Off the record: David Smyth

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Triumphant: Stig of the Dump ripped shreds off former So Solid Crew member Ashley Walters in a nightclub rap battle

Celebrity fan: Rob of Beverly Hills is an admirer of the northern rapper

Coup of the season: Mick Jagger and the Rollings Stone are lined-up to play the Isle of Wight Festival

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• Biggest ever Glastonbury gets the go-ahead
• 'Never tired' Mick Jagger announces Stone's summer tour

David Smyth discusses unorthodox British rapper Stig of the Dump, line-ups for the upcoming festival season and the latest internet music releases.

HE'S LOUD, HAIRY AND ROBBIE'S NEW MUSE

This week's YouTube "Oscars" confirmed that the amateur video website is much more than You've Been Framed for the digital age. A popular clip can make a career, as unorthodox British rapper Stig of the Dump is finding.

Describing himself in his publicity blurb as "a fat, hairy, homeless, Northern, drunken arsehole", Newcastle's Stig makes Johnny Vegas look kempt and could not be further from the buff, blinging hip hop stereotype. His one EP to date, The Homeless Microphonist, was praised by the specialist press but remained underground.

But type "Asher D vs Stig" into the YouTube.com search engine and you can watch him ripping shreds off former So Solid Crew member and minor actor Ashley Walters in a David and Goliath nightclub rap battle.

The underdog is the one who's the size of a bungalow.

As seen in Eminem's film 8 Mile, battles involve rappers competing to see who can come up with the most inspired rhymed putdowns off the top of their head. Stig has gained a reputation as a natural freestyler, and more fool the person who challenges him.

The clip is worth watching just to see Walters's smugness and pre-planned rhymes about "metaphors" being effortlessly punctured with the comeback, "Metaphor? Metaphor? You're metafour foot tall."

A number of Stig's 65,000 YouTube fans contacted the rapper through his MySpace page, but only one signed off as "Rob, Beverly Hills". An email exchange revealed the mystery fan to be Robbie Williams, who said to him, "I don't know what we're gonna do but I wanna work with you."

They haven't met yet, but Stig has said, "He seems like a genuine guy, and if it comes off it'll be a blessing."

Robbie's woeful rapping on his much maligned Rudebox album ("Old school, this is the best/TK Maxx costs less/Jackson looks a mess") suggests he could certainly do with some help, and although the pair are worlds apart in credibility terms, both share a style that is as much in debt to Northern comics as any musical influences.

Robbie has never seemed more confused about his musical direction - Rudebox also featured leftfield cover versions by the likes of Lewis Taylor, Manu Chao and My Robot Friend. Although many disillusioned fans would rather he returned to the arms of Angels co-writer Guy Chambers, at least working with someone like Stig could result in music with a sense of humour.

Until then, there are more battles to be fought. Stig performs at a freestyle night at Cargo, EC2 on 10 April. Catch him before Hollywood gets him.

FESTIVAL FEVER

It seems everyone wants to go to at least one festival this summer. Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has just won his licence to extend the capacity by 27,500 to 177,500 - meaning even more of the 400,000 who've gone through the advance registration process will make it to Somerset. It'll be like Oxford Circus on Christmas Eve. Thankfully, the smaller festivals are managing to pull in big names, so there's plenty to appeal to those who are less enamoured with crowds.

"The more people you have, the more uncivilised it gets," says John Giddings, promoter of the revived Isle of Wight Festival, the relatively new challenger to the big boys that has pulled off the coup of the season by landing the Rolling Stones.

"I think people grow out of the huge festival thing. It's great to have the freedom to walk around without wading through loads of litter and people," agrees Jon Dunn, who puts together the 20,000-capacity Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Having announced Damien Rice and Arcade Fire on the bill this week, it should have enormous appeal in comparison to its size.

It sounds great to me, though when you're starting to pick festivals on the amount of peace and quiet you can expect, maybe a rambling holiday in the Lake District would be more appropriate.

AN EARLY LISTEN TO...

Wilco
Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch)
Although often categorised as alt.country, Chicago's Wilco have long been far closer to the alt end of the spectrum.

Their biggest success, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, was a landmark in experimental US rock. An acclaimed documentary has been made about its troubled gestation.

This sixth album, released 14 May, sees frontman Jeff Tweedy free of his painkiller addiction and sounding much more at peace, while his band continues to veer from heavy rock to jazz to delicate folk and everything in between, often during the same song.

Immediately affecting moments include piano ballad Hate It Here and the climactic guitars of Side with the Seeds, but there's a huge amount to wonder at throughout.

NEW ON THE NET

Arctic Monkeys found their earliest fans through internet filesharing, and now look likely to join the shortlist of acts who go straight to number one on download sales alone after their much anticipated comeback single, Brianstorm, appears only in web stores on Monday.

A more surprising number one is Brighton folk singer Kate Walsh, whose home-recorded debut album, Tim's House, has just peaked on the iTunes chart, despite almost no promotion. It's so quiet, pretty and unassuming that this really is the meek inheriting the top spot.

In sharp contrast are two knowing novelty dance singles, Thou Shalt Always Kill by Dan Le Sac v Scroobius Pip (in download stores from Monday) and LDN is a Victim by some anonymous jokers at www.myspace. com/ldnisavictim. Both aim to puncture fashionable culture, and neither are so funny the second time.

 

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