Featuring Adam Richardson of the late lamented Ramesses and Mike Vest of Bong and Drunk In Hell (Supernormal vets all), 11 Paranoias deal in a still more psychotropic form of subterranean salvation. Heavily damaged by the acid-fried visions of early Monster Magnet and the repetitive mantras of Loop, 11 Paranoias are opening gateways to dimensions […]

This Lyon-based violinist conjures up a beguiling tapestry of equal parts drone-based deliverance and stately melancholy-inspired by the likes of Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad and Brian Eno, these beatific textures and spectral resonances are unique, atmospheric and rich with melodic invention.

The path of Alasdair Roberts may have included all manner of different approaches, from traditional songs to self-penned material, and from collaborations with puppeteers to collaborations with poets, yet he maintains one singular voice. His spectral strains transcend time and place, not to mention spurious notions of authenticity, by sincerity and artistry alike. Bringing a […]

A London-based sound artist who sculpts unearthly drones and bleak atmospherics, Anji Cheung has found praise from the likes of Julian Cope, who ventured of her 2011 work ‘Vessel Of The Earth’ “permeated my permafrost every time and invoke within me the wildest caniptions”. Fans of Burial Hex, Stephen O’Malley and Lustmord will be bewitched […]

Bristolian prog-rock seers Anta have triumphed through taking the sturm-und-drang of vintage gatefold sleeve triumphs of yore and allying it to a steely contemporary attack. The mystical sprawl of King Crimson’s ‘Red’, the metaphysical mind-melt of Alphataurus and tha shadows of Guapo’s ‘Black Oni’ are all gloriously audible in this dusky brew, whose potency is […]

Somewhere on the Converge/ Neurosis axis Art of Burning Water are less a heavy band, more a set of barely house-trained human pneumatic drills. Feral metal, if you will. Thick chunky riffs like asteroid tragedies and haemorrhoid-splitting vocals. Bring spare underwear.

Liverpool’s Barberos fuse elements from jazz, noise and dub, balancing out tribal-math double drumming and roaring synths, and all with a costumed theatricality that elevates their prog convolutions into unsettling B-movie mania.

Dirty electro synth pop from ex-lovers Gemma L Williams (ex-Woodpecker Wooliams) and Peter J D Mason (ex-Fence Collective). Combining glacial synths, glistening arpeggios, disco beats with Williams’ “homicidal Snow White vocals” (The Guardian) and lyrics tackling rape, child death and suicide, Becky Becky will make you dance and weep. Their debut album Good Morning, Midnight, […]

Newcastle’s kings of sloth and wrath have graced Supernormal twice before, notably bringing a vibe to the very first event not unlike that of watching Conan The Barbarian at one tenth of the speed whilst spectres from beyond R’lyeh invaded the outer realms of a sunny English afternoon. Such was the intensity of the experience, […]

These dreampop satyrs have been dwelling on the darker fringers of UK indie since the early 80s, with vocalist Dominic Appleton even guesting on This Mortal Coil’s ‘It’ll End In Tears’. Over the course of the last thirty years, they’ve built an impressive back catalogue of alarmingly prescient and exquisitely melodious fare, always existing on […]

Bridget Hayden first began to make her aurally enlightening journeys across the consciousness around the turn of the millennium, and having made her name initially sending violin scree forth unto oblivion in Vibracathedral Orchestra. Subsequently receiving prominence in avant circles with a variety of works that expertly manage a primal delivery with eerily transcendental flourishes, […]

Bristolian Guy Bartell has taken the wide-eyed world of small-hours celluloid inspiration to carve out his own unique niche of electronic melancholy and psychedelic expansion. Drawing on influences like Goblin, Neu! And Giorgio Moroder, his wanderings into such synapse-shattering terrain have included releases for Static Caravan, new soundtracks for both Haxan and Terminator 2. Hasta […]

This is the sound of Julian Cope’s metal nightmares and I claim my ten pounds. Think stoner/ doom axis, think fuzz like the speaker’s been battered in an arid opium den since the 60s, think Psychodelia drowning in bike oil and Oxfordshire Ale.

Cindytalk is the lifelong passion of Scottish singer/musician Gordon Sharp – a 37 year journey into the heart of noise-poetry. A dark and fractured first album ‘Camouflage Heart’ was released in 1984 to much critical acclaim, and the same year Sharp was one of three featured singers on This Mortal Coil’s debut album “It’ll End […]

Liverpool’s masked men of magisterial drone-pop have attained legendary status forging a sound that unites Velvets-esque beat group simplicity, krautrock repetition and glorious melodic suss to stirring and scintillating effect. Always unconventional, yet always alive with intensity and mischief, this four-piece continues to unite the Mersey and Mars with unrelenting punk rock relish. The most […]

Undersmile’s acoustic underside – but don’t let the ‘a’ word put you off – this is no less heavy than infanticide. Operating somewhere in the realms of Angels of Light’s ‘too dark for public consumption’ material, Coma Wall are like a opiated murderer’s sludge-caked meathook dragged through your cortex.

London’s dayglo titans of titanic riffage and kaleidoscopic pop suss have been setting moshpits alight for several years now, and have been on our wishlist for every single Supernormal thus far, so it’s a delight to welcome their brand of high-energy, low-reverence superfuzz mayhem to the field. If their recent ‘You Owe Me Nothing But […]

It’s perfectly likely that Cosham tourist board don’t feel the CCPA puts Cosham’s gentle village life in the best of lights, but Supernormal certainly do. With an arsenal of homemade instruments, they unleash the kind of noise battery that’s got enough energy to melt a standing army on sight. It’s the sort of racket that’d […]

Taking a cosmic folk sound that transcends transatlantic influences to forge its own uncanny magic, this wayward ensemble build bridges between country-tinged melancholy and absurdist acumen. With Haywood striking a balance between king and court jester at their forefront, these striking paens to the otherworldly and the ornithological should bewitch Braziers Park in style.

Hailing from the same Learning Disabilities scene as Zombie Crash, Daniel Wakeford brings heartfelt euphoria wherever he goes. His seemingly bottomless well of material offers up classic after classic in the shape of relentlessly catchy pop naivetes. It’s the delivery that sets Daniel apart, anyone with a shred of a soul can’t help but be […]

This labour of love by Steve Malley, also performing as The Horse Loom at Supernormal 2014, was born when he had the idea of reinventing traditional Northumbrian folk songs with some of his friends. Perhaps to his surprise, they were all game, and with a revolving cast of characters including such venerable spirits as Alasdair […]

With an earthy, wry tone and a transcendental voice at his disposal, Otley troubadour David Thomas Broughton creates loop-driven ballads that are rustic, dry and mischievous in equal measure. His haunting ditties, buoyed by his off-kilter sense of humour, balance out spontaneity and acute songcraft with eminently rewarding results.

Supernormal’s long had a reputation for bringing you the best in heavy psych thrills, and Dead Sea Apes are nailing that like a Messiah at Easter. Levels of suspense closer to a cardiac ward than summer festival, throttling bass and the kind of solos that’ll have you thinking it’s time to kick the green on […]

“There are only two types of people in this world: those who love Dethscalator and those who have not yet had enough crystal meth” thus opined John Doran of The Quietus, summing up the grubby appeal of London’s most deliriously abject noiserock crew. With a sound like the worst nightmare of the entire Amphetamine Reptile […]

This esteemed troubadour’s wayward path has taken him everywhere from guesting with The Orb several decades ago, to last month’s stellar album with Mark Lanegan, yet always carrying himself with the same wayward charm and earthy intensity. Part vintage blues gravitas , part experimental élan, and all wide-eyed, genre-defying flair, this rare talent will be […]

Elle’s from the folk side of the tracks, more familiar with boozey backrooms, morris men and real alers with proper beards. The trio is new, featuring Bela Emerson and Adam Bushell, two musicians as comfortable in the avant-classical worlds as they are arranging trad folk. Somewhat of a diversion from Supernormal’s usual fare, Elle Osborne […]

Crashing sonic waves and an atmospheric lighthouse glow from a Brighton-based trio with strange nocturnal vibrations at their disposal. Esben And The Witch’s two albums thus far have dealt in beguiling, dark and atmospheric torch songs that are as rich in amplified fury as emotional impact, and with their third Steve Albini-produced album on the […]

After one of their recent support slots with The Fall, one punter was moved to comment; “I can definitely say that Evil Blizzard are the most disturbing group I’ve witnessed. The musicians are not of this earth, at least in mind, and possibly also in body.” Strong praise indeed, and not inappropriate from a band […]

Broadcasting gorgeous loops and FX manipulation, silk stringed chromatic excursions and occasional cutlery, a unique spiritual confusion.

Falling Boy (aka Oliver IronGiant), he of lead gurn in the mighty Sea Bastard. A stand alone performance of relentless whitenoise guitar torture. Careful with the axe Ollie.

Kamikaze-esque off-pop songs delivered by a duo with a gratuitous fuzz and delicate melodies – we’re vouching on a strong future for feature. Something of an oddity, they’re at one with the Gods of heavy krauty riff while on first-name terms with the almighty Demiurge Motown. And a singing drummer! You can’t go wrong, you […]

‘Bodies are not volumes but coastlines, irresolvable but undelimitable penetrabilities, opportunities for the real decomposition of space.’ (Nick Land) Field Sports / Fold Music is the sound of the outside becoming the inside of a music, where musicians bring sounds, make sounds and hear sounds, in a music of (w)holes. Field Sports / Fold Music […]

Fish Police’s aim is, in their words ‘to make music that takes people to a different dimension’. The South London trio’s music fizzles with a passion for pop culture, packing in references from everything from 80’s computer games to Japanese anime. Informed by singer Dean Rodney and guitarist Matt Howe’s autism, the cinematic imaginations of […]

This Bahrain-born, Brixton-based troupe take African rhythms, repetitive grooves and a hedonistic sensibility to form a riot of sound and fury that’s both sonically adventurous and feverishly compelling. With po-faced muso tactics at a minimum and dancefloor frenzy to the fore, they bring a welcome and vibrant splash of day-glo to all or any proceedings.

This field in Oxfordshire isn’t often mystically transported back to the Mississippi of The Great Depression, but if anyone’s going to do it, it has to be Frank Fairfield-his uncannily sepia-tinted take on traditional folk and bluegrass transcend spurious notions of retro authenticity to end up something all his own. This is a lonesome troubadour […]

Fruit Canoe tells a story in waves of odd noise and distortion, told through a live response to a collage of samples, by using looped sounds and improvised acts of harshly vibrant mess.

A transcendental moment occurred at the very first Supernormal back in 2010 at around 9 on the Saturday evening, in which, were a bystander to have observed it, the entire field appeared to be congregated around a glowing UFO. The sound emanating from the speakers was from Salford satyrs and outlaw visionaries Gnod, and given […]

As vicious as battery acid, this four-piece London based outfit are the stuff of vitriol and bile; as one review had it, their splenetic punk rock attack, is “like Poison Girls if they skipped the art-drama and scraped at your chest with pointy fingernails” A blast of genuine agro in an all-too-often compromised and de-clawed […]

The problem with young people is that they seem to have lost their oomph. Y’know, they should be out consuming a county’s worth of comestibles, but they’re too busy social networking and twotting; to much NEET, not enough whiskey (neat). It’s a travesty that the Grey Hairs attack with rocking like back pain and receding […]

A faceful of battery-acid electronics under heavy manners in a techno-not-techno style; GunCleaner will make mincemeat of your hangover with their disorientating barrage of synapse-shifting aggro. Chaotic, hallucinatory and downright delightful.

Headquarters bring something of a Skynyrd shuffle the epileptic fizz of Brighton’s alt scene. Like hitching with someone’s who’s just the wrong side of dentistry and knife enthusiasm, Headquarters are just brooding enough to be malicious.

Crawling from a grubby world of overcranked ampstacks and Wetherspoons boozers, Henry Blacker’s sinewy attack, part Girls Against Boys groove and part Fudge Tunnel-style sludge abjection, makes for a queasy, surreal and oddly compelling proposition. A frightful insult to the riffage of classic rock, and all the better for it, their debut ‘Hungry Dogs Will […]

Some groups have names so good it’s almost not worth blurbing them. But then some bands aren’t really bands, so much as they are (self-described) “Dykes. Fat. Old”…amateurish, no-fi… one of their influences is tampon information leaflets… the only thing I could find on youtube was a song called the temple of butthole… one of […]

The debut album of this heralded Leeds crew, ‘Pearl Mystic’ launched an unassuming band way across the astral plane this year, and their mission continues as they bring their incendiary hardcore-fuelled drone-psych brew to Supernormal. With both minimal malevolence and epic scope at their disposal, this band takes the red glow of effects pedal euphoria […]

A veteran of the UK’s indie underground, having played in bands like Crane, Kodiak and most notably The Unit Ama, Steve Malley has more recently touched on a rich seam of tastefully restrained acoustic reverie with this solo project; taking influences like Bert Jansch and Davey Graham and allying them to both a punk rock […]

Solo acoustic bassist and vocalist Reeve’s debut album Friendly Demons was described thus; “As inventive and playful as it is richly emotional-his approach to bass is beautifully expressive, melodic and thoughtful, but also takes in flamenco-style flourishes, charging post-punk grooves, choppy, percussive passages and one surprisingly violent bout of chaos.” Reeve and Mike Watt are […]

A band with a duplex of prophecies – they really are good (better than that, in fact) and their label is called Infinite Chug. Well, the infinite bit remains to be seen but we’ve had a good 20 years out of them so far, and no signs of stopping. And the music? Simply put, the […]

Walking a razor’s edge between sugarsweet pop suss and caffeine-fuelled psychosis, Cardiff’s Joanna Gruesome are doing more than simply giving class-of-C86 indiepop a much-needed shot in the arm. Rather, they’re elevating it way beyond retro revivalism or classicism into an incendiary assault that’s as economical as it is invigorating. We never heard ‘dissonant wimp music’ […]

Four arms, four legs, two heads, wood, metal and plastic… JOHN bring a unique strain of two-piece rock and roll from the capital. Currently garnering support across the country and consistently put bodies on the line with a sound that both defies and embraces their limited number, because if you’re not sweating then you’re not […]

Cornwall-birthed and Brighton-based, the one-man self-styled ‘slurtronic folk’ project that is Kemper Norton delves down dark alleys in the British psyche, using the wyrd and wanderlust to embolden his atmospheric songs and bold abstractions. Sometimes akin a fever dream from inside a railway museum, at others like Kevin Ayers trapped in an extraterrestrial void, yet […]

Straight outta Newcastle. Khunnt are a band devoted to the most utmost horror and unpleasantness in all its forms. Taking snail’s pace doom and rolling it through broken glass until it howls in agony, they define their own sound as akin to ‘watching static in a darkened room tied up in a duvet with belts’, […]

The project of Oxford-based Max Levy, King Of Cats sound not unlike Lisa Simpson getting into Beat Happening and Dinosaur Jr and forming a band. Helium-fuelled wonk-pop from a dimension beyond rational thought.

The UK and Argentina, we’re old friends, right? Well if Las Kellies are anything to go by, we are now! These 3 Gals outta Buenos Airies dispel any ‘Hand of God’ grumblings with their unbounded stream of Garage Punk/ Pop suss, more Party Grrl than Riot Grrl (witness their romp thru ESGs ‘Erase You’). Vocals […]

Oft described as a ‘virtuoso magpie musician’, Laura Cannell takes an improvisational, unheimlich approach to traditional forms of music, often utilising a fragment from a medieval theme to her own end in a manner that embraces the apparitional and historical, the earthy and the otherworldly.

Louche rakes from another age of decadence and crushed velvet culpability, Les Bonbons arrive from across the Atlantic bringing a kind of refinement that Supernormal should find itself unusually swayed by. Somewhat in the tradition of Scott Walker, Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Brel, yet dealt without irony or raised eyebrows, Les Bonbons are, with not […]

This London-based stupourgroup describe their own sound as a ‘scumbag lysergic racket’ and we’re hard pushed to disagree. Containing members of Terminal Cheesecake, Part Chimp and Gum Takes Tooth, their barrage of rancour is equal parts the antisocial squall of Butthole Surfers, the twin drummers from recent Melvins falling down the stairs, and the sound […]

An enchanting Brightonian folk duo, whose stark, magickal serenades are possessed of both blissful simplicity and timeless radiance.

A free-jazz and improvisional perfomer whose redoubtable history goes right back to the 60s, Maggie Nicols has been a member of The Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Centipede, and has collaborated with a plethora of other artists whilst balancing out a jaw-dropping range and ability with a relentlessly experimental and adventurous approach to her art.

The beguiling and unmistakable strains of Mary Hampton have been heard twice at Supernormal before, in 2010 and 2012, and each time her delicately intense songwriting and haunting voice have resonated in potent style to jaws agape aplenty. Bridging folk tradition with a questing nature and an inventive artistry, she stands apart from categorisation and […]

The sort of coup d’état that a former PM’s son would admire, we’re chuffed to little mint balls that Michael Chapman’s agreed to play for us. Something of an elder statesman of English music (but no less vital for it), Chapman doesn’t really need an introduction. If you’re that side of too young then he’s […]

With all of the power of the Dio-era Sabbath album and absolutely none of the pomposity, Leeds ne’er-do-wells Mob Rules have quitely maintained their status as one of the most skull-splitting hardcore acts in the UK for several years now. With feverish drive and malicious intent, their punishing attack should bring an agreeable dose of […]

The brainchild of Eleanor Hardwick, Moonbow’s raison d’etre is to blur boundaries between different mediums of expression, with sound only being one part of a cosmic jigsaw that also encompasses interactive osmology, choreography, set design and a myraid other performance art aspects. As such, Supernormal are delighted to welcome a kindred spirit proving not only […]

Liverpool’s prime exponents of third-eye-cleansing heavy psych, dealing out a geometric blizzard of fiery riffage and motorik mayhem that flays the cosmos with spectacular abandon. Supernormal have been chasing these seers for years, and are delighted to welcome their kaleidoscopic force to the leafy realm.

When heavy instrumental rockers Kogumaza were asked to play Nottingham’s Annual Xmas Covers Party, the question of what songs to cover was obvious. With the addition of members of Cantaloupe and Hirameka HiFi and some crafty instrument-swapping they became the KGMZ52s, aka the NG52s: Nottingham’s PREMIER B52s tribute band (also Nottingham’s ONLY B52s tribute band). […]

In band terms, Olanza are still the other side of nappy training, but in musical terms it’s thick and heavy like seasoned oak. Not a hint of shit runny spilling out the sides. Getting ‘getting it wrong’ right, Olanza have the appearance of an ADHD stoner band, torching the tempo like a gunshot from a […]

The metropolitan kings of twin-bass dementia have been treading the boards ever since 2001’s colossal debut ‘Gee, That Ain’t Swell’, and despite having undergone a variety of line-up changes, maintain their reputation as one of the most confrontational, refreshing, ornery and inventive heavy bands in the land. Perennially underrated, their lean but brutalising assault continues […]

Stockwell’s mighty ogres of earthshaking riffage and celestial sonic sprawl are back with a vengeance from their self-inflicted slumber, and how. Brightening up the early years of the twenty-first century in the British rock underground with their righteous blizzard of aggro and abandon, the beast has been confined mostly to its lair since 2009’s ‘Thriller’. […]

Piperʼs Son began as an outlet for songs written by musician and artist Thom Driver. Over more than a decade, Thom recorded many hours of musical scraps. Stray guitar chords, bits of percussion, synths and ambient noises created a rich sonic compost in which songs began to germinate. The recently-released first Piper’s Son album, The […]

Students of the intergalactic spectral arts, Polymer weave arpeggiated synth-wave reflections of the cosmos. Having previously played at Supernormal under the pseudonym, Liquid Crystal, they are now back, blasting out a deep hyperdisco hypnodrone. These space druids will squeeze every smooth velvety drop out of their polyphonic pipeholes.

Gary Mundy’s Ramleh have been legendary figures in the more unforgiving realms of psychedelia and noise since the early eighties, hammering our feverish barrages of intense invective on labels like Shock and Broken Flag. Their recent return to the fray, which has seen them balance out the overload of their power electronics background with a […]

A riot of irreverent, unselfconscious abandon and guileless lo-fi suss, the frequently costumed and always exuberant Ravioli Me Away are purveyors of a zesty, infectious brand of keyboard-driven and melodic tuneage that manages to be danceable, abrasive and irresistibly poppy all at once. Riots in the second-hand clothes shop are rarely beguiling as in the […]

The Resurrected lodestars of uncompromising improv-avant-rock with a history that dates all the way back to the late 60s and Middle Earth club, via a period of assaulting sensibilities with a defiantly loud and confontational blend of avant-skronk that predated the like of Sonic Youth and Last Exit in its defiant blurring of boundaries between […]

Peculiar, in the best possible way – at once capable of plaintive folk singing sounding ancient as hills, simultaneously capable of weirdo electronics but not an inch of the contrived or arch about it. Tirelessly and consummately visiting all of the stranger outposts on British music’s chequered musical map and compiling the postcards into a […]

As The Quietus put it. “Richard Dawson is a singer with a voice that’s both gentle barfly croak and Icarus-soaring croon, vocal cords that have been roughly mulled by a ragged red wine as opposed to a thing made arid by whiskey. As a guitar player he’s evolved from homespun folk tales to a man […]

It might interest readers to know that this writer went to see Sea Bastard on the basis of walking home from work at a similar time to someone who had a Sea Bastard patch on their blue denim jacket. That’s the old of their school. But in fact, they’re only a couple of years old […]

This newly-birthed project, entirely comprising implicitly trusted yet sonically nefarious Supernormal vets from outfits like Mugstar, Part Chimp and Dethscalator, is currently shrouded in mystery. We were bold enough to enquire what they sounded like, and were told simply ‘Ketamine’. More fool us you might say, but we’d venture to suggest that Sex Swing’s is […]

Russian-born, London-based artist Kristina Salikova deals in melancholy, crepuscular violin-based serenades of intuition and abandon, somewhere between the shamanic tactics of Terry Riley, the drone tapestries of Tony Conrad and the cosmic Lovecraftian sorcery of Erich Zann. These hallucinatory vortexes are both mind-altering and life-affirming.

Twisting what can only be described as blues-rock into new directions unknown, Shield Your Eyes come not unlike the spirit of Rory Gallagher lost somewhere in the middle of Washington DC in the late twentieth century, and taking up his guitar to wayward skronk with an earthy allure and a forward-thinking intensity. Loud, satisfying and […]

Texan Craig Clouse’s ornery and malevolent band of assorted miscreants create something akin to the noiserock id run rampant. A repetitive, freewheeling one-way career on a rusty toboggan to dementia and delirium, awash with the aroma of Special Brew and mildew. Live appearances are rare, and joy should abound for this feast of gloriously abject […]

A blizzard of hellish percussive clangour and vivid digital horror, Shitwife emerged as a sonic demolition derby twixt Shield Your Eyes drummer Henri Grimes and Ladyscraper laptop annihilator Wayne Adam. Frenetic and frightful, borne from a pub car park with ‘Come To Daddy’ vibes fighting a messy and undignified psychic fist fight with a digital […]

DIY paragons of hip-shaking minimalist grooves from the cellars of East London, via the Delta of Venus; Shopping, taking style cues from ESG, Essential Logic and Erase Errata, smack like an uppercut and are raw like the kind of Sushi Neneh Cherry used to eat back when she was still in Rip, Rig and Panic. […]

Charlie Romijn has more strings to her bow than merely her involvement with Thought Forms, and Silver Stairs of Ketchican, her more abstract project, proves this in earnest-largely improvised foraying into six string trance states and Terry Riley-esque mantras, these otherworldly landscapes are fir to have a transformative effect on any environment they come into […]

A blinding Brightonian Grrrlgruppe dealing in garageous lo-fi hypno-pop. Spiky, addictive and vital, they’re apparently intent on bridging the gap between the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Brain Records-era Cologne and Snub TV.

One of the highlights of 2012’s Supernormal was Sly And The Family Drone’s bewildering and ceremonial lunchtime set, at which a variety of musicians in various states of disrepair, arranged on the grass nowhere near a stage, conspired to lure the assembled into a world where noise, free improv and out-rock converged like mud-wrestlers in […]

Quintessentially English, like curiously bucolic post-punk/DIY fledgelings whilst avoiding any such genres. Lyrically, it’s somewhere in the realm of an acerbic Billy Bragg, though don’t be confused into thinking the music’s liable to appear at Newport any time soon – it’s far too cutting for that sort of fare.

Spaceheads are a project of some 24 years standing, centred around trumpet legend Andy Diagram and drummer Richard Harrison. Luring trumpet loops and passages into the realms of both the emotive and the abstract, not to mention conjuring up a bewildering variety of tones and atmospheres between them, the band will be performing a live […]

Duo of destruction from Brighton, taking a celestial sci-fi sensibility to warp electronic pop into freakishly beautiful shapes anew. Propulsive and potent, yet this is a band whose interstellar scope and celestial transmissions serve to to make much of the humdrum of modern day kraut/psych look positively earthbound.

Sun Skeletons, they can really bust it out, let me tell you. This is cigarette flowers riding up jolly. But none of that flowery shit. Growling burrs. Death rattle. Dream scenes. Absolutely no plain old dusty wooden horses. No way! Psychedelic music based around patterns created on an electrified bulbul tarang / shahi baaja jr. […]

Forged somewhere beyond the fevered imaginings of Graham Hancock and the fever dreams of Kenneth Anger, Taman Shud bring us what they term ‘blackened psychedelic motorcycle punk from hell’. More wayward, more debauched, and plain more than the majority of supposed psych bands doing the round in the here and now, third eye landslides and […]

London’s most intrepid and adventurous psychedelic troupe have been involved with Supernormal right from the outset, and their return to the fray follows a blistering showing at the festival in 2011. Blurring the synth and disco odysseys of the 70s, the guitar-noise fuelled infernos of the 80s, horrorscore schlock and a whole mess of other […]

Arising from the murkiest depths of London’s late-80s noiserock hinterlands, Terminal Cheesecake dealt out a series of increasingly visionary records that mapped out a path between the grimiest of mildew-ridden basements and the most sparkling realms of the avant-garde unknown. Equally adept in dealing with chaotic drug-noise, dubbed-out abstraction and full-throttle psych-rock wig-out, Cheesecake were […]

These Glaswegian vortex-voyagers rather modestly describe themselves as ‘Scotland’s foremost Hawkwind tribute band. And no less mind’. Yet they’re failing to take into account that their galaxy-traversing kaleidoscope of blissful repetition, pupil-dilating freakout, trance-like groove and extra-terrestrial experimentation is equally adept at both igniting a moshpit and blasting off into the darkest reaches of the […]

Never a band to let the listener become comfortable at any given moment, The Jelas’ riotous and completely unclassifiable racket takes square-peg dynamics and John-Peel-spirit and throws them down a lengthy flight of stairs in style. Skeletal, wilfully awkward and vividly refreshing, they’re two fingers to rockist boors and a tonic for lovers of salvation […]

On some fictional map there’s a party island on the exact intersection of the lay lines of Joe Meek, surf punk, dnb and the sort of psych that doesn’t outstay its welcome, and on this island Physics House Band stand kings. As it happens, they’re Brightonians, but they amply avoid the markers of skronk and […]

Sending melodic filigree and guitar incandescence spiralling into the stratosphere. Wharves balance out grit and charm in mighty style, summoning the spectres of Throwing Muses and Sidi Bou Said from the ether. Blissful harmonies, chiming guitar cadences and earthy appeal all abound in this audial embarrassment of riches.

Tracing out a line between the red glow of effects pedal lights and the radiance of the cosmos, Supernormal favourites Thought Forms are masters of blissed-out noisepop and feverish six-string abstraction. This trio’s last album ‘Ghost Mountain’ only underlined their uncanny alchemical abilities, and this, their third appearance at the festival, should see the earth […]

Barely outta-the-traps Synth vs Drums duo comprising of Valentia (Raime,Shit and Shine,…) and Tom (The Oscillation). Shows have mesmerised crowds with their processed live drums via contact mics and analogue synthesizers, all through a wall of amps. Some forward-thinking electronics to top up your Sunburn.

Tribal Fighters won this year’s Symbiosis competition and with it, the high honour of a spot at Supernormal. They come from Manchester and make what they call “Twiddly babe pop”.

Sculpture is an opto-musical agglomerate made up of Dan Hayhurst (music), and Reuben Sutherland (animation). Their first test hit upon a psychedelic palette, the sensorial intricacies of which they continue to explore. Performance is central to their work, and feeds back into all aspects of the process.  Sculpture’s output includes music, film and video work, and […]

Primitives is a performance based opti-sonic installation from Spatial that uses custom made, home coded software to explore sonic and optical intensity articulated by simple geometric figures and extreme frequencies. Projected images drive a sensory assault, consumed by your eyes, then ears and existing somewhere between perceptions. In sympathy with the material aspects of live […]

Veterans of South Coast absurdo-skronk having done time in the Phil Collins 3 amongst others, this tumultuous twosome deal in angularities and abandon. Gaudily clad yet minimal of racket, this band are where the Beefheartian meets the dressing up box from Play School.

Artful C86 vibes and beguiling melody from a band bringing the spirit of Peel forth into the here and now. Weird Menace are equal parts summer incandescence and dark undertow, beauty spots and barbed wire.

Kate Bush/ Joanna Newsom comparisons are rife with Woodpecker Wooliams, though to your writer’s ears it’s more like if a 60s folker like Melanie was raised on Wolf Eyes. Devoted instrumental polygamists, Woodpeck Wooliams throw ageing keyboards, tapes, harps, brass and probably your muddy shoes into the mix creating something beguiling and harrowing: blister-pure melodies […]

I recently turned up late at a show (cheers bus replacement service!) to be told at the door ‘you’ve just missed the best live band in the World!’, thus began the pursuit of Zombie Crash. These guys are at the hub of the Carousel/Shut Up and Listen Learning Disabilities scene and they Frikkin Rock! If […]