There are some rather good plans in store for music fans next year. Spectacular new sites in Sydney and Melbourne, for instance. A return to the unique settings of Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and a brand new event in New Zealand. And in keeping with the Laneway Festival’s now-longstanding commitment to supporting the best and most exciting new talent within the local community – whatever form that may take - there will be designer markets, indie cinemas featuring new and cult films and local food stalls to complete the assault on your senses at each event too.

But let’s cut straight to the most important part: the line-up. From the seminal to the scene-starting, the esoteric to the exhilarating, the Laneway Festival is again pleased to be able to bring you a roll call of artists that is as exciting as it is diverse. UK luminaries ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN are heading to Australia to perform at the 2010 event. The legendary post-punk band have authored countless hits (‘The Killing Moon’, ‘Silver’, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ etc etc) and acclaimed records (including the groundbreaking 1980’s classics Crocodiles and Ocean Rain), and it’s hard to understate their influence on contemporary music. The likes of Suede, Elbow and Interpol owe much to the Bunnymen’s brooding soundscapes, pulsating guitars and subversive attitude. Plus, they were featured in the opening sequence of Donnie Darko. Beat that. They come armed with material from their brand new record The Palace (right up there with their best work) and they’re set to win over a whole new generation of fans.

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE is coming. Yes. The Mercury-nominated flame-haired ingénue and her band head to Australia for the first time, equipped with a mega voice and a swag of tunes (including radio favourites ‘Kiss With a Fist’, ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and ‘The Drumming Song’) from her roundly praised debut. It’s called Lungs and she’s not joking. Classy and confident, with a vocal range as big as the imagination it expresses, Florence is completely in her element on the festival stage and she is going to own it at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2010.

BLACK LIPS call their live show a ‘quasi-violent sexual comedy’. Sign us up. The Atlanta, Georgian-four-piece are known to get raucous and rowdy (and naked) onstage but behind their booze-fuelled performances are tight songs that span psych, country, blues and garage. The supremely-titled 200 Million Thousand upholds their reputation as one of the most exciting assets of the American underground, setting undeniable pop hooks against a psychedelic haze. Good ol’ fashioned rock 'n' roll at its most unhinged.

THE XX’s beguiling, and frankly lovely self-titled debut has critics and fans all hot under their cardigans. The London quartet are quiet achievers, capable of music and lyrics that are no less compelling for their muted tones. They also happen to be 20 years old, which is a bit unfair. An exercise in understatement, the enchanting boy-girl vocals and sweet and tender melodies of THE XX will have everyone swooning. See them intimately here before they take the world by storm.

OH HI, how are you DANIEL JOHNSTON? Since gate-crashing an MTV episode in the mid-80’s, the beloved folk-pop singer, songwriter, artist and musician from Austin, Texas, has a developed a cult following, inspiring performances from Kurt Cobain, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and a legion of other indie artists. Johnston has translated his lifetime battle with the demons of his mind into a vast catalogue of songs of heartbreaking honesty and charm, and his unpredictable live performances are nothing short of compelling. Before DANIEL JOHNSTON heads to Australia for the first time, we recommend you see the compelling documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a fascinating insight into this fragile spirit and singular talent. [Performing in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne & Perth]

SARAH BLASKO, she of the honey-silk voice and enviable wardrobe, has long been a star but As Day Follows Night, her Bjorn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn & John)-produced latest LP elevates her to the status of one of Australia’s national treasures. Nominated for three 2009 ARIA Awards, including the coveted Album of the Year Award, the album is an intensely personal offering in equal turns melancholy and hopeful. Its resounding beauty and depth is matched by Sarah’s impressive stage performance. It's good to have you Blaz.

So you think you can’t dance? N.A.S.A. (North America South America) defy you not too, with their sweaty, Baille-Funk inspired project from US producer Squeak E. Clean and South American DJ Zegon. Their first offering Spirit of Apollo a 16-track party-starting monster of an album features ‘friends’ that include Tom Waits, Nick Zinner, Spank Rock and Santigold. We would accuse them of name-dropping if the results weren’t so good, and live this is the party set not to be missed!

Mention EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING and people start getting all feverish and speak in tones usually reserved for the deities. Well, Rock is our god and we are ESCR’s disciples. Their 2008 Australian Music Prize-winning debut Primary Colours hits you in the stomach with its startling honesty but it’s the charisma and force of the four piece’s (rare) live performance that inspires such devotion.

Portland‘s HOCKEY bound athletically across the history of soul, punk and rock and roll on Mind Games, an album with the swagger of (a young) Rod Stewart. It’s an audacious, gate-crashing sound. The confidence can be heard in the breakthrough single ‘Too Fake’ or the rap-inspired curveball that is ‘3A.M. Spanish’. The Guardian decreed Hockey’s Mind Games as ‘witty, literate songs you can dance to’, which happen to be our favourite kind.

The talent has always been palpable but Sydney’s DAPPLED CITIES have really stepped it up on their latest release Zounds. It’s a great ride and a world-class effort that gives them a legitimate claim to call the likes of Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear peers. Tracks ‘The Price’ and ‘The Night is Young At Heart’, with their fervour and sweeping choruses representative of the whole album, are indie anthems well on the way to being classics. DAPPLED CITIES are here to stay and we welcome you back to Laneway 2010.

A few weeks after its release, MUMFORD & SONS’ heart-crunching track ‘Little Lion Man’ from their anticipated debut Sigh No More looks set to be a Single of the Year. The London quartet have been garnering praise all over for their literary, timeless and impassioned lyrics, but it is their reputation as a live act that has us excited. Keeping company with the likes of Laura Marling (whose backing band they also happen to be) and producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Bjork), MUMFORD & SONS represent some of the UK’s best new talent.

Possibly the best-named band in the world, ever, THE VERY BEST couldn’t get a bad review if they tried. Hell, even the NME loves them. Featuring Malawian vocalist Esau Mwamwaya and underground European DJ/producer pair RADIOCLIT, as well as guest appearances from M.I.A and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, the band’s debut Warm Hearts of Africa is a greater testament to cross-cultural relations that the UN could ever hope to be. You can call it Afro-European ghetto pop. Or you could call it THE VERY BEST.

Speaking of RADIOCLIT, the super hot duo (Johan Karlberg and Etienne Tron) will be performing a set all of their own. Responsible for kick-starting the now burgeoning Baltimore-inspired scene in the UK a couple of years back, RADIOCLIT have lent their production skillz to pals Santigold, M.I.A, Buraka Som Sistema, Soko, Tv On The Radio, Ears, TTC, Yo Majesty etc. But more importantly, they leave every club they enter without a goddamn roof.

“Meaningless lust,” “A series of scenes” and “erotic downbeat music” are the words that have been matched with WILD BEASTS’ sophomore album, Two Dancers. These four young men from UK sure possess some enviable falsettos around and aren’t afraid to flaunt it. With references to booty calls, puckered lips, bodies as perfect machines and dim-lit streets, come get intoxicated by their unique sound.

WHITLEY Whitely, Whitley. First you go and create one of the most assured and gorgeous local releases of recent years, a largely acoustic affair with flashes of Nick Drake’s genius, and then you come back with ‘Head First Down’ a sweeping, orchestral track that reveals as much of the your ambition as it does your talent. We get shivers just thinking about it, and the possibilities for your live show. Keep an ear out for more equally enthralling tracks from the forthcoming longplayer Go Forth, Find Mammoth (out November).

Everyone has a few songs they remember hearing for the first time. THE MIDDLE EAST are probably responsible for one of them. The enigmatic Townsville 7-piece, and authors of the songs ‘Blood’ and ‘The Darkest Side’, are one of Australia’s most exciting new bands (and possible exports if recent airplay on influential US station KCRW is any indication). With delicate guitars, ethereal vocals and lyrical beauty, the band’s live performance is as revelatory as anything produced in this country.

My god, KID SAM are great. Victorian cousins Kishore Ryan and Kieran Ryan continue the fine Australian troubadour tradition, with a debut collection of songs that segue effortlessly from understated pop to all out countrified krautrock jams. Call it folk n roll if you will. Kid Sam the album has won them breathless reviews and a J Award nomination, as well as support slots with The Middle East and Jack Ladder.

Melbourne rejoice! DIRTY THREE will be performing at your Laneway Festival in their only festival appearance in Australia this summer. With an unparalleled reputation as one of Australia’s most enthralling live acts, Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White are exceptional in many respects: an instrumental, violin-led trio who are lauded by the music intelligentsia but who also embody the primitive appeal of rock'n'roll unlike any other band. Since they formed in Melbourne in 1991, DIRTY THREE have released seven studio albums, one soundtrack, and several collaborations to worldwide acclaim, as well as individual projects with the likes of Nick Cave and Grinderman, Smog, Cat Power and Bonnie Prince Billy. Warren Ellis reckons they are in ‘showroom condition’ following a recent US tour and ATP New York appearance and we welcome them back to their hometown for a very special performance [MELBOURNE ONLY]