Celeste's Top Fifteen: bands I saw this year

Hey look I made my life harder for myself by refusing to just make this a top ten

It’s been a great year for music! I’m so happy to share my top picks with you, go and listen to all of these bands because they’re all fab and deserve you love.

xoxo

Channel Tres

I first came across Channel Tres as a DJ via Soundcloud mixes, such as this one from Resident Advisor. I went to the gig expecting a DJ set, and was delighted to find that he was performing his songs with a pair of excellent backing dancers, the three of them bringing the house down at the sold out show. It’s the perfect blend of hip-hop and house, but Channel Tres doesn’t allow something as subjective as genre to box him in. As with many great electronic artists, Channel Tres earned his stripes making beats for artists such as Kehlani and Duckwrth, the latter of which he still collaborates with (check out this show they did for NTS). His many collaborations with artists including Honey Dijon, Mura Masa and Shygirl, Polo and Pan, Robyn, Tyler, The Creator, Charlotte Day Wilson and JPEGMAFIA show his versatility and elasticity. With a new release Walked in the Room out just a fortnight ago, Channel Tres will undoubtedly be back on tour very soon and you’d be crazy not to go.

The Hives

As a die-hard Hives fan, I’ve heard many a rock-n-roll snob complain that all their songs sound the same and there’s no variety. Sure, whatever. Have they considered that that’s the reason I like them so much? I love nothing more than consistency. Why mess with a winning formula?

Sweden’s garage rock-revival sweethearts hail from a small town no one has heard of and formed in best year ever - 1993. They started off with the frantically noisy 1997 album Barely Legal, where every track is under 3 minutes long (song tip: A.K.A I-D-I-O-T). They refined their sound with 2000’s Veni Vidi Vicious (featuring the era-defining Hate To Say I Told You So), 2004’s Tyrannosaurus Hives (you’ll all have heard Walk Idiot Walk) and my personal top pick: 2007’s tight and suave offering The Black and White Album (featuring my all time favourite and hugely underrated Bigger Hole to Fill), whose tour passed through Birmingham which wee 14 year old me went along to. I sort of stopped paying attention by the time Lex Hives came out in 2012, which was original bassist Dr. Destruction’s last album. Eleven years in the mist later, we were blessed with The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons (who is Randy Fitzsimmons? NME looked into it in 2002…). Anyone who was worried that they might have lost their energy while they were away can breathe a sigh of relief.

It’s not just the matching glow-in-the-dark tuxedos or guitar techs dressed as ninjas playing the tambourine in the background that make the live shows so fun. Frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist has a way of connecting with his crowd, often through exaggeratedly cocky statements about his own brilliance. He catapults energy into the crowd and feeds off what bounces back, creating a dialogue of madness that never seems to dip. In the digital era, they maintain their silliness on their socials, where they seem to fight fellow Swedish noisesmiths Viagra Boys in the comments (Sweden ain’t big enough for the both of them). Their brilliance lies in their uncanny ability to always be performing, which really makes me think they aren’t performing at all - they’re just having a good time, all the time.

Girli

London-based pink babe Girli popped up on my Discover Weekly back in 2021 - when I was having a thoroughly weird time - and this year I finally got to see her live. She has a beautifully textured voice and incredible vocal range, which she uses to sing devastatingly honest songs about all the girls she’s loved. Girli’s fun and energetic set was intercut with her speaking directly with her audience in Paradiso’s smaller upstairs room, which is just the right size for an intimate connection between artist and audience. She is marvellously open about her own queer journey, an inspiration to young women everywhere beating themselves up because they have a crush on a girl in their class, or anyone feeling like they’re not the gender they were always told they were. It’s heartwarming seeing someone who has gone through it and come out the other side stronger, more fabulous, and in Girli’s case, pinker than any human has ever been. Girli is only going to get more and more famous, so catch her while she’s still playing intimate venues - I don’t doubt for a second that she’d tell all her wonderful stories to packed stadiums with the same candour and tenderness.

Sugababes

Living abroad means you learn which popstars from your childhood have made it across the English Channel and which haven’t. Robbie Williams is huge in the Netherlands, but Take That isn’t. Steps didn’t make it this far, nor did S Club 7. Sugababes, it turns out, are an absolute hit over here in Cheeseland.

The classic Sugababes lineup from my youth is Mutya-Keisha-Heidi. Honestly, I don’t have much of a clue about who Siobhan is, but she’s back for the fabulous reunion tour that blew the roof of the Grote Zaal. This was one of those shows where every single member of staff comes along to watch, putting Sugababes up there with other Paradiso staff favourites such as Viagra Boys, Amyl and the Sniffers, The Hives - generally, we’re into loud rock bands, so for a British girlband from the 2000s to be such a hit with us tells you how sensational they were. All the hits - Round Round, Hole in the Head, Too Lost in You, Overload, Push the Button, About You Now - sound just as amazing as when we were making up choreography in the playground for them in Year 6. In fact, it’s even better because now we’re old enough to stay up late, jumping up and down to them at top volume in an old church. Keep up the good work, Mutya Keisha and Siobhan. Whoever you are.

Big Special

Big Special are two boys from my old hometown of Birmingham - soft spoken gentle giant Joe (vocals) and the mischievously energetic Callum (drums), a duo who blend slow, heavy punk and spoken word, politically-charged lyrics. When he walks onstage, Joe transforms from a shy and polite chap to an ‘orrible bastard, snarling into the microphone with the words “Never in a million fucking years/Did I ever think I'd ever/See your fucking face again”, while Callum attacks the drums with his tongue stuck out like a demon. For two men, visibly masculine and tattooed and hailing from the industrial working class wasteland in the West Midlands, they create music that is vulnerable and real, with an aggression that doesn’t feel like it’s attacking you - instead, they’re on our side, fighting for us, using their strength for good. Their subject matter is grim - mental health, being stuck in a shit dead-end job, the soul-sucking reality of Tory Britain, societal disenfranchisement - but their anger is interwoven with something that feels like hope. And they’re not just shouting about what they’re angry about, they bellow words from the soul that reach our ears like poetry.

In a testament to how socially aware and kindhearted these two scamps are, they recorded a punk rock cover of Jona Lewie’s Christmas hit Stop the Cavalry on Bandcamp, with all proceeds going to Save the Children Gaza Emergency Appeal. If you have a couple of quid to spare then go buy the song and do a bit of good this Christmas. In their own words:

It’s devastating to hear how infinitely relevant this song is and we wanted to see if we could raise a bit of money for Save the Children’s Gaza Emergency Appeal.
It’s important to remember that whilst many celebrate over the festivities, others are living in unimaginable hell. To stand on the right side of history, we must always stand with the oppressed and, in this case, call for a Permanent Ceasefire.

Guitar Wolf

I was in for Black Country New Road when a band I’d never heard of called Guitar Wolf - or was it Wolf Guitar? - were playing upstairs. It took me a while to clock that the three cheerful yet somewhat bemused-looking Japanese men wearing full leather, bandanas and sunglasses were the mysterious chaps from Guitar Wolf. Accompanied by their dazzlingly charming French tour manager Jeremy - who knows how to say “thank you” and “you’re welcome” in Japanese, Guitar Wolf - who know about as many words in French - are the inventors and stewards of “jet rock”, their own personal sound that they’ve carefully been curating since way back in 1987. What is jet rock, I hear you ask? In the words of lead singer Seiji in a 2012 interview:

“I love jet plane. I love noisy music, too. So... there were records... many records... every record have no big sounds. So... easy to listen. I hate that! So! I add jet sounds. Bwaaaahng! Explosion!”

These three took to the stage for an hour - maybe it was more? - of pure, unbridled, chaotic, jet madness. Seiji screams into the mic and shreds pure noise, dripping with sweat, leather jacket and trousers stubbornly remaining on (the bass player and drummer eventually cracked and took their sticky jackets off - probably a wise move, but is it rock and roll?). The level of mayhem never dipped, and when the show ended - after two encores - Seiji, more sweaty than I have ever seen a human being, physically collapsed and staggered offstage, crumpling into a heap in the corridor whilst I hastily went to fetch him some water. His bandmates, via a series of short words and hand gestures, assured me he was fine and this happens all the time. Is now a good time to mention that Seiji is 60 years old? I love him. I love them all. For the love of god, go and see them live because there’s nobody in the world like Guitar Wolf.

Pabllo Vittar

Sometimes, I need an artist’s name in my work schedule and try and guess what sort of music they play. I saw the name Pabllo Vittar and thought - Spanish singer-songwriter? That kinda ballpark?

I have never been more wrong in my whole life. Pabllo is the world’s most-followed and second most-streamed drag queen, pipped only by fellow Brazilian Gloria Groove.

What’s frustrating about these streaming and following stats is that you have to go hunting for them yourself. If you google “Most followed/streamed drag queens” it will only show queens from the Drag Race Universe, who pale in comparison (RuPaul themselves has a paltry 4.7m). No hate to the Drag Race franchise, I’m a big fan (especially of the UK editions) and it’s been a pivotal part of bringing LGBT culture to the mainstream. But it’s ubiquity means that those who don’t come from English-speaking places tend to be overlooked in the English-speaking world.

Brazil is simultaneously progressive on LGBT issues and also a dangerous place to be queer. Approximately 1.8% of the country’s huge population identifies as gay or bisexual, São Paulo has the world’s biggest pride parade, and 79% of the population believe that LGBT people should be accepted into society - not bad for a primarily Catholic country (this was before my homeboy Francis said gay is ok). Government initiatives to protect LGBT high school students from discrimination have been in place since 2004, gender reassignment surgery is provided via public healthcare, transgender people can legally change their sex without undergoing hormonal or medical transition, and homophobia is punishable with jail time. At the same time, Brazil has the highest trans murder rate in the world, and has been at the top of that grim table for over a decade. Pabllo’s own experience of facing discrimination as a gay man, drag queen, and genderfluid individual have made her determined to unashamedly and publicly be herself - and to give others strength to do the same.

Anyway, back to Pabllo (who goes by she/her in drag and he/him in civvies - I’m going for she because I saw her performing in drag). With a bevy of backing dancers and my favourite - a LED wall - she gave us a bum-wigglingly fabulous set, and it felt like every Brazilian in Amsterdam was in for the night. Pabllo is truly amazing - an icon and a voice for the LGBT community in her country and beyond.

Read more about Pabllo in Vogue, NPR, and Remezcla.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

It’s 2023 and indie sleaze is all the rage with the zoomers. But they weren’t there, man. They weren’t there when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs got cracking. It’s been 23 years in fact, which would make me feel old if I wasn’t basking in the joy of having enjoyed their music for so long. How could one not love Karen O, the woman makes screaming an art form? She is perfect.

So this Yeah Yeah Yeahs show. They’ve still got it. Two of our most serious-looking security guards waited patiently on the first balcony for the cue to throw the two giant inflatable eyeballs into the crowd, when the band reached the climactic moment in Zero. They bounced around, smashing several of the hundreds of lightbulbs that line the bottom of the balcony, before being shepherded out of the back doors to be put back on the truck (this took quite a long time).

The show was a symphony of confetti - 42kg of the stuff - which rained down on the ecstatic audience like the first snow (this was swept up into a giant pile at the end of the night, which due to the broken lightbulbs that were also part of the detritus meant I sadly could do a big running jump into it like a golden retriever into a big pile of leaves; a tragedeigh).

In their 23 years they’ve only released 5 albums and 18 singles, which to me doesn’t feel like a lot (though we’re living in a King Gizzard world, so maybe my goalposts have been moved). I kinda dig it though. They’re doing things at their pace, quality over quantity, and clearly having a whale of a time enjoying their fun and successful career. That’s the dream, and they’re living it. Stay excellent, Karen O and crew.

The Covids

Due to my line of work, the kinds of bands my work friends are in are all pretty fantastic. Current and former colleagues of mine are in Pip Blom, Canshaker Pi, Personal Trainer, Claw Boys Claw, and probably many others that I just haven’t found out about yet. The newest addition to that list is my buddy Max’s high energy band The Covids, self described “contagious punk rock”. Any fans of classic punk who were born too late to jump up and down at a Buzzcocks gig are in luck: The Covids have you covered.

Like many Dutch rock bands, The Covids sing in English and write lyrics as catchy and clever as any native speaker would. The melodies are tight, the vocal harmonies are sharp, and by virtue of being a contemporary band with modern technology at their fingertips their sound is clean as a fresh buzzcut. The Covids are headed on tour in 2024, so go and catch them if they pass through your town.

Franc Moody

I first saw this lot in the small room in 2019, and this year they got the upgrade of their dreams - the Grote Zaal. As discussed in my top ten favourite bands based on how fun they were to work with, Franc Moody were absolutely pumped to make it to the big stage and their show didn’t disappoint.

Named after co-founders Jon Moody and Ned Franc, the band are technically a duo. But their band - Rosetta Carr on bass, Jon Hale on drums, Luke Bowman on guitar, and Amber-Simone on vocals are crucial cogs in the Franc Moody machine that finely crafts the funkiest electronic pop-dance beats. Their songs all have an air of euphoria to them, which frankly I often need to get get through the morning.

Their albums - Dance Moves (2018), Dream in Colour (2020), House of FM (2021) and Into the Ether (2022) are all heaps of fun and great for blasting at any time of the day, but they truly transcend into the sensational live. Their positive energy effortlessly gets the crowd on their side. As I saw the keytar player’s solo get steadily more and more frenetic, rolling around on the floor until the drummer simply got up off his throne and began to wave his arms around in a “we are not worthy” manner, the crowd fully lost their minds. As fun as the albums are, the confines of a studio can’t fully capture their wild joyful energy. And that’s why you should go and see them play, and in the meantime - put those albums on repeat. That’s an order.

Ezra Collective

Maybe you’ve heard me complaining about working with jazz musicians. This has nothing to do with Ezra Collective, who would never disrespect the timetable.

Anyway, I digress. Ezra Collective are a jazz quintet from the UK who are so outrageously talented that they won the Mercury Prize only a few months ago - the first jazz group to ever win UK music’s most prestigious award. Their bandleader and drummer Femi Koleoso has also been the live drummer for Gorillaz since 2020; the rest of the band are Femi’s brother TJ on bass, Joe Armon-Jones on keys, Ife Ogunjobi on trumpet and James Mollison on sax. Their releases are a mix of instrumentals and songs featuring fantastic guest singers - such as Sampa the Great, Emeli Sande, Loyle Carner and Kokoroko.

Jazz musicians are breathtakingly talented musicians, often with classical backgrounds and conservatoire musical education. As we approach the 11th year of university fees in the UK costing almost £10,000 a year, studying creative arts like music performance is a luxury. A music college education isn’t mandatory, but three years at a top music college being taught by brilliant teachers will obviously help aspiring young musicians get ahead. Eye-watering fees for elite music colleges - RAM, RCM, RNCM, RWCND, Trinity, and Guildhall - favour those not hobbled by economic inequality and systemic racism: white, middle class musicians. Jazz was originally associated with blackness, but until recently it was the pursuit of white men; only recently have women and ethnic minorities smashed the glass ceiling and asserted their rightful place in the genre. When you think about it, it’s crazy. The greats of 20th century jazz were primarily African-American, descendants of slaves, who by virtue of their prodigious talent became superstars of the genre.

The Koleoso brothers addressed elitism in jazz in a New York Times article back in 2018, where they remarked that ‘a career in jazz seemed unthinkable to them. “I saw jazz music as an elite art form that I didn’t have access to,” Femi said, “like playing the violin or riding a horse.”’ Through their church the pair discovered Tomorrow’s Warriors, who offer jazz training for talented young musicians ‘with a focus on Black musicians, female musicians and those whose financial or other circumstances might lock them out of opportunities to pursue a career in the music industry.’ The brothers met other musicians who have been part of Ezra Collective via Tomorrow’s Warriors, and they form a diverse alumni network of artists who support each other and collaborate. The group’s Mercury Prize win is concrete proof that societal structures in place to silence creativity can and will be overcome.

In a racist and unequal Tory Britain, home of inaccessible education, where culture has suffered so tremendously under austerity, the triumphs of Ezra Collective are a beam of hope and a defiant act of joy in a society that is designed to work against them.

Overmono

These two brothers from Wales live and breathe electronic music. They’re sophisticated, precise, obsessed with their sound, and they’re changing the face of their genre. The ambience of their sound reminds me of artists like Mano le Tough, artists from Geigling, Christian Löffler, Seb Wildblood, Bicep, Joy Orbison and anything from Musik for Autobahns - but that’s just one element of it. The other is popular appeal, which is where they’re similar to Disclosure, who also happen to be a pair of brothers.

As part of the wider trend of electronic music being a performance done for an audience rather than a DJ set done for a warehouse at 4am, they appeal to the mainstream not just because their music is incredible, but because you don’t have to stay up until 4am on drugs to enjoy it. And that’s not to say that the people who enjoy it are getting too old for raving, or it’s being gentrified into concert halls. It’s just another way of listening.

That being said, just listening to their album won’t get you the full Overmono experience. Hearing Overmono live elevates their music from perfectly produced samples and beats to an experience where you can really feel everything.

Romy

Does this name look familiar? That’s because this is the same Romy from Mercury Award-winning group The xx, who is now a solo artist of joyful, vulnerable, euphoric dance music. Self-described as a love letter to the queer clubs she grew up dancing in, her debut album Mid Air was produced by electronic heavyweights Fred Again and Stuart Price and guys, it’s a banger.

When Romy came by Paradiso this year, it was only the second night of her debut tour, Club Mid Air. She is an extremely experienced musician who has spent plenty of time on the road with The xx, yet she is so humble and so thankful to her audience, telling us that they’re just starting out with this project, that they’re having an amazing time, that they love them. It perfectly matches the music, exuding happiness and queer joy. You really get the feeling that this is the real Romy, not just someone who is the part of another project. She is letting her guard down in her music, and we get to see all of her - effervescently friendly and very enthusiastic to share her new sound with us all. And it’s beautiful.

Club Mid Air has just ended but I’m sure she’ll be back on the road soon. You can read more about Romy’s process and the story behind her pivot to solo work in this lovely interview with NME.

Bob Vylan

Bob Vylan are extraordinary. Made up of Bobby and Bobbie, this punk rock duo are fiercely political, and do not give a single flying fuck about optics. These two are using punk for its intended purpose; to scream about the world’s ever growing injustices. No shortage of those in modern Britain…

In the music industry, you have to sell and stream as much as possible to get by and you need to keep people happy. Bob Vylan understand that the platform they have - which they’ve worked hard to earn, already on the back foot by virtue of being Black men in the traditionally white space of rock music. For years, radio stations refused to play them and they were disregarded by the music press. But they were fiercely independent and booked their own shows, delivering their own records to stores, and releasing their songs on their own label, meaning they had no one to appease and full rights to their music. Their third album, We Live Here, was the first to be released on a label that was not their own, in the summer of 2020. They’ve not let being on other labels dim their shine, and they’re more furious than ever.

Common themes in songs include police brutality, racism, fatherhood, mental health, addiction, gentrification, capitalism, inequality, toxic masculinity, homophobia, and the shitshow that is the UK right now. The band have recently been extremely vocal about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and performing on stages festooned with Palestinian flags. I like it when a band puts their money where their mouth is, something other allegedly “political” or “left-wing” bands have been conspicuously failing to do. Bob Vylan recently called out IDLES and Sleaford Mods for their silence on Gaza, prompted by Sleaford Mods calling off a show after someone threw a Palestinian scarf onto the stage, with singer Jason Williamson whingeing at his fans about being asked to “take sides”.

Bob Vylan are a reminder of what punk rock actually is, how to use your platform for good, and why sticking to your principles and being on the right side of history is more important than keeping the label happy. Make sure you support these fellas - listen to their music, buy their records, go to their concerts, and tell all your friends about them. Oh, and yell loudly about everything that doesn’t sit right with you. You won’t do any good just sitting there.

Heartworms

Just a heads-up - if you google Heartworms, then I implore you to add the word “band” unless you want some gory pictures of parasitic worms that cause diseases in the hearts of animals. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

I dig any band that has an atypical rock instrument in their arsenal, from the sax in Viagra Boys to the trumpet in Squid and the oboe in Franc Moody. Heartworms - the musical project of the marvellous Jojo Orme - take it a step further and bring the weirdest little fella of all - a theramin. This electronic instrument makes sound by the player wiggling their hand near two sensor antennae, one which controls volume and the other pitch. The result is an eerie wiggly swoop, that in this case helps create Heartworms dark, post-punk soundwaves. Jojo provides the vocals, which range from chilly shrieks to crisp and clipped semi-spoken words, to complete these little nuggets of gothic symphony.

Jojo herself is a remarkable person, a one-woman project who is fiercely independent. In an interview with NME last year, she discussed the tedious obstacles she faced as a mixed-race woman in the music world, escaping her stifling small town to make it in London, and gritting her teeth whilst studying a male-dominated course, having the last laugh when she ended up being awarded Student of the Year and now touring successfully. Boys, honestly. She’s on an upward trajectory and you really must go and see her in all her theramin wiggling glory.