This weekend sees the welcome return of the Love Supreme Festival.  Nestled snuggly into the sleepy Sussex village of Glynde this is rapidly becoming one of the best small festivals around.

Situated close to Brighton and now boasting four main stages, it's moving away from a strictly Jazz-orientated line-up, to include a wide ranging collection of acts.

This year is no exception with headliners featuring the enigmatic Grace Jones on Saturday, followed by the smooth sounds of the wonderful Mr Burt Bacharach on Sunday evening. With a positive forecast and after a rather unsettling week we predict a love festival is the perfect antidote to a week we would all rather forget.

There is more to offer outside the headline acts.  This year's festival hosts a selection of great names. We are particularly looking forward to the vocal talents of Lianne La Havas who has consistently delivered since her explosion via BBC Sound. She is joined by two other exciting songbirds in the frm of Caro Emerald and Kelis who both appear on the Sunday.

Caro is a stunning performer whose jazz vocals and distinctive sounds are sure to go down a storm.  Kelis on the other hand has had a huge musical transformation.  Forget her milkshake days, since her amazing album ‘Food’ released in 2014 she has transformed her sound and her soulful groove are sure to be greatly received.

Aside from the main stages the festival has an arena for a more dance related vibe. Top of the bill is Mr World Music himself the wondrous Gilles Peterson.  Other notable highs we hope will blast away our blues come from the wonderfully named GoGo Penguin who signed to Blue Note records and now the success of their album Man Made Object has catapulted them to a wider audience.  To compliment this we see the legendary Average White Band whose string of disco and funk hits are sure to get the whole festival moving.

There are a very few tickets left and we urge you to heal you broken hearts and minds and indulge yourself in a wonderful festival that will aim to heal us all.

You can visit the festival's website here.

How can Saturday evening possibly get any better than Friday evening I hear you ask? By opening with surf-tastic instro-minstro's The Sine Waves that’s how. One of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing over the weekend. Unfortunately I only managed to catch their last two numbers. But it’s quality, not quantity right? What they did in those 8 minutes or so was utterly captivating. They sound just as good as they look; bassist and 'all systems are go-go' girl from another dimension, Spectrum, tantalises the crowd. They end their set with a corking rendition of The Mummies ‘The Fly’ - good choice. Another goosebumps-y moment courtesy of The Franklin.

No sooner are Dr Magnus Psyke and his chums off, than Medway three piece, The Mindreaders, are on. We are assured of a certain standard in the form of Russ Wilkins (The Milkshakes, The Wildebeest, Lord Rochester), and possible misdemeanors from the mystery that is Sexton Ming. You may know Ming best for his artwork, and poetic efforts with Billy Childish. We are warned in advance that anything could happen... and there is an air of trepidation as he takes to the stage. Tonight Ming treats us to stopping mid-song to read and answer a text message, later he produces a sizeable kitchen knife from his back pocket and after thinking about it for a short while, promptly discards it (thank goodness say a shrinking audience) and then gets into a mini-tiff with the missus about the phone. it’s both bizarre, and a bit ridiculous; that said Wilkins takes it all in his stride and they play a really good solid set. Mrs Ming, or rather artist and ethereal beauty Ella Guru (latterly of The Voodoo Queens), joins them on bass for their last number, a cover of MC5's ‘Looking At You’.       

Time for Thee Jezebels - good old-fashioned pub rock ‘n’ roll. Possibly the act that most punters have been waiting for. Their reputation of working and partying hard supersedes them, and they’re definitely up for a lark tonight. They plough through their set in a jovial manner with lots of cheeky banter. When Laura’s and Letty’s guitars are out of tune, they laugh it off and carry on, after a few attempts to manage to get them in sync. Tumultuously turning out tracks from their E.P.’s (released on State Records), and ending with a Wilko Johnson number ‘Going Back Home’. The girls are definitely a crowd favourite.

As if Lois Tozer hadn’t worked hard enough during her previous set with Thee Jezebels all of 5 minutes ago. She’s now back again with Freakbeat trio The Embrooks. And this isn’t an opportunity for her to take it easy, because The Embrooks take the roof off. Having seen them as recently as 20 years ago, my recollection is slightly hazy, but tonight they are absolutely on it, all that and they win the stripiest trousers contest hands down. They debut a fab new song, the new single perhaps? And old fave ‘Helen’. Their power-pop freakbeat Who-esque predilection is evident, but it’s their own sweat, tears and drive that make the difference. Absolutely stonkin’.

Oh! Gunquit are reserved for the finale of the Franklin Fest 2016, and quite rightly so. They know how to pound out those rhythmic hypnotic voodoo beats. (And is it just me, or do the band always appear to have a green light shining over them, like the lighting from a 60’s monster movie?) Anyhoo, that steady rhythmic beat is the link that keeps it all together, and the crowd entranced. Oh! Gunquit know how to put on an animated performance, and tonight they don’t disappoint. ‘Lights Out’, ‘Bad Bad Milk’ and ‘Sink Hole’ all go down a storm (natch), but it’s ‘Caves’ where vocalist Tina crawls through the legs of lucky Franklin Fest-ers, that things get just a little bit wild. They’ve reached the end of the set, and as much as we all don’t want this to end, it does. What a fitting finish to the weekend. Viva la Franklin Fest!  

The much anticipated Franklin Fest 2016 kicked off proper on Friday evening in our favourite green shack (to read about the warm up gig on Thursday click here) appropriately with Glasgow’s The Brutes, making it a fun and enthusiastic start to the proceedings. They rip through a mixture of their own Pebbles-y style garage-punk with numbers like fuzz-tastic 'Real Gone Gasser', and stirling covers of The Sonics 'Shot Down' and The Wailers snotty 'Hang Up'.

Up next are The Gastronauts, who are a supergroup if you will, with members of MFC Chicken, Les BOF! and The Shook-Ups to name but a few. As you’d expect, it’s all done with tongue firmly in cheek and big fat dollops of fun. With songs like ‘Really Chewy’ ('Louie Louie'), surf-tastic Wang’s Dang Noodles, the exotica of ‘Bongo Burgers’, ‘Chimps Tea Party’ (including prerequisite go-go gorilla on drums), and a foodie rendition of 'Surfin’ Bird'. They even dragged up Sine Wave’s maestro Project X to join in with ‘Bacon Slap'.  

After a quick change over it’s time for the the amazing Brazilian / Danish garage-mayhem duo -  The Courettes. Flavia and Martin Couri ooze coolness and passion. They clearly love what they are doing, and want everyone else to to join in, and it works because what they give out is infectious. And they are loud, with fuzz switched into overdrive, sassy Flavia screams her way through the set, hardly stopping for breath. It’s full-on boisterous fun, which includes the excellent ‘I’ve been walking’, the fuzzed-up brilliance of ‘The Boy I Love’ and knock-out ‘Nobody But You’. They ask MFC Chicken front man Spencer Envoy avec sax to join them for a number, and this addition, makes them sound just like The Sonics!   

Moving on to French tarts, Les Grys Grys, the final act of tonight. Having seen them perform at The Franklin last year, I knew that this was going to be good. Never giving less than 150%, these guys are full throttle ‘60s R&B, with added sweat. I have a feeling that were it 50 years ago, they would no doubt have ladies throwing their knickers at them. They storm through their set and it gets wilder, hotter, and more intense. They end up in the crowd, on the floor, on tables, upside-down and partially dressed. This is rock 'n' roll people - Les Grys Grys style. They are masters of the build-up, and controlled chaos. 'Milk Cow Blues' being a fine example of this. Their two encores (or was it three?) are almost as long as their set, and it ends with a bit of maraca smashing, and the poor old Franklin banner behind the drums hanging loose; disheveled. Says it all really.  

Follow that Saturday night!          

Whilst our senses are still very much in recovery mode, it’s time to head along to the Leith Depot for the Saturday afternoon showcase. Today the weather is hot and humid, and inside the small upstairs room it’s even hotter.

Kicking off the afternoon are The Nettles, a fab new organ fuelled garage band featuring some familiar faces, including Saskia from Lord Rochester, and Angus McPake on drums. They give impressive renditions of The Sonics' ‘Strychnine’ and The Monks' ‘How To Do Now’, I hope to get another chance to see them soon. They are quickly followed by edgy garage-surf trio The Fnords. ‘Scum Baby’ is sang with such bloodcurdling velocity that it gives me goosebumps. They only really stop when vocalist Sarah’s guitar string snaps just in time for their last number - who needs it anyway? They carry on regardless.

Geek Maggot Bingo are next, and if you’re looking for un-poncey rock 'n' roll - look no further. Andy Maggot proclaims that he’s 'had longer shits' than the length of their set. It’s short, but hits all the right spots, ending with the marvelous ‘Swingtown’. Onto Fanny Pelmet And The Bastard Suits, who were quite unlucky to suffer two snapped strings during their set, not to mention a malfunctioning mic stand. Despite this they still managed to shine through with cool covers of The Standells' ‘Rari’ and The Eyes' ‘You’re Too Much’.

To finish off the afternoon, The No-Things hit the small stage, and they appear to have a new member for today in the shape of a small cute girl wearing ear protectors. They are as maraca-shaking-ly entertaining as always, and despite the overwhelming heat, and a poor punter passing out, it was a brilliant afternoon.           

Tomorrow… Saturday evening at the Franklin Fest.

In the vanguard of a truly international line-up with an audience to match (flying in the face of bizarre voting in some parts of the country) the second iteration of Edinburgh’s Franklin Fest kicked off tonight at the salubrious Voodoo Rooms (replete with surely one of the city’s few remaining sprung dancefloors).

First on stage was Sterling Roswell, shorn of the backing band he had when last seen by Musos’ Guide at Tilburg’s Paradox as part of the Incubate festival. Catching him a bit late on due to the pedestrian approach to the venue currently resembling something from the Crystal Maze he launched into a version of The Traits' ‘Nobody Loves The Hulk’ which was met with a decent amount of humour from the early crowd. There were only three more numbers to enjoy including ‘Ballad Of A Civil Servant’ which has now come out as a single since first being heard last September in Holland but this was a solid warm-up for what was to come.

The Reverse Cowgirls graced the Saturday afternoon part of last year’s fest but they’ve been promoted in the closed season & so had the benefit of being the meat in tonight’s sandwich. Starting off with the apt ‘Ride Into The Sun’ that sandwich was pretty close to being a cheese toasty given the oppressive heat in the cave-like performance space. The audience certainly though warmed up in terms of appreciation as the band were being roundly applauded by the end of their relaxed and well delivered set. Special mention needs to be made of their second guitarist’s double strap mishap. After a languid fiddle around with his pedals etc. during a bit of duelling from the other guitar & bass his big return was reduced to comedy as an attempt at some hands off feedback or something resulted in his instrument tumbling to the floor. It wouldn’t happen to Jeff Beck but he took it in his stride.

Rounding things off came the dapper Kid Congo with his Pink Monkey Birds, employing at times no less than a six string bass which in my experience you don’t see that often in garage-type bands. Touring in support of new album La Arana Es La Vida (our review here) they went down a storm with the room seemingly wobbling as well as bouncing, so involved were the bulk of the crowd. Tracks old and new (‘She’s Like Heroin’, ‘Magic Machine’, ‘Nine Mile Blubber Pile’) mingled quite happily in the set-list along with new flexi single ‘La Arana’.

A definite character & entertainer in his beige wallpaper-like suit and fur hat (doubly absurd in that oven of a room) the Kid was a lesson in sheer entertainment. With nowhere to go but into the crowd at the end of the main set the and were quickly back on stage delivering a four song encore including ‘Bruce Juice’ and a version of ‘Sexbeat’, probably the best received song of the night. A band that definitely need to be experienced live before you jump to any conclusions about them and a fine start to Franklin Fest 2016 (for which tickets are apparently still available via here).