Few things can propel me into a state of greater elation than the opportunity to raid the archives and then consequently re-share Interpol and Kasabian pictures. This makes the entire universe switch into a more satisfactory gear, and you can test the theory yourselves by perusing the gallery below. The reason for such delights, of course, is the latest Sziget line up announcement, which includes both above mentioned bands. What’s more, Interpol will be adding Sziget to their special tour celebrating fifteen years since the release of the seminal Turn on the Bright Lights, which will be played in full during this summer’s shows.

Among other names likely to tickle indie sensibilities, The Kills and Metronomy will also be playing the Main Stage- this somehow also brings me to the fact that I really hope Kasabian will headline said stage this time around, for I would find it very hard to tolerate them being followed by some Dutchman dropping the base. Speaking of Dutchmen, I was somehow uncomfortably (un)impressed by myself when I identified Sunnery James as a Dutch DJ on account of him being the husband of Doutzen Kroes- he’ll be playing the Arena of course, alongside some person by the name of Ryan Marciano. I am making myself look ever worse here, because the first thing which came to my mind about Jamie Cullum was that he too married a model- Sophie Dahl, and she’s taller than him too. How relevant.

Musically though he’s very off my radar, and so are Billy Talent, but people tend to love them it seems- especially Billy Talent, who are one of those bands definitely playing at least one Hungarian festival each summer, all this while Leningrad are playing the festival’s world music stage.  And so it will be on Sziget this time around as well, but I will not object to other people’s joy, and will go and check out the fairly more interesting quirky electro of Jagwar-Ma and Charlie XCX instead. Speaking of electro, one of the Kalkbrenner brothers is also always in the house during summer festivals, this time around it’s Fritz, and I love this song so much that I give my total blessing to his presence. Crystal Fighters are also slowly growing into the role of Budapest resident bands, but since I horribly missed them each time so far, a closer investigation is long overdue in their case.

Cashmere Cat, Flume and Clean Bandit, however, leave me as cold as Budapest’s average temperature these days- I find it quite hard to tell which is more boring and average, but if my life depended on it, I’d probably say Clean Bandit. Perhaps because I resent the name, as a possible discrimination against bandits who seem to be expected to have bad hygiene. The last new names (The Pretty Reckless, Danny Brown and Maurice West) will be added to my ultimative guinea pigging post which will be unleashed later this year, though I am frankly very suspicious of the last two, since their names sound like those of dodgy defenders on loan from West Ham United to Preston North End.

Also, in case you’re curious about the first batch of names from December, you can find them here.