With enough internationals to headline weeks, if not months, worth of separate gigs and sideshows it can all get a little too much deciding who you will see.

Never fear, friends, foes and fellow music appreciators of all persuasions, Teknoscape is here to tell you who we think will be worthy of dirty dance floor action at the Future Music Festival 2008.

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
Tom Rowlands grew up in Henley-on-Thames, Ed Simons in Herne Hill, South London. They met in Manchester, where they both studied medieval history at university and modern dance music at the Hacienda. It was a thrilling time to be in the city, a time when the foundations laid by bands like New Order had built a thriving indie scene that mingled with the euphoric energy of acid house to make ‘Madchester’. This new musical space where the wires of electronic pop, loose-limbed rock and club beats became tangled and fused felt like home to Tom and Ed, and it’s where they’ve stayed ever since.

The duo began to DJ together in 1992, in the backroom of a Manchester pub. It probably made sense, after the heady years of the illegal Blackburn raves, to call themselves The 237 Turbo Nutters. But when they pressed up white labels of their first club tune Song To The Siren at the end of ‘92, they decided The Dust Brothers sounded rather better. Remixes followed, as eventually did a threat of legal action from the original Dust Brothers, the US producers of the Beastie Boys. So when their debut album was released in 1995, they became The Chemical Brothers.

When the Chemical Brothers’ ground-breaking debut album Exit Planet Dust came out in 1995, it fused samples, synths and dance beats with hip hop breaks and real songs with real vocalists like Beth Orton and The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess. It was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and their spectacular live shows soon proved that they were able to hold a crowd in stadium or festival just as well as they had on the dancefloor. 

“I just feel it’s a blessing to be able to do something which gets people out of their homes and experiencing something together,” says Ed. “When you play live and see a sea of people with their hands in their air, smiling, that’s what I feel most proud of: making music that is loud and powerful enough to bring people together.”

What else is there to say? Well plenty, it seems. Five albums, three Grammies, countless hit singles and some nine million album sales later, the Chemical fusion still sparkles. Most of the groups who were once considered their peers have long since fallen away, but Tom and Ed are still here, still pushing the boundaries because the friendship the band was built on remains strong, as does their passion for music.

“We’re always making it like it was our last record, or our first record,” says Ed. “We’re so desperate for people to hear the album and enjoy it as an experience, a journey. To make an emotional impact.”

After five albums, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons know how to make a Chemical Brothers record. “We’ve very much found our way of working,” says Tom. “And that’s having our own studio and experimenting for months and months, then collaborating with people when we have something that excites us. We still get a lot of enjoyment out of going into the studio. We still see it as a wondrous place where something magical can happen.”

It’s the collaborations that often get the attention, and from Noel Gallagher, Bernard Sumner and The Magic Numbers to Schooly D, k-os and Q-Tip, they’ve always been chosen not for their celebrity but because their voice, words or attitude will add what the tracks require.

On latest offering We Are The Night, we get Canadian beat poet Bill Bissett reading his 1967 poem ‘an ode to d. a. levy’ over a devastating psychedelic dance groove; Fatlip of early 90s West Coast rappers The Pharcyde explaining the life cycle of the salmon over a drunken beat in the quirkiest Chemical offering to date; fine collaborations with US singer-songwriter Willy Mason and up-and-coming Londoner Ali Love; the kind of innovative, dancefloor-destroying beats the Brothers have long been famed for; and two of the best songs they have ever produced with Jamie, James (Klaxons) and Dev (Lightspeed Champion) on the collaboration All Rights Reversed and The Pills Won’t Help You Now – a bleakly beautiful closer to the album, recorded with Tim Smith from Texas band Midlake.

The track with Klaxons particularly sees the wheel turn full circle. This so-called ‘new rave’ group were regulars on the dancefloor of the Heavenly Social, and Tom and Ed loved the intensity of their live shows, sensing kindred spirits. Sandwiching their studio time with the Chemicals between a gig in Bologna and another in Paris, Jamie, James and Dev had listened to the instrumental Tom and Ed laid down, brought in some ideas recorded on a mobile phone and somehow All Rights Reversed was finished in a day.

“We don’t choose the hottest band when we’re looking for collaborators,” explains Ed. “We search deep for something that’s going to sound right on a particular piece of music, or just for an artist we really love and want to work with. And that helps us stay fresh, the fact that you can take it somewhere else. It’s like a new instrument. Lyrically, I think the album is really strong. It’s moved away from some of the constraints of dance music. We’re electronic artists, but Tom and I love classic song-writing: The Beatles, The Smiths, Bob Dylan. So we’re not afraid of a song, we don’t feel the need to bury it.”
www.thechemicalbrothers.com www.myspace.com/thechemicalbrothers

SVEN VÄTH
The Godfather of Techno’s Cocoon empire went from strength to strength last year. Sven toured the world during the first half of the year to promote his The Sound of the Seventh Season mix CD. The Väth global road show stopped off at well-known clubs like Womb in Tokyo and Fuse in Brussels, as well as lesser-known clubbing destinations like Shanghai and Bangkok, only taking a break to appear at his Friday night residency at his state-of-the-art Cocoon club in Frankfurt.

Appearing in Perth as part of his latest world tour for latest mix The Sound of the Eighth Season, Sven Väth is the undisputed figurehead of the German club scene. For more than 20 years, this star DJ and producer’s inimitable feeling for music has kept him one step ahead. An eternal visionary, he has devoted his life to the further development of electronic music and the promotion of all art forms in club culture.

Sven's career began during the "New Romantics" period. Freaky costumes and a self-acknowledged narcissism were Sven's main characteristics in the midst of the new lifestyle aesthetics of the eighties.  In 1984, American club underground repertoire made its way into his bag, and Sven himself became a party master on an international level. In 1988 he brought Acid to Germany. Sven's turntable style became harder and summer techno broke out, and again he was one of the first to accept, adapt and play this music.

During the ‘90s, Sven founded the Eye Q label and the first hit was Zyon's No Fate, and he shifted his set to "hypnotic, monotone house music" – later to be called trance-house. He also established the label Harthouse and released the album The Art of Dance under the pseudonym Barbarella. The goal with all his labels was the establishment of new electronic music on the basis of German avant-garde music far beyond any commercial structures.

The singles and remixes keep on flowing. He signed a deal with Warner Music and became by far the most successful DJ in the world – the press calling him "the only German pop star”. In 1995, he released a remix album Touch Themes of Harlequin, Robot & Ballet Dancer, which included remixes of B-ZET, Underworld, and Speedy J, and in the US, he became to be the first DJ to play the famous Lollapalooza Festival. Together with B-ZET, he began a new project, Astral Pilot, and with Electronic Acupuncture he again released a milestone setting album.

MARK KNIGHT
If it wasn't for Mark Knight the main rooms of Britain would still be dancing to funky house, but after bringing in big system electro he's again on the move. "The big thing for me this year has been a shift musically to a more tech-y sound," he says. "I'm trying to push a fusion sound of techno meets house meets minimal, incorporating sounds and production techniques from each sub genre to create something new."

As well as huge gigs across the world that included a set on the main stage at Global Gathering, his label Toolroom has continued to create powerful tunes on a monthly basis. He's also managed to develop his 'Toolroom Knights' into a touring and compilation brand to rival the likes of 'Defected In The House' or 'Subliminal Sessions'. Mark's next 'Toolroom Knights' mix is expected in February. The production highlight of the year has been his 'Colombian Soul' collaboration with D.Ramirez and a destructive mix of Axwell, Angello, Ingrosso and Laidback Luke's 'Get Dumb'.

"One of the highlight gigs of the year for me was when me, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso played 12 hours back-to-back in Stockholm," recalls Mark. "It was an amazing party. We plan to do the same again next summer, this time in Stockholm and London." Another highlight was his debut in the DJ Mag Top 100 poll, coming in at 51. Expect him to continue moving on up too – Mark Knight comes to Australia on the verge of very big things.

WHO MADE WHO
WhoMadeWho are a killer live band, championing bass, guitar, drums and a drum-machine. So much so that they were recently invited to support Soulwax for some shows in Berlin and Paris.

Hailing from Denmark, they are three guys with three different backgrounds who teamed up to create their very own version of disco. WhoMadeWho is not your average three-chords-rock-band, neither is it an electro/punk project. Their music is more subtle, with lots of different influences. Where other bands use punk’s aesthetic, they play with pop, funk, Italo-disco and grungy elements.

The band is made up of drummer Tomas Barfod, also renowned as an excellent House DJ in the Scandinavian Club scene, bassist and vocalist Tomas Hoffding, who used to play in a Danish Garage rock band called Garbo, and Jeppe Kjellberg on vocals and guitar, who once played in avant garde jazz projects in New York, where he also recorded the solo album Go Out with former Lounge Lizards guitarist David Tronzo.

With two albums under their belt since 2005, perhaps their greatest success to date has been a classic cover of Benni Benassi’s Satisfaction. Originally made just for fun, the song went on to become a worldwide club hit.  Catch them at Future Music Festival and see what all the hype is about!

THE BLACK GHOSTS
An intriguing super-group pairing Simian’s Simon Lord and The Wiseguys’ Theo Keating, The Black Ghosts have some undeniably sinister credentials to back up their tales of modern gothic romance. Theo was forced by his parents to watch Hammer Horror films at a very early age – because they were directed by his godfather. “My mum would say, ‘Come and see what Alan’s done, you can stay up late and watch it!’ and there on the screen would be The Satanic Rites of Dracula. He also made Dracula AD1972, where vampirism meets psychedelia, and several of the TV specials - I particularly remember The Two Faces of Evil and The Silent Scream.”

Simon, too, experienced a disquieting form of bohemia during his easily-influenced years. “My grandmother was considered psychic, and kept a whole bookshelf dedicated to turn of the century Russian mysticism.” Fortunately for his immortal soul Simon pursued the family predilection for music rather than clairvoyance. At the age of 27 he’s already enjoyed a successful career in music. His past work as the lyricist and lead singer of Simian has occasionally hinted that Simon’s lured by the dark.

“We Are Your Friends, the collaboration with remixers Justice, wasn’t necessarily intended to encourage people to hug each other on the dancefloor… it was about a cult induction. The refrain, ‘You’ll never be alone again’, is a double-edged sword.” The whole Black Ghosts project ploughs a similar furrow, combining moving arrangements with uncomfortable subject matter. “Theo doesn’t come from the sort of muso background that means he’s always getting me to check out his jazz chords,” he adds. “His experience comes from DJing, so the music he produces for me to write over has plenty of backbone and strong hooks. And I was never compromised by having to come up with lines in the studio with the rest of the band mucking about around me. I got to write the Black Ghosts LP by myself in a room with only suitably dim lamplight for company.”
 

In the late 90’s, for the sake of keeping a platform for electronic music in Frankfurt alive, he initiated the Cocoon Club concept – standing for metamorphosis, development, new birth, and surprises.

Cocoon sprouted further into Cocoon Clubbing, a mobile event agency touring Germany's most important techno clubs such as Stammheim / Kassel, Tribehouse / Neuss and Prag / Stuttgart, and The Cocoon Club at the famous Amnesia in Ibiza which proved to be a major success. His 2000 album Contact remains an art piece of extraordinary flair and musical diversity.  In 2000, Cocoon grew unstoppably and Sven produced his first official mix CD, Sven Väth In The Mix – The Sound Of The First Season on Cocoon Recordings.

This charismatic DJ continues to stage his party concepts, aimed at uniting people and bringing them closer together in internationally renowned clubs. His synonymous events and booking agency, with its own record label, considers itself a platform for artists of differing genres from the world of electronic music.

EVIL NINE
Tom Beaufoy and Pat Pardy first combined skills in 1998 and were quickly identified as a quality DJ/Producer duo by Adam Freeland who signed them to his Marine Parade label. Since then each of their releases has in turn distinguished Evil Nine as innovators who refuse to blend into any scene. Deriving their musical flavour from multiple influences - hip-hop, punk, electro, dancehall, post punk, garage rock, techno and krautrock just to name a few - they create an original minimalism packed with emotive ability.

Crooked ft. Aesop Rock, Evil Nine's third single from their debut album You Can Be Special Too, has become established as a timeless classic and typifies their sound - a sonic contrast, uplifting and melancholic with a backdrop of raw, dirty sounds. Its successor "Pearlshot ft. Juice Aleem" is testament to their ongoing ability to tweak the dance music and hip-hop format. Intended for both club and home listening it reflects Pat and Tom's heavy hip-hop and rock influences, as well as their aim to soulfully resonate with wider appeal.

Their love of branching out rather than playing it safe has led to extremes of rejection or adoration from the public and press, but that's the way they like it. Evil Nine aren't afraid of getting up a few noses by attempting something different if it spawns progress and keeps their ever-evolving style fresh. Radio support in the UK has come from Zane Lowe, Pete Tong, Annie Nightingale, Steve Lamac, John Peel, XFM and Kiss.

Even if Tom and Pat are two likeable blokes and not a menacing crew as their name suggests, as The Independent newspaper has observed, when they combine their talents and their shared musical vision as Evil Nine they "rock like the proverbial bastard".

2008 will see Evil Nine releasing their full length follow up to You Can Be Special Too, debuting their live band and touring their DJ show extensively (including their first visit to Australia in two years). It's gonna be another busy year for the Evils.

AESOP ROCK
Responsible for all but revolutionizing the entire face of underground hip-hop in the early portion of this decade with a slew of potent and influential releases such as 2000’s Float LP, 2001’s monumental Labor Days LP and a crossover smash with fellow Future Music Festival superstars Evil Nine called Crooked, on his most recent LP, 2007’s None Shall Pass, New York’s MC of the moment Aesop Rock (aka Ian Bavitz) has proven that resting on his past laurels is all but forbidden. Early 2007 saw the release of Aesop’s unique and invigorating “All Day”, a 45-minute continuous mix commissioned by Nike+ for their Original Run series created specifically to enhance a runner’s workout with varying changes in tempo and instrumentation (LCD Soundsystem and The Crystal Method have also recently taken part). Constantly finding new ways of innovation goes hand in hand with the dense verbosity and ethereal stutter-funk that codifies Aesop Rock’s output, and None Shall Pass is no exception.

Created over a 2 year period, None Shall Pass unravels retrospectively, documenting not only much personal change Aesop experienced over these years, but also scenes and stories indicative of all ages of life. 39 Thieves tells the tale of high school mischief, The Harbor Is Yours embodies the viewpoint of a children’s story, Fumes examines the ever too common story of relationships gone sour due to drug abuse. Forgoing the typical stance of braggadocio ever-present in underground and mainstream hip-hop alike, Aesop Rock investigates and examines himself and others on this album, likening the title phrase to the inevitable judgment that everyone must encounter by their peers based solely on their actions.  

Production on None Shall Pass is also a vital strong point, with the majority of production duties handled by Aesop’s longtime partner Blockhead and labelmate and friend Rob Sonic, with Aesop confidently producing a large portion of his own tracks, not including a trademark dystopian banger by Def Jux label-head El-P (Gun For The Whole Family) and features the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle on the album closer Coffee. DJ Big Wiz, who along with Rob Sonic will be appearing alongside Aesop on Sunday, also has a large presence on the album, appearing on 13 out of 14 tracks and offering a devastating rebuttal to those that say the art of scratching is dead. The duality of Aesop’s hectic stream-of-thought coupled with the complex production ensured None Shall Pass will be remembered for years to come. Aesop Rock has blazed a trail far ahead of his peers, with perhaps his hometown’s New York Magazine saying it best: “Even among the hip-hop heavies who record for his local label Def Jux, Aesop Rock manages to stand out thanks to a vulnerable storytelling style that’s all too rare among the genre’s tough guys.”

KID KOALA
Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that followed he released a string of remixes and toured North America with fellow Ninja artists Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In 1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the road to open for the Beastie Boys on their "Hello Nasty" world tour.

In 2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome” which received international praise by the press for having defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the album Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own, opening for some of his favorite artists like Radiohead and Bjork.

While on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a 350-page book called “Nufonia Must Fall” which was accompanied by a soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of this book came the release
of his second album, “Some of My Best Friends are DJs” complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess game. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour known as “The Short Attention Span Theatre”, which featured 3 DJs on 8 turntables, a slide show and a bingo game among other quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala performed DJ sets in Australia, Asia, Europe, Russia, North America and South America, all the while working on a new book and a very eccentric puppet show.

Kid Koala is now on the road supporting his latest album on Ninja Tune, “Your Mom’s Favorite DJ”. On this record he shows that his chosen means of expression (the turntable) is used not as a way of showing that he can go faster than anyone else, but as a way of telling stories. Although there is the romance, silent movie comedy and swing that your mother may well smile at and even shake her booty to, the enthralling deftness and complexity you’d expect from Kid Koala is also here - woven together with classic hip hop beats, breaks and generous swathes of heavy guitars. www.kidkoala.com

EDDIE HALLIWELL
One of the most prodigious young talents to emerge from the UK in recent years, still twenty-something Eddie Halliwell has been crowned the Mixmag’s #1 DJ twice (“There are people who play records and there are DJ’s who blow minds, Eddie Halliwell is the latter… who makes every set, no matter how small the club or how big the festival, feel like the closing party of the end of the world,” they wrote about him), and last year moved up to #16 on the DJ Mag Top 100 poll.

He continues to sideline production work to ensure he doesn’t miss a deck-based trick. “If things had stayed analogue, I might have put my time into the studio, but because things have been changing I want to make sure my finger stays on the pulse,” he says.

During this last year, Halliwell has been concentrating on pimping the Cream residency to any territory that hasn’t yet been chartered. “We’ve been targeting America heavily. As it’s such a vast place, you’ve just got to stick at it. I’ve particularly enjoyed South America and Brazil.” His return to his Cream residency at Ibiza club Amnesia culminated in his second Ibiza album for the club last year. “That was a real buzz,” recalls Eddie. “This time I had the opportunity to do two CDs, giving me a great platform from which to express myself. One’s basically a full-fire attack and the other is filled with more alternative music.”

Halliwell also recently celebrated the first birthday of his Radio 1 show. “I’m over the moon about that,” he beams. “I get sent so much good music, which in turn has opened me up to so many new producers that I might not have heard otherwise.”

ELITE FORCE
A project that originally began back in 1996, Elite Force (aka Simon Shackleton) has since been credited with being a lynchpin in the developing the tech-funk genre (an amalgamation of breaks, house, techno and electro).

He has had a series of highly successful releases in the past few years, including his fantastic Modern: Primitive album of 2006, finding broad support from DJs and musicians across the board including the likes of James Zabiela, the Plump DJs, Laurent Garnier and Damian Lazarus to name a few.

In addition to his solo releases, Elite Force has been a regular collaborator with Meat Katie, a relationship that had begun in 2003 with the massive-selling Toba. As a remixer, Elite Force has always been in considerable demand, with re-workings for the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Crystal Method, Jungle Brothers, Stereo MCs, UNKLE, Infusion, Rennie Pilgrem, Shiloh and Dylan Rhymes all contributing to his reputation as one of the most creative and effective remixers around.

Alongside Evil Nine and Perth’s own Micah v Ben Mac, expect Elite Force to bring the breaks to Perth in a day fans of the genre will remember for a long time.

ROBBIE RIVERA
Riberto Louis Rivera, or Robbie Rivera to the world's clubbing community, has long been one of the most recognisable fixtures in house. His recent tour in support of his new compilation Juicy Ibiza, has taken him as far afield as Dubai, Hungary and Estonia; although his visits to Ibiza have been among the most memorable.

"I did Sunday at Amnesia," he says excitedly. "The party ran from midday until 4.30am and there were 8000 people there. It was incredible."

Robbie, originally born in Puerto Rico but later settling in Miami, started DJing at the age of 13 on decks without pitch control. He moved on to production work after studying music technology at college some five years later, inspired by the work of Armand Van Helden, David Morales, Daft Punk and Danny Tenaglia. Recently returning to Miami from his European base in Barcelona, Robbie's just finished work on his latest artist album, Night And Day, and has completed remixes for Basement Jaxx, Bob Sinclar and Nightcrawlers.

DJ YODA
DJ Yoda is one of Britains most admired and original DJs, having built a reputation as the DJ that single-handedly injected humour into UK hip-hop.  He is possibly the only DJ in the world who can fill a club cutting George Formby with Jurassic 5, or 80s pop with New York rap.

In recent times Yoda has played on the same bill as Steve Martin, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock at the HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas; headlined the Lake Of Stars Festival with Basement Jaxx in Malawi, Africa; supported Fatboy Slim on his UK tour; and toured America with the Bull Run and the US’s most exclusive car rally. In short, he gets all the good gigs.

Yoda also helps to run Antidote Records, who are releasing (as well as his own mix CDs) music by artists like Steinski, Prince Paul, Cassetteboy, DJ Shortkut and Madlib. Alongside his sometime DJ partner Dan Greenpeace (of XFMs All City Show) he released Unthugged in 2003, and provided Pete Tong with his first ever hip-hop Essential Mix for Radio 1, bootleg copies of which have been doing the rounds ever since.

Leaving mixtapes aside, Yoda also released his first artist album, The Amazing Adventures Of DJ Yoda in 2006. On this, Yoda provides beats for Biz Markie, 2005 MOBO-winner Sway, Princess Superstar, Jungle Brothers, MC Paul Barman, and a host of other vocalists, and he wont stop until he works with all the cast of Sesame Street on a turntablist DJ track.

Silent Disco
The Silent Disco earned its name because an outsider walking in would see a tent full of people dancing, yet hear no music, hence ‘silent disco’. Featuring a 2 channel headset system, expect performances by festival DJs on one channel with the crazy Dutch 433fm.com DJ’s mixing it up from long-lost eras with current dance floor killers. In other words: a complete radio broadcast in headphones. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MiTQq_vD6s and www.silentdisco.com for more info on this festival phenomenon! Starring in this unique set up will be Dutch 433fm.com DJs, Damian John, Declan, Terry Waites, Sean Chee, Future Frog, Deck Z and 2007 State DMC Champion DJ Zeke.

With so many acts to choose from there is surely something for every one to get down to, not to mention the silent disco, which should get almost anyone in the mood for a party.

In the interest of making your Future Music Festival experience the best it can be, please take note of the following instructions from Mellen Events.

DO’S & DON’TS

• No recording equipment (eg. Video, tape recorders or professional cameras)
• No alcohol, soft drinks or food is allowed to be brought into the venue
• No glass items
• Sealed bottle of water is allowed
• Drugs of any sort won’t be tolerated. Don’t be stupid and be safe.
• Remember to slip, slop, slap!
• Big smiles are a must!

Road Closures:
Wittenoom Street between Hill and Bennett Streets and Hill Street between Wittenoom and Wellington Streets will be closed to all vehicular traffic from 9.30pm until deemed safe to open.

Parking and Transport:
Wellington Square is located a 5 minute walk from either MacIver OR Claisebrook train stations, so you can take your pick on that one, and we obviously recommend the train for being the cheapest and most effective mode of transport on the day.

Having said that the City Of Perth have made parking a pretty simple procedure as well, recommending 3 great places to park:

1. Royal St Carpark (cnr Royal St and Lord St) - open 24hrs 
2. Queens Gardens Carpark (opp. WACA; cnr Plain St and Wellington St) - open 24hrs 
3. Regal Place Carpark (cnr Royal St and Plain St) - closes Midnight