SBTRKT, playing in Field Day Fest, is one of the must-watch artists picked by ELL. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The festival season is finally here and if you can’t be bothered with huge, muddy and troublesome festivals like Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds or Isle of Wright, smaller city-based ones like Field Day Festival is a far simpler and often more fruitful option.

The two-day festival returns to Victoria Park this weekend. Crowd-pleaser headliners such as Metronomy or Pixies are predictable draws, but the event also offers freshly-curated names on the bill.

Here are East London Lines’ pick of must-watch artists on Field Day:

SBTRKT

Behind his odd and exotic mask, Aaron Jerome’s personal project SBTRKT is modest, yet epic. The infamously anonymous artist is set to close the first day of Field Day, going head-to-head with the electronic outfit Metronomy. Guided with minimalist layers of synth and a peculiar approach of intimacy, mutant dub-step master SBTRKT is definitely worth watching on the first day of Field Day.

Blood Orange

The world of Devonte Hynes occupies a certain era; an era where wet snare drums, mom jeans and steamy lyrics are at the heart of everything. Hiding under the moniker of Blood Orange, the British-born, New York-bred producer is also responsible for ace tracks from Sky Ferreira and Solange Knowles. Playing on Saturday, songs from his newly released album Cupid Deluxe is the cheapest time machine you could afford to go back to the 80s.

Omar Souleyman

Before being discovered by UK electronic aristocrat Kieran Hebden a.k.a Four Tet, Omar Souleyman had already been a Kurdish rockstar since 1994, jumping from weddings to weddings in Syria, playing in front of thousands of people. It might be weird to see a dude with that kind of costume dancing awkwardly, asking people to clap their hands, but Souleyman’s charm is road-tested: His musical career has produced around 500 albums (most recorded at weddings to be kept by the couple), tonnes of collaborations and hundreds of acknowledgements. Lesson of the day: Don’t underestimate Middle Eastern wedding singers.

Temples

Modern psychedelic bands are often tricky, stuck between riding the nostalgia wave and running through boring repetitions, but Temples has firm reason to stand out and grab people’s attention. After getting positive nods from maestros like Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr, this British quartet catapulted into the spotlight with their lush and curvy tunes. Temples is what happens if Cream discovered internet in the 70s.

Tourist

Instead of triggering people to travel as tourists, Tourist’s music seduces you to lie down, close your eyes and fantasize. Tourist’s ambiance is cold and profound, a mixture of organic orchestrations and rhythmic intersections. Knitted with a consistent electronic blueprint, his songs forecast a new page in British electronic music. Just before Field Day, the producer and songwriter who also write Disclosure’s mammoth hit ‘Latch’ released an EP under the label Method.