The Music Tastes Good festival of Marina Green Park in Downtown Long Beach will feature more than a few fantastic artists in late September this year, you need only check the lineup to confirm this utterly obvious and self-evident piece of information. However, since we’re going to be sending a few members of the Redefining Records Super Secret Task Force to cover the event, we thought we’d take the time to share our thoughts on our top 10 must-see acts of the weekend. Consider this an appetizer to get your (listening) mouth watering.

Top 10 Tastiest Artists:

10. Cherry Glazerr

Born out of Burger Records, this LA-based outfit found its roots in the grungy, lo-fi, garage rock sound that you would expect from the Fullerton label. More recently, the band has undergone multiple personnel changes and polished their sound a bit as they’ve picked up steam. Not to worry, no energy was lost in the process. Apocalipstik was released in 2017 with Secretly Canadian. At the forefront of the beautiful chaos from inception to the present has been guitarist and lead vocalist Clementine Creevy, a powerful and gritty vocalist with a knack for slick riffs.

9. Big Thief

There is something primal about listening to truly sincere music. Big Thief’s music is emotionally pure and gut-wrenching in a relieving way. The kind of music that makes you want to cry tears of joy and sadness at the same time. Adrianne Lenker consistently pours her heart and soul into every piece of lyric and sound she produces. The instrumentals and musicianship prove to be simple and elegant, with shimmering indie guitar parts and warm rhythms.

8. De Lux

Get ready to party smart. This LA duo brings a refreshing funky disco (or maybe not disco?) flavor to the lineup. It’s stream-of-consciousness ideas turned anxious joyful post-punk dance music. Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco have come quite a long way since their debut, Voyage, now touting more focused and mature songwriting without sacrificing any of the fun.

7. Santigold

Musician, stylist, artist, entrepreneur. Santigold’s ambition is equal only to her talent. She has a made a career of breaking down barriers and blending genres into unique new flavors of music. Expect the unexpected from her set at MTG, but rest-assured whatever happens, you will find yourself dancing.

6. Shame

Imagine if The Clash broke through the music scene today during the peak of the indie rock sensation, the results might just look something like Shame. The quintet hails from South London and is often branded as post-punk, perhaps rightfully so, but I’d be hesitant to slap too many labels on them at all this early. Their arsenal includes raw intensity, quality instrumentation, and a unique sound quality. The sky’s the limit, and we’re high on Shame.

5. Parquet Courts

Anything involving Danger Mouse is worth paying attention to in our opinion. Parquet Court’s latest album Wide Awake! was produced by the aforementioned and proved to be a breakthrough for the band as they ventured into an even funkier, dancier, new-wave inspired sound in 2018. Their lyrics are often humorous and occasionally serious, while the varied percussion keeps every song fresh. The band’s resume includes a laundry list of fantastic collaborations and a deep catalogue worth flipping through.

4. James Blake

Nobody has quite found a more poetic way to blend R&B with electronic music. His music is soulful, interesting and stimulating. If you think you’re not familiar with Blake’s work, you’re most likely mistaken. You’ve probably heard of his collaborators: Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver, Brian Eno, Kendrick Lamar, to name a few. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best New Artist if you care about the Grammys, and he was awarded a Mercury Prize in 2013 for his album Overgrown.

3. The Black Angels

Heavy, guitar-centric, psychedelic rock, what else do you need really? Formed back in 2004 and named for a Velvet Underground tune, the group hails from one of the richest music cities in the United States - Austin, Texas. They’ve been pumping out dark, atmospheric fuzz for over a decade, and they’ll be ready to melt your face in September.

2. Broken Social Scene

This Toronto band consists of somewhere between 2 and 19 members depending on the time of the day and who you ask. They’re considered to be more of an artistic indie music collective than a well-defined band, but who the hell wants to be well-defined anyway? The huge cast of contributors expectedly leads to one of the most diverse and eclectic acts in existence, ranging from simplistic ambience to full orchestra. The music is full of rich meaning, and you can expect to receive a touch of the feels, perhaps even a stir of the soul.

1. New Order

Is it possible for one band to exist as legends of an era and be stuck ahead of their time all at once? To put it simply, New Order mixes rock with dance music. They were one of the firsts to do it, they are arguably the best to ever do it, and they’re still doing it. New Order was one of the most influential acts of the 1980’s following the demise of the equally influential preceding band, Joy Division. Fast forward a few decades through a handful of game-changing albums, and 2015’s Music Complete is extremely underrated as a very relevant piece of music right now. Not to mention they are worshipped for their live performances and Music Tastes Good is your only opportunity to see them play on the west coast this year, and possibly for the foreseeable future.