The T Break Stage at T in the Park has always been Scotland's ultimate living, breathing mix tape. If you want to know what's packing out small, vital venues around the country, look no further. Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro both broke through here. It is such a sought after platform that Paolo Nutini sneaked in last year and played under a false name.
And this year's selection of 16 unsigned bands is no different. In fact, with the local scene thriving, the line-up could even be more compulsive than usual.
After hours spent sifting through 1400 entries, an expert panel of industry types, journalists, Radio 1 DJs, promoters and managers, musos one and all, came up with their final shortlist.
This is their mix tape, writ large over three days, with 16 bands covering the whole gamut of what is happening in Scotland right now.
And as with all good compilations, you need to start with a bang. Or in Maple Leaves' case a massive aural hug. The Glasgow trio are one of the first acts on Friday. They produce summery, three-minute folk-pop songs that pay homage to their heroes, The Shins, and should kick off the weekend in sun-kissed fashion.
In mix tapes it's always good to show off your knowledge of world music. And Tango In The Attic hide the fact they are from Glenrothes under songs laden with afrobeat rhythms and angular New York guitar shapes. Vampire Weekend may have colonised this sound first, but this quartet are making their own land grab on Sunday.
For those introspective moments that sneak into the festival experience, usually around tea time on Saturday, when your thoughts swither between which headline act to check out, what to have for dinner, where your friends are, and what it all means, The French Quarter should provide the perfect soundtrack. Based in Stirling, but producing an otherworldly sound, they provide a welcome break from indie bands, with beautiful meandering songs, flecked with electronica.
Punch And The Apostles, who also appear on Saturday night, will gladly wipe away any tearful reflections. Sounding as if they listened to nothing but Tom Waits albums from the mid-1980s, all postcards from a bar mitzvah in a junkyard, the Glasgow band are a suitably raucous proposition. Accordions wheeze, double basses are twanged, and Saturday should end on a Bacchanalian high.
The Brother Lewis Collective are also worth half-an-hour of your time. These multi-instrumentalists have flutes, clarinets, upright basses, tight harmonies and a timpani in their armoury. They are like a gentle Arcade Fire, but less apocalyptic. Perfect for Sunday afternoon.
Elsewhere over the three days there is: Little Eskimos, from central Scotland, but with a sound that could be straight out of the US Midwest; Mike Nisbet, who is what Rufus Wainwright would sound like if he came from Oban; dark, anthemic pop from My Cousin I Bid You Farewell; Ming Ming And The Ching Ching's chunky funk and ska sound; experimental electronica in the form of Edinburgh's Dead Boy Robotics; shoegazing vocals and wide-screen guitar sounds from Barn Owl; Trapped In Kansas's spidery indie; experimental hip-hop courtesy of Glasgow's G1FT; straight up Scottish indie from Dundee's Gong Fei and Edinburgh's Homework; and crashing, snarling rock from Bronto Skylift, a two-piece from Glasgow.
This is the sound of Scotland. Now.
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