In this feature, we pick out our favourite emerging artists from stages around the world.

This was our first time at the city-hopping three dayer that is the 6 Music Festival, and this year it was based in the historically musical city of Liverpool. Spread across several venues of this former industrial hub, we stepped off the platform at Liverpool Lime Street Station to seek out the freshest sounds at a festival which offered an array of established and emerging talent to sink our teeth into.

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SHE DREW THE GUN


(Photo: Jamie Simonds)

First stop on our 6 Music Festival experience was Liverpool’s Olympia to see local band She Drew The Gun in action. We’ve been following The Wirral’s SDTG for some time now and we recently had the opportunity to interview the band’s founder Louisa Roach about their recent album release Revolution of Mind. And so, it was with high expectations that we stepped into the red walled, floored and furnished venue. She Drew The Gun opened with stand-out album track ‘Resister’, and despite the lyrics of social consciousness and entirely competent musicianship, the track didn’t quite hit the same live as it did recorded. Okay, we think, maybe the band is warming up. As the performance goes on, the band certainly does seem to settle into the groove of things and as ‘Paradise’ rolled around, they’re sounding much more like the bold, anti-capitalist revolutionaries that we expected. An absolute shining moment of the set and a place where we felt Louisa Roach really stepped into her own was ‘Resister Reprise’, in which the lengthy spoken word call for “collective self improvement” and tolerance paired with those swirling guitars entirely enraptured the audience.



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BODEGA


(Photo: Jamie Simonds)

After a slightly tricky start where Bodega had to stop and restart due to some technical difficulties, the band dove right back into the swing of ‘How Did This Happen?!’. After several sweat-inducing tracks, vocalist and guitarist Ben Hozie customarily thanked the audience and dedicated the rest of Bodega’s set to film director Agnès Varda who had passed away that Friday afternoon, leaving behind a legacy of French New Wave film. Hozie encouraged the audience to close their eyes for free admission to their next short film - aka song - ‘Boxes For The Move’. Throughout the whole performance, each member of the New York band played their part with enthusiasm and style. There was the slick chic of bassist Heather Elle, quirky guitar playing from Madison Velding-Vandam, the warrior-like drumming from Tai Lee, complete with eye catching pink and blue buzz cut. There has to be a special shout out to percussionist and vocalist Nikki Belfiglio, who snaked her way through each song like a Bellatrix Lestrange and The Worst Witch hybrid. Bodega offered up one of those sets you didn't want to end; their energy was simply intoxicating. If you ever see Bodega on a bill in the UK again, go get yourself a ticket, you won’t regret it.



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MARIKA HACKMAN


(Photo: Jamie Simonds)

A quick search for Marika Hackman among the archives of The Most Radicalist and you’ll find a long old stream of List Picks. Clearly, we’re fans here, and so as the unassuming figure of one Marika Hackman in suit pants and t-shirt took centre stage at the theatrical Olympia, we watched in anticipation… and surprisingly the opening number was a subdued solo performance; a simple, yet timeless, combination of voice and guitar. It harked back to her earlier work, We Slept at Last LP. Although we were really still holding out for the London slacker-pop and guitar-loaded fury of I’m Not Your Man. The following song was good, as was the next, and the next. All in all, the show proceeded with a solid consistency, however the songs lacked distinction from one another. It all melded into one. Not to say that this wasn’t enjoyable, there were wonderful moments of fired-up instrumentals, but following the truly riotous performance of Bodega, this band’s stick-to-your-stage-spots show felt lacking. As time ticked on, we felt sure that fan favourite ‘Boyfriend’ was to come soon. And then…. As if a beam of sunlight shining through the clouds, we heard a familiar opening melody. The witty lyricisms and catchy hooks quickly won the crowd over and the band seemed to enjoy this new-found energy. Closing the show with ‘Boyfriend’ left us with a warm glow, although we wished Marika could have turned up the heat a little sooner.



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JULIA JACKLIN


(Photo: Alex Robertson)

Firstly, let’s set the scene. It’s Sunday at last, and we’ve carried our festival-worn selves out of bed and down to the trendy Baltic Triangle areas to a revamped warehouse now going by the name of Camp and Furnace. Our looks might be slightly more bedraggled than earlier in the weekend, but luckily for us the scent of loaded patatas bravas fills the air and Julia Jacklin is preparing to take to the stage. Over the past couple of years, this Australian export has found a loyal following here in the UK, having played many festivals and shows throughout the country. Having featured her resplendent, softly accented voice many times through songs like ‘Body’, ‘Cold Caller’ and ‘Eastwick’, we know that this is exactly what we need. Julia Jacklin is one of those artists you can watch any time of day, and although it's only just turned twelve o’clock, her presence at centre stage is entirely reassuring. Her performance is steady and comforting, her glassy vocal drifting over the crowd and settling upon our shoulders. Anyone who had seen Julia Jacklin play before today definitely wasn’t disappointed, she played ‘Head Alone’, ‘Pressure To Party’ and more with utmost confidence, while treating us to a more tender rendition of ‘Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You’. Safe to say, Jacklin remains in our good books as ever.



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PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS


(Photo: Alex Roberton)

Having been much revived by the street style food and multiple bars inside Camp and Furnace, we were somewhere still milling around underneath the foliage and cotton wool clouds swinging overheard. Nope, we’re not waxing poetic about nature; there was actually plastic leaves and great balls of wool up in the rafters of the venue. However, as fortified as we may have felt, nothing could have prepared us for the Northern rapture that is Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. The five-piece stoically took to the stage and immediately frontman Matt Baty, with his open, sheer material shirt and cropped black jeans, looked like a man possessed. With each doomy guitar revolution and thunderous percussion, Baty’s body convulsed and posed with each sound, his hands forming strange symbols, and the microphone - wire and all - becoming one with himself. Each member of the band seemed wrapped in their own world, none more so than Baty, but also the lofty, Adam Sykes, standing close to the edge of the stage, playing his guitar with passive compliance. Pigs x7 is a truly engaging band to watch, and even more endearingly, they’re kind and funny while talking to the crowd between songs. They joke about being a happy pop band on the radio and how their song ‘A66’ got their local council to fix a stretch of neglected road. For their final song, it felt as if Pigs x7 would be unstoppable, or spontaneously combust. Then, a parting in the crowd drew our attention - the brooding guitarist Sykes handed his guitar over to a member of the audience, who was doing a rather brilliant job shredding amongst his admiring peers, keeping the momentum going. Like all good things, Pigs x7 set came to an end, leaving us all of little dazed and grinning from ear to ear.



-Hannah Thacker