40 Bands You’ve Never Heard Of But Should

Darien Venture

Rocking ‘light metal’ addictive band with clever vocals and lyrics from Ayr.

Spy Movie

Easy-going band with jangley guitaring from Glasgow, with a soothing female vocalist.

Three Blocks From The Wake

Minimalist-electro trio from Ayrshire.

Howling Bells

Upbeat-but-mellow female-led band from UK

Anna Meldrum

Individual artist with happy vocals and upbeat acoustics.

Panda Su

Feist-like female singer-songwriter

Dead City Riots

Grungy Glasgow 4-piece

Dinosaur Pile-up

UK Grunge ‘Weezer/Nirvana-style’ talented threesome

Frightened Rabbit

Scottish cult mellow band, constantly gaining in popularity

Six People Away

Lightly vocaled duo with electric drums and a good clever beat

Acrylic Iqon

Electric-rocking multi-gender band with addictive fast riffs

The Merry Poppins

Funky, jazzy, Madness-akin indie band from Austria.

65 Days of Static

Multi-instrumental band with a few vocal pieces.

Kharma45

Derry-based epic crescendo-using foursome

Miniature Tigers

Incredibly addictive nonchalant-seeming US band

Boycotts

Female fronted indie-rocky band with complex guitaring

Brother Louis Collective

Lyrically direct calming band from Glasgow. Clarinet included

We Are The Physics

Intense-vocals doubled with rapid drumming Glasgow band, currently touring Japan.

Sky Larkin

Definate one-to-watch from Leeds. Jangly guitars coupled with addictive beats

The Xcerts

Optomistic Aberdonian band with heartfelt vocals. On the brink of stardom.

We Start Fires

Modest indie-rock foursome from Darlington

Popolo

Vocal-less funky band to bop along to

School of Seven Bells

Sleepy psychedelic band from New York, easy-listening

Bombay Bicycle Club

Featured in NME, Interpol-like vocals from a London band

FoxFace

Glasgow indie/folk-rock band, with Snow Patrol-sounding male vocalist

We Are Trapped In Kansas

Clever guitaring coupled with funky pauses and prolonged singing

Friendly Fires

Already taken off, disco-house pop band. Touring all over

Soap&Skin

Female solo artist, minimal vocals varying in pitch and speed. From Vienna

Skinflints

Airy vocals with solid beats from Scotland. Great guitaring and song set-up

Twin Atlantic

Scottish Blink182, very talented musicians jamming with singalongable tunes

MuteMath

From New Orleans, signed to Warner Bros in USA, incredibly addictive indie-pop

Red Light Company

Epic-sounding band from London, backing-vocals-tastic

Young Husband

Easy-going indie band from Melbourne. Garbage-like female vocalist

Ipso Facto

Dracula-style piano-workings from London. Talented female vocalist

The Boy Least Likely To

UK intriguing whispering vocalist with a constant happy vibe

Fighting Wire

Metal(ish) band from Northern Ireland. Jumpy, fast tunes

Cinders Fall

Heavy metal duo with softer-than-usual-for-metal vocals

Dumb Instrument

‘Outstanding’ says Vic Galloway, slow and poignant band from Ayrshire