We’ve already received our baggage packed in anticipation of this weekend’s Finish Of The Highway Pageant. Whereas we are able to’t wait to see outdated favourites like Wilco, King Gizzard, Panda Bear & Sonic Growth and Cass McCombs, right here’s Finish Of The Highway founder Simon Taffe’s six picks to hunt out at this yr’s competition… and don’t neglect you’ll be able to learn the total line-up right here.

FLOODLIGHTS
It’s good indie-pop from Australia: actually catchy songs, great-sounding vocals. I don’t often like music like that, however they make it work. There’s an honesty to their songwriting that feels very private. They’re one of many new bands I received most enthusiastic about final yr, and we booked them to come back over earlier than they had been signed. I believe this will probably be their first UK journey.

INFINITY KNIVES & BRIAN ENNALS
They made my album of the yr final yr [King Cobra]. It’s bed room hip-hop however it sounds large, and the lyrics are wonderful – simply so humorous and attention-grabbing. Truthfully, I believe it’s up there with Kendrick Lamar’s first couple of information. The album has quite a lot of variation, from late-’80s/early-’90s hip-hop to soul and gospel, and a few of it even seems like Anohni! I’m excited to see the place they go. I really feel like they’re going to jot down a giant hit.

CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD
She simply will get higher and higher with each file. There’s one thing so private and intimate about her songwriting which you’ll relate to, a bit like a feminine Jonathan Richman. A few of it jogs my memory of Neil Younger and Joni Mitchell, or The Beatles’ traditional songwriting. There’s an amazing track on her newest album [] about going to see a Magnetic Fields gig. She’s an actual storyteller.

JOHN FRANCIS FLYNN
I noticed him on The Boat stage final yr and he actually blew me away, so I went as much as him immediately and he grew to become the primary act booked for this yr. I suppose he’s in that very same world as Lankum. It’s virtually as if Portishead had been doing Irish people music – he has these trancey, drone components, however it actually works with the normal Irish sound. He’s made it his personal in a really authentic manner.

75 DOLLAR BILL
They had been booked to play earlier than the pandemic, and we’ve lastly received them taking part in this yr down at The Boat. It’s an enormous sound that they one way or the other create, simply the 2 of them. I suppose it jogs my memory of post-rock bands like Tortoise, however much more uplifting: typically it’s jazz, typically it’s fairly folky, typically it’s steel! And it’s actually upbeat, virtually like dance music. I liked the information, however I didn’t realise how danceable they might be till I noticed them dwell.

THE MARY WALLOPERS
It is a band that I shouldn’t actually like, however I really like them, they’re infectious. Clearly, they remind me of The Pogues – it’s conventional Irish people music performed by a bunch of punks with mullets. It’s simply so uplifting, I believe it’ll be an incredible dwell present. I noticed them play twice at Glastonbury and it was loopy. Even within the tiny Crow’s Nest, folks had been smashing into one another and crowd-surfing. They convey the get together.

Finish Of The Highway 2023 takes place at Larmer Tree Gardens close to Salisbury on August 31 – September 1. To get you within the temper for this yr’s competition, why not remind yourselves of the highlights from final yr’s version…