Visions Festival: Four to see

To get ourselves all excited for the festival (taking place across a variety of venues in Hackney, East London), we’ve decided to highlight just a few of the artist’s we’re pumped to see. We'd pick more, but then this article would probably hit the 5,000 word mark.

Yak

The final minute and a half of “Take It” go a long way to explaining Yak. Fast, scuzzy and a little bit mad, Yak sound like a group not afraid to pick you up and send you hurtling down a cliff headfirst. The London-based trio’s debut Alas Salvation, released earlier this year, comes charging out at you swinging. Full of stomping bass lines, brutish chanting, thudding drums and violent guitar shredding, it’s exactly the kick in the arse that guitar music needed in 2016. Yak are fast, they’re sweaty and they’re wild. It’s going to be fun.

Gengahr

Gengahr broke out early last year with their gleefully weird “Fill My Gums With Blood”, featuring vampiric lyrics such as “Let me in / So I can drink from you” and a killer final thirty seconds. The North Londoners went on to release their debut A Dream Outside in June last year, and have been supporting it on the road with their unconventional lyrics, pleasant vocals and thrashing riffs in tow ever since. Make sure you find time for this lot in the future.

Let’s Eat Grandma

These two 17 year olds from Norwich are making gloriously odd pop. With their squeaking vocals, whirring synths and recorders – yes, recorders! – it all sounds a little bit creepy. In my view, there’s nothing worse than creepy children in films, but on record, it works brilliantly, and their live shows are no different.

Young Fathers

Earmarked as future Reading & Leeds headliners by festival bigwig (and Festival Republic director) Melvin Benn, Young Fathers are going from strength to strength. Their live shows have been getting tighter as time goes on, and the trio are able to translate the mass of ideas and energy from their albums into their live show with ease. Most importantly, Young Fathers are a whole lot of fun live. You get the sense that as these guys get more and more confident, they’re just going to climb up festival posters. Get a chance to see them in a relatively-intimate space while you can.

Visions Festival 2016 takes place in Hackney, East London this Saturday (6 August). Tickets are availble here.