Floating Points
Saturday, Body and Soul, 9.15pm
We will admit to a minor obsession with Ben Shepherd. We caught his set at Primavera in Barcelona two weekends ago, and despite coming after a very impressive turn by LCD Soundsystem and before an in-form Radiohead, this is still our favourite set of that weekend. Shepherd had taken the intricate beauty of Eleania and shored it up with a full-blooded band not afraid to indulge its post-rock leanings. The results are spectacular. We reckon this is the most unmissable set of the weekend.
BadBadNotGood
Friday, Body and Soul, 8.45pm
Last year, one of our favourite surprises at B&S was a nuclear- level assault waged by Brandt Brauer Frick. Filling the experimental-jazzy-electro hole in your life this year are BadBadNotGood. Live, the band blow up a hip-hop storm, as anyone who caught them at Dublin's Sugar Club in recent years will tell you. And my word, can they play those instruments. One of the most technically proficient bands you'll see all weekend, and they come with the energy of a small sun.
Tanya Tagaq
Sunday, Midnight Circus, 6.45pm
Tagaq has a method of performance that can unsettle even the most seasoned festival goer. She disappears into her performance so completely that you may think there is no return. Do not be alarmed. Everything will be fine. She's a professional. But don't for the love of Torngasak try this brand of Inuit throat singing at home on your own. Do, however, see this extraordinary artist who leaves it all on the stage.
Brian Deady
Saturday, Body and Soul, 2.30pm
Deady has delivered one of the most delightfully funky Irish albums in years. He's got a very polished sense of soul, a rich voice, and some great stories to tell. It's the perfect antidote for that big head on you after you've crawled out of that pit of a tent on Saturday afternoon. The topic of conversation is also likely to be how you definitely said you were going to take it easy on Friday, but sure look it, we're here now, aren't we? Well done, festival monkey.
Saint Sister
Saturday, Woodlands, 7pm
No doubt you've heard of Saint Sister at this stage, via stages such as Other Voices. The pristine, eerie mix of folk, harp and electro makes for some beautiful listening, and Morgan MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty's sublime harmonies are a very lovely thing indeed.
Revolution 101
Saturday, Wonderlust, 3pm
The Irish Times Women's Podcast is storming the gates of the patriarchy and it needs your help. The panel features three working-class heroines – Sen Lynn Ruane, Grace Dyas and Mairead Healy – women who are all working hard to make a positive difference in the world. They'll be discussing why the voices of working-class women and men are often absent not just from positions of power but from everyday discussions in the media. Presenter Kathy Sheridan will be there to stoke the fires.
Ho99o9
Friday, Midnight Circus, 9.45pm
It's always good to see a band who are so loud that you can feel the skin peel from your face through sheer volume alone. Just so you know you are alive. And who needs all those frequencies? Sure they grow back. Ho99o9 deliver hip-hop of the very first order. The fact that it's louder than war is a bonus.
Guest appearance
Sunday, Body& Soul , 6.15pm
It's definitely Radiohead, lads. Definitely.
Sing Along Social
Sunday, Woodlands, 5.15pm
What started as readings from the Book of Alanis has morphed into an unstoppable behemoth of unmusical proportions. This weekend, SAS crosses the streams of powerballadery: will the Woodlands stage explode in a fiery shower of feisty sparks as they unleash the music of Stevie Nicks against the tunes of Kate Bush? Only you and your terrible singing can save us all now.
Seamus Begley, Chris Stout and Catríona McKay
Saturday, Woodlands, Noon
We have it on good authority from Siobhán Long that this trio tore strips off the Sugar Club on their recent Music Network tour thanks to their delicious tune combinations on box, fiddle and harp. You heard the woman. Get to it.
