Electric Picnic 2009 line-up so far!

• The Electric Picnic line-up so far was revealed yesterday. Acts announced for the three-day festival at Stradbelly in Laois this September 4-6 are:
• Madness, Orbital, Flaming Lips, Basement Jaxx, Vagabonds, MGMT, Fleet Foxes, The Klaxons, Bell X1, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Chic, Seasick Steve, 2 Many DJs, Lisa Hannigan, Explosions in the Sky, Damien Dempsey, Alabama 3, Bat for Lashes, Zero 7, Erol Alkan, Roots Manuva, The Sugarhill Gang, Billy Bragg, Lykke Li, Imelda May, Echo and the Bunnymen, Magazine, ESG, Moderat, Simian Mobile Disco, Four Tet, Skream and Benga - Magnetic Man, Noze, Heartbreak, Halfset, Chris Cunningham, Okkervil River, Magnolia Electric Company, Low Anthem, Villagers, Tunng, Jape, Whitest Boy Alive, Michachu and the Shapes, The Walkmen, Michael Nyman, Dublin Gospel Choir, Quantic Soul Orchestra, Jazzanova.
• There is a great deal to look forward to in that list so far, and rumours of acts such as Kraftwerk (who were amazing at the festival in 2005), Morrissey and David Byrne have not been ruled out yet. Out of the Irish acts performing, Villagers should be interesting to see. The new project of The Immediate's Conor O'Brien, Villagers recently released one the best Irish EPs of recent months with 'Hollow Kind'. Jape, the brainchild of Redneck Manifeso's Richie Egan, are always a big attraction at the Picnic, and after winning the Choice Music Award recently for the 'Ritual' album, 2009 should see Jape's biggest billing at the Picnic yet. American electro-pop duo MGMT literally raised the roof at Oxegen 2008 and are certain to do just the same at the Picnic this year. The Festival always has a fine bill of old school acts in the line-up, and 'nutty boys' Madness, '80s white-soul boys ABC, 70s funksters Chic, featuring Nile Rogers, and Hip-Hop pioneers Sugarhill Gang, whose most famous track 'Rappers Delight' featured a sample of Chic's 'Good Times', should all hopefully still have enough juice in the can to keep the weekend party flying. Personally, I'm also very excited to learn that 'the Orson Welles of Punk' Howard Devoto will be bringing his reformed new-wave band Magazine to the Festival. The return of Orbital is certain to be a late-night highlight on whatever night they are certain to top the bill. Overall there's lots to be very excited about, and hopefully lots more to be added to the bill. I'll see you there!
  

The Bittersweets - ‘Goodnight, San Francisco’

Compass Records

The Bittersweets should make no apology for the lush, richly melodic and polished folk pop that makes up this, their second album. These are a colourful well-crafted collection of songs requiring no ‘Alt’ prefix. Hannah Prater’s vocals inject the perfect contrast of light and shade into Chris Meyer’s songs, with the welcomed addition of steel and acoustic guitars, and even the occasional cello, making this collection simply breeze along. Hidden track ‘Fortunate Wind’ even hints at a dramatic new direction.  

8/10

Download: ‘Is Anyone Safe?’ ‘My Sweet Love’, ‘When The War Is Over’

For Fans Of: Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Natalie Merchant

Pontiak - 'Maker'

Label: Thrill Jockey

The Carney brothers are not about to buck the trend of ‘brothers in bands means chaos’ here. From the sonic disturbances of the epic title track to the slow momentum of raw guitars and layered vocals on ‘Wax Worship’ to the eerie nocturnal acoustics of ‘Seminal Shining’, ‘Maker’ is an album that manages to make distorted and sparse guitar rock still sound not only interesting but mysterious. With little overdubbing, maintaining a live energy that wreaks beautiful havoc on the amps, this is a collection from a rusty farmyard you dare not stop off at, beside a woods the band members know every inch of, but still you’ll stay for more!

 8/10

 Download: ‘Wax Worship’, ‘Wild Knife Night Fight’, ‘Laywayed’

 For Fans of: My Bloody Valentine, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath,

Hauschka - Snowflakes & Carwrecks

Label: FatCat

It is difficult not to put this seven-track EP, which consists of material recorded during the sessions for Hauschka’s 2008 ‘Ferndorf’ album, into the category of ‘cast-offs’. ‘Snowflakes And Car wrecks’ may be a proposed continuation of the German composer’s ‘prepared piano’ alchemy, but its successes are varied. While this instrumental collection has numerous layers, all based around Hauschka’s reinvention of the piano as an outlet for rhythm as much as melody, and even though it maintains the minimalism of his previous work, it is an uneven collection, which at times struggles to ignite interest. Yet, the addition of cello on the sparse ‘Eisblume’ and the delightfully multi-paced ‘Tanz’, along with deceptively simplistic charm of ‘Wonder’ all adds a welcomed intrigue and interest in the future of this instrumental experiment.

6/10

Download: ‘Wonder’, ‘Tanz’                                                                                    

For Fans of: John Cage, Yann Tiersen   

Mi Ami – ‘Watersports’

Touch And Go/Quarterstick Records

 It’s a cruel injustice to limit this chaotic seven-track collection to a CD player in the corner of the room. As increasingly intriguing and addictively unsettling as ‘Watersports’ is by the listen, the live environment is really where these songs belong: somewhere to accommodate the improvisation and deconstruction that Mi Ami obviously thrive upon. As a band manipulating “rhythm, negative space, and the physicality of a song”, the San Francisco based trio will always matter more on stage than they ever will in the studio for that very reason. Yet, by taking in elements of dub, jazz, disco and African rhythms on ‘The Man in Your House’ and the standout ‘Pressure’, and with an unnerving and deliberate cat wail vocal eluding to fear and anxiety though out, there are still enough varying textures of ugliness to make ‘Watersports’ a compelling listen from start to finish. Now lets see it live!

 7/10

Download: ‘The Man In Your House’, ‘New Guitar’, ‘Pressure’

For fans of: Gang of Four, Prolapse