the humble Musa, to which a ceaseless applause greeted the beaming singer. Spring King are now in a position in which they can begin to dine on one of rock’s higher tables.
Paul Hill