With Longitude just around the corner – and a wealth of potentially amazing gigs at your fingertips – we've made your life a little easier by selecting the bands that you should really try to catch this weekend.

It's not all about the big headliners, y'see. Sure, Hozier and The Chemical Brothers will probably be great - but make sure you get away from the main stages and do a bit of exploring because your new favourite band/artist is just waiting to be discovered.

So get the highlighter pens out now, and get circling the names below….

WILD BEASTS (Sunday)

We're biased, because we genuinely think that Wild Beasts are one of the best bands on the planet right now – but it has been scientifically proven* that we're right 98.49% of the time, so, yeah. In any case, the British bands are the band who'll bring one of the most offbeat indie jams to Longitude, as well as give their audience something to dance to. They're weird, and we love 'em for it.

*not scientifically proven

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING (Sunday)

An equally odd band, but in a very different way to Wild Beasts. Manchester's Everything Everything have just released their excellent third album and it's an odyssey into the more idiosyncratic reaches of electropop. In other words, it's BLOODY GOOD. Go see 'em.

LEON BRIDGES (Friday)

Soul and gospel your thing? Well, make sure you get down to Leon Bridges' set on Friday, if so. The American musician has just released his debut album 'Coming Home', and it's a stunner. He's been described as a throwback to Otis Redding and Sam Cooke – need we say more? Make sure you pencil him in.

ALL TVVINS (Saturday)

Hailing from Dublin and yet to release an album, All Tvvins are nonetheless one of the hottest prospects on the Irish music scene. They played the main stage at Longitude back in 2013, when they were still a fairly new band – let's see how far Conor Adams and Lar Kaye's electro-indie sound has managed to come in the two-year interim.



WOLF ALICE (Sunday)

Wolf Alice were one of the most talked-about acts at Glastonbury and after hearing their recently-released debut album 'My Love is Cool', it's patently obvious why. The young female-fronted UK band take the best elements of '90s grunge, blend it with a semi-hipster sensibility and add a dose of vibrant originality for good measure. They could well be your new favourite band if you give them a chance.


DANNY BROWN (Sunday)

He's one of several rappers on the bill – Pusha T plays on Saturday and Young Fathers on Friday, both worth catching – but Danny Brown always offers something different when he plays live. Sometimes that gets him into trouble (such as the time that he controversially got… err… 'intimate' with a female fan on stage) – but his a dextrous MC with a lot of charisma.

WIFE (Sunday)

This Corkman, aka James Kelly, has been steadily gaining ground on the big guns over the last few years – first on the London scene and more recently in Los Angeles. He formerly fronted black metal band Altar of Plagues, but since going solo as WIFE has plundered from a more electronica-based well. His intimate, late night electro creations will please fans of James Blake (who's further up the bill on the same day, incidentally).

SLAVES (Saturday)

Is shouty punk your sort of thing? If so, you'll love Slaves. The 'guitar and drums duo' thing has been done quite a bit over the last few years, more recently with the likes of Royal Blood – but Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman are a little edgier than that. With smidgens of blues, garage-rock and lo-fi punk colouring their sound, we can't wait to see how their visceral tunes translate live.