Since he first appeared on the scene, in 2001, with his debut album, Clark has systematically upped the stakes with each new release, first by refocusing his sound essentially around electronics and gritty textures with Clarence Park, Ceramics Is The Bomb and Empty The Bones Of You, then by refining his template and pushing into darker and dirtier territories with Body Riddle and its companion EPs, Throttle Furniture and Ted.

With his latest Warp records release, Turning Dragon, Clark steps up the pace, pushes up the experimentation levels and gets down and dirty on the dance floor. With consistantly brilliant reviews for his recorded material and his incenderary live shows, Clark is at the top of his game making imaginative, original and mind blowing electronic dance music.

Both brainchilds of producer Karl Kong

PRINCE KONG is a jungle/breakcore project focusing on precision cut rythym, representing an armoury of shattering snares, blistering bass, and,blood curdling screams to bass rape. Designed for most forms of ASBO inducing behaviour and other social niceties which result from a manifesto
of dancefloor hysteria. Proper horror show heavyweight action.

OBEAH KONG is an adventure into the more dark side of ragga rave step, pulling together a heavyweight red eyed booty-shaking bass,
grinding skanked out rythyms, more hoovers and sirens than a three day rave and rude boy/girl vocals from the likes of warrior queen, jah balance,
eccleton jarrett, harry-j, and more. This is ragga stylings rough styling.

The almost anonymous duo of Adam Phillips and Ian Carter, being Various Production, were responsible for a series of absolutely fantastic limited vinyl releases over the last two years. So diverse it was hard to imagine that they might even be the same producers - veering from queasy downtempo beats, 60s folk, to late 80s acid house reworkings of Brandy to ruff urban grime and Missy Elliott cut ups.

Their debut release on XL, The World Is Gone is a wonderful record which reveals more with each listen and confirms that the preceding singles were just tasters for a very British debut album. The team have since split from XL and a remix project is currently in the pipes with version excursions for the like of Ian Brown, Sugababes, Foals. Not to be missed.

When a series of 12"s consisting of dark relentless tribal rhythms riding hard over pummuling basslines started appearing on the Skull Disco label, heads turned in the dubstep world, but the shackleton sound has reached futher then the genre that influenced him, he is one artists who has helped more then any other to move the dubstep sound of bass weight and intricate rhythms out of the clubs and into the imaginations of the electronic music world.

One of the most innovative producers of the old-school/electro era, Egyptian Lover's Greg Broussard recorded a parade of singles during the mid-'80s that proved influential for decades. Influenced himself by Kraftwerk/hip-hop soundclashes like Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" and Man Parrish's "Hip-Hop Be Bop (Don't Stop)," as well as the extroverted black-lover soul of Prince and Zapp, Broussard began recording from his Los Angeles base in 1983.

One year later, he emerged with the breakdancing anthem "Egypt, Egypt," released on the Freak Beat label. Similar to excellent tracks being produced all over America -- from Detroit (Cybotron) to New York (Mantronix) -- "Egypt, Egypt" and successors "What Is a DJ If He Can't Scratch," "And My Beat Goes Boom," and "Computer Love (Sweet Dreams)" spent much time in DJ crates during the '80s and '90s.

He will be accompanied at Mantua by old friend and mic man Jamie Jupitor.

..are an underground British hip hop group from Highbury in London, England. The group is led primarily by two brothers Chester P (vocals, song writing and occasional music production) and Farma G (vocals, song writing and music production). Task Force officially formed in 1999 with their debut album New Mic Order, distinguishing them from the London hip hop collectives Mud Family; of which Chester was a founding member.

Task Force has since released a back catalogue of considerable length, including 3 full length albums in the form of Music from the corner vol 1 - 3, several Eps & 12"s on various labels, x amount of guest appearances on various comps and mixtapes and recently an acclaimed Chester P solo album titled 'From the Ashes'.

Taskforce will be joined for the mantua show by Cambridge based MC Inja. (view site)

Ital Tek is Brighton based electronic musician Alan Myson. Signed to Mike Paradinas’s Planet Mu label.
His sound ranges from dark bass heavy industrial dubstep to deep melodic electronica. His debut 12" Blood Line was released on Planet Mu 11th June 2007, and his debut album for Planet mu is due out this summer.

..are Cormac and Mike (beats, blips, synths, scratching, programming, production), Fatz (bass, guitars, trumpet) Gav (Guitars,drums), Rodrigo (MC), Steve (guitars), plus behind the scenes, Sean (production) and Nialler9 (visuals, design). What can we say? They have just won the Choice award for their self titled album on alphabet set, put on an unbelievable live show and we love them nearly as much as we love the shorts that footballers wore in the black and white days.

..is an established producer/dj/mc hailing from Brixton South london, he is one half of -30 recordings alongside Cluekid and also run his own solo label bassface records which he launched in 07. Starting off producing and MCing with grime crew 4N Format, a chance meeting with Loefah set the pair off into the depths of the dubstep scene. His back catalogue of grime and dubstep 12"s is solid quality and recently a track on Soul Jazz massive box of dub has pushed Cotti's grime/dubstep crossover sound out into a bigger worldwide audience. Mic support for the set from MC Mr Party s.

..are a Finnish electronic music production team that consists of Tommi Liikka and Samuli Tanner. Tommi is a Helsinki native and Samuli comes from a small village deep in rural Finland.

The pair met through mutual friends in 1999, and ever since after a string of coincidences
and happy accidents led them to sharing a house in the northern suburbs of Helsinki. The Clouds sound is like a soundtrack to the
invasion of earth by little and green, but dubwise, aliens. It's a fresh take on the standards of dubstep, combining elements from video games, experimental music and hip-hop with deep melodic meditations and
dancefloor-shredding basslines. Always keeping it fresh, Clouds tracks rarely tread a path they've previously stepped on.

Not ones to leave the footwork for others, Clouds has also been travelling to spread their sound to various places such as China, France, UK (DMZ and Subdub among others), Russia, Ireland and Sweden..

Wadadda hails from  Cologne/ Germany where he`s running  the Tabanackle Dub Chamber together with Oli Dread from Dubfront Outernational. He started producing dubstep/heavy bass music about 2 years ago.

He regularly plays at the BasstheWorld nights In Berlin and Version nights in Cologne. 

is Dunk Murphy. He lives in southern Ireland. He is interested in stringed instruments, analogue synthesis and digital composition. His music leans heavily on melody, rhythm, timbre and structure.... as does most everyone else's. He thinks his melodies, rhythms, timbres and structures are a little different which is why he makes it. He has an E.P. and an L.P. coming out on Planet-Mu in the late summer of 2008. He has already released some tracks on Front End Synthetics and Go Away Records.

His live performance will consist lots of finger triggered MPC rhythms being distorted through other machines. There will also be some pre-programmed atmospheric patterns, which he can manipulate on the stage. He has fallen arches and is allergic to fermented condiments.

Fran Hartnett has been DJing since the mid nineties, and has played in too many clubs, radio stations, and raves to mention, not only on these shores, but also in Scotland, England, Spain, and Slovakia. Many of these gigs have seen him support internationally renowned acts such as The Advent, Joey Beltram, Kevin Saunderson, Decal, Billy Nasty, and DJ Rolando.

For a long time now, Fran has also been developing his skills as a producer.
His latest material is of a similar style to the UK and European sounds that have dominated his DJ sets over the past few years - heavy, abrasive, angular, cutting-edge techno, aimed squarely at the dancefloor.

A long awaited first EP is due for vinyl release this autumn, and if his commitment to pushing the limits of techno as a DJ is anything to go by, this year will see the first of many exciting records to come.

Mantua veterans Wiggle have had the privilege of performing at Mantua since it first began in 2005 where they were hosted in the Rootical tent. In 2006 and 2007 they performed at the Mantua live stage and this year are they're hosted by the Alphabet-set.
 
Wiggle have been an essential part of the Irish live sonic landscape since their inception in 1999. Wiggle are heavily influenced by and use many of the techniques of dub, drum n bass, and jungle.

Wiggle create a mysterious swirling circle of captivating songs that rise and fall in volume and velocity with a telepathic unity. The key is spontaneity and the rhythm is rock steady in a sonic riot mash up.

Toby does vocals and dials, John John vibes on bass, Rory vamps keys and tinkers beats, Colm chanks guitar and stuff and Vj Present will provide an array of stunning visual treats.

Ed Devane's surname rhymes with VAN , not VAIN. Now that that is out of the way a description of his music must include words such as "noisy", "heavy" and  "dancefloor-centred". Regarding the style of his music, Ed likes to make tunes without much regard for genres, but elements of breakcore, techno, breakstep and electro can be found in a lot of his tunes.

As a result he has released music on Touchin' Bass, Mantrap Records, !kaboogie and more He will be releasing a full-length downtempo-head-crush album on Mantrap and a 5.1 surround noisescape album on a London experimental label in the coming months.

Also worth mentioning is the table-top guitar that Devane built himself last year with which he generates a lot of the sounds found in all of his music.

Ed's Mantua set will be designed to make people dizzy!.

are two lads from the west of Éire (Nial and Conor) who make old sounding live electronic music. Their sound is a mezcla of jazz, old-skool funk beats, traditional recording equipment (reel-to-reel tapes),traditional instruments (mandola, guitars, pianos, rhodes, concertinas, lots of little bits of tasty intricit percussion instruments) creating a fantastical adventure in melodies and beats.

Seeing them live, you may encounter a stage with a live jazz drummer, djemba player, trumpet player, etc.,along with samplers,synths,laptops,guitars with the duo engrossed in a synergy of melody, percussion and electronics

Infomatics are four talented Dublin MCs and musicians, who mash up hip-hop, electronica, soul, jazz and reggae, use it as a sound-bed for an Irish story and play it out live. The debut album Kill Or Create released in April '08 is a healthy dose of all these elements with tastey, soulfull production and quality lyrical content throughout.

The Infomatics live experience is a raw, lyric spitting affair, crammed full of relentless energy. Their performance credentials include numerous support slots with the best of hip-hop talent including NAS, Soul II Soul, Fingathing, ICE-T, The Jungle Brothers and The Cool Kids, EDAN and Rodney P.

Since the early nineties Dave and Chris have been playing on numerous parties all around Belgium as well as in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Ireland and Switzerland. Not bound to any musical style they met in 2006 and immediately realized that a combination could develop into something special. Their strenght lies in the selection and original combination of alternative music with roots in different scenes, genres and times.

Donal and John have been producing music under this name for two years. Their live shows are driven by heavy bass and drums processed by a system of their own construction. Song structures, tempos and rhythms are improvised on the fly. This allows for reactive performances based on context; chaotic parties inform chaotic renditions of songs, quieter affairs see a quieter musical return. An alphabet set net release entitled 'Contextual Healing' was released in September 2007, and a 10" vinyl is due April.

Sarsparilla was raised in a small synth community in the green mountains of Wicklow. He soon found their small town ways oppressive and formed an escape plan with his then mentor, John Carpenter. These men promptly escaped into the Dublin underground, soon master Carpenter moved to the US, but Sarsparilla stayed in Ireland to forge his own distinctive synthesized soundscapes.

Utilizing the techniques master Carpenter had taught him and building upon them, he has crafted his own sound that is nothing short of extraordinary, his 2nd Alphabet Set release 'Karahee' has been worthily described by The Ticket as a mic of the raw end of the Warp spectrum and hip-hop's misty-eyed electro flings

Grizzle & Colz are two of Ireland's underground bass & breaks champions, long term friends & collaborators with the Alphabet Set, they've worked and dj'ed throughout the 90s till now building some of the heaviest jungle, garage, hip hop and dubstep productions we've heard come out of the country.

Check for Colz productions on All City records, his faultless monthly dubstep mixes and grizzle's killer tunes on various compilations including the latest Kaboogie sampler.

Consisting of Producer/MC Arkham, MC Sinisista and DJ Easy, this trio from Dublin make tough reality style hip hop and put on a heavy live show as demonstrated at there recent support slot with Skinnyman in the capital.

Cignol is Paul Hammock, an electronic musician living in Dublin, his earliest influences range from New Order to Public Enemy and the fledgling free-party scene around London at the beginning of the 90s. The explosion of the new electronica scene at this time was the catalyst which turned him on to production.

Two mid twenties Dubstep producers form Dublin who play key parts in the small but ever growing scene of Dubstep in Ireland.JOHNNY OAKLEY and 16HZ will be playing a fueled live set together of their unique styles which is giving Dubstep the Irish identity it deserves.

If we count the shenanegins with a microphone inside a teddy bear and midi-covers of Chris Rea tunes in the food tent 2 years ago as real entertainment, this will be Paul Foods third time on the Mantua stage this year.

Since the broken breaks set of last year he has contributed to multi-disiplinary works involving theatre and dance and video production and has been holed up in Trinity completing a masters in music and multimedia technology.

This summer Bluefood plays the Life Festival, Electric Picnic and promises broken-body rocking in Ballinagare.

VINCE MACK  MAHON are Tweek,Mikey Fingers,Deviant and Jimmy Penguin as
well as Sebi C,  Muipead and Tony Higgins sometimes.

VINCE MACK  MAHON perform original music using turntables.
VINCE MACK  MAHON are the founders of COMMUNITY SKRATCH GAMES.
VINCE MACK  MAHON are not in any way affiliated with Hulk Hogan,
                                         the Iron Sheikh or Bret  "the Hitman" Hart.
VINCE MACK  MAHON live by the beach.
VINCE MACK MAHON  eat fish, tossed salads and make skratch ballads.
VINCE  MACK MAHON are better than your favourite DJ.
VINCE MACK MAHON  LP on Nausecorps/STRESS!! droppin sooooon........

'I make music.
Music is Good
Hooray for Music!!
LPX's latest folktronic EP, "Seventeen", is out now from Road Records'

are a Dublin-based reggae sound system.  Playing almost exclusively off Jamaican 7 inch singles they came together in 2003 with a vision of giving Dublin a sound and a night which played Jamaican music, of all eras, in a dancehall style.  Their weekly Sunday night in the Temple Bar Music Centre was called just that and the 5 selectors, Dotsie, Fadda Foul, Rankin Rez, Soundman Soro & King Rathid have since turned it into one of the most loved and longest running club nights in capitals history. 

Never accepting reggae's branding as "chill-out" music a Worries session is an energetic affair, with vintage foundation, early dancehall, current bashment and a whole heap of dubplate specials thrown in for good measure.  Just come soundbwoi best not test....

is Cole who, by sheer coincidence, goes by the surname Blackford. Hailing from Colorado, he embarked on a journey first to San Francisco before throwing in a number of stops on the way to Amsterdam, the place he now calls home. He started DJ-ing late in the game at Amsterdam's infamous and much missed Cafe Vaaghuyzen.

BlackFord's sound is rarely uniform and depends on his current mood and frame of mind. The genre could be described as lo-fi electronica or acoustic electronics with a generous smattering of breaks. His influences range from Tom Waits to Talking Heads or Plaid, plus a host of other gems in his anomalous music collection. He will have a 3 song e.p. released on Komma Records in August. For information see his myspace/website.