We like an urban festival here at Musos’ Guide so when a new one turns up practically on the doorstep it’s only fair to head West and see what’s going down. Freakender (the branchild of Fuzzkill records, Eyes Wide Open & El Rancho records)took over Glasgow’s The Old Hairdressers for two nights and a day & played host to 20+ international acts for barely noticeable ticket prices.

The overall organisation was spot-on and sound-wise you could only quibble about a couple of acts suffering less than clear vocals over the course of the event. Friday’s programming was possibly a bit unfortunate in that the melodic but also punchy at times Home Slice and the spiky afrobeat of Rapid Tan fired folk up but were followed by the slower paced The Pooches, Wedding and Spinning Coin thereby giving a bit of anti-climax (although that shouldn’t be read as comment on the latter acts’ actual performances, all of which were roundly and rightly applauded).

Saturday afternoon brought a 3pm start and the introduction of bands on the building’s ground floor. Mercifully the possible crowd congestion from folk moving en masse between the two performance spaces never seemed to materialise so it was possible to easily enjoy the propulsive Electric Gardens, Domiciles (think pre-disco Tame Impala), the jazz leanings of Lylo & the jazz fusion of Velvet Morning, Virgin Kids debuting a couple of new tracks, The Bellybuttons packing out the upstairs hall with Thee MVPs being similarly popular immediately after downstairs.

Fruit Tones brought a good dose of levity to the start of the latter part of the day whilst Feels were an absorbing example of music as scream therapy. Last on downstairs were the ever excellent Breakfast Muff, displaying it seemed a newer & more mature version of themselves. The Cosmic Dead crowned the whole thing off with a return home after 8 weeks of touring and theirs was the full-on, organised chaos and all round towering madness that you would expect from a band that remain one of the most exciting in the world today.

Confession time – due to tiredness and lack of ideas on how to fill the time (we know there’s plenty to do, just nowt appealed) until the Sunday night performances we bugged out early so apologies to the acts not covered here. We certainly though hope the event was a success as all involved can be deservedly proud of the results of their efforts & a return in 2017 is only just.

Like all good things Incubate had to end but not before Paradox hosted a couple of packed out shows in the shape of the intense trio Inwolves and the dreamscape ambience of Laraarji.

V39 played host to the fun and fast Lookapony (a late addition to the bill it seems). Elements of Wavves & other similar acts inform their catchy and enjoyable tunes.

At the northern limit of the event’s reach Hall Of Fame presented the emotionally charged ethereality of duo Muscle And Marrow, followed by the equally emotive, Giallo informed sounds of Italian pair Father Murphy. The aim of catching all four of Slow Down Molasses’ sets was failed though, due to a late finish the night before, slight difficulty in getting hold of today’s programme & their being on at 3pm.

Final doses of heavyweight metal in various guises could be found throughout the day with Little Devil filling to the brim for Wiegedood, Black Cobra getting their stoner groove on in Extase (& probably winning the prize for best t-shirt image, if not for keenest price). Fans were out in force at 013 for the live return of UK doom trio Ramesses who didn’t fail to impress but unfortunately much heralded US trio YOB experienced technical difficulties of unknown origin, making for a disjointed show from the ‘90s veterans (previously completely unknown to me).

Elsewhere through the course of the day, which was for the most part a bit hard to get into musically, the fucked up disco of Pop. 1280 had limited appeal but the uncompromising music (and a possibly slightly stoned drummer) along with Satomi’s aerobic bouncing around the stage made Deerhoof a highlight of the four days. A band with a very high feel good factor attached.

Cul De Sac provided the other top shows of the day with Chilean trio La Hell Gang turning in a set of top notch laidback psych, at times oddly bringing to mind The Stone Roses' Second Coming, much as that might seem like an insult. Cool Ghouls were the final band to play this small venue and their Sadies meets Black Lips country punk was a great climax to a well put together musical programme. Kudos too for their shirts being only 12 euros.

Thanks go once again to Peter & Els for providing a home from home & also for introducing the party jazz of Bora Bora to the weekend’s musical goings on. Incubate returns at the start of December and we’ll publish the line-up as soon as we know it.

With our jeans still damp we return to Preston Park for Day Two, and with a better forecast for the proceedings, we settle down for another feast of music.  

Greeted first by the lively upstarts Skinny Living. The carefully crafted indie poppers were greatly received. With an album out shortly, we can only see bigger and better things in their future. 

Now that our ears are nicely warmed up we're then exposed to the onslaught of the wonderful Seratones, an incredible four-piece from Louisiana, fronted by the amazing vocal talents of A J Haynes.  They bring high energy, rebel rousing guitar sounds that simply blew us away. On the last leg of their UK tour, the leave with a bang and we were so glad we managed to catch them. 

From the roaring and weighty, to the infectious sounds of the joyful Songhoy Blues. Hailing from Mali they are simply a joy to behold.  Their upbeat African rhythm within a blues based guitar proving to be a unique combination.  Touring of the back of their amazing album Music in Exile, the crowd lap up the sheer enthusiasm the band bring to the stage and certainly manage to get the ever-growing crowd ready for the evening.

Peter Hook is now up making every middle aged man at the festival take note.  This is stuff they came to see. When he starts to blast out 'She’s Lost Control' and then 'Blue Monday' you can sense the silent appreciation. He is obviously not allowed to leave without the final track 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' which quite naturally gets the biggest reaction and is fully deserved.

The only act that doesn’t meet the high standard set by the festival is The Horrors. They appear lethargic and nonchalant and not in a good way.  Their music is bland and they simply look like they don’t want to be there.

This is in huge contrast to the appearance of the final act.  Suede and in particular Brett Anderson bring an old school energy that most modern rock act simply don’t have. He is the ultimate frontman, controlling the crowd as he leads us from hit after hit.  He is even honours his mum with a ballad on the anniversary of her death. The hits and the swagger are in perfect harmony. This is a wonderful performance at a time when bands need to be shown how to perform live. They finish with the classic 'Beautiful Ones' as the crowd erupt into a singalong. We trudge away thinking that Together the People have again delivered an excellent festival to Brighton and it’s just what we needed. 

The weekend proper sees Incubate's free shows proliferate, so today started off with a visit to Diggers record store (vinyl only for all you junkies out there) to take in the ramshackle garage tunes of trio Seymour Sachs. Nice guys but a little bit too uncentered. The Mighty Breaks, on just up the road at the Spaarbank cafe, just had the edge in terms of tighter songs etc. But then it's all down to individual taste when you're playing as much as watching.

From there it was on to Paradox for Sideshow Bob lookalike Jacco Weener and his set which was more performance art than performance. There's a first time for everything and this was the time to see a member of the audience drag the performer round the stage by a specially made shoe with a strap so that the latter can then stab randomly at the piano keys. Mental.

Hall Of Fame only had shows tonight and Sunday this year and Wren were the first act experienced there. Unfortunately they turned out to be rather unmemorable. Czech hardcore quintet Tosiro, on the other hand, presented a taut and introverted set at V39. Their stage dynamics alone provided a wealth of study.

From there it was back to Hall Of Fame for another UK act - Human Future. A sextet, they play with their hearts obviously on their collective post-rock sleeve. Too internal with their angst for my taste they were nevertheless great lads to hang out with and definitely had the drunkest drummer of the weekend. A swift look at some of the festival's art programme was now attempted but Bert Scholten had no other visitors so, despite his one euro beers and the fact he was obviously a nice bloke, requesting he play a song felt weird so it was off in search of another band.

And one was duly found, in the sassy shape of Dutch duo O, Kutjes. A pair that would in no way be out of place on Edinburgh's Fringe in August (hint, hint) their comedic but empowered take on rap and sex came over as a cross between Stereo Total and Le Tigre, particularly on the song 'Pow Pow'. You didn't need to know Dutch to get the overall humour.

Slow Down Molasses were mining the more emotional seam of their work over at Extase & going down just as well as on the previous two days. Emotions were also readily on display in 013 with Eagulls putting in a charged show  with near perfect sound against a backdrop of the film Metropolis, which was weirdly apt. They've come on a long way since I first encountered them at Long Division 3 years ago but look set to continue further still.

Mazu were the next unknowns to be checked out. Math rock is their bag and musically they deliver that fine. For me though their vocals sounded like a more annoying Hookworms. There was now a period of hanging around and blethering up at Hall Of Fame (& thanks to the chap from Mary Fields for passing on their CD) before Slovakian quartet The Ills knocked us flat with their Mogwai meets Jupiter Lion instrumental post-rock. Always a type of music where liking or disliking it rests on the thinnest edge but these guys were well & truly over that edge on the right side. Having driven all the way to Tilburg they clearly needed to blow off steam and proceeded to do so in a full on set that was lapped up by those wise enough to attend.

One more day to go and plenty of possible highlights within it.

Many thanks to Patrice for the tour round the main hall of 013.