Until recently – he’s now signed to XL in the UK and Hot Charity in the US – Beal would sing a song, or draw pictures, for those who wrote or phoned the details on hand-drawn flyers he distributed (how’s that for an antithesis of the modern social media savvy musicians?), he lives with his grandmother, and he recorded a cassette version of his forthcoming debut album, Acousmatic Sorcery, on a $25 Radio Shack mic. Chicago-based singer-songwriter Beal is a genre-hopping, chest-beating talent of undoubted authenticity. This is no Lana Del Ray.

Lo-fi in attitude, lo-fi in sound, Willis Earl Beal’s eclectic style bears a strong resemblance to the criminally underrated Cody Chesnutt, but with tub-thumping blues in place of hip-hop. If he can keep his fast-rising feet on the ground, Willis Earl Beal could well realise his dream of being a ‘black Tom Waits’; god knows we need more stars like this…

Photography © Michael Boyd for the Chicago Reader

Evoking memories of Roy Castle and the McWhirter twins seeing how many badly clothed, spotty teens could be squeezed into a Mini Cooper; Renault have decided to see how much originality 4 artists can cram inside their new Twingo. Now this isn’t ‘art car’ as in Jeff Koons’ BMW – one of the “artists” is the delightful pop-starlet Nicola Roberts – but it’s a fun little marketing ruse nonetheless; as French fashionista Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, creative Italian chef Davide Scabin, and German designer Nils Holger Moormann join the aforementioned Girls Aloud popster in stamping their mark on the French company’s latest model. There’s a library, an Italian kitchen, recording studio complete with golden hairdryer and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s austere-era interpretation of a presidential state car, all demonstrating just what you can do with a compact city car if you put a little thought into it. Just don’t expect to see these as optional extras down your local dealership…

Twingo 55 FBG by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
© Renault UK Limited

Twingo Wagon-Lire (Reading Room) by Nils Holger Moormann
© Renault UK Limited

Scabin Pasta Twingo by Davide Scabin
© Renault UK Limited

Twingo 55 FBG by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
© Renault UK Limited

Twingo Goes Pop by Nicola Roberts
© Renault UK Limited

Twingo Wagon-Lire (Reading Room) by Nils Holger Moormann
© Renault UK Limited

Twingo Goes Pop by Nicola Roberts
© Renault UK Limited

You can be at the launch party, as well as bagging yourself a limited edition copy of the book, by donating $50 to the book’s IndieGoGo campaign. But be quick, there’s just 2 days left…

Designed as an intimate bolthole in which to shelter from the festival outside, Re-Make/Re-Model’s Black Box Revelation is based rather simply, yet brilliantly, around a bog-standard caravan shoved inside a 6x6m black-painted, plywood box. The exterior of one side of the caravan is cut away, in turn creating an external entrance to the madness inside. Allowing revellers to control the music, lighting and to create their own chalk artwork, the Berlin collective’s little black box and the mysterious, creative world inside soon became one of the festival’s most popular meet-up points. Original, irreverent, and full of attitude; Black Box Revelation is one of our favourite features in some time…

Little Dragon
4.45pm Friday; West Holts
Frontwoman Yukimi Nagano was part of the Gorillaz’ opinion splitting headline performance last year, contributing her delicate vocals to the cartoon band’s cause. She’s back this year promoting her Swedish band’s upcoming new album Ritual Union and if early reviews are anything to go by, this could be a band on the cusp of big things…

Wu-Tang Clan
3.00pm Friday; Pyramid
Kind of like the Faith No More of the hip-hop world, Wu-Tang have never much played by the rules, and their unhinged chaotic performances continue to tear up clubs around the world. This is a very different rap offering than what Worthy Farm has previously seen, and if they can win over the sort of calm crowd that a 3pm slot on the Pyramid usually attracts then it could easily be the performance of the weekend. Bring tha muthafucking ruckus…

Esben And The Witch
12.00pm Sunday; Oxlyers In West
This Brighton trio’s deeply gothic, haunting work may be more suited to a late night slot, but if you like your music dark intense and captivating then you could do much worse than catch the brilliant, if decidedly un-cheery, sonic drone of Esben And The Witch…

Jamie xx
7.00pm Friday; Oxlyers In West
So much for having a break, The xx’s prolific beat-maker has been busy changing the landscape of electronic music since his band went on hiatus and, following the success of his Gil Scott-Heron collaboration, he’s found himself as one of the world’s most in demand producers. Miss this set at your peril…

Yuck
1.05pm Saturday; John Peel
Whatever you think of “grunge-revival”, “shoegaze-revival” or any early 90s alt-infused revival you care to mention, Yuck craft beautiful, almost perfect pop songs, and – should the sun make an unexpected appearance on Saturday lunchtime – they could well be the perfect festival band. If this set doesn’t bring a smile to your face, well, then basically you’re dead…

Metronomy
12.05pm Friday; Pyramid & 5.00pm Sunday; Oxlyers In West
There’s very little that we can add to this that you don’t probably know already. The English Riviera is the official sound to summer 2011 and Joe Mount’s crew are set to be the band of summer 2011…

Jackmaster
2.30am – 4.00am Sunday; Stonebridge Bar in The Park
Glaswegian Jackmaster has been doing some serious damage to dancefloors of late, earning himself a reputation as one of the UK’s top DJs, with Skream recently announcing him as his favourite disc spinner. His recent FabricLive mix sums his style up perfectly; everything from Chicago house classics to the latest in underground bass music. If you don’t want the festival to end and want to party through till Monday – this is your man…

Hercules and Love Affair
8.00pm Sunday; West Holts
If for any reason you lose your senses, or yourself, and aren’t watching Robyn on Sunday night, then you need to be checking out New York’s finest retro-disco/house act. If, like us, you’ll be smarting at this horror-clash then you can still catch main man Andy Butler doing his stuff between 1.15am and 2.30am on Sunday at Pussy Parlure…

Pulled Apart By Horses
3.00pm Saturday; Oxlyers In West
Rock. Yeah, rock – good old fashioned crowd-surfing, speaker blowing, guitar swinging rock. It’s in short supply at Glastonbury – must be those hippies – but, with QOTSA heading up the Other stage on Sunday (we’d be mildly excited if Nick Oliveri was still in the band) is that starting to change? Unlikely, but if you need your feedback and hoarse-throat fix then forget Josh Homme’s dull interpretation of his once vital band, Leeds’ finest unhinged punksters are for you. See you down the pit?

Egyptian Hip Hop
3.00pm Sunday; Oxlyers In West
We’re huge fans of these psychedelic Mancunian whippersnappers and with an early slot on Thursday last year blowing us away, we’re suitably excited for this performance on the newly eclectic version of the West Dance stage…

R&S presents James Blake (DJ set), Space Dimension Controller and Wild Geese
12.00am – 5.00am Friday; Stonebridge Bar in The Park
There’s late-night options in abundance on Worthy Farm and for those into the more serious side of dance music, you could do worse than losing yourself in The Park’s Stonebridge Bar for 5 hours on Saturday morning with London-based Belgian label R&S Records presenting, amongst others, post-dubstep poster boy James Blake…

Spotlight Kid
6.00pm Friday; BBC Introducing
If you’ve been seduced by Yuck’s interpretation of early 1990s grunge then you’ll probably also fondly gaze downwards at the mere mention of Swervedriver, Lush, Curve, My Bloody Valentine or Ride. If you did then you’ll probably want to head over to the BBC Introducing stage at 6pm on Friday to drift off into a sumptuous wall of sound with Nottingham’s Spotlight Kid…

Grouplove
12.00pm Friday; The Park
More early 90s musings, this time with more of a 4AD feel to it, courtesy of Brooklyn/LA five-piece Grouplove. If you’ve managed to miss their rather huge Colours then where have you been? If you haven’t, then you’re probably already considering an early trip to The Park on Friday afternoon…

Caribou
9.45pm Friday; The Park
Daniel Victor Snaith has been doing the rounds of experimental folk/dance/psychedelic/indietronica for some time, originally as Manitoba and for the last 5 or 6 years as Caribou. His latest album Swim has blown up somewhat and you can expect a big crowd looking for a euphoric alternative to The Biggest Band In The World™…

Warpaint
4.45pm Friday; The Park & 4.50pm Saturday; John Peel
LA’s queens of psychedelia deliver a perfect soundtrack to hazy summer’s days and their 2010 album, The Fool, has rarely been far from our speakers since its release. The Eavis family clearly concur with 2 prime-time slots ensuring everyone gets a chance to lose themselves in the girls’ fuzzy-bliss for 40 minutes…

Omar Souleyman
4.45pm Saturday; West Holts
Syrian techno. Need we say more?

Joker
6.00pm Sunday; Oxlyers In West
Having been pretty much a staple in every dubstep DJ’s record box for the last 3 years, Bristol’s finest is set to release his debut album on the traditionally very indie 4AD. If lead single The Vision is anything to go by, it’s going to be BIG. Check it out for yourself as he plays live on Sunday…

The Horrors
6.10pm Saturday; John Peel
One of the most sensational turnarounds in indie? The Horrors managed to turn themselves from the brunt of hipster jokes to one of the UK’s most exciting bands with the release of the rather brilliant Primary Colours, so much so that their forthcoming album is one of the most eagerly anticipated of the year. Its lead single Still Life may sound a little bit like Simple Minds, but that won’t stop this Saturday evening session being one of the John Peel stage’s most packed out…

What was your inspiration for starting a label?

I guess it came as a logical extension from the other things we were doing at the time – running a fanzine, then a clubnight and a blog etc. Just a curatorial spirit and desire to share the things we loved with as wide an audience as possible.

What has been the biggest change caused by downloading to your label and the independent record industry as a whole?

I guess we embrace it really, to be honest. We’re a small, boutique operation and only sell things in limited runs so it isn’t particularly harmful for us to give the music away free digitally. In fact, we find it helps promote the records quite nicely.

Berwick Street is obviously a huge part of the UK’s music heritage, how big a loss, do you think, are shops like Sister Ray to popular culture?

It definitely really sucks because those places really were/are great creative hubs and you get a really strong sense of curation and selection within them in terms of the records `they stock and support but I guess there’s a similar kind of identity being fostered online now in terms of blogs etc. Still, it’s a bit sad and scary to think that everything might exist solely in the internet one day. Music’s a totally social thing and those bricks and mortar shopping experiences are really enriching and satisfying.

We have fond memories of trawling through stacks of vinyl on the hunt for something special, hanging around in record shops, meeting new people, and so on… How important do you think events like this and Record Store Day are in both preserving something special, and introducing the digital kids to the excitement of physical music?

It’s definitely a great way to get people energised and excited about buying music again, especially with so many great labels offering exclusives and rarities etc. I read a great article by Simon Reynolds in the Wire this month about how downloading culture has totally exploded the culture of scarcity around music and I think that totally applies here – it’s an amazing feeling discovering something special by pure chance or serendipity – one that huge minesweeping torrent download sessions will never really replicate for me.

Are you looking forward to meeting the record buying public? What do you think you’ll gain from the experience as a label boss?

Absolutely. It’ll be nice to meet people that are into what we’re doing. Sometimes being trapped in the internet can feel a bit like an echo chamber and it’s weird thinking that actual human beings enjoy the things we strive to put together.

Photograph from Vice Style

I guess it was the music around me at the time, that’s what got me off me off my arse to do it, when i first heard klaxons and then saw them live, I thought this is the right band to kick off with, they encompassed things I loved and then also taught me a lot. I have always put music and record labels together, whether its Stax, Warp or What’s Your Rupture?, I wanted to do something like that.

What has been the biggest change caused by downloading to your label and the independent record industry as a whole?

I don’t think anything has really changed for me, we were born in the era of downloading and filesharing so we don’t know any better!
I don’t know how many more records we would sell if it didn’t exist, I think it probably effects major record labels more but if everyone
just puts out good music, which i think will always sell and is sensible in the deals they do and the amount they spend on marketing etc. there will be a profit for both the artist and the label.

Berwick Street is obviously a huge part of the UK’s music heritage, how big a loss, do you think, are shops like Sister Ray to popular culture?

Any record shop closure is a loss for humanity ! Part of me thinks Record shops need to think harder about extra revenue and how to create it, there is more to music than just LPs and CDs.

We have fond memories of trawling through stacks of vinyl on the hunt for something special, hanging around in record shops, meeting new people, and so on… How important do you think events like this and Record Store Day are in both preserving something special, and introducing the digital kids to the excitement of physical music?

I guess its very important , I hope we don’t make everything too sentimental by looking back at some golden age of yesteryear, I don’t think that is very appealing to young people, I hope we make this feel new, and I think the only we can do this is by releasing forward thinking music… I think we need to embrace new formats and the digital world and all that, we have to keep moving forward fast but also have one foot in the past.

Are you looking forward to meeting the record buying public? What do you think you’ll gain from the experience as a label boss?

I’m looking forward to the day, its a celebration of what we do, it’s gonna be great to finally put faces to the people who keeps us alive…

Photograph from Hedi Slimane’s Rock Diary

What was your inspiration for starting a label?

Just wanting to do it for ourselves. We both worked for record labels when we started Moshi Moshi so it was a chance for us to do our own thing. An opportunity to indulge our own passions and see if other people felt the same about the stuff that we liked.

What has been the biggest change caused by downloading to your label and the independent record industry as a whole?

We have probably suffered less than many because our business doesn’t rely on big back catalogue sales. On balance the digital revolution has probably done us as much good as harm. Sure we sell less physical product these days but the internet has enabled us to have a much wider reach than we ever would have been able to. And reach people who would never have knows we existed. I actually find the opportunities presented by digital music very exciting and I think (hope) it’s will ultimately be a good thing for us.

Berwick Street is obviously a huge part of the UK’s music heritage, how big a loss, do you think, are shops like Sister Ray to popular culture?

I think it would be a real shame if we lost independent record stores. They are a place where like-minded music fans can hang out and learn more about the stuff their passionate about. I’d hope that this social aspect of the indie store might be its saviour.

We have fond memories of trawling through stacks of vinyl on the hunt for something special, hanging around in record shops, meeting new people, and so on… How important do you think events like this and Record Store Day are in both preserving something special, and introducing the digital kids to the excitement of physical music?

Record Store Day is a great idea. Not only is it a chance to remind people how great these places are but its an opportunity for labels like ours to show our support and do something creative with physical product that we probably wouldn’t otherwise be doing.

Are you looking forward to meeting the record buying public? What do you think you’ll gain from the experience as a label boss?

I’m strangely excited. I used to work in a record shop before i started the label and I loved it. I enjoy the inter-action with the public – it gives you a window into what people are listening to that you don’t get stuck behind a desk. Sometimes i wish i could go back to it so maybe this could be a turning point in my career.

As a follow up to the massively successful Record Store Day, the Independent Label Market promises to be one of the most exciting independent record buying events in recent times – we’ve caught up with some of the label bosses involved and will be posting our interviews between now and Saturday, stay tuned…

Photograph courtesy of Jrim

Planningtorock; Doorway (Creep Remix)

Bolton born prosthetic nose enthusiast, Janine Rostron, is a one-woman project with a disposition for off-kilter orchestral, chamber-pop, show-stopping dance music that quite literally defies all manner of logic, categorisation and comprehension. Her debut album for James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy’s DFA, entitled W, is as fantastically original and utterly bonkers as you will hear all year. This remix courtesy of Brooklyn’s Creep – whose recent single ‘Days’ featured The xx’s Romy – is dark, haunting, dramatic and, well, just brilliant…

Purity Ring; Ungirthed (Christian AIDS remix)

Purity Ring are a new project from a member of electro-pop New Yorkers, Gobble Gobble – a kind of Cut Copy meets Gang Gang Dance affair. He/They sound much better as the darkly poppy, or perhaps poppily dark, witch house outfit that they are now. They sound even better with Manchester’s finest purveyors of euphoric, 6am after-party rave – the quite brilliant Christian Aids – on the remix duties…

Yuck; Milkshake

You know what you’re getting with Yuck, and Milkshake – a new track that partners Shook Down on a new double a-side 7″ – is another lush 4 minutes of retro-grunge pop perfection. If ever a band had been made for long summer days…

Jensen Sportag; The Wet Mix

A 14 minute mix to accompany/compliments their new Pure Wet EP – this is as slick and sleepy a slice of electro-pop as you’ll hear this year. Glossy, sexy, retro – wrap this round your ears and you’ll think you’re Don Johnson in the middle of a soft focus sex scene…

Zomby; Things Fall Apart ft. Panda Bear

A curious collaboration, glitchy dubstep producer Zomby gets some vocal treatment from Animal Collective’s Panda Bear. It’s pretty much as you’d imagine. Brilliant.

Jakwob; Right Beside You ft. Smiler

Continuing what is a fairly mellow start to our new music feature – this new one from dubstep remixer extraordinaire Jakwob is a lesson in beautifully blissed out, bass heavy, electro-pop. Expect this one to hit the major radio playlists and end up getting right on your tits…

Robyn; Call Your Girlfriend (Feed Me Remix)

We couldn’t be more obsessed by Sweden’s very own masterclass in pop-perfection if we tried – her remixes always tend to be gay club hi-nrg codswallop however. Enter London producer Feed Me and an utterly bonkers Justice-go-dubstep pounder and there goes 2 hours listening to it on repeat…

Joker & Jessie Ware; The Vision (Let Me Breathe)

You should by now be fully aware of Bristol’s finest pioneer of synth-heavy, post-dubstep – his computer sound effect filled, bass heavy tracks Snake Eater, Hollybrook Park and Purple City have been staples of most dubstep DJs’ sets for the last few years – and if you’re not, then shame on you. He’s got a full length player on the way and, if this collaboration with big-lunged London based vocalist Jessie Ware is anything to go by, it’s set to be rather big…

Space Bass; Slick (Vinyl 12″) 1979

Of course it’s not all new music we’re listening to here at We Heart towers – so for each ‘Reel Heart’ feature we’ll also be doing a bit of crate digging, pulling out something old that we hope will be new to you. It’s all about discovery. Enjoy…