Liverpool Sound City 2015, 22-24 May

FRIDAY
The result is a sonically claustrophobic version of the standard festival site as the stages bleed into each other, resulting in volume wars that almost completely drown out subtler acts like Flo Morrissey, who sings with a wilting chromaticism and lovely melancholy beyond her years but whose delicate tone is barely a match for the surrounding noise. However, despite these malfunctions this year's talent is stronger than ever; diverse and progressive, and doing its best to pulse through the compressed atmosphere. To wit: the first act of the Friday, Ady Suleiman and band, who present an inventive neo-soul, their musicianship on a par with a match-fit Jamiroquai and their lyrics reflecting intelligently on issues of mental health and religious belief. [CMcK]

The docks remain fairly empty until many turn up to see Everything Everything test large slabs of their irresistible new album, Get to Heaven, on the festival circuit while dressed in red robes, like feelgood priests of hypnotic pop. Their ridiculous ‘Baby it’s alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair’ lyric from No Reptiles has people conversing long into the night.

Elsewhere, the Cargo Stage is a modest little tent that definitely isn't ready for the chaos that erupts when Stormzy appears at little gone 11pm. The man arrives three hours late, sends the place wild with multiple performances of Where Do You Know Me From?, then leaves. It is the most impromptu headline performance of impromptu headline performances, but was worth the wait. [MC]

SATURDAY
Out-there Manchester quintet Dutch Uncles are everything you'd hope them to be, frontman Duncan Wallis’s questionable but totally spellbinding dad-at-a-wedding dancing present throughout (and bringing smiles to an already sun-soaked set). Upsilon, from new album O Shudder, and fan favourite Flexxin are just as intricate as they are on record. Their biggest talent, though, is just how easy they make having a good time look. [MC]

Rather fortuitously taking to the main stage at the weekend's sunniest point, Stealing Sheep bring a dose of eccentric synth-pop and girl power to the otherwise dull and windy docks. The trio hammer away enthusiastically on their Moogs beneath a Clockwork Orange-like video projection, which gives a futuristic surrealism to the set. [CMcK]

Fucked Up bring such a truckload of aggression to the Baltic Stage that security have to get involved, frontman Damian Abraham emerging from a particularly brutal pit with a substantial gash across his head. This halts proceedings for barely a minute, however, as Abraham clambers back onstage, does some swearing and rips into more tracks from their Zodiac series of records, including Year of the Dragon. Speaking of the Baltic Stage – it's the real star of the show this festival. Set inside an old warehouse, it feels as if it was solely crafted for Evian Christ’s pounding 1am Trance Party. The ferocity of Joshua Leary's distorted approach to electronic music, coupled with a no-holds-barred light show spanning three huge screens, provides a unique experience – though it does raise the question of why there weren’t more off-kilter, visually experimental electronic acts on the bill. [MC]

SUNDAY
With his beach-blonde brand of prophetic electronica, Johnny Sands kicks off the final day. Once crowned the best dressed man in Britain, he also catches the ear with a reverb-washed croon. The tunes are what count, though, and Sands has all the substance to back up his style. Clarence Clarity, meanwhile, play an adrenaline-pumped half hour with an urgent sense of menace and angst. Aside from the surplus of screeching and self-belief, there is a creative unpredictably to their peculiar funk-rock.

Stealing the Sunday are the night's fun and camp headliners, Belle and Sebastian, whose charming, playful pop could crack a smile from the hardest cynic. There’s silly dancing, trumpets and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, all paired with a great sense of melody and contemporary reference. They’re irresistible, ending the weekend on a warm and sweet note; and, as we leave the site for the last time, the perks of the new location prove more visible in the darkness as robotic samba dancers and the glimmer of a neon-bright funfair spill through the crowds. [CMcK]