Named in tribute to the Brooklyn director Noah Baumbach and his autobiographical film The Squid And The Whale, London indie folk quartet Noah and The Whale specialise in a brand of twee, tongue-in-cheek folk pop which sits somewhere between Nick Drake, Jeffrey Lewis and Belle & Sebastien.

Fusing a wry and sometimes dark sense of humour with a delicate pop sensibility, their infectious tunes have benefited from guest appearances from the likes of Laura Marling, Emmy The Great and Jeremy Warmsley. Hit single Five Years Time was described by The Times as "whistles, handclaps, a daft but lovable chant of a chorus - the summer's most unavoidable song is here." Sounds about right to us!

"Melds the frenetic, harmonious punk of the Buzzcocks with the doomy ardour of Interpol, what strikes you first is not their undeniably magic way with a melody, but frontman Jack Steadman's vocals; a deep, velvety baritone which oddly oozes out of the body of a Skins character. The future's safe - not just in the hands of Bombay Bicycle Club, but in the outstretched arms of their fans." NME

DETROIT SOCIAL CLUB
6.20pm - 7.00pm
myspace.com/detroitsocialclub

Justifiably tipped by all and sundry to be "massive in 2009", Detroit Social Club recently inked a deal with Fiction/Polydor (Kate Nash, Maccabees, The Cure, White Lies, Snow Patrol etc) which will pretty much result in all of those tipsters being 100% correct!

"Singer David Burn is howling like Robert Plant over a wall of psychedelic Primal Scream-ish noise. It's huge, proper rock music. Who needs Led Zeppelin to reform? 5/5" News Of The World

"A Kasabian-like combination of humungous grooves, terrace-style chants, gnarled vocals pitched somewhere between Shaun Ryder and Liam Gallagher, and a penchant for less-than-sensible hair..." The Guardian

Stornoway consists of an Ornithologist, a wannabe Russian translator, a South African Pirate Captain, a human radio and a kitchen sink. They were first united in a snow-encrusted garage in Oxford. They're a wonderfully beautiful band - just ask the experts:

"The most marvellous thing we've seen in ages: not one song was less than lovely, and they immediately became our New Favourite Band" The Guardian

"Officially the brainiest group ever, Stornoway's big music worked a treat, especially during On The Rocks." The Independent

"This is perfect...I think you're gonna love this." Colin Murray BBC Radio 1

"Stornoway conjour up the innocent coziness of early Belle and Sebastian...Indie pop fans will melt in the brains." Artrocker

Irish songstress Wallis Bird has earned a reputation as a charismatic and mesmerising live performer. She recently wowed audiences as the opening act for artists as diverse as the legendary Billy Bragg, who hand-picked her to support him on his UK tour, and Gabrielle, who asked Wallis to support her on her 2008 UK tour. NICE. Wallis’ live shows and album releases have garnered her rave reviews from all quarters, with 4 * reviews being given by national publications including The Guardian, Daily Express and The Sun. Credentials? Aye.

"A stunning female singer-songwriter to take note of…..a future star" The Sun

"One of the most energised performers around. Wonderful ****" Daily Express

THE PANICS
2.55pm - 3.30pm
myspace.com/thepanicsmusic

Australian indie kings The Panics are big news down under and after support slots with Happy Mondays, Gomez, Paulo Nutini and Morrisey here in the UK, it surely won't be long before they're equally as big news here! With elements of Echo and The Bunnymen, Ride, The Smiths, Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills and Nash prevalent throughout their tracks - we reckon we've just found your new favourite band.

"You know how normally when you hear a band you can list the bands that influenced them or that they ripped off straight away? We couldn't do it for The Panics, they sounded like nothing I'd heard before, really melodic, almost atmospheric." Nathan Followill (Kings of Leon)

SKINT AND DEMORALISED
1.50pm - 2.25pm
myspace.com/skintanddemoralised

Skint and Demoralised is a fusion of spoken word performance poetry and Northern Soul-inspired grooves that stems from a musical collaboration between 20-year-old Wakefield wordsmith Matt Abbott and mysterious Sheffield songwriter/producer MiNI dOG.

The pair started writing together in May 2007 - by November they'd been played by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1 and by March 2008, they'd inked a deal with Mercury Records. Not ones to waste any time, then.

"Live, the lanky, handsome Abbott oozed easy charm on songs backed by clattering rock and shuffling beats... reminiscent of early The Streets, with nods to Squeeze, The Jam and Northern Soul. 4/5" The Times

WHITE BELT YELLOW TAG
12.45pm - 1.20pm
myspace.com/whitebeltyellowtag

Already favourites of BBC Radio's finest taste-making triumvirate Zane Lowe, Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens, brand new Northern noiseniks White Belt Yellow Tag are a thoroughly intriguing proposition. Comprised of core-duo Justin Lockey (ex-Yourcodenameis:milo) and Craig Pilbin (they're joined by ex-Cooper Temple Clause multi-instrumentalist Tom Bellamy when they play live), WBYT formed with a fairly logical mission statement: to write some ace songs. Well, you'll be happy to know that the mission has thus far been a massive success. Log on to their myspace page and check out their tracks - we're sure you'll be as impressed as we were!

"A brooding, mechanical fuzz-rock jigsaw of pluming melody for fans of The Joy Formidable and My Bloody Valentine" BBC Introducing

DAS WANDERLUST
12noon - 12.30pm
myspace.com/daswanderlust

Saltburn's Das Wanderlust are what you could call a marmite band… you'll either love them or you'll have them. Us? We love them and their bonkers Bis meets Bearsuit racket! Their debut album is out soon and has been receiving critical acclaim from the likes of Plan B and Artrocker - not to mention long time fan Huw Stephens making it his Album Of The Week on BBC Radio 1! More impressively than that, though, one of their tracks was recently used by Soccer AM for the League 2 goals round up - "it was pretty funny to see Macclesfield banging in substandard goals to our tuneless drivel" said Andy Wanderlust. We bet it was, Andy.

METROPOLIS AFTERSHOW PARTY
The Empire - 10.00pm til late
click for early bird cheap tickets

The Empire’s legendary Saturday night indie-electro-
rock spectacular proudly hosts a party for audience
and artists alike. Tickets on sale now at ticketweb.co.uk
or get yours from the lovely Empire bar staff on the day.