Binnacle: Ten essential picks

13 October 2011, 12:00 | Written by The Line of Best Fit

(News)

Pro tip: if you’re not going to Binnacle this weekend, steer clear of Great Eastern Street – it’s going to be a road block.

The inaugural “micro-festival of future sounds” takes place this weekend at The Old Blue Last (which is, incidentally, newly equipped with Funktion 1s), providing an unmissable opportunity to see every band you’ve read about on a blog over the last six months, but missed live.

The festival has been described as a tiny (very tiny), British cousin for SXSW. Certainly, what it lacks in Texan drawl, it will undoubtedly make up for in forward-thinking music and a veritable waterfall of the Old Blue’s legendarily dodgy beer. Curator Russ Tannen likes the comparison. “That’s very flattering,” he says. “If we can capture some of the energy and excitement of a huge event like SXSW I would be very happy.”

The lineup, certainly amongst the year’s best, demonstrates not just excellent taste, but also a laudable knowledge of the music that has been sailing just below the surface in recent months, in London and beyond. Was there a set of criteria against which acts were booked? “We made a list of the most exciting acts we’d discovered this year, and started emailing people. I guess to start with we were leaning towards more ambient and experimental electronic sounds – but then Sunday has turned into much more of a ‘band’ day.”

So can we expect this to be the first of many Binnacles? “Who knows. Let’s see if we get to the end of the weekend in one piece.”

Not sure when to pop out for chips? Check out our 10 essential acts below.