Kite Festival returns to Oxford this week for its second edition, delivering music, comedy & live podcast recordings in the grounds of a glorious Georgian mansion. We’ve rounded up our top picks for who you ought to be checking out at Kirtlington Park this weekend. Happy camping!
Hot Chip
Coming off the back of their eighth album, 2022’s Freakout/Release, the electronica veterans are once again lighting up festival dancefloors. Straddling the border between indie and dance, it’s hard not to see them as precursors to many of the crossover dance acts working today – a party not to be missed.
Candi Staton
Whilst Candi Staton’s farewell tour might initially seem as far away from Hot Chip as it’s possible to get, in fact there’s more crossover than meets the eye. Staton’s voice has echoed across dancefloors down the generations thanks to her anthemic ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ and ‘You Got The love’. Worth seeing live to be able to say you’ve caught those tracks alone.
Baxter Dury
A family name that needs no introduction, Baxter Dury offers a sleazy, entrancing live set quite unlike any other. In the middle of a purple patch after the release of his fascinating memoir Chaise Longue, he’s touring his semi-autobiographical new record I Thought I Was Better Than You. Expect swearing, karate moves, and hooks that’ll echo around your head for the rest of the festival.
Sofia Kourtesis
Stocking up Kite’s avant-garde electronic credentials is Sofia Kourtesis. A Peruvian artist based in Berlin, Kourtesis makes achingly beautiful, eclectic compositions that straddle the line between club and classical. There’ll be blissed-out instrumentation, constantly-evolving synth work and it’ll all be tied together by one of the electronic scene’s most credible names – the perfect bridge between the headline sets and the late-night entertainment.
Tapir!
By far the newest – and smallest – name on this list, Tapir! have nonetheless made a splash in the year or so they’ve been on the radar. Already signed to Heavenly Recordings, and with an album on the way, they’ve toured with Kite favourites Black Country, New Road, and peddle a not dissimilar brand of gorgeous, densely orchestrated post-rock. See them before they become the next big thing.
feature image courtesy of Kite Festival website
