The weather's warming up nicely, the sun is finally shining and summer plans are firmly back on the agenda, so, with that in mind Kent's finest festival, Lounge on the Farm, based in the heart of the Garden of England, are upping the ante, adding an array of even more amazing acts to a stellar cast that already ranges from legends to locals including Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Toots & The Maytals, DJ Yoda, Courtney Pine, Fionn Regan and Tunng who will all be performing for your pleasure at Merton Farm near Canterbury during the weekend of 9-11th July.
Kicking off the latest line up additions are folk rockers Erland & The Carnival. Featuring erstwhile Verve and Good the Bad and The Queen guitarist Simon Tong and sometime Paul McCartney and Orb collaborator David Knock amongst their ranks, the band's distinctive and unmissable swirling riffs derive from Orcadian singer Erland Cooper's fun-fair folk stylings. Also making the journey to Kent's green and pleasant land will be Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro a brand new band who fuse rare and infectious rhythms from the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa with Quantic's own renowned deep soul and refried funk. Plus there will be live sets from Southend Art-rockers These New Puritans, psychedelic soulsters The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band and beatbox mayhem from the irresistible Beardyman.
Legendary audio-visual electro purveyors Hexstatic will be on hand to ramp up the dancefloor action as will Xpress 2's Ashley Beedle who is guaranteed to keep your feet moving with a genre-defying mix of woofer-worrying bombs. Representing the full-flavour spectrum in the world of dance expect to strut your stuff to deep and melodic techno from Nathan Detroit, sweet sounds from Tim Love Lee and concrete beats and lung-busting bass from Dub Pistols' mainman Barry Ashworth and MC Sir Real. Keeping it diverse there will also be alt. jazz from Mercury Music Prize nominees Led Bib, intimate pop from Sarah Blasko, party reggae from The Skints, west coast rock from Chief, country hues from Danny & the Champions Of The World, indie-pop from Rose Elinor Dougal, 12-tone innovations from United Vibrations, refined riffs from the inimitable Wolf Gang, driving guitars from The Shimmer, angular funk from Wild Palms and Americana tinged indie from Lissy Trullie.
As ever Lounge on the Farm has lined up plenty of Kent's own incredible talent teetering on the cusp of greatness including tasty troubadours and LOTF faves Yearner Babies who return to the festival by popular demand, Tunbridge Wells' anti-folkster Tom Williams & The Boat whose cover of Dizzee Rascal's 'Bonkers' has catapulted him into the industry spotlight, countingHuw Stephens as a fully signed-up fan – big things are happening so be sure not to miss him. Other native treats include Joni Mitchell-esque Canterbury blues from Lucy Kitt, incredible funk-punk from the Medway delta courtesy of Maker and lots more live sets from Matthew P, Electric River, CWB, 12 Stone Toddler, Natalie Evans, The Singing Loins, Awale, Speakers Corner Quartet, Liam Magill, Theo Baird, Elan Tamara, Los Ocelots, The Happy Accidents, School Of Imagination, Jouis, The Mandibles, Zoo For You, Giacomo, Rae, Moulettes, Boot Lagoon, Le Duc, Wolf People and Syd Arthur.