There are only a few days to go now till we all land in a big field in Stradbally and let our hygiene standards slip for the weekend, so we thought we’d take a closer look at some of the artists gracing the Bodytonic palace with their presence.

Annie Mac

Dublin-born and Belfast-educated Annie has had a rather incredible career so far. She started her involvement with the dance music scene when she was studying at Queens University Belfast and frequented Shine where she started helping out with promotion and marketing. Then she moved over to London where she worked in a number of smaller radio station before very quickly moving to BBC Radio 1. Within a very short space of time she was hosting her own show on Thursday nights, later moved to an even bigger slot on Friday nights, and it's that sort of rapid rise that should testify to her love of good dance music.

What to expect? As a club DJ she is known to play right across the board, from funk and breaks through to the latest Dubsided and French house bangers. A great old party set is guaranteed.

What to check out? Annie’s Myspace

Her recent Mixmag cover mix

Radio 1 Minisite

Simian Mobile Disco

SMD is James Ford and Jas Shaw. Starting off as part of a much different outfit in the guise of plain old ‘Simian’, these two got a little bored of the conventional band thing that they’d somehow found themselves in. They took their leave from that band and went under the name of Simian Mobile Disco, a name that they’d used previously to DJ after gigs. Funnily enough, around that time, some French blokes made a remix of the Simian track ‘Never Be Alone’, which rightfully exploded, and left SMD in a position to exploit the success.

The solo productions came a little later, with one track in 2005, “The Count”, being a particular favourite here, and they hit the big time with “Hustler” (with an even better b-side, “Clik”) released on Kitsune last summer, just in time for the indie-rock-rave crossover to really hit its peak. Ford was roped in to produce albums by the Klaxons, the Arctic Monkeys and Mystery Jets.

Their own album “Attack Decay Sustain Release” was erm..released in June of this year, garnering top reviews from mags as like Q and online guru-spots like Pitchfork. They blatantly explode with energy live with twisted versions of “It's The Beat” and “Tits and Acid”.

What to expect?

Basically, their name says it all

What to check out?

SMD Myspace

DJ set from 2006

Bonde Do Role

You’ve probably heard of this little phenomenon known as “Baile Funk”. Sprung from the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, it's caught on in a big way this year, thanks to people like Diplo and M.I.A., but this trio of crazies may be the biggest exponents yet. Not only because their tunes are being used in a whole heap of adverts from Nokias to Ugly Betty’s but also because it's damned good fun. Pronounced “Bon-ge doh Hole-e” they have a stage presence of Juvenile Dementia, but in a good way. The way that gets you bouncing like the earth has become one giant trampoline, just because their glee is so damned infectious.

What to expect?

Childish fun, bright coloured clothes and lots and lots of jumping about.

What to check out?

Their Myspace

Their album, Solta o Frango (which means Release the Chicken, incidentally)

Jamie Lidell

Okay, so if you’re sane, you’ve probably heard his album Multiply and witnessed his incredible singing voice. If you’re a bit of a chin-scratcher, you’ve probably heard his Muddlin’ Gear album, or some of his work with Super Collider on Warp. But if you haven’t seen him live yet, then drop all those preconceptions, because this guy is incredible. Take the show-off beatboxing of someone like Rahzel or Shlomo, combine it with the finest soul styling of the last 10 or so years and mix in a little bit of that Warp craziness and experimentation and you’re getting close. Lidell usually performs with little or no musical instruments apart from his voice, a microphone and a loop-sequencer. Layering his voice over and over again he creates his own backing band and percussion, and then on top he performs some of the songs from the superb, soul filled Multiply, all the while tweaking and twisting it together with numerous audio processing bits and bobs. It makes for an energetic, unpredictable and totally spontaneous live show that will no doubt be one of the highlights of the entire weekend. Don’t miss it.

What to Expect?

“Imagine Prince producing Otis Redding at an early '90s warehouse rave”

What to check out?

His album, Multiply (and the remixes album, Multiply Additions)

This:

Thats all for today folks, more tomorrow!

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