All Points East 2021: Ones To Watch – Friday

All Points East makes a long-awaited return to Victoria Park in East London at the end of the month, with a star-studded lineup of (predominantly UK based) talent across the long bank holiday weekend.

On headlining duties for the opening show on Friday 27 August are Jorja Smith and London Grammar, but beyond these names at the very top of the bill there's plenty across the lineup that you won't want to miss.

Here's just a handful of our top picks.

ENNY

One of the most exciting new acts to come out of an incredibly fruitful period for the UK's rap scene, South-East London native ENNY has followed up the runaway success of breakthrough single 'Peng Black Girls' with a string of releases which showcase her witty lyricism, honesty, creativity, and unmistakable style of delivery which meanders between speaking, rapping and singing with apparent ease. Fans will no doubt be looking out for a cameo appearance from the day's headline act Jorja Smith.

Sons of Kemet

Of all the acts to have emerged out of the so-called 'new wave of British jazz' which has emanated predominantly from South-East London over the past five years or so, Sons of Kemet are arguably the most unique, original, and urgent.

Mercury-nominated for their phenomenal album Your Queen is a Reptile in 2018, the four-piece – led by talismanic saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and ably assisted by tuba sensation Theon Cross and twin drummers Tom Skinner and Eddie Hick – have followed up with another politically charged and thematically and musically rich record inspired by the stories and sounds of the African diaspora with this year's Black to the Future.

Again, scope here for a guest appearance from another act on the lineup as Kojey Radical fronted the album's lead single 'Hustle'.

Kelly Lee Owens 

Specialising in a brand of spiritual, euphoric and often transportive techno, Kelly Lee Owens has garnered a hugely devoted fanbase in the four years since her self-titled debut album, and it's not difficult to see why. Both on record and performing live she manages to negotiate her way between reflective and introspective sounds to all-out, unabashed, driving dancefloor bangers, often held together by her dreamlike vocals.

Loraine James

The experimental electronic music producer refuses to be bound by genre categorisations or by expectations. Breathing fresh life into a style of music that was once rather snobbishly called IDM (intelligent dance music) and populated primarily by a particular type of nerdy white guys, Loraine James draws from jazz, footwork, drill, and more to create compositions that manage to balance off-kilter, glitchy elements with real soul and emotion.

Mahalia 

 
Another contemporary R&B and neo-soul star flying the flag for the Midlands alongside Jorja Smith is her friend and former tour support Mahalia, who despite only being 23 years old already has two albums and four EPs to her name (the first of which was released nearly a decade ago aged just 13). Having collaborated with the likes of Burna Boy, Rico Nasty, Kojey Radical, Ty Dolla Sign, Jacob Collier and Little Simz, the singer has found fans on both sides of the Atlantic and her stock seems to be rising rapidly.

Final tickets for All Points East 2021 are on sale here