Day 3 and always the comedown day for us. After the excitement of the first few days we always find the Sunday to be anti-climatic, the general poorer line ups for the Sundays haven’t helped too.  But this is year is looking like one of the best closing Sundays the Picnic’s had yet. I think last year was Primal Scream and year before was Sex Pistols headlining, which we happily passed on. This year its Flaming Lips or Basement Jaxx, way better choice!  For 2 years straight it was over to the bodytonic tent for Laurent Garnier, great in 2005,  not so good in 2006.  Last year we had Deadmau5 before the heavy rains hit on Sunday night, who was ok. Thought the sound was far too low in that tent, we really hope they improve it for this year! A Bacardi tent highlight in 2007 was definitely Dj Mehdi at 6pm, anyone catch him that day, great craic!

So on to our choices for Day 3, at this stage many people could be at their whits end covered in mud, which is looking like it could be a possibility, but we haven’t given up hope yet. Come on sun where the fook are you!

SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS

Again there is gonna be some more tough choices to make this year, with Royksopp and Flaming Lips finishing off in the Electric Arena or over to Zombie Nation and Erol Alkan in The Little Big Tent. There’s probably gonna be a lot of running back and forth between each tent we thinks (thank god they’re both beside each other!!) It’ll be the battle of the tents!

Electric Arena vs Little Big Tent!!??

Erol Alkan 10pm to 12:00 close @ Little Big Tent.

This’ll be Erol’s first visit to the Picnic… about time! Lets all give him a warm welcome, not that he won’t get it!. The guys a personal hero of ours, has always been right up there and still has one of if not the best taste in banging electro, and maybe only 2many dj’s can match him when on his day. We’ve seen him nearly a dozen times now from the college days @ the Trinity ball, and UCD bar, to the old TBMC and most recently at Andrews Lane Theatre, each time as memorable as the last. The chap never disappoints, and in one of his most recent sets he even opened with the intro of Oasis’ Rock n Roll star straight into his remix of Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Zero”. We can’t wait to see what he has planned for us. It’ll be something good either way. 2hrs… yes please!

YYY’s – Zero (Erol Alkan Rework)

Zombie Nation 8:30pm – 10-00 (Before Erol) @ Little Big Tent

Zombie Nation is a german techno and electro project of the Munich based DJ and producer Florian Senfter also known as “John Starlight”. Many probably know Zombie Nation for his now infamous track “Kernkraft 400″ which got released in 1999 and is now synonymous with any NBA, NFL or American hockey match you might attend or see on TV.  Here are a couple of tracks favoured by us, “Paeng Paeng” actually got signed to Sven Vaths Cocoon label.

Zombie Nation – Paeng Paeng

Tiga – What You Need (Zombien Nation Remix)

Zombie Nation – Forza

Simian Mobile Disco 4.15 – 5.30pm @ Electric Arena

If you want to leave the campsite early on Sunday and you’ve got itchy feet, then be sure not to miss Simian Mobile Disco @ 4.15pm in the Electric Arena. We’ve absolutely no idea why these guys are so low down the order of the day. they were third last on behind Marco carola in 2007 and were easily a festival highlight. Lets not forget their playing Live (not a Dj Set) and they’ll be bringing their own live show to go with it! Here is a vid of them playing out their collaboration with Beth Ditto “Cruel Intentions” @ this years Pukkelpop. Great Song, number one written all over it!

Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions (feat Beth Ditto)

Straight after SMD, its Florence and the Machine, and if Oxegen is anything to go by then this is gonna be wedged. She seems to attract a massive following, and obviously strikes a chord with the indie kids. People were getting stretchered out of Oxegen after she played there! It’ll probably make the buzz during SMD pretty cool tho,  before she gets onstage. After the “Florence” mania there’s Fleet Foxes who we honestly don’t know much about but have heard nothing but good things and will probably stay to catch a bit of.

Royksopp 8.15pm -10.15pm @ Electric Arena (Clash with Zombie Nation)

Röyksopp are the electronic music duo based in Bergen, Norway, and are famous for tracks from their hugely successfull first album “Melody Am”.  Who doesn’t know “Poor Leno” or “Eple“.

Heres a nice bit of trivia.  Did you know?: The song “Eple” was licensed by Apple for use as the welcome music to Mac OS X Panther operating system, playing the first time a user booted a new Mac!. I’d say that bagged them a tidy piny or two! Eple is the Norwegian word for Apple.
The band consists of Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge. The group formed officially in 1998 and released their debut album Melody A.M. in 2001. The Norwegian word “Røyksopp” means puffball fungus (lit. “(a) smoke mushroom”).

One of us caught them playing the ambassador here a few years ago, and they didn’t disappoint. Their usuallyone of the first bands on peoples wish list’s to see at Ep and are always strongly rumoured. Well no more rumours, they’re here and should have Karin Dreijer with them on vocal duties (Royksopp – What else is There?)

Royksopp – Happy Up Here

Don’t forget these guys!!

Other Must sees that shouldn’t be missed are Duke Dumont and Aeroplane who go on before Zombie Nation in the Little Big Tent.

Here is a link to a mixtape by Aeroplane!

VA – Mixmag presents : Disco Balaerica mixed by Aeroplane here

The Duke is no stranger having played the Bacardi Tent last year on Sunday getting a  great response, his productions are second to none and he’s not to shabby as a DJ either, we think he’ll be better suited to a bigger tent!

Mystery Jets – Two Doors Down (Duke Dumont Remix)

Well thats all our personal recommendations, its 2 more sleeps and we can’t wait. We hope you all enjoy and be sure to visit us next week as we plan on taking loads of HD videos to put up on our own youtube channel. All going to plan that is! We’re gonna do are best, nothing better than a good vid to jog the memory.

Well we’re coming into that crucial week before Electric Picnic 2009 where everyone looks to the sky and prays… go away nasty rain!! Early Reports aren’t looking the maye west, recently we’ve gotten used to the mild nights and indifferent weather for the month, but that seems to be changing for the worst if possible? The mild nights are gone and accuweather, met.ie and bbc.co.uk all seem to have one thing in common… expect rain with highs 0f 15-17 Celcius, wtf! its gonna be a wet one!

Even though we wish the EP organisers could have added a bit more techno to this years stellar line up we’re still overall feeling spoilt for choice in other areas. This year seems to be clash city more than any other year which just shows the choice of options you have. Its pick and choose, with some tough decisions to make! We’re still not sure what to do for the mother of all decisions on the Friday night… Orbital or Luciano’s “Aether”??? Don’t forget Phil Kieran will be playing in the woods straight after Orbital too!! Can’t wait for the forest rave!

Other than organising tent’s, etc, make sure to download the maps for the fest here and also print out the stage times here too. Also check www.2ne1.com for a cool little page that links the Myspace playlists of all the artists at this years festival. We’ve split the EP09 preview into a day by day breakdown so check out Friday’s preview below:

FRIDAY, August 30th 2009

Friday night at EP and the toughest decision before close of madness on the first day with the choice of either Orbital or Aether before the Forest Rave kicks into full swing. The Friday night offering is of top notch quality and caters for the needs of all electronic music lover’s tastes from Acid House to Minimal.

Orbital - Main Stage @ 10.30pm

After their break up in 2004, Orbital’s infamous liveset is back with a vengeance to EP. Phil and Paul Hartnoll were amongst the biggest names in acid house in the 90’s and the duo are widely known to be one of the top live dance acts in the last decade. In fact, one of their last gigs before the 2004 break up was a cracking set at Witness. After trawling through videos of their 2009 livesets on Youtube, we’re getting incredibly excited about seeing Halcyon, Lush, Chime, Satan and Little Fluffy Clouds belted out on the main stage til close on Friday night. These miner light donning lads are not to be missed folks! Check a recent video of them in Poland mixing Halcyon into their own version of Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven is a Place on Earth and Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name.

To put you in the frame of mind, download Orbital’s last gig in 2004 at Maida Vale Studios here and a recent 2009 mix and interview on Radio 6 from 3 weeks ago here (part 1) and here (part 2).

Luciano Presents Aether – Crawdaddy Stage @ 11.00pm

What a shame that AEther’s 12 man synchronisation of sound and colour are playing at roughly the same time as Orbital on Friday night. We recently blogged about Aether’s incredible live setup here and are looking forward to catching some this minimal set in between Orbital.

Boy 8 Bit – Little Big Tent @ 6.00pm

Boy8-Bit is a Cornish electronic Act  featured in another one of our recent posts. He’ll be warming up the Dance Tent on Friday with some of his latest tracks 8 bit tracks inspired from producing on 8 bit computers from a young age. Baltic Pine is one to listen out for after Pete Tong recently raved about it on his BBC Radio 1 show.

Boy 8-Bit – Baltic Pine (Radio Edit) Buy on Beatport

Major Lazer - Little Big Tent @ 7.15pm

What a crazy year for Major Lazer. A new album ‘Gun’s Dont Kill People Lazers Do’, an iPhone app, and a crazy tour schedule including headlining the Notting Hill Carnival have all proved to be a crazy success for Diplo and Switch’s Gorillaz styled Reggae Warrior Major Lazer. The Diplo/Switch/One-Armed Comic Raggae Warrior liveset combo is surely going to be one of the energetic highlights Electric Picnic this year and will feature a number of guest MC’s and a tonne of Big-Bootied dancers all under a flouroed comic ghetto-blaster backdrop. If you wanna give your own booty a workout, head to the Little Big Tent at 7.15. We did another blog on Major Lazer here too with videos and tracks from their tour so check it out.

Also download this Major Lazer liveset from BBC’s Essential Mix to get you in the mood.

Major Lazer – Pon De Floor

Fake Blood - Little Big Tent @ 8.15pm

Fake Blood is an alias used by DJ Touche who is also a member of British Electro-Pop group Black Ghosts. Widely known for his Mars and on stage after Major Lazer, expect Fake Blood to bang out an energetic electro set with tracks like ‘Mind Dimension’ in the video below.

Fake Blood – Mars

Diplo - Little Big Tent @ 10.30pm

Diplo is playing twice on Friday as expect and there’s also rumours of Switch playing in the Bacardi Bar so keep your eyes out for that. The Philidelphia based DJ will probably belt out another high-paced electro set similar to his lowlands performance in the liveset below and the video of him at Dour this year.

Diplo Live @ Lowlands Festival 2008

Japanese Popstars DJ Set – Little Big Tent @ 1.00am

Derry ensemble The Japanese Popstars AKA Declan McLaughlin, Gary Curran, and Gareth Donoghue are closing the EP dance stage on Friday night with more of a commercial house twist. The Popstars have had a successful year to date, winning a number of awards for their live performances and playing to a rammed Oxegen Dance tent this year. Their 2008 album ‘We Just Are’ features a tonne of energetic house tracks like ‘Face Melter’ and ‘Sample Whore’.

Hailfairy is glad the boys are playing a DJ set this time around as the guys are pretty talented DJs in their own right. However with so much choice at this time on Friday, its gonna be a tough choice to leave Aether or Orbital to go see the Popstars having already seen them this year. Check them out playing their own edit of Justice Phantom live in February this year.

After the first one was announced as unofficial yesterday, check out the first official Electric Picnic 2009 Timetable courtesy of www.heinekenmusic.ie

Check back over the next few days for our day by day Electric Picnic 2009 Previews

Electric Picnic Stage Times

FRIDAY

MAIN STAGE
4.00 Smash Hits
5.50 Michael Nyman Orchestra
7.15 Zero 7
8.45 MGMT
10.30 Orbital

ELECTRIC ARENA
4.00 8Ball
5.45 David Kitt
7.30 Magazine
9.15 Seasick Steve
11.00 Rodrigo Y Gabriela

CRAWDADDY STAGE
4.30 Peter Broderick
5.30 The Temper Trap
6.45 Lykke Li
8.00 ABC
9.30 Duckworth Lewis Method
11.00 Luciano Presents Aether

COSBY STAGE
4.30 Wave Machines
5.30 Jeffrey Lewis
6.30 Richmond Fontaine
7.45 Efterklang
9.30 Dinosaur Jnr

LITTLE BIG TENT
4.00 Tu-Ki
6.00 Boy 8 Bit
7.15 Major Lazer
8.15 Fake Blood
9.30 Buraka Som Sistema
10.30 Diplo
12.00 Potbelleez
1.00 Japanese Popstars DJ Set

POPTOPIA
19:30 Dark Room Notes
20:50 The Big Bang with Neosupervital, Bitches With Wolves & Veda Beaux Reves
22:30 Heidi Konnt
23:00 DySec Industries
00:00 Midnight Burlectro
01:00 Jerry Bouthier

BODY AND SOUL
16:00 Colin Devlin
17:00 Funzo
18:10 Villagers
19:20 Kate Kim
20:30 Blindfold
22:00 DJ Kormac’s Big Band
23:30 Donal Dineen

SATURDAY

MAIN STAGE
12.30 Stee Downes
1.30 Tunng
3.00 Baaba Maal
4.45 Kid Creole And The Coconuts
6.30 Lisa Hannigan
8.15 Brian Wilson
10.30 Madness
12.20 2 Many DJs

ELECTRIC ARENA
12.30 Cap Pas Cap
2.45 The XX
4.00 Roots Manuva
5.15 Jape
7.00 Bat For Lashes
8.45 Klaxons
10.30 Chic

CRAWDADDY STAGE
12.30 One Day International
1.30 Dave Geraghty
2.30 Just Jack
4.00 Flock Of Seagulls
5.30 Billy Btagg
7.00 Mundy
8.30 Imelda May
10.15 Explosions In The Sky
11.45 Four Tet
1.00 Chris Cunningham

COSBY STAGE
1.00 Lost Brothers
2.00 Julie Feeney
3.00 Low Anthem
4.00 Marina And The Diamonds
5.15 Magnolia Electric Co.
6.30 The Walkmen
7.45 Whitest Boy Alive
9.15 ESG
11.00 Neko Case

LITTLE BIG TENT
12.30 Transmission DJs
1.30 LRB And Conor G
2.30 Jon Averill
3.30 Noze
5.00 Jazzanova
6.30 The Field
7.30 James Murphy And Pat LCD
9.45 The Proxy
11.00 TBC
12.45 Moderat

POPTOPIA
14:00 The Heidi Konnt Suicide Pact Lunch with Anúna, Ophelia & Anne Bushnell
16:30 Electro Bingo
18:15 Transmission Panti
20:00 Trannymal Farm
21:30 Dark Room Notes
22:30 The Big Bang with Neosupervital, Bitches With Wolves & Veda Beaux Reves
00:00 Midnight Burlectro
01:30 DySec Industries
02:00 Very Special Guest

BODY AND SOUL
11.50 Chequerboard Live
12.50 Kill Krinkle Club
14:00 Ohbijou
15:10 Island Line
16:10 Tulla Ceili Band
17:20 Tiny Vipers
18:30 Niwel Tsumbu
19:40 Wiggle
21:00 3epkano
22:45 Lamb
00:45 Tuung
02.15 Four Tet
03.30 Tulla Ceili Band

SUNDAY

MAIN STAGE
12.30 Dublin Gospel Choir
1.45 DJ Shadow Tribute
3.00 Quantic And His Combo Barbaro
4.45 The Wailers
6.30 Alabama 3
8.30 Bell X1
10.30 Basement Jaxx

ELECTRIC ARENA
12.30 Two Door Cinema Club
1.30 The Sugarhill Gang
2.45 Nightmares On Wax Soundsystem
4.15 Simian Mobile Disco
5.30 Florence And The MAchine
6.45 Fleet Foxes
8.30 Royksopp
10.15 Flaming Lips

CRAWDADDY STAGE
12.15 Halfset
1.15 Villagers
2.15 Mick Flannery
3.15 Okkervil River
4.30 Laura Izibor
5.45 Echo And The Bunnymen
7.15 Fionn Regan
9.00 Amadou And Miriam
10.45 Damien Dempsey

COSBY STAGE
12.30 Our Fold
1.30 Blitzen Trapper
2.30 Micachu
3.30 The Acorn
4.45 The Big Pink
6.15 Bell Orchestre
7.45 Dan Deacon Ensemble
9.00 TBC
10.45 Skream And Benga

LITTLE BIG TENT
12.30 Barry Redsetta
1.30 Arveene And Misk
2.30 Ebony Bones
3.30 Hypnotic Bras Ensemble
4.30 TBC
5.30 Aeroplane
7.00 Duke Dumont
8.30 Zombie Nation
10.00 Erol Alkan

POPTOPIA
14:00 The Heidi Konnt Suicide Pact Lunch with Anúna, Ophelia & Anne Bushnell
16:30 Electro Bingo
18:15 Transmission Panti
20:00 Trannymal Farm
21:30 Ebony Bones
22:45 Le Gateau Chocolat & Marawa, direct from La Clique
00:00 DJ Martin McCann

BODY AND SOUL
11.00 DJ set from Chequerboard
12.00 Baah Band
13:00 First Aid Kit
14:00 J. Tillman
15:10 Roots Union
16:10 Charlie Parr
17:30 Wiggle (TBC)
19:00 Golden Animals (TBC)
20:45 (solo show) (TBC)
22:25 The Sound Carriers
23:45 Amorphous Androgynous
01.15 Beach House
02.30 Estas Tonne with Ise plus Lucent Dossier Fire dancer

There’s been divided opinions on the quality of this years Electric Picnic line up. Personally we think its one of the best yet, especially if you like electronic music. It’ll be a year for the visuals too, with SMD bringing back their live show after its success in 2007 and new acts like Luciano’s “Aether” and Chris Cunningham (who needs no introduction) also bringing stunning visuals.

Chris even though like we said  needs no introduction we’re still gonna blog about him! Famed for creating abstract, disturbing and hauntingly moody images for artsists like Madonna (“Frozen“), Portishead (“Only You“),  Aphex Twin (Windowlicker”,”Come To Daddy“), Squarepusher (“Come On My Selector”), Bjork (Lesbian Robots of “All Is Full of Love“) and Autechre (“Second Bad Vilbel“) has been touring as of late and we’re delighted to see him bringing his performance to our shores. We’ve told they’re mental so we suppose its best go see. Seeing is believing! We’re gonna go just to see this alone, Star Wars techno!

The audio is awful in this next vid but you get an idea about what the performance is about, we’re not overly excited about the music but it looks definitely worth seeing. Beware not for the faint hearted!

Æther, the six piece Cadenza collective headed up by Luciano have just been confirmed by Resident Advisor to play Electric Picnic this year! They have them down to play Fri September 4th.  Excerpt from Resident Advisor:

“Billed as, “the synchronisation of sound and colour,” AEther is in fact a twelve person outfit when both audio and visuals are taken into consideration. The basic premise of the show is a live laptop jam session, conducted by Luciano, using a colour coded convention. Five musicians from the Cadenza stable—namely Reboot, Lee Van Dowski, Mirko Loko and Digitaline along with percussionist Omri Hason—play instruments via Ableton Live with selected colours of the light spectrum assigned to each instrument. Luciano will drive the performance through a touch screen interface used to trigger colours as he sees fit, with Todd Graft and Loki from Micro Chunk group pitching with the visual accompaniment. It’s no wonder the project has been four years in the making. “

Very nice, more techno for the Picnic, albeit ambient techno me thinks, Hailfairy is not complaining. It looks fantastic judging by some of these videos we’ve seen of them at Monegros Festival, last week in the deserts of Spain.