Presented by Baybeats 2019.

Behold the mother lode: Baybeats 2019 is upon us. Singapore's biggest independent music festival will return for its 18th edition at the Esplanade from 23 - 25 August, for a weekend of uncompromisingly original music from some of the most interesting and buzzing Singaporean, regional and Asian artists.

Besides its revised staging , which has established the LiveWire Stage, Open Stage and Arena as the new trinity of stages, this year's edition of the festival is notable for its sheer payload of genres and sounds. Featuring a spectrum-blasting array of bands, Baybeats 2019 invites you, dear festivalgoer, to its most eclectic edition yet.

In the guide below, we present the musical feast that is Baybeats 2019 via segmented genre categories.
 

Hip-hop

L to R: MEAN, Ramengvrl, AKLO

Ever since last year's hip-hop riches proved to be such a hit with audiences, it has become undeniable that rap and R&B are new crowd favourites at Baybeats. This year, look forward to the mic-blasting skills by Singaporean fire-spitter MEAN, Malaysian rap&b wiz Airliftz, Indonesian scene-stealer Ramengvrl and Japanese star AKLO.

AKLO
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 9:30 – 10pm

Airliftz
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 10:30pm – 11pm

MEAN
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 11:30pm – 12am

Ramengvrl
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 8:50pm – 9:30pm

Psych-rock 

L to R: Sundays & Cybele, Golden Mammoth

Japanese quartet Sundays & Cybele and Malaysian quintet Golden Mammoth more than know their way around a groove. But every exquisitely voluptuous bassline is accompanied by a deluxe weave of shimmering textures that pulse with a blanketing thrall of surreal energy.

Get ready for a cocktail of rock, funk and magic.

Golden Mammoth
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 9pm – 9:40pm
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Chillout Stage (Esplanade Concourse), 6pm – 6:30pm, 8:10pm – 8:40pm

Sundays & Cybele
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 10:20pm – 11pm

Indie rock

L to R: Sobs, Se No Neon

Indie rock is richly and massively represented at Baybeats 2019. Across countries and sub-genres, seven must-watch bands will be on hand to show you why DIY rock and pop are so vital to the Asian underground.

From Singapore alone, Sobs, Stopgap, The New Modern Lights, Cinnamon Persimmon and cues will fly the flag for their sounds. Indonesia's Reality Club and South Korea's Se So Neon will also be chiming in assuredly.

Stopgap
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: Chillout Stage (Esplanade Concourse), 6:30pm – 7pm, 8:30pm – 9pm
Day 2, Saturday 24 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 8:50pm – 9:30pm

Sobs
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 7:30pm – 8:10pm
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Chillout Stage (Esplanade Concourse), 7pm – 7:30pm, 9:30pm – 10pm

The New Modern Lights
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 7pm – 7:30pm

Cinnamon Persimmon
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 6:30pm – 7pm

Se So Neon
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 10:10pm – 10:50pm

cues
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 6:30pm – 7pm

Reality Club
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Chillout Stage (Esplanade Concourse), 7pm – 7:30pm, 9:30pm – 10pm 
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 7:30pm – 8:10pm

Metal

L to R: Rudra, Marijannah

Expect nothing less than a panorama of sound and fury this Baybeats. Some of the heaviest bands from across the spectrum of metal will gather to bring you a sublime, eardrum-battering time. Singaporean Vedic metal pioneers Rudra, stoner doom metal four-piece Marijannah, metalcore sextet I, Devotion and deathcore quintet No Rest For the Weary, will join Filippino rap metal heroes Slapshock in shaking the foundations of their stages.

Rudra
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 11pm – 11:40pm

No Rest For The Weary
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 7pm – 7:30pm

I, Devotion
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 8:10pm – 8:50pm

Marijannah
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 9:30pm – 10:10pm

Slapshock
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 10:50pm – 11:30pm 

Singer-songwriters

L to R: LEW, Shye

LEW possesses one of the most hushed and devastating voices around. Shye wields a coo that oozes sweetness and poise.

Both these Singaporean singer-songwriters have a knack for building resplendent emotional worlds that draw listeners in and leaves them transfixed. LEW's acoustic guitar-led band setup and Shye's electropop moves will be lovely to behold.

LEW
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: Chillout Stage (Esplanade Concourse), 7:30pm – 8pm, 9:40pm – 10:10pm

Shye
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 7:30pm – 8pm

Punk

L to R: Iman's League, Amterible

Leading the punk charge at Baybeats 2019 will be veteran bands from Singapore and Indonesia. Influenced by Bad Religion, Social Distortion and The Ramones, Jakarta's Speak Up will be sure to make fist-up noise, as will Singaporean mainstays Iman's League and Amterible, both of which have been beacons in the Lion City punk scene.

Iman's League
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 9:40pm – 10:20pm

Speak Up
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 10:50pm – 11:30pm
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Chillout Stage (Esplanade Concourse), 6pm – 6:30pm, 8:10pm – 8:40pm

Amterible
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 8:10pm – 8:50pm

Emo

EMONIGHTSG

Longtime purveyours of the best emo club night in town, EMONIGHTSG will be hand to unleash the best, most enduring enduring anthems ever. This night, the Esplanade Annexe Studio will transform into a tear-streaked dance floor where you can sing your heart out.

EMONIGHTSG
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 11pm – 3am

Rock

L to R: Tell Lie Vision, Franco

Fans of fast-riffing, hard-pounding rock will more than get their fill as Singaporean alternative rock mainstays Tell Lie Vision and Mannequins join forces with Franco, one of the most esteemed bands in Filipino rock. With a plethora of arena-sized canons between them, Tell Lie Vision, Mannequins and Franco will be your rock trinity at Baybeats 2019.

Mannequins
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 8pm – 8:30pm

Tell Lie Vision
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 8:30pm – 9pm

Franco
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 9:30pm – 10:10pm

Post-rock

L to R: T-Rex, Summations

Singapore's almighty T-Rex will once again unspool its groove-inflected rock-reconfiguring sound, alongside Baybeats Budding Bands Summations and Plate. Using rock music as raw material to be deconstructed and reimagined anew, these bands promise a transportive experience suffused with dashing poly-rhythms and expansive sweeps of texture.

Summations
Day 1, Friday, 23 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 7:30pm – 8pm

Plate
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Arena (Esplanade Outdoor Theatre), 7pm – 7:30pm

T-Rex
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: LiveWire Stage (Esplanade Forecourt Garden), 10:10pm – 10:50pm

Dance-pop

Wedance

"If you're into punk or lo-fi rock, come and catch Wedance. If you just want to dance, come to the show and you’ll find the perfect music for the dance of your lifetime!" – that's the Wedance guarantee. Mining equally from beat-driven, electro-minded pop to propulsive rock, this Korean duo has proven its mettle at storied festivals such as the Fuji Rock Festival and Primavera Sound. This will be its first-ever showing in Singapore.

Wedance
Day 2, Saturday, 24 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 8:30pm – 9pm

Experimental

L to R: Moja, .gif

Japanese bass-drum duo Moja and Singaporean electronic twosome .gif have one other thing in common: In the crucible of their respective visions, both acts melt canons into breathtakingly singular artistic signatures. There's a revolution happening at the fringes and Moja and .gif will take you there.

Moja 
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 5:50pm – 6:30pm, 11:30pm – 12:10am

The Analog Vault Selectors X .gif
Day 3, Sunday, 25 August: Esplanade Annexe Studio, 7pm – 10:30pm

Baybeats 2019 will take place 23 to 25 August 2019 at the Esplanade. The festival is free. For latest updates and more information, visit the official Baybeats page here.