Do you remember the first time you heard Angie McMahon's debut single, Slow Mover?

It's one-of-a-kind.

It's gripping. It's honest. It's the kind of song that makes you keep the car engine on an extra few minutes after you've parked to hear it out.

It was one-of-a-kind.
Angie dropped her debut record, Salt, 18 months back, and now it's one-of-eleven. Eleven wholly compelling stories seasoned with mountainous dynamics.

We're over the moon to welcome one of Melbourne's finest new-age raconteurs to Bambra with her band. Once you've finished fumbling round in the last of the dusky light trying to set your tent up, come down the front and catch your breath.

PS. Did you hear Piano Salt. Wowee.

HTRK. Iconic. Since 2003.

A lotta texture. A lotta noise. A lotta stark prettiness scattered throughout.

We've been hoping for the right time to ask HTRK to join us in Bambra. When Venus In Leo dropped two years back, we knew it was time.

Come prepared for wooziness. The real 808s & heartbreak.

Devastated to have missed out on sharing our amphitheatre with Sheer Mag in 2020, but how about Romero to fill that void.

Bursting pop-punk with tearing hooks. Surely there is no better local substitute.

Named in NME's 100 Essential Emerging Artists of 2021. "Riotus Fun" they said.
We won't argue with that.

From another universe. A Gizzverse, actually.

Eighteen months since their last live appearance in Victoria. It's best you come see this for yourselves.

There might be microtonal guitars. There might be pop songs. There might be Balrogs and bushrangers. There might be psychedelia. There might be intergalactic visuals. There might be political thrashmetal.

Yes. These things might all happen at once.

One hour long. Once in a lifetime.
King Gizz take control of the Bambra Bowl.

Elizabeth is no stranger to our part of the world.

Following the release of Totally Mild's two picture perfect albums; Down Time & Her, Elizabeth has fronted her former band in Bambra twice before.

Now that the Her herself has blessed us with a richly produced, near perfect solo record, we had little choice but to extend an invite to our 2021 dinner party.

With a 3-piece all-female power-house band in tow, we're here for the bit where Elizabeth pulls a cinematic sunset towards us and sends us wandering and wondering into the dusk.

Hey!

Tasmanian jazzmasters turned groove partystarters Close Counters are in.

Can't believe it. They're practiced. They're precise. They're all we need to whip the Bambra Bowl into something more than special.

Time to move: Saturday night.

Hello...

Grew Inside The Water was a beautiful surprise. Mimi's debut record is packed with stories and a vividness that's intoxicatingly real.

There's a lot of emotion, but an overwhelmingly pretty soundscape throughout that feels like the perfect antidote to a late Saturday night.

Mimi gently guides us towards the end of Meadow 2021. On Sunday. For goodmornings and goodbyes.

Holy hell, what a record Cool Sounds put together in 2019.
More To Enjoy. And it did exactly what it said on the cover; so we booked them.

Shame 2020 had other ideas about what we might enjoy doing with our time.

Luckily for us, Cool Sounds spent their pandemic down-time busily navigating a relentless release schedule of singles, an EP and now their latest full length, Bystander, which is due to drop at any minute.

It's still wholesome and it still sounds like hazy sunshine as pop music.

Get up Sunday morning to some of Melbourne's finest jangle.

Whether it be warming up the crowd or closing down the house. Darcy Justice takes you on a euphoric journey through rhythm with style and grace.

Looking forward to that left of field selection right in the deepest part of her set that you just didn't see coming.

Ambitious. Genre-traversing. Other worldly.

One of our first show's out of COVID hibernation was Emma's single launch - a proper awakening. Surely one of the most exciting prospects in Melbourne's pulsing jazz/soul scene.

We've placing a safe bet on this band. They'll be taking control of the Bambra Bowl early Saturday evening where large socially distanced dance scenes are expected. That's a good thing; you'll need the room to move.

Maybe you'll find something surprising here. We've made sure it finds you right on time.

3K are on the up-and-up-and-up. It seems like one of those if you know you know and if you don't you're really missing out situations.

A real 3K fan is devoted and hungry.
Their club shows swell with intensity each time a beat kicks in.
It's a cult you want to be part of.

Quick question.. is this one of the greatest hip hop hooks out of Melbourne in recent years?

A natural remedy.
A smoky presence. Downbeat in nature.

There's something cathartic about a Sweet Whirl performance.
There's an ebb. And there's certainly a flow. A steadiness, but also a liberal application of emotional dynamics.

We're betting Sweet Whirl can lure you back into the land of the living no matter where it is you've wandered.

Didn't Surprise Chef have an astronomically large 2020. Whilst everyone else went into hibernation, they went in the opposite direction.

The debut record, All News Is Good News, sold out the first pressing world-wide in less than a week.

Then came Daylight Savings. Yep, also sold out.
Guess you can still get it on Spotify.

Mood and groove lords.
Friday night. Live and loose. Jazz and truth, in The Bambra Bowl..

Did you hear about the new wave of alt-country that infiltrated the Tamworth Music Festival's latest edition? Neither had we until recently, but apparently it's a thing.

Caitlin Harnett and her band The Pony Boys might just be at the crest of this boot-scootin' wave and she's only just getting started.

The Sydney-sider's debut single Make You Feel Blue is knock-your-socks-off material. Has there been a sad song that's made us happier in recent times? Probably not.

Debut record out now, and we promise, it's a pearler. Get it.

Yolngu Surf-Rock from Yirkalla, North-East Arnem Land.

Roy Kellaway and Yirrnga Yunipingu grew up as wawas (brothers), running through the legs of concert-goers at Yothu Yindi gigs. Roy's dad played the bass, Yirrnga's uncle was the Yothu Yindi frontman. Born into music, and raised in the band's touring entourage. Yolngu music is in their blood.

But... they're not travelling 4054km South to play Yothu Yindi tracks. They're performing as King Stingray.

"We want to celebrate culture and uplift people. Being young fellas from the bush we like to play rough and loud - surf music and rock music."

Hey Wanhaka means "where you going?" in Yolngu matha, but also "what's up?" or "what's happening?" It's also the title of King Stingray's debut single. It's groove heavy, melodically rich and incredibly infectious.

The King Stingray wave washes over Bambra on Saturday at sunset. Dive in before it breaks.

Who do you book to break open a Saturday night after a year without festivals. Private Function would be a very strong option.

This band is outrageous. Kingpins of pub-punk. Proud parents of their massive new record, Whose Line Is It Anyway. For skate-punks, rock-dogs, glamour-girls, bar-flies and beyond.

So, that's for everyone.

This is likely to be pretty loose.

The one and only. DJ Prequel.

Actual transcript of phone call where we made this booking:

"So, you've got this new record coming out, are you working on some sort of show to go with it? Are we going to need anything in particular to make this work on our stage?" - Us

"Nah, not really, probably just going to spin some disco, a bit of house, throw in some hip-hop. People have been stuck inside for way too long, so they'll just want to party". - Prequel

So be it. Come party. People.

This is spicy. A flavoursame whack of percussion, hard drum focused club cuts and low slung rap.

With a rising reputation for her distinct club sets, punchy soundcloud mixes and stomping festival appearances, C.FRIM, is one of the most in demand musical pilots in our part of the world.

Like red cordial before bed time. This will keep you up late.

Best On Field, Meadow 2018? That seemed to be the consensus at the time, but just the beginning for Kult Kyss.

Their signature sound of ice cold vocals stirred through bouncing electronica has only matured through an endless release of thumping singles since then.

Warped future pop. Peak Friday; A trip through space and time.

Some things are definitely meant to go together. You just don't know it until you've combined them.

Mindy Meng Wang 王萌 and Tim Shiel were pulled together by Melbourne's Music In Exile label. A not for profit providing a platform for musicians with refugee or migrant backgrounds. The most imrpobable pairing collaborated via the wonders of the internet while COVID's iron grip wrapped around the city of Melbourne, and managed to create some of the most unlikely breezy and progressive electronic music for that time.

Maybe it was Mindy's tendency to conjure images of beauty, tranquillity, clouds and mist whilst performing with her Guzheng (21-string traditional Chinese instrument). Maybe it was Tim's compositions wending their way through minimal soundscapes.

Maybe it was a combined yearning for things to come. Freedom.

Just like it says on the label.

7-piece party band out of Melbourne's inner North ready for lift-off Saturday afternoon, Meadow 2021.

No strangers to our little festival, The Seven Ups applied a liberal amount of dancefloor lubricant to the Bambra Bowl in 2019. Unrestrained solos, a loose rhythm section and plenty of fuzz resulted in rave reviews. So, they're coming back.

A hotly anticipated fourth album is peaking over the horizon. A horn blasting boogie in Bambra comes first.

Fair warning. You might just feel as though you've poked your ears out the backend of a wormhole and listened in on the sixties when Bones and Jones take to our stage. It is that authentic.

DIY in nature, the bands latest full length spun itself into a record via the relentless release of double singles last year. Enough double singles and you've got an album. A damn good one too.

Forgot to mention, they're from just up the road. Geetroit - rock city. Oh yeah!

When Tramcops announced he was done with the project in July last year, it felt like it was all over far too soon. Along with everything else that disappeared in 2020, it didn't quite seem fair. Time to wait for the next prodigious young talent to blossom instead.

Turns out, Michael Vince-Moin (AKA Tramcops) was just playing with our emotions. Ctrl + Me has since arrived with an even more sonically ambitious outlook. We'll wait for you to try and describe that sound for us.

Friday night. Large sized band. Debut live performance for Ctrl + Me.

Risky? Sometimes you just have to wish upon a star.

The hardest working band from within 15 minutes of the festival gates. Averaging a touch over 2* gigs in 2019 before swapping to approximately 0 gigs per week in 2020. The band will deliver a twisted infusion of dirty blues and organised chaos. Their raw and ruthless stage show will knock punters straight into festival mode when the stage powers up on Friday afternoon.

*educated estimate only.

Merchants of interstellar grooves and space-scapes. Right on theme Birdsnake.

Six uni students with a penchant for cinematic soundscapes and experimental funk. Music for the body and the spirit. Served with strong long blacks and a spot of brekky on Saturday morning at Meadow 2021. Thank us later.