Once you’ve woken up with black metal yoga at Moth Club and warmed your heart with the St John’s Church dog show, it’s time to move onto the music. For the fourth year running, some of the best venues in Hackney will host Visions festival. Icelandic-British heartbreakers Dream Wife will be kicking things off nice and early at Oval Space, before the likes of Gabriel Bruce, The Japanese House, Jessy Lanza, Elf Kid, Yak, Gengahr, Let’s Eat Grandma and Bleached descend on East London.
For fear of being overwhelmed by the killer schedule, we called on our mates Dream Wife, aka singer Rakel Mjöll, guitarist Alice Go and bassist Bella Podpadec, to share their top talent tips…
Ulrika Spacek, 4:15pm, Mangle
“Saw them play for the first time during Great Escape this year and it was truly magical. They have these raw live visuals that look like the snow in an old TV screen mixed with layers of projections that fits really well with their soothing psychedelic sounds. Our sweet friend Ben White who recorded our early demos when we just started out, is their bass player and his bandmates are all really lovely guys.”
Mykki Blanco, 6:45pm, Oval Space
“Just go see Mykki because he is completely amazing. Alice saw him live a while ago at our old fave hang out in Brighton, The Green Door Store. Blanco ripped it up, wild, wild, wild! Spitting the lyrics like curses exiting a possessed body, you gotta go see this! We love Moment with Kathleen the song Blanco collaborated with Kathleen Hanana on, for obvious reasons, it’s a dream team. Go get Wavvy with Mykki.”
JD Samson, 9pm, London Fields Brewhouse
“JD SAMPSON is a total legend, as DJ, producer, and musician. With Le Tigre as one of our main influences we can’t help but be excited to see Sampson live. Bella and Alice caught Sampson doing a DJ set in London recently, we danced so hard. Do the same!”
Young Fathers,9:30pm, St John at Hackney“Bella’s dad has been going on for ages about how much he’d like to see us play with Young Fathers. The wives and the fathers. But seriously, Young Fathers are making exciting pop music that is both sonically and politically challenging, starting conversations that need to be had and making you want to dance at the same time.”
Anna Calvi, 9:45pm, Oval Space
“Anna Calvi is one of a kind, completely captivating both musically and in her intense theatrical performances. Rakel saw Calvi at Iceland Airwaves and counts her as one the best live performers she’s seen… and Alice is in love with her. Sing to Me is a glorious highlight of Calvi’s album One Breath – it also transports you live, soaring with the drama of Calvi’s performance, don’t miss. Sway slowly and let Calvi moooove you.”
Full line-up and tickets for Visions Festival available here.