OUT OF THE ORDINARY
SEPT 23-25 / HAILSHAM / £60
20 MILES FROM BRIGHTON

As the festival season draws towards a close for another year, there’s still time for a last outdoor hurrah as Out Of The Ordinary celebrates the autumn equinox at Knockhatch Farm in the south coast countryside. Fittingly for this issue of SOURCE, its emphasis is firmly on the eco, with plenty of informative talks and workshops, but the educational side is more than matched with this last-gasp opportunity to either chill out or go nuts at an end-of-season party.

Spread across four element-themed areas, OOTO offers the full festival experience for you to variously dip into as you please. Air brings a mix of the south east’s finest emerging musical talent alongside more established festival favourites, as well as health drinks at the Euphoria bar. Fire offers red hot cabaret, poi and circus skills for the more outgoing attendee, while Water provides a tranquil respite with holistic and alternative therapies, yoga and sauna. Earth is the perfect place to expand your mind with topics from astronomy, astrology, science and spirituality, as well as a family area for all-ages eco learning.

You can even make your journey to and from an eco experience, as the chip oil heroes of the Big Lemon Bus Company are ferrying festival-goers to and from Brighton, and they’re encouraging car-sharing for gas-guzzling minimalisation among drivers.

All in all it’s probably the most rounded local festival experience on the calendar, and we could all do with imbibing the vibe.

HEADLINERS: System 7, Fujiya and Miyagi, Solo Banton
DON’T MISS: Transformer, Dun’n’Tuff Allstars, Boycom
IN A NUTSHELL: An all-round proper festival experience, the proper hippie way

FESTIVAL OF EXQUISITE NOISE
OCT 13-15 / BRIGHTON / £15
THE PRINCE ALBERT

The Prince Albert is playing host to a three-day takeover by the people behind Numbskull HQ, a music company name that might not mean much to the majority of our readers but whenever we get sent anything with their name on it we know it’s going to be decent. This four-bands-a-day-for-four-days bill isn’t entirely made up from the bands they represent but they certainly get a good showing, with prop-ups from some of the rest of the best bands around at this kind of room size.

At the time of going to press (and we did leave it as long as we could) there were a few bands still to be 100% confirmed, but every single night is shaping up great already anyway. Black Black Hills (who used to be Pope Joan) have taken on a new lease of life with their name change and, from what we saw when we sneaked into their BBC Sussex session recently look unmissable live. Sparrow and The Half Sisters both seem to have achieved some national acclaim recently and return to Brighton on a high, while we haven’t seen The Valentines for a while and look forward to checking them out again.

You can pay a fiver a night or get a £15 ticket for the whole shebang – either way it’s pretty decent value for what you’re going to be stood in front of.

HEADLINERS: Sparrow, The Valentines, Jennifer Left, Black Black Hills
DON’T MISS: The Minor Sounds, Heliopause, Good Luck Jonathon
IN A NUTSHELL: Indoor indie floor fillers

FOXTROT
SEPT 11 / STANMER HOUSE / £22.50

Folk music is wonderful in the sunshine but can quite often be overpowered at mixed genre festivals. Thank god for the WIllkommen Collective then, who have put together – with the help of Melting Vinyl – their third Foxtrot festival. The setting is perfect – in the grounds of Stamner House a week before those noisy dance music fans turn up for Shakedown. What better fantasy than hanging out with your favourite musicians around a country manor.

Last year Laura Marling headlined with The Leisure Society and Anna Calvi lower down the bill. Yeah, it’s a bit like The Great Escape – if you don’t know everyone on the line-up now you’ll be bragging about having seen them a few months later. There’s plenty of current faves playing this year too – not least Herman Dune who are just about the most adorable sound around right now. Also firing are Peggy Sue, with a fresh and vital new album to play from. What we’ve heard so far will give PJ Harvey a run for her money. Elsewhere their old mate Alessi’s Ark will be delivering soft, emotional lo-fi pop from her new LP on Bella Union. There’s also Joe Gideon & The Shark, The Memory Band and Sam Amidon among the baker’s dozen acts of what is a real folk connoisseur’s line-up.

But more than individual bands this is a festival that’s clearly been put together with real love. Many of the people playing have a long history with the Willkommen Collective so this will be more of a special day of hanging out in the sunshine. With great acoustic music, of course.

HEADLINERS: Herman Dune, Peggy Sue
DON’T MISS: Alessi’s Ark, Birdengine, Sam Amidon
IN A NUTSHELL: A lovely day out with delightful people and gorgeous music

WORDS BY NICK COQUET, JAMES KENDALL