Five of the best acts at Parklife

Image: Parklife

Far from just a festival for dance music fanatics, the Parklife weekender is a celebration of all contemporary styles. The line up has a clear focus on what is fresh and relevant, with the occasional legend slipped in for good measure. Since it's relocation to Heaton Park, the festival now caters for a staggering 140,000 people across two days with a mouth watering variety of main stages and dance tents.

This year sees Mancunian electronic pioneers The Chemical Brothers make a homecoming headline appearance as well as one of the hottest prospects in guitar music, Blossoms. While this is only a tiny taste of what's on offer, check out our recommendations below to whet your appetite....

Ice Cube 

The former N.W.A man follows in the footsteps of Snoop Dogg and more recently Nas, as the showcase rapper appearing at this years festival. Ice Cube will bring his brand of west coast hip hop to the main stage on Saturday and provides support for headliners The Chemical Brothers. His blockbuster show at Coachella saw him joined by the surviving members of his former group as well as Kendrick Lamar no less.

Whilst fans will no do doubt pray for appearances from Dre, Yella and Mc Wren they can certainly expect the rapper to dip into his new album Everythang's Corrupt. Add to that any of Cube's bona fide 90's hip hop anthems and there's little doubt that Saturday at Parklife will be a good day. 

Henry Lewis

Maribou State

Hertfordshire duo Maribou State were behind one of the better albums of last year in Portraits, a record which went from the sedate summer swing of 'Midas' (above) up to darker clubbier terrain with 'Rituals'.

It's a record which has got better with age, and the chance to hear to hear it in what we're hoping will be glorious Mancunian warm weather in the Now Wave tent on Saturday can't be missed.

Jimmy Coultas

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Four Tet B2B Floating Points

Kieran Hebden a.k.a Four Tet will be joined by Sam Shepherd a.k.a Floating Points for a DJ set that will round off proceedings at the Colonnade stage on Sunday night. The latter is forever searching for new music to throw into his sets and cites the likes of Theo Parrish and, incredibly, Stravinsky as some of his influences.

Hedben and Shepherd will be dipping into their vast wealth of musical knowledge so expect boogie, house and much more from a pair of musicians who are rekowned for gritty beats and juddering basslines in their own work. This back to back will show off the record collection of both acts and will no doubt feature some mixes of their own work too. You can listen to the Four Tet and Floating Points mix on NTS radio above. 

HL 

Wolf Alice

Quite easily the stand-out guitar band of last year, Wolf Alice fronted by the stunning yet equally ferocious vocalist Ellie Roswell bided their time in releasing debut album My Love is Cool.

When the Mercury Prize nominated LP finally arrived it merged the grungy depths of the nineties with star-gazing melodies. This dynamism makes their live performance one of the most captivating around (as we experienced first hand earlier this year) and when they clench their teeth they bite way harder than they look - they'lll be holding court in the Big Top on Saturday.    

Ben Smith

The Black Madonna

Marea Stamper has only been releasing records as The Black Madonna since 2012, and it took another three years before she became major hot property in the UK and a standout addition to XOYO, Bugged Out Weekender, Found Festival and Sub Club line ups.

With an anti-establishment philosophy, Stamper has been flying the flag triumphantly for diversity and truly talented female DJs of all ages. With a whole lot of sass and a hell of a lot of musical knowledge, her sets cover disco, acid, house, techno and everything in between. She makes her debut at Parklife festival this year in the Collonade on Sunday, an inaugural performance that's sure to teach even the experienced ravers a thing or two on how to party. 

Becca Frankland

Got your Parklife tickets yet? You can do so from the box below. You can also see details of the Afterlife parties to carry on the madness.

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