A Bluffer's Guide to Music Waste

Next week, Music Waste is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Other festivals have come and gone while shooting for the headlines with big-name acts, but Music Waste has achieved longevity by favouring a lineup of local underground bands and hosting shows at small bars and art spaces.

This year's event runs from June 5 to 8 and, as in past years, the lineup offers a generous selection of homegrown indie acts. All-access passes are just $15 (while supplies last), or cover for each individual show is a measly $5. With many of the gigs centred around Mount Pleasant and the Downtown Eastside, it's easy for concertgoers to bounce from venue to venue and check out multiple shows per night.

Thursday night (June 5) is a particularly good night for punk and garage, since B-Lines will headline a bill at the Smilin' Buddha Cabaret at 9:30. This local outfit is known for its manic energy and blisteringly fast, bite-sized slices of punk mayhem. In other words, their set probably won't last too long, and you might have time to haul ass to the Cobalt in time for another stellar punk band, The Greater Wall, at 10:15.

Also on the same bill at the Cobalt, hardcore combo N E E D S is sure to be one of the noisiest bands of the festival, thanks in large part to the screams of front-maniac Sean Orr. Closing out the night, Mint Records signees Tough Age will showcase their diverse range of garage-y tunes, which touch on pop, blues, doo-wop and more.

Friday, June 6 offers a night of pop at the Remington Gallery. Fake Tears -- a duo consisting of Kellarissa's Larissa Loyva and the Lost Lovers Brigade's Elisha Rembold -- will harmonize on dark electronic lullabies, while Village will take a live-band approach to dream-weaving pop. Rounding out the bill, Cool will get fans dancing with their funky, punky jams. This band features former members of sorely missed local favourites Apollo Ghosts, and their live shows are similarly life-affirming.

Then again, if you prefer speaker-punishing rock, you could check out gothic punks lié at the Smilin' Buddha Cabaret at 9:15; that group's Brittany West has another shadowy post-punk band called Koban who play at the Cobalt at 11:15, and grunge revival trio War Baby will show audiences why they won this year's Shindig battle of the bands contest when they play the Astoria at 1:30 in the morning.

However you choose to spend your night, be sure to end it at Rainbow Connection, where the weed-obsessed rap pranksters of Too High Crew will oversee what's likely to be a rager of a party.

Saturday is another jam-packed night, and the fun starts early, with sunny jangle-pop band Soft Serve topping an in-store lineup at 5 p.m. at Red Cat Records. As night falls, head over to Simply Delicious at 10:15 for some heavy garage-psych with Cult Babies.

Unfortunately, you might need to skip out a little early to make it to Toast Collective in time for Super Moon -- which is scrappy indie-pop crew Movieland's new name -- at 10:45. After that, stick around for woolworm's noisy, hook-filled indie rock songs.

After so many days of bouncing between venues, Sunday will give fans a chance to hunker down at the Anza Club, which will host the night's only show. This eight-band wrap party is scheduled to last for more than seven hours, and includes Defektors, Love Cuts, Skinny Kids and more.

The festival also includes art and comedy programs. See the full schedule, with all of the bands and more, right here.