Hello everyone,
Here we are – the final day of the Best Kept Secret 2026 series. Sunday, June 14, the last day of the festival, and the last pack of the three.
So we came to the last day of the festival! Exhausted but having the time of our lives, it was yet another lovely sunny day. Lots of bands ahead – let’s go!
Dressed Like Boys
Sunday began with an early start with Dressed Like Boys, the project of Belgian singer-songwriter Jelle Denturck. His music is intimate, melodic indie pop built around piano, vulnerability and very personal songwriting while also being theatrical and grand. Reminds me a lot of Sufjan Stevens or Rufus Wainwright. He and his band also turned out to be phenomenal live, in what was one of the great highlights of the weekend. “Lies” is a catchy soft indie rock anthem with a cool guitar solo, while “Healing” and “Pinnacles” are grand beautiful ballads.
Songs
Mên An Tol
Next came Mên An Tol, a young London band whose music sits somewhere between jangly indie rock, post-punk and the scruffier end of Britpop. Melodic guitars and big choruses but still pretty rough at times. Fans of The Libertines, early Blur, or Fontaines D.C. – or, dare I say, Oasis? – should give them a try.
Songs
- Set In Stone · preview
- Not Ideal · preview · multitrack
Good Flying Birds
Next up – Good Flying Birds! American indie-rock band with a ragged, DIY sound that draws from jangle pop, college rock and lo-fi guitar music. If Pavement, Guided by Voices, or early R.E.M. are your kind of thing, check them out. I must say I found their live show a bit too loud and messy – also we could never really get in a decent position – but their records are really good. Particularly “I Care For You” is a really lovely song.
Songs
- Eric’s Eyes · preview · multitrack
- Down on Me · preview · multitrack
- I Care For You · preview · multitrack
Getdown Services
Now time for a big party! Bristol duo Getdown Services make a wonderfully strange mixture of indie rock and electronic music, delivered with a very British sense of humor – and a lot of songs about food! Imagine some combination of LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads and Viagra Boys, except a lot more silly but also quite profound at times. It was actually one of my favorite sets, but most of their songs don’t really translate well to Rock Band, so here’s their biggest one, which also happens to have a pretty great guitar solo – Dog Dribble!
Songs
- Dog Dribble · preview · multitrack
Yard Act
From one British post-punky spoken part to another – Yard Act! The schedule was tight so we didn’t really get upfront but we still had fun at the back, even though half the show was new songs from an unreleased-at-the-time album “You’re Gonna Need a Little Music”. Two songs here – the super fun and ironic “We Make Hits”, and the catchy “Dark Days”.
Songs
- Dark Days · preview · multitrack
- We Make Hits · preview · multitrack
Mac DeMarco
Next up – Mac DeMarco! An old favorite and one that probably needs no introduction, the indie rock legend – can we call him that already? He came armed with a lovely band of really talented musicians and played a career spanning, and sadly too short, set. Six songs in this pack – from “Passing Out Pieces” from the classic “Salad Days”, through “For the First Time” (which actually has over 1 billion Spotify streams – crazy!) and “Still Beating”, into two songs from his latest album “Guitar”, including a lovely live version of “Shining” showcasing his great live band. And of course, Mac already has a pretty deep catalogue in game – many of those played in the show.
Songs
- Shining (Live) · preview · multitrack
- For the First Time · preview · multitrack
- Sweeter · preview · multitrack
- 20191009 I Like Her · preview · multitrack
- Passing Out Pieces · preview · multitrack
- Still Beating · preview · multitrack
Also played, already in the library
Three of those older charts also get an update with this release: Chamber of Reflection, My Kind of Woman and Freaking Out the Neighborhood have all been rebuilt with a new venue and full multitracks.
- Heart to Heart (Xillity)
- Ode to Viceroy (Drihscol)
- Freaking Out the Neighborhood (me) – new venue & multitrack!
- My Kind of Woman (me) – new venue & multitrack!
- Chamber of Reflection (me) – new venue & multitrack!
Gorillaz
Finally, festival closers Gorillaz! By this time we were honestly quite exhausted so we opted to watch from afar. Still, fun show, and here I present two great songs from their latest album “The Mountain” – catchy satire song “The Happy Dictator” featuring pop cult legends Sparks, and the touching “Orange County”.
Songs
- The Happy Dictator · preview
- Orange County · preview · multitrack
Also played, already in the library
- Tranz (TheSheepQueen)
- 19-2000 (TheSheepQueen)
- Rhinestone Eyes (UngratefulDead)
- On Melancholy Hill (sherm.)
- Stylo (Ultimate_MANG0)
- Dirty Harry (TheSheepQueen)
- Feel Good Inc. (official DLC)
- Clint Eastwood (official DLC)
And that’s the festival! Overall it was an amazing time, not only the festival itself but also discovering, authoring and playing all those great bands and songs. I’ll definitely keep my tabs on many of those – Pacifica, Sorry, Etta Marcus, Radio Free Alice, Dressed Like Boys, Getdown Services just to name a few. I hope you have enjoyed the songs and maybe found some new stuff! See you next time!
