Line-up One Best Kept Secret 2025

When the masked mystics of Glass Beams take the stage, they truly look like divine beings from another realm. Their music sounds likewise otherworldly: a mix of Indian classical, 70s disco, psychedelic rock and cosmic kraut rock – music tailor-made to lift listeners into a higher reality. Once a Glass Beams-groove takes hold, you’re fine just chilling inside of the spirit plane.

L’Impératrice’s superpower is to make our time sweet and sublime. There’s an ease to everything the French group does – the way they lock into a supple groove, the way the words roll off the tongue, the way melodies sparkle and fizz out, as if witnessing a canvas of stars across an unpolluted sky. If there is love on the other side of the universe, the music of L’Impératrice surely must be an expressway to take us there.

Known for her expressive voice and gorgeous, loose-limbed arrangements, Eefje de Visser is unquestionably one of the most influential Dutch recording artists of the past decade. In her distinct musical vocabulary, desires for both sanctuary and adventure form an enchanting whole. And with her groundbreaking audiovisual live performances, those qualities get amplified tenfold.

DJ, rapper, filmmaker, producer: Mike Skinner has skin in the game at lots of different places. But The Streets remains the most famous hallmark for his scrappy, self-made artistry. Through the prism of Skinner's unmistakable mix of garage and hip-hop, his point-blank, witty tales of late night misadventures still resonate today. Often imitated, never matched.

Irish punk rap group Kneecap are all about rebellion, reclamation and the right to renovate every stage they perform. Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Provaí were a movement long before a feature film skyrocketed them to fame. Possessing a lyrical punch supercharged with satirical wit, Kneecap are living proof partying isn’t just empty hedonism, but a positive form of revolt against the forces of oppression.

Soulwax's electro-rock universe is vast and still expanding at a staggering pace three decades in. The Dewaele brothers are legends for a reason: not many can turn their pundit passion for music into such an all-encompassing, audiovisual spectacle. Soulwax have always been about having the best time and continuously reshaping that joy into immediately satisfying music. And frankly, no one has been better at it.

Even in yer olden days, you sometimes daydream of being young lovers, hittin’ the road and leaving the turmoil of the world behind for some sweet (mis)adventures. If one band channels this wistful sentiment, it’s The Backseat Lovers. They pen grainy indie rock anthems that channel a rough-and-rumble roots rock earnesty, yet exude a youthful, indie rock swagger all the same. The best of a ton of worlds, really.

Smart guy once wrote ‘To be out of place is what love is for’. Alt country greats Wilco have been out of orbit in their entire illustrious run. How many peers vault between spine-chilling kraut-prog (‘Art of Almost’), ashen country soul ballads (‘Jesus, Etc.’), and thorny noise pop (‘EKG’) with such dumbfounding consistency? Thankfully, when it comes to getting with the program, Wilco keep trying to break our hearts.

Deftones are their own realm, their own mood, their own yardstick. Enigmatic, atmospheric, seductive, intoxicating, and hard-hitting, a rare combination of qualities few bands – if any – have matched. For a good three decades now – from outcast millennials to the TikTok-generation – we have been mesmerised by the group’s impassioned heavy-melodic spells. And at Best Kept Secret, we feel like more.

Acclaimed Ugandan-British artist Michael Kiwanuka's work is miraculous in its simplicity and frankness: a voice smooth like honey, yet resonant and full of stirring conviction. Indeed, Kiwanuka’s distinct blend of soul, R&B, folk, Afrobeat and psychedelic rock sounds plenty otherworldly for the words to hit home, helping all who hear them carry on.