The Rainbow Serpent crew has been working overtime for the last few months in preparation for what is set to be one of the best outdoor festivals on the summer calendar.

Rainbow Serpent 2008 boasts one of the festival's most diverse musical lineups to date, as well as an improved arts and lifestyle component, heaps of activities for adults and children, and all the food, décor, and good vibes RS punters have come to expect. All this delivered under the beautiful Australian summer sky in Beaufort, Victoria, over 4 days from  25th - 28th January.

Here's the updated lineup... 

OTT (Twisted UK)... Ott's music is a world to it's own, a pure undiluted atmospheric world of swirling stoned sound and colour. Indian to Arabic to African Ott's dub's are boundary-less and boundless in their scope and strength. Ott's music is a paradox of dub, not stereotypically slow heavy sounds but at once an upbeat dancey dub full of light, world chants and funky beats, while still maintaining a slow and relaxed ambient groove. His performance at Rainbow will feature new material from his follow up album due early next year.

Zen Mechamnics (Neurobiotic Holland)... is the project of Wouter Thomassen, undoubtedly one of the biggest new talents to come out of the Dutch scene in recent years.  Coming from a very musical family, Wouter has always been curious for new sounds and started DJ'ing with various forms of forms of electronic music in 1994, but eventually, after being turned on by the psychedelic squat parties happening in Amsterdam in the mid-nineties, ended up as a loyal follower of the goa trance/psychedelic trance scene.

Ripperton (Connaisseur Germany)... Raphaël Ripperton started his DJ career in 1993. His list of collaborations is massive but includes most notably Lazy Fat People & remixes for Laurent Garnier, Oliver Lieb (aka Solieb), Radioslave, Robert Babicz and Patrick Chardronnet. Definitely one of the most creative Swiss DJ's nowadays, Ripperton is the perfect chameleon in the ever evolving minimal electronic music genre.

Vishnudata (Space Boogie, Switzerland)... Valo (Vishnudata) started his musical adventures as a child, studying violin, drums and percussion. In 1998 he discovered the fascination for electronic music and in 2003 started his current main project, Vishnudata. His music is a rare combination of vocals, throat singing, instruments like electric guitar and flute in the mix with the psychedelic digital electronica you've come to expect from Finland.

Eat Static... were formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton, then drummer and synth player respectively for UK psychedelic band Ozric Tentacles. The band made a name for themselves on the Megadog 'live' techno scene of the early '90s, playing alongside the likes of Orbital, Underworld and Aphex Twin. In the past few years the band has become more involved with the psychedelic trance scene, playing parties and festivals the world over and releasing numerous tracks on numerous compilations. Breaks, Dubstep, Trance and Drum n' Bass all fuse with their paranoid, futuristic and up-for-it blend of psychedelic techno.

Son Kite/Minilogue (Digital Structures/Wagon Repair, Sweden)...  Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson came from opposing backgrounds. Sebastian was trained as a classical musician playing the organ, piano and the violin among other instruments. He even became involved in teaching them until his coming of age at 18 when he formed a band and began experimenting with the sounds in a more contemporary way. Marcus lived on a diet of Kraftwerk and the Human League until realising his true calling in the techno parties of the 90s. They got together in 1996 and after 10 years in the music business under globally successful guises such as Son Kite and Trimatic, they formed Minilogue - an animalistic music concept without the boundaries of genres.

AND the list goes on...

Andromeda
Triptych
Space Tribe
Haltya
Monolake
Solea

Tickets are selling fast, so if you’re a Rainbow regular and want to save by grabbing your early bird tickets, now is the time to buy. You can purchase RS tickets at www.greentix.com.au and selected outlets.

Keep an eye out here for more RS information as it comes to hand or visit the Rainbow Serpent website.