Hosting literature, film, comedy, science, theatre, wellness and family acts, Green Man Festival is an independent music and arts festival held annually in mid-August in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Founded in 2003, it has evolved into a 25,000 capacity four-day event, showcasing predominantly live music (in particular alternative, indie, rock, folk, dance and Americana). Here are Bonded's top artists to see live at the festival! Get your tickets here!!
“What should we do now?” Big Thief asked at the end of their last album, 2022’s double whammy Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. The answer, of course: “headline Green Man!” Across five albums of reassuring, startling talent — and with Adrianne Lenker’s tremendous fourth solo album landing this year — Big Thief have risen to sit among the Bob Dylans, John Prines, and Elliott Smiths of the world, prolific and consistently exceptional with their “wit, warmth, and loosey-gooseyness”. We’re in masterful hands when they take to the Mountain Stage this summer.
For SAMPHA, music is “a place where I can go to find out how I’m feeling on certain things. It’s therapeutic. I’m the soil and they’re the nutrients trickling down. I’m the roots soaking it all up.” The London singer, songwriter, and producer won the Mercury Prize in 2017 for his debut album Process. Last year’s follow-up Lahai, named after his grandfather, dealt with the existential experience of becoming a father. He moonlights as a songwriter and guest artist for the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Frank Ocean, and Stormzy, but his captivating solo work as a headliner will instil a strong degree of magic among the Welsh mountains this August.
They got their name from a random Wikipedia generator and crowded stages with their sprawling line-up of classically trained and self-taught players. But ad-hoc or chaotic they are not: Black Country, New Road were nominated for the Mercury in 2021 for their debut album For The First Time, and reached No 3 with its follow-up, Ants From Up There. The band — which includes Jockstrap’s Georgia Ellery — emerged from Brixton’s Windmill scene in 2019 and have since honed their post-punk sprechgesang style into highly accessible art rock.
Little wonder they won last year’s Mercury Prize: Ezra Collective’s raw energy and joy — not to mention bassist TJ Koleoso’s two-step — are an irresistible proposition. The five musicians met as teens on south London’s music education programme Tomorrow’s Warriors, a name that proved prophetic when they won the 2023 Mercury for their jazz and Afrobeat-inspired second album, Where I’m Meant To Be. On stage, they’re life-affirming: it’s clear exactly where we’re meant to be when they perform.
Osees released their twenty-eighth — yes, twenty-eighth — album last year: Intercepted Message, a riot of vintage synth pop and pogo punk. You might also know them as Thee Oh Sees, or something along those lines: a longtime project of California’s John Dwyer, purveyor of raucous garage rock and a spirited live act.
Mount Kimbie’s Kai Campos and Dominic Maker never stay still. The duo emerged from London’s electronic underground with their 2010 debut, Crooks & Lovers, signed to Warp, and began a career steeped in experimentation. They chop up and stretch out field recordings and found sounds, and syncopate percussion to sound “like someone putting away the silverware”. Now a four-piece, their fourth album The Sunset Violent arrives fresh for spring.
The rabble-rousing Mary Wallopers “turned the studio into a pub” to record their second album Irish Rock N Roll, which came out last year. The contemporary Irish folk band started life as a travelling three-piece and have since doubled in size to include the tin whistle and the uilleann pipes, flaunting tight musicianship with a punk slant. The Pogues comparison is unavoidable, and well-earned, as the energetic group breathe new life into timeless tunes — and turn every gig venue and festival stage into a pub, too.
A ray of sunshine that’s more than welcome, Australian guitar-pop duo Royel Otis formed in 2019 and have just released their debut album Pratts & Pain, with producer Dan Carey on board. The pair — Royel Maddell and Otis Pavolic — initially bonded over a mutual love of the Alessi Brothers’ 1976 yacht rock hit Seabird, paving the way for their peppy, sanguine sound.
“The ethos of this band has always been to bring people together,” say US punk indie band Mannequin Pussy — a sentiment we can get on board with. Formed in Philadelphia in 2010, they’re on the cusp of releasing their fourth album, I Got Heaven, a power-pop punk-rock extravaganza that’s sure to be met with rapture on stage this summer.
Lucky us: “wonk pop” connoisseurs Lime Garden return to Green Man for another year! The Brighton four-piece have just released their debut album One More Thing, a cacophonous romp that has been compared to Charli XCX, The Strokes, Bloc Party, and Bon Iver — all in one. “I don’t want to work my job because life is fleeting and I’m a popstar,” they sing, and we couldn’t agree more.
“We’ve called it ‘post bloke’, ‘dog disco’, ‘comfy goth’, and ‘ramble core’ in the past,” say Big Special. None of those names quite fit what Birmingham’s Joe Hicklin and Callum Maloney do, which is blend punchy anthemic pop and spoken word with earthquaking working class anger, to Sleaford Mods-ish effect. The pair played in bands over a decade ago, drifted apart, and got back in touch over the pandemic, and their debut album Postindustrial Hometown Blues arrives in late spring.
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