It's that time of year, Dear Reader. As the nights draw in and jackets are pulled out of wardrobes ready to be dusted off for the winter months, it's also prime time for our favourite activity here at Dork HQ. Finding the most exciting new acts set to soundtrack the following year. We're excited.

We've got even more reason to be buzzing this year. Alongside the long-standing favourites of the new music discovery world of inner-city titans, there's a newcomer on the block focused squarely on the future. Beyond The Music is a brand new three-day festival and music conference in Manchester aimed solely at supporting the headliners of tomorrow.

In one of the greatest cities in the world that's birthed some absolute all-time greats, Beyond The Music celebrates that and more. Whether it's jumping from venue to venue to catch a glimpse of hotly tipped newcomers across a whole range of flavours and styles or catching a vast array of speakers and panels that sit squarely at the forefront of making change in the music industry - it's likely that all of that starts here.

With your friendly neighbourhood Dork, of course, along for the ride, here's the essential guide to what to see at Beyond The Music.

With a line-up stacked with Dork faves you will have read all about on our magazine pages, our online stories and audio-wave podcasts - Beyond The Music has assorted them all across three days. Whether it's the motion-picture power of returning leaders Walt Disco (just before they headline our Night Of The Living Dork Halloween Party in London on 26th October, FYI), our Dork's Home & Away crew of the unstoppable HotWax (pictured) and fizzing The Rills, the searing ambition of guitar-princes L'Objectif, swooning modern pop mover Tayo Sound, the genre-blending genius of Shamir, the disco-punk energy of Lip Filler, swooning psych-titans The Orielles and Viji, Lizzie Esau, Tommy Villiers and more - it's a Hall Of Fame of Dork-backed legends stamping their mark on what comes next. A hard recommend on all of those, btw…