Electric Picnic preview: Saturday

LEFTFIELD


One of the most influential electronic acts of the 1990's, rumours of Leftfield's imminent reformation and festival appearances seem to have been circulating forever, and if ever there was an act who suited a festival down to the ground, then here they are and here it is. Expect their 1995 masterpiece Leftism to feature prominently - and perhaps a certain J. Lydon will be joining them onstage for 'Open Up'?





LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

A certain volcano put paid to their scheduled Tripod show in April, and although the common consensus was that this Picnic appearance would be their last live performance in Ireland, some further U-turning by James Murphy has made things less clear. Whatever, they're sure to turn Stradbally into a giant, blissful dancefloor.





CATHY DAVEY

She's had a fantastic year, with her third album The Nameless reaching number 1 on an independent label and garnering widespread critical acclaim. Her set at the Picnic promises to be the icing on the cake.



Army Of Tears by schlafshane

CRYSTAL CASTLES

The ever-controversial duo throw all subtlety out the window with their live sets: expect pummelling, harsh electro-noise terrorism.





GIL SCOTT-HERON

This one's going to be emotional. Scott-Heron's late 70's/early 80's spoken-word and poetry works are regarded as a formative influence on hip-hop and black activism, but his last decade has been more distinguished by prison sentences and drug addiction. That was until the 2010 release of I'm New Here, a revelatory record featuring wary, weather-beaten, Waits-ish testimonials like 'Me and the Devil Blues' and 'New York is Killing Me'.





HOT CHIP

Picnic regulars at this stage, the Chip have the tunes to get people dancing. In particular, this year's comeback single 'One Night Stand' fits right in alongside previous classics like 'Ready For The Floor' and 'Over and Over'.





ROBYN

Should give Janelle Monae a run for her money in the pop-tastic stakes. Her three-part album Body Talk is currently on the second installment.





AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR

The face-melting post-rockers are going to bring the noise. Be there.

1. Set Guitars To Kill - And So I Watch you From Afar by TOOLBOX ROCKS



JOKER VS NOMAD

One of the most influential and acclaimed artists on the dubstep/grime scene, Joker's bright, funk-influenced sound is so unique that he's coined his own term for it: 'purple sound'. He's joined by Nomad on MC duties.





MOUNTAIN MAN

The all-female trio from Vermont deal in haunting three-piece folk harmonies.

Mountain Man - Soft Skin by Bella Union

Mountain Man - Animal Tracks by Bella Union

THE ANTLERS

By all accounts one of the highlight's of May's Primavera Sound festival, it's dark, bleak music (dealing with doomed love affairs on cancer wards) but it's evidently cathartic.





THE REDNECK MANIFESTO

Jape is already one of Stradbally's favourite sons, but as part of the instrumental collective Redneck Manifesto, it's a whole other ball-game. Defiantly independent and now signed to the excellent Richter Collective label, their thrilling, dazzling brand of post-rock has arguably been the biggest influence on the domestic Irish scene in the last few years, certainly if the music of many of their new labelmates is anything to go by. Math-rock, electronic flourishes and heavy guitar assaults will be the order of the day. It's a no-brainer.