Northwest Festival Watch – May 2014

So we've straddled Sound City, Sounds from the Other City, Fury Fest, Manchester Psych Fest and The Lost Weekend to the left already – what remains for Festival Watch, you may wonder? Well, would you believe it, there are more festivals. There will never not be more festivals.

Offering an alternative to Sound City for those who can't afford it or, y'know, just aren't into it, Slime City Festival, hosted by Liverpool Duke St's AIRspace and Post-Music, brings you the Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band, The Royal Wedding, Cavalier Song and Leather Cow on Friday 2 May, and a bigger bill boasting Cowtown and the suitably oozy White Blacula, among many others, on Saturday (3 May). Tickets are five quid for the weekend. Five quid for the weekend! Or £3 per day. Goo on then.

The chaser to the bank holiday weekend over in Manchester, meanwhile, is the 1st Beta All-Dayer on Monday 5 May, Beta being a night that's been running at The Castle pub on Oldham Street for the last couple of years, offering free entry to those who like 'em on Facebook as well as a fuss-free platform to emerging talent. Their first mini-fest won't be free, mind, but is still only a fiver, and rounds up the likes of Francis Lung, Gymnast, Phox, Wet, and the searching folk noir of Skinny favourite Elle Mary – arraying 'em across three venues, The Castle, Gullivers, and Night & Day.

Sticking in Manchester, Chorlton Arts Festival's music strand brings a pick'n'mix of artists to the suburb between 16-25 May, including Liam Frost, Paper Aeroplanes and John Smith, as well as a smattering of classical recitals and live and acoustic nights hosted by bars Oddest, Dulcimer and Proof. With venues including St Ninian's and St Clement's churches, the festival has a casual, community feel that's bolstered by drop-ins and even a synthesizer workshop (23 May, The Spruce Goose) – a how-to with Red Laser Records' Kid Machine, among others, on tutoring duties.

This is a lot of standing watching bands with beers eh? Where do we dance?! The answer's simple: at the Baltic Block Party, a collaborative effort by some of Liverpool and beyond's best electronic promoters spanning venues across the Baltic Triangle with Boddika, Lone, Iration Steppas and more. Tenner tickets have sold out, but get on it quick for the £15/£20 price brackets.

Finally, Manchester promoters Fat Out's most ambitious Fat Out Fest yet sets up at Islington Mill 23-26 May, inviting Tombed Visions and Gizeh Records to augment a line-up that already boasts Melt-Banana, Nisennenmondai, Nadja and Cut Hands. Video Jam lend a hand too, programming the spooky vaults of the fifth floor with silent films set to commissioned live performances. With the Hookworms-curated Lost Weekend at the Mill the weekend after, there's the opportunity to see out May almost entirely cocooned in audio darkness. Who wouldn't?