Groovin the Moo Festival

GTM is a travelling musical event like no other in Australia: setting up shows in regional cities, not the big smoke (OK, we are going to Canberra this year). A one day explosion of carnival and cavorting under the sun, clouds, moon, in front of a chunky outdoor double stage, and in the biggest dance tent as the sun goes down on life as usual.

	SILVERCHAIR The band capped their amazing 2007 with Young Modern with a mainstage appearance on the national Big Day Out tour in 2008 and a well-earned break then followed. Daniel spent some months writing in New York and in the Spring of 2009 and over the Summer of 2010 the band were back in the studio working on the very early stages of album #6. The sounds emerging from the studio walls are far removed and again very different to anything the band has done in the past. The challenge of living up to this amazing history is not one that Daniel Johns finds daunting. “It took me a long time to realize that the sound Ben, Chris and I make when we play my songs is something special,” says the Silverchair frontman. “Lots of bands are only just hitting their stride at our age so while we’ve already been through a lot together, hopefully there’s lots more good stuff that’s still to come.”			VAMPIRE WEEKEND The buzz around Vampire Weekend reached a peak in 2007: that summer, the band embarked on their biggest tour yet, made several appearances at that year's CMJ Music Marathon, and signed with XL Records that fall. The Mansard Roof EP was Vampire Weekend's debut release for the label, followed by their self-titled first album early in 2008. Debuting within the Top 20 of both the American and U.K. album charts, the eponymous record proved to be one of the year's most popular indie releases. Vampire Weekend celebrated its success by hitting the road for the better part of two years, and keyboardist Rostam Batmangli gathered additional accolades by releasing an album with Discovery, his electro side project with Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles. Amidst this flurry of activity, Vampire Weekend found time to return to the studio for the creation of Contra, which was readied for release in early 2010. Heather Phares, All Music Guide

	EMPIRE OF THE SUN The Empire continues to break new ground internationally with news that we have been nominated for International Album and International Breakthrough Act at the 2010 Brit Awards! Emperor Steele will fly to London to attend the Awards ceremony on behalf of the band. Amongst the excitement about the nomination Emperor Steele said, “The dream was the king for this record and it is becoming wilder and wilder as the sandman keeps cooking. This is a great honour, we are walking on a dream. ”			TEGAN & SARA Tegan and Sara’s sixth studio album – Sainthood – addresses secular themes of devotion, delusion, and exemplary behavior in the pursuit of love and relationships. Inspired by emotional longing and the quiet actions we hope may be noticed by the objects of our affection, Sainthood is about obsession with romantic ideals. In the service of relationships we practice being perfect. We practice our sainthood in the hope that we will be rewarded with adoration. As we are driven to become anything for someone else, we sometimes become martyrs for our cause.

	SPOON Except for the part about the billion copies, this is understandable, as Spoon really do accelerate ahead with every record, exploring, reinventing and refining both their sound and songcraft while remaining recognizably themselves. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga opens up with "Don't Make Me a Target," which begins simply enough (Ok, this sounds like Spoon, it almost reassures) before a glorious acceleration into static, fuzzboxed guitar and a galloping piano line. It fades out with the dark but sweetly orchestrated elegy of "Black Like Me." In between are eight more catchy, natty, weird and unexpected rock'n'roll songs.			BAG RAIDERS After blowing Australia away with their electric live show on the Parklife tour in 2008, the recently signed to Modular/Fools Gold Sydney duo BAG RAIDERS, aka Jack Glass and Chris Stracey, have prepared a brand spankin’ new live show and will be debuting it at the hallowed grounds of Harbourlife! Dominating YouTube, radio and clubland with infectious electro bombs, the BAG RAIDERS have now exploded into the stratosphere on the back of the amazingly euphoric Shooting Stars, which can be heard anywhere from JJJ to your local Thai takeaway.