Dance rumours heat up for Splendour In The Grass

NO MORE GUESSING! THE LINE-UP HAS LANDED.

With the lineup announcement for 2011’s Splendour In The Grass officially set to land on the morning of next Wednesday, April 13th all ears are to the ground listening out for any extra clues and hits as to who’s coming down to Australia for the massive Woodfordia festival. We’re amongst that lot and have been hearing a torrent of rumours as the lineup drop date draws near.

As the festival has shown in recent years, a strong dance lineup for Splendour is a priority – 2010’s event saw LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip team up to lead the charge – and if the rumours are correct then this year’s festival will be another standout.

At the top of the heap is prolific electronic adventurer Moby, who’s name has been whispered most loudly in connection to Splendour thus far. His inclusion would make plenty of sense considering he’s back with a brand new album, Destroy, midway through the year and after his rousing tour over the summer of 2009 we’ve been itching to see him again.

Moby was one of our early predictions in our Place Your Bets special and among the other names on that list UK post-dubstep prodigy James Blake is one that seems like a ‘sure thing’ for Splendour. With a massive debut album doing big things it’s only a matter of time before Blake tours here and out of all the Australian festivals it’s Splendour with its relaxed, fringe vibes that makes the most sense for an artist like Blake.

Though they were out here over New Year’s for a run of DJ dates, rumour has German electro duo Digitalism back in Australia as a part of this year’s Splendour lineup, presumably playing live. A little digging lends credence to the rumours as not only are they dropping a new LP soon but Digitalism will also be playing Japan’s Fuji Rock festival on the same weekend as Splendour. Pulling double duty would be a hard ask but it’s been done before.

Also on the new-release campaign trail later in the year will be UK live dance crew Friendly Fires. They played some new material off the forthcoming Pala on the Good Vibrations tour and when inthemix spoke to the band last week they confirmed that they’d be coming back “soon” for a festival they’ve played before. That likely refers to their Australian debut in 2009 with Splendour In The Grass.

There’s still plenty of other names being bandied about including Kanye West, Royksopp and Jamie XX but these ones are the most substantial for the reasons outlined above. You can place your own bets in the comments section below.