The all-dayer, which starts at 11am until the early hours, is fast becoming a mainstay of the Oxford music scene’s calendar and this year you’ll be able to catch it at the O2 Academy, The Bullingdon, The Library and Truck Store.
And amongst its gigs, gigs, gigs, will be the band Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (or Pigsx7 for short) who totally won us over at ArcTanGent earlier this summer with their artistically hard to pigeonhole take on Seventies sounding metal.
Another band that we are slathering at the mouth to catch are Young Knives who have been an Ocelot favourite ever since they appeared on the cover of the third ever magazine back in 2006 in all their glorious weirdness. The legendary Oxford stalwarts have been a bit quiet of late since Sick Octave in 2013 but promise a kickass set of new material and old.
They are joined by such amazing acts like She Drew The Gun, Teleman, The Comet is Coming, Ibibio Sound Machine and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets.
We caught up with five of the best Oxford acts taking part for a few words.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’re about to record some new songs that we’ve been playing at gigs over the summer. They have a whole new sound that we’re excited to capture on tape. We have a new drummer, Silke, so we’re experimenting with recording more of the live band sound instead of the fully electronic beats we’ve been using for a while. If all goes well, this will be the start of an album.
What can we expect from your Ritual Union set?
We’re playing quite an upbeat set, a mix of songs from our latest EP and some of the newer tunes. Our music is sort of intense synth pop with a splash of indie rock guitar and some sad singing robots.
What other acts on the line-up would you recommend checking out?
Max Blansjaar is always great, and we’re not just saying that because our drummer Silke plays bass with him. Premium Leisure are top notch. Bo Ningen make a pretty awesome noise. We’re looking forward to seeing Self Esteem for the first time. And we loooove Teleman, but everyone already knows they’re great, right?
What is your favourite music spot in Oxford?
The bench outside Truck Store.
For further information visit www.ritualunion.seetickets.com