By Rob Garratt

Championship Vinyl

Beach Stage • 1pm

Great name for a cover band? The moniker might be a willful reference to slabs of black gold – it’s the name of the fictional record shop in Nick Hornby’s seminal proto-nerd-evanglising novel High Fidelity, don’tchaknow – but Championship Vinyl are 100 per cent original rawk… that sounds like it was teleported from the heyday of vinyl.  

Bluesy, soulful and hooky in all the right ways.

Noise Control

Star Stage • 5.10pm

Geoff King Luk is the quintessential gigging musician: perennially spotted nursing a beer and/or cigarette, dragging his road-worn Fender Strat on or off the Lamma ferry.

Supported by fellow pro travellers, Noise Control is a bogglingly virtuosic instrumental jazz/fusion trio, who somehow make widdly wanky indulgence not just accessible, but fun, funky and affirming.

Woke Tyler & the Peasants

Restaurant 80 Stage • 7.30pm

Frustrated with crafting a third album that was taking forever and going nowhere, two members of evergreen dadrockers The Sleeves swapped instruments and started jamming with an outspoken performance poet they met in the pub. Six months later they had recorded a surprisingly potent set of sleek, driving post-punk bangers, couching their titular leader’s misanthropic drawl. A second album is already in the can ready for release.

Butterfly Peas

Beach Stage • 7.40pm

Self-described as the “the noisiest band in Kwai Hing” – no modest claim amid the density of warehouse jam spots found in this claustrophobic district of Hong Kong’s New Territories – the enigmatically named Butterfly Peas are one of the most interesting new acts to emerge in the past two years. The secret weapon is singer Sammi, whose vocals lend the quartet’s elegant, edgy indie tunes an imploring, human warmth.

The Red Garage

Star Stage • 9.20pm

Rumours of rock ‘n’ roll’s demise can once again be dispelled by a new generation of spunky upstarts enthralled by the innovations and indulgences of classic blues-rock power trios. Taking loud, proud cues from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, et al, and peppering in healthy doses of psych, funk and mysticism, The Red Garage embark on wide-eyed, blissfully unfocused sonic flights of fancy. Expect guitar solos without a shred of remorse.

Houseplants

Star Stage • 10.10pm

Nothing can prepare a first-time listener for the audio-visual frenzy of Houseplants  – a seething, scathing, socially energised angular assault that invariably ends in a ball of exposed, sweaty flesh. Yes, frontman Alex Poole’s crazed delivery can feel like unnervingly unabashed Idles cosplay – but let’s remember the UK post-punk re-energisers are a five-piece. Houseplants sound almost as huge as a trio – thanks to George Silver’s detuned, double-amped guitar.