12 Non-Headline Bands You Should See At Reading & Leeds

10. M˜

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB5RfOwrmWQ Where/When: Dance Stage, Reading - Saturday, Leeds - Sunday Danish-born Karen Marie ˜rsted, better known as M˜, has previously played on the Festival Republic Stage at Reading & Leeds, but much like her sound-alikes AlunaGeorge and Grimes, she graduates to the Dance Stage this year, for what is surely going to be an electronic extravaganza of new pop and soulful RnB. There's so much space in M˜'s sound that it's almost hard to pin her down in just one genre; the blogosphere has indeed gone crazy over her 'glistening soul-pop', 'shimmering ambiance', and other such typical journo phrases as these. What really helps M˜'s cause is how accessible she is. Whether her Scandinavian roots compare her to some of the region's pop greats in Abba or Robyn, or her assertive, dance-inducing beats lead her to be branded alongside Santigold and Lykke Li, M˜ is really an artist for the people. Mass-singalong pop this good just doesn't come along very often, so it'd be a shame to miss it in such an intimate setting as the Dance Stage.