If Martians wanted to collect the sound of summer in a jam jar and take it back to Mars, the world could do no better than sending them off with an album or two of The Magic Numbers. Possibly the happiest band on earth, the magic lads and lasses were shortlisted for the 2005 Mercury Prize showing they didn’t just induce smiles from the audiences alone but also from the high-brow musical critics. The band, brothers and sisters Romeo and Michele Stodart, and Sean and Angela Gannon, have released two studio albums and a mini album since their meteoric rise to fame in early 2005. They’re currently building a studio before working on songs for their third album, due next year.

Expect to hear fan favourites ‘Forever Lost’, ‘Love Me Like You’ and ‘Love’s a Game’, which have rocketed festival crowds into euphoria the world over.

www.magicnumbers.net

Video:

The Magic Numbers – ‘Forever Lost’:

The Magic Numbers on Jools Holland:

Exploring themes more likely to be seen in a poem by John Donne Noah and the Whale have been wooing new folk fans since their first gig in 2006. The four piece are a musical oxymoron. Marrying joy with morbidity their tracks have the knack of inducing tears and smiles within the same beat let alone bar; never before has death sounded so melodic. No wonder one of their biggest influences is original celebrator of sadness Morrissey.

Frontman Charlie Fink’s precoccupation with all things metaphysical – life, love, death, time – and strong sense of narrative – whether that be strolling around a zoo in the sunshine or throwing a new born baby to the wolves – is beautifully backed up by his brother Doug on triangle and tambourine, string prodigy Tom Fiddle on classical violin and the simultaneous bass guitar and glockenspiel playing Urby Whale.

Noah and the Whale have come along way since gigging in corners, on table tops and even inside cupboards. They have played 150 shows in less than 18 months, recorded their first album, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, and had a top ten hit. So if you want to learn about the shape of your heart and give a little love in the process seek Noah and the Whale out at this year’s Port Eliot and celebrate broken hearts and inevitable death with a jolly old knees up.

www.noahandthewhale.com

“Noah and the Whale are still confounding the public but their new single looks set to be a global smash.”
The Times

“Never mind the whistling and harmoniums, their kindergarten anti-folk is heavier than it sounds, with most of Fink’s clap-along ditties addressing the usual big issues like love and death and hanging round zoos with your girlfriend while you pretend to be James Dean.”
The Guardian.co.uk

Links:

• Noah and the Whale’s Myspace page
• A selection of Noah and the Whale videos

Video:

Noah and the Whale – FIve Years Time

2 Bodies 1 Heart

Idolised by musos and musicians alike, Mairead Nash and Tabitha Denholm could organise a revolution if they weren’t so busy shouting support for up-and-coming bands from the rooftops of Shoreditch, backwashing neat vodka and daintily spinning their decks.

Enthusiastic to the core, Mairead and Tabitha broke onto the scene in 2002 with five hours of record flicking in Shoreditch’s famous 333 club. Over the ensuing years the twosome haven’t lost any of their defining zeal but rather rocketed through the glass ceiling to become renowned indie DJs Queens of Noize. Rubbing shoulders with the London artistic elite, the girls inspired the name for Pete Doherty’s second band Babyshambles and have recently produced the soundtrack for Kate Moss’ new range for Top Shop. The Queens’ infectious enthusiasm has caused their services to be enlisted for high profile events from The Maldives to Benicassim, not to mention rallying crowds on various cross-country jaunts with the likes of The Liars, Club NME and, most surreally, Pink.

Expect a sunshine soaked set featuring Brit pop legends such as Graham Coxon to American imports the Von Bondies. Spanning late 1990s happy fun-filled tunes through to The Libertines-led indie renaissance of the early naughties to the modern day kafuffle of nu-rave and old ballads, get ready for Mairead and Tabitha to rock your indie universe.

They also manage Brit Award-winning Florence and the Machine and have promised to bring some very special guests to perform at the festival…

www.queensofnoize.com

Links:

• Queens of Noize review in This is London
• Fashion tips from the Queens of Noize

Video:

Queens of Noize – Video Booth No. 3

The Queens of Noize preview the 1234 Shoreditch Music Festival

Harmonising the post-punk sound of Joy Division and the Pixies with a much more melancholic brand of ballad, British Sea Power plough their own field with a pervading mystique and epic, enduring tracks. They’re also superbly unapologetic in doing so.

Since their ominously titled debut album The Decline of British Sea Power in 2003, the band have ironically gone from strength to strength releasing second album, Open Season, in 2005, earning several top 40 hits as well as a Mercury Prize nomination for 2008 release Do You Like Rock Music?

They’ve played or toured alongside the likes of David Bowie, The Flaming Lips, Lou Reed, Radiohead and – drum roll please – Somerset’s finest, The Wurzels. But what they’re best known for is their eclectic and off-the-wall gig settings and experience; something they pride themselves on. They’ve been known to adorn the stage with branches, leaves and plastic birds, introduce marching drums, dive-bomb the crowd and even incorporate a ten foot bear into their set.

British Sea Power have also played the centenary of former Poet Laureate John Betjeman, shaken petals to the ground at the Chelsea Flower Show, wowed the arm-chair audience of John Craven’s Countryfile with an al fresco performance, shattered teacups in seaside cafes, graced village halls, ferries, churches and social clubs. Unsurprisingly, the band were named best live band of the year by Time Out in 2004.

They’re also renowned for their love of all thing Czech, bamboozling music journos with grid reference meeting points and being keen twitchers and all-round nature lovers – hence their appearance on Countryfile. Along with a low-key – well, as low-key as these guys get – acoustic set, this is the side of British Sea Power you’ll be seeing at Port Eliot. So grab a bird-watching guide and prepare yourself to join the ranks of their adoring fans, the aptly named Third Battalion.

www.britishseapower.co.uk

“It’s a triumphant lesson in sweeping gracefully towards the mainstream with your imagination and mystery intact.”
The Guardian – On second album Open Season.

“BSP have every right to feel content. After all, the almost men of sylvan, jagged rock, the pride of Britain’s bookish, bird-watching bohemia, have made an album that’s deserving of their swagger. Do you like rock music? If not, here’s the perfect place to start.”
Observer Music Monthly – On third album Do You Like Rock Music?

Links:

• Early interview with British Sea Power
• Interview with British Sea Power

Video:

British Sea Power – Waving Flags

British Sea Power – No Lucifer

Citied as one of the most important alternative rock groups of the 1990s, The Lemonheads broke through in 1992 with their excellent debut album It’s a Shame About Ray, with its lively cover of ‘Mrs Robinson’ becoming a massive hit single. The band morphed into the mainstream at a time when Nirvana’s success made alternative bands commercially viable. At their peak, Evan’s face appeared on music and teen magazines across America and the UK. They went on to enjoy more success throughout the 1990s with a cocktail of melodic music, harmonious vocals and a diverse dilated sound.

www.evandando.co.uk
www.thelemonheads.net

“Dando delivers such infectious, wide-eyed, grinning tunefulness that it’s hard to resist the urge to hug his music.”
Q Magazine
Included in Q’s list of ‘The 50 Best Albums Of 1993′

Links:

• Evan Dando interview with Magnet Magazine
• Evan Dando live review in the Guardian

Video:

Evan Dando ‘All My Life’ video:

Evan Dando performing live:

Fresh from Glastonbury Festival, where they played music and songs from The Wicker Man on The Park Stage, the band is sure to enchant you with their mesmerising melodies, rhythms, strings and singing in harmonic unison.

Their first album was released on Hungry Hill Records in 2004 and the latest album, Apron Springs, was released on Peacefrog Records in the UK. Their covers include Soft Cell’s ‘Youth’ and ‘To Make You Stay’ by Lal Waterson.

www.thememoryband.com

“A chilly, autumnal folk lament”
The Guardian

“One of the coolest bands around”
NME

“Brims with sinuous, fiddle-driven audacity”
Chicago Tribune

Video:

The Memory Band

Tallulah’s debut album Libellus, produced by Bjork and PJ Harvey producer Marius de Vries, was released in June on her own record label, Transducer Records. The launch was a night-long burlesque festival at London’s temple of decadence, Café de Paris, showcasing Tallulah’s exuberant theatrical style and enchanting artistry.

www.tallulahrendall.com

Links:

• Review of Tallulah Rendall’s debut album Libellus
• Interview with pennyblackmusic.co.uk

Video:

Festival of Libellus featuring Tallulah Rendall:

Out to Grass combine full-on vocal harmonies with fine musicianship and all manner of stringed instruments – including fiddle, mandolin, banjo and resophonic guitar – to create a performance guaranteed to get your feet tapping and your hands clapping.

www.myspace.com/outtograss

Video:

Out to Grass at Lowender Music Festival

Louise Parker brings the spirit and passion of the great jazz divas to Port Eliot this year. Citing influences that include Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, she has been enchanting audiences at venues and festivals around the UK including, Glastonbury Festival, The Isle of Wight International Jazz Festival and Plymouth Orange Music Festival among others.

www.louiseparker.co.uk

“A splendid new voice on the block…. Swings like fury.”
Humphrey Lyttelton

“There’s no substitute for good time and tone… Tender or wild, her voice never lost its warmth and her phrasing had an in-built propulsion rarely heard from others.”
London Evening Standard ****

King Creosote aka Kenny Anderson is a founder member of DIY label Fence, a close-knit collective of musicians and artists based in Fife, Scotland. His latest album, Flick the Vs, released on Domino is “an absolute corker” (BBC Music) and its first single ‘Coast On By’ was named Single of the Week on Radio 2’s Radcliffe and Maconie show.

www.myspace.com/kingcreosote

“Flick The Vs simply does deserve the plaudits – it’s an absolute corker.”
BBC Music

Links:

• Interview with King Creosote on Band Weblogs
• BBC review of King Creosote’s latest album Flick the Vs
• Fence Records

Video:

King Creosote – ‘Coast On By’: