Aural delights for the autumn

It's bloody typical that as soon as I swap Oxford for Cardiff, the latter's Swn Festival takes a gap year (with no guarantee it'll return in 2018) while the former will host not one but two new one-day smorgasbords of music in the autumn.

First up, across three stages at East Oxford Community Centre and Fusion Arts on 2nd September, will be If Not Now, When?. A collaboration between promoters Divine Schism and Idiot King, the festival sees Alpha Male Tea Party and Tellison on the bill alongside a host of the city's finest including Slate Hearts, Kid Kin and Flights Of Helios.

Then, on 21st October, it's the turn of Future Perfect's Ritual Union, a multi-venue event taking place on Cowley Road that will hopefully pick up where Gathering left off in 2013. Josefin Ohrn + The Liberation, Flaminggods and local porch-folk duo The August List have already been named on the line-up, and Nightshift editor Ronan has hinted that the yet-to-be-announced headliners will be a significant coup. It's already sounding like a good excuse to head back to my old stomping ground.