Grimes (live) "Genesis" @Berlin Feb 17, 2016

This is actually the same live clip I used of Grimes back in 2017 for the original Fantasy Festival series. It's one of my favourite clips from that series and, given that there isn't anything more recent available on YouTube, I thought I'd use it again. Grimes did a performance at The Game Awards back in December 2019, which you can watch here, but you don't actually see that much of her performing. The cyberpunk effects are great though.

Fantasy Festival number 10: The lineup

Jessica Winter: Brixton based artist Jessica Winter began her career in 2018 with a Halloween mixtape made with a laptop, piano and microphone. Her bedroom music is eclectic and varied, and she's been prolific since 2019. You can find out more here.

Mentrix: Iranian artist Samar Rad emigrated to Europe in the 1990s with her parents, returning to Iran as a young adult. She now lives in Berlin. Her music reflects both her Sufi heritage and Berlin's history of hard industrial music, but there's space and tension amidst the unyielding percussion. You can find out more here.

Automatic: Los Angeles band Automatic (not to be confused with Welsh band The Automatic or 1990s Mancunian guitar boys Automatic) make flawlessly executed, effortlessly cool post punk flavoured synth pop. You can find out more about them here.

Speech Debelle: Writer, activist, podcaster and MC, North Londoner Speech Debelle has been incredibly busy since she featured in 2017's Fantasy Festival lineup. While she's clearly looking to diversify her career, her creativity is not in doubt. You can find out more here.

Hollie Cook: Baby Slit, creator of 'jungle pop', and a key innovator within modern day lovers rock, Hollie Cook is three albums into a career that, with each album, has seen a rise in awareness and acknowledgement of her work. You can find out more here.

Kate Tempest: Poet, playwright, activist, mc and sage. Kate Tempest is no stranger to festival stages. You can find out more here.

Grimes: Five albums into an increasingly eclectic and innovative career, Grimes released her most recent album earlier this year. She is known for her intricate electro soundscapes, which incorporate influences right across the musical gamut, literally everything from classical music to grime. You can find out more here.

Billie Eilish: Teenage dark pop star Billie Eilish has been smashing records across continents these past twelve months. Getting her first UK number one single with the James Bond theme 'No Time To Die' and, in the process, becoming the youngest person to have a UK number one ever, being just one example. She should have been doing a UK arena tour this summer and it would be excellent to see her headline a festival. You can find out more here.

Grimes (live) "Genesis" @Berlin Feb 17, 2016

This is Grimes performing 'Genesis' live in Berlin in February 2016. You can watch her full performance on KEXP from 2012 online. 

Fantasy Festival #7: The Fiercely Futuristic Festival - Lineup

Noga Erez: Noga Erez is a 27 year old new artist from Tel Aviv. She makes sometimes playful, sometimes dark, always danceable to electro pop in the inventive and glitchy vein. Erez has been compared to both MIA and FKA Twigs and her debut album, Off The Radar, is out now. She will be touring the UK in October and will also be playing the Pitchfork Avant Garde Festival in Paris at the end of October.  

Natasha Kmeto: Natasha Kmeto is a producer and vocalist who composes electronic music in Portland, Oregan. Often epic in her emotional scope, she creates shimmering dance music and pared down brooding electro soul. She will be appearing at Le Guess Who? in Utrecht in November. 

Honeyblood: Honeyblood are a guitar rock duo from Glasgow who create frantically catchy songs that seem destined to be teenage anthems. They released their second album, Babes Never Die, back in May, but are not currently touring.

Courtney Barnett: Courtney Barnett is a singer/songwriter from Melbourne. Her 2015 album Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit, included the indie fave 'No one really cares if you don't go to the party', and continued to excite critics and music lovers already inspired by the laid back quirky guitar rock of the single 'History Eraser'. She will be touring the US in the autumn. 

Zola Jesus: Zola Jesus is the stage name of Nika Roza Danilova, an industrial/electronic artist from Madison, Wisconsin. Trained as an opera singer, she was inspired to create her own music by artists such as Throbbing Gristle, Dead Kennedys and Diamonda Galas. She has released five albums, and her sixth album, Okovi, will be released in September. She is currently touring the US and Canada, but will be touring Europe, including the UK, in October and November.

Sleater-Kinney: Corin Tucker. Carrie Brownstein. Janet Weiss. Sleater-Kinney formed in the mid 1990s in Olympia, Washington, became the standard bearers for the later waves of Riot Grrrl, and then went on to became a very good, very credible rock band. After eleven years of writing, recording and touring, they went on a ten year hiatus before returning with the critically acclaimed and fan adored No Cities To Love album in 2015. Their live album, Live in Paris was released in January. They will be playing the Music Tastes Good Festival in Long Beach, California, in September. 

Grimes: Grimes is a Canadian producer, composer, singer and engineer of astonishing and ethereal electronic music. She grew up in Vancouver and her second album, Visions (2012), and third album, Art Angels (2015), were both critically acclaimed. She is not currently touring.

Beth Ditto: Arkansas singer Beth Ditto, formerly of electro punk band Gossip, is now a solo act. Her bluesy, punk rock Etta James voice has been heard recently on the anthemic and brooding southern rock blues single 'Fire', and her debut solo album, Fake Sugar, is out now. She is touring Europe, including the UK, throughout September and October.