So Wide Awake’s Off… Where Should You Go Instead?
So Wide Awake’s Off… Where Should You Go Instead? Our fave London festivals having a break in 2026, hopefully these others fill that hole in your heart By Caitlin Taylor 8 March 2026 So Wide Awake is officially not happening… Luckily it’s just a one off for 2026, but it still leaves a gaping hole in the UK market. The festival, founded and curated by Keith Miller and LNZRT, is THE London day event for alternative, underground music. Since 2021, they’ve provided stages for some of our favourites; The New Eves, The Itch, Shygirl, Mary in the Junkyard, Hannah Diamond, Jasmine.4.T, Acopia, and many, many more. It will be sorely missed this summer, but here’s a selection of other events that can maybe help you stave off the WA cravings. RALLY We’ve been big fans of RALLY since its inception. A decently new entry to the scene, the 2025 installment was one of our favourite festivals of that year with captivating performances from Moin, MIKE and Bassvictim, all while managing to have a decent Guinness on tap in the middle of Southwark park. This year, the lineup has been curated by Dev Hynes (Blood Orange himself) leading to some incredibly fun bookings. Top Picks – YHWH Nailgun, spirit blue and Smerz View this post on Instagram A post shared by RALLY (@rally.rally.rally) DOT TO DOT Hitting 2026 with a killer lineup is Dot to Dot (or D2D), a festival with a strong focus on new music. Whether you’re in Bristol or Nottingham, you’ll have the chance to catch some of the best rising artists. Top Picks – Fcukers, Lucia & the Best Boys, Middleman and Sarah Meth View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dot To Dot Festival (@d2dfest) END OF THE ROAD An institution of the British festival scene, this year’s lineup features some Wide Awake alumni including CMAT, Fat Dog and Working Men’s Club. It’s a nature focused event, located in Dorset full of great music and is more family focused than others on this list. Many of their standout bookings likely would’ve been on the WA lineup this year if it wasn’t off. Top Picks – RIP Magic, Prewn, Silver Gore and Little Grandad View this post on Instagram A post shared by End Of The Road (@endoftheroad) LIDO Kicking things off last year, LIDO joined the London scene as the younger sibling of the very well established All Points East. In 2026, the standout day to us is Friday June 12th with everyone’s favourite new popstar CMAT as the headliner. Even more artists are soon to be announced. Top Picks – Katy J Pearson, Getdown Services and Junior Brother View this post on Instagram A post shared by cmat (@cmatbaby) CROSS THE TRACKS If you go to Wide Awake for the atmosphere as much as the music, then its sister festival Cross The Tracks is a must-visit. With more of a focus on genres like jazz, funk and soul, it’s lineups are always impressive and this year is no different. Top Picks – Joy Crookes, Bel Cobain, Obongjayar, and Lizzie Berchie View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cross The Tracks (@xthetracks) Find our review of the previous Wide Awake here
The Best of Jan & Feb 2026
The Best of Jan & Feb 2026 Staff picks of the best music released so far in 2026. People’s Playlist by Caitlin Taylor Add Your Heading Text Here You Might Also Like Recent Posts
Abstract Electronic UK #2
Abstract Electronic UK #2 Ambient,Electronic,Experimental Part 2 of my monthly dive into contemporary experimental electronic practices within the UK, artists producing at the intersections between post-ambient and power-ambient composition, electroacoustic methodologies, and the frameworks of deconstructed club. These works explore timbre and texture as forefront compositional components and demonstrate advanced approaches to sound design and signal processing. Non-linear form, wonky rhythms, and process-driven compositional systems take precedence over traditional structures/form, rhythmic or harmonic progression. 21st-century work that draws from the spectral, noise, and post-industrial lineages of the 20th century. This approach to composition is shaped by an informal pedagogy transmitted through technology, online channels, production techniques and club contextualisation rather than through formal institutional structures or genre formulae. 1. BJ Holy: ‘Earth Sign’ BJ Holy is a multidisciplinary artist who seamlessly switches between roles: composer, producer, and instrumentalist. He effortlessly combines elements from electroacoustic, avant-club, ambient, and folk styles, performing live vocals, flugelhorn, and guitar alongside electronics. ‘Earth Sign’ (track nine from his debut album ‘Broken Horns’) offers just a snapshot of the record’s range. A structure built around an evolving motif alongside a patient build of texture that leaves you suspended, waiting for all the elements to converge (the drop), and for the full weight to be realised. With guest vocals from Charlotte Mandell, the pair move in call and response, their voices (at parts) intersecting in atmospheric bliss. Both vocalists recite abstract poetic musings, including fragments reprised from track three of the project ‘Clean Slate’: – “It’s my clean slate, perfect hideaway.” – “It’s my earth sign, it’s my third try.” Colliding fragments dissolve into one lingering question: What’s your Earth Sign? 2. Damsel Elysium: ‘Shoreline – Alex Faingold Rework’ ‘Shoreline’ is a cut from the London-based experimental sound artist’s 2024 EP ‘Whispers and Speaking’. Known for their multi-faceted practice, particularly their integration of strings, voice, electronics, and site-specific field recordings. Elysium weaves a textural composition that blurs the line between environment and instrument, grounded in their practice as an established cellist. Faint vocals like a siren song, electronic murmurs, and processed cello texture quietly bubble and recede. Tectonic audio plates shift beneath the surface, creating subtle drama. Saturated rhythmic stutters gradually move to the foreground, later swept away by sounds of the ocean. You’re taken on a real journey, like traversing a desolate landscape. Both Elysium and Faingold were in the short-lived band ‘Maine’. The release of their only album, ‘Barbary’ in 2023, strongly embodied my taste at the time, and I would still highly recommend it. It’s great to hear another collaboration from them, even in a different form. 3. MOBBS and Susu Laroche: ‘AXE’ Susu Laroche, one half of the currently inactive duo ‘The Fertile Crescent’ (with producer Oxhy), continues to carry the torch of a distinctly ritualistic strain of post-industrial in this collaboration with MOBBS. The ZEPO EP landed on Modern Love, a fitting home given the label’s history of atmosphere-driven releases from Demdike Stare and Andy Stott. ‘AXE’ is evocative, built on a driving, almost processional rhythm that thuds like distant war drums across the cavernous mix. Laroche’s vocals sit front and centre, layered chants upon a bed of vocal texture that sound plucked from antiquity. It feels less like a song and more like a rite, folkloric, a call to return to the primordial soup. 4. Myriad Myriads: ‘Fifth Shard’ Track five from the London-based producer’s ‘Shardcore’, an album intended to be the aural representation of taking consecutive keys of Ketamine. As K’s use on the dancefloor has exponentially grown, it’s a fitting concept. To give a curveball comparison, it’s not unlike DJ Screw and ‘Chopped N Screwed’ – where tempo drag, chopped repetition, and syrupy production aesthetics emulate the sensations of being under the influence of that purple drink. Every track on this project is brain nourishment (more so than K itself, which isn’t nourishing for your brain or for your bladder). This is my favourite ‘shard’ of the album, brittle and jagged synths sequenced with thematic wonky rhythms and motifs that stretch, condense, and resolve in the most satisfying way – replicating old Ken’s effects of time dilation. Like the Caretaker’s: ‘Everywhere at the End of Time’, but instead of slowly degrading memory, you’re moving closer to the K-hole. Released on ‘The Trilogy Tapes’. People’s Playlist by Eli Callingham Add Your Heading Text Here You Might Also Like Recent Posts