The best band in the world you’ll never hear.

Glastonbury is all about the hidden treasures. Spontaneous DIY gigs, supergroups, naked hippies with huge cocks, rabbit holes with Alice in wonderland esque characters popping out to scare you, silent cinema tents you can fall asleep in, pirate ships…I could ramble on for hours like a naked hippie on pills. While NME and every other publication raved about hidden gems, The Hold Steady, The Gossip, Cajun Dance Party, Remi Nicole, Los Campesinos!, there was only one band for me that made me want to leap for joy in a “I was there and you weren’t” kind of way (because that’s what everyone does these days). The band I’m referring to is the grossly underrated New Pornographers, a band that sells fuck all records but will revitalise your faith in pop in one listen, the best band in the world you will probably never hear. The New Pornographers play the kind of intelligent pop music you didn’t think exist anymore; each song a giddy rush, full to the brim with Shins esque soaring vocal harmonies and musicianship that both explores, innovates and pushes the boundaries of pop and remains inside them. Their last album, Twin Cinema, was met with the type of critical acclaim only reserved for The White Stripes; an album that stands tall from beginning to end, it transformed the band from a band you liked to a band you could not live without. And I thought they were just good on CD. The tightest, rawkest half an hour I witnessed that weekend, it was criminal they didn’t get more press coverage, during and after. Why not? Maybe the BBC was too busy with the Magic Numbers, or NME too caught up with Cajun Dance Party, whatever the reason, they missed out. And for that…The New Pornographers were the best band of Glasto that no one heard. Balls.