New Music 2011 - Part 12 - Snowglobe - Jesca Hoop

Whilst thinking more about my wish list of acts for festivals in 2011, on a day when winter has seemingly supplanted spring in a most unwelcome way, I have cheered myself up by listening to some of my favourite artists of last summer.  One of them was the excellent Jesca Hoop and thus the wonderful 2009 album 'Hunting My Dress'. I saw her live at Latitude 2010 on the Sunday at the beguiling Sunset Stage and I mentioned that at the time.

The good news is that she has new music out soon in the shape of the four-song Snowglobe EP to tide us over while she completes her second full length LP.

It is released in the UK on April 4 I think, but amazon.co.uk lists the release date as March 7, on label Republic of Music. The track listing is as follows:

• City Bird
• While You Were Away
• Snowglobe
• Storms Make Grey The Sea

There is also an eight date UK tour, starting in Brighton on March 21, to accompany it.
  
Further posts on New Music 2011:
Part 1  ---  Esben and The Witch
Part 2  ---  Yuck

Part 3  ---  Duke Spirit

Part 4  ---  Low Anthem
Part 5  ---  Go!Team

Part 6  ---  Rhosyn

Part 7  ---  Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo

Part 8  ---  Those Dancing Days

Part 9  ---  Some things I am looking forward to.

Part 10  ---  More things I am looking forward to. 

Part 11  --- New Heads on Old Shoulders?
Part 13  ---  Queen of the Minor Key

Not Least @ Latitude - Part 8 - "The American Dream"

Much of that which I have written in this series of posts concerning some of the less well-known artists that I saw live at Latitude 2010 has focussed on those that I saw performing on the Lake Stage.  In previous years that rôle has more often than not been taken by artists that I have seen on the Sunset Stage.   I particularly associate it with all things American, thus my recent comments concerning 'The Pains of Being Pure at Heart' this year and 'Yes Giantess' in 2009.  It is however, nestling in the woods and more reflective of the ambient weather, the sublime setting for acoustic music...

It can change character in seconds! One of the hazards at the front of stage is the possibility of a surprise drenching during showers but, when the sun comes out, it is just different because of the sylvan setting. As we discovered in 2010 that can result in some surprising things - very scary and equally remarkable - but in totally different ways.

Jesca Hoop live on the Sunset stage on Sunday afternoon.
She finished the set with the awesome 'Hunting My Dress'.

And that is to say nothing about what happened when the wind almost resulted in disaster on Friday or the sun suddenly came out on Saturday...
This post is unfinished but that is only an indication of why the Sunset Stage is actually that important and, ultimately, why it matters so much.

Wet Wipes and Waterproofs

I'm all ready to set off for Latitude 2010 tomorrow morning with the aforementioned items high on the list of things to take.  All being well this time tomorrow evening I shall be in that orthogonal universe that is a three-day festival.   As an outlook it might seem as gloomy as it is pragmatic but in fact I'm very much of the opinion that festivals are more about a state of mind than anything truly measurable. Who can tell if that hypothesis will be put to the test?
The weather looks as if it will be a mixture of sunshine and showers, with a trend towards better conditions as time goes on.  The main annoyance is that Thursday and Friday look like being rather windy for July.  In that regard I'm pretty glad that I have a small tent as the large dome types tend to suffer in the wind.


I've just been listening to Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1 and he played an interesting track that I had not heard before: it is 'Girls vs. Boys', the first single from new Bristol-based electro-indie band Wilder. Huw Stephens is also, by coincidence, curating the showcase for new music 'BBC Introducing on The Lake Stage' at Latitude as in the years I have attended and mentioned that Wilder are playing...
Yet another to add to the mix that I would like to hear.

This is their first single and it appears, as limited 7" vinyl, on July 26 released by Rough Trade Records to whom the band is now signed.  On the basis of this single and another track also recorded live at the BBC Maida Vale Sessions, which was played, this is an enticing prospect indeed.
One of my few real criticisms of Latitude 2009 was that the BBC Introducing - Lake Stage was something of a disappointment: it was under utilised and, as a result, under attended.
Other new, or at least newish, acts that I would like to catch include The Middle East that is in fact from Australia and some others I have mentioned before, if only in passing, such as Jesca Hoop, Esben And The Witch, Yuck and I Blame Coco. 
On the Yuck front, and since I last mentioned them, it seems that they have so much new music that the band is now planning a side project. It will be interesting to see and hear what happens...

As an aside, nothing to do with Latitude in so far as I aware, here is something for the music space cadets amongst us.  The band, now reconfigured, and some of its members I have mentioned before, love life, love pop and love vinyl...
http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=329142

I have plenty more to tell but it is time for an early night; there won't be any in the next few if I have my way.

Havoc In Heaven - Festivals 2010

It is time for something more uplifting or, at the very least, forward looking. This is what I intended to post about yesterday but in some ways I'm glad that I never did as I have rather more to add now.
To start with I am going to indulge my liking for American music - the reason being that I feel justified in doing so. I don't feel any compunction about this - UK music is in fine form too, the trade is bi-directional and long may it last for mutual benefit. I'll start my list with artists that I'm looking forward to, and of an acoustic bent. On the UK side these obviously include Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons.

On the American side, and like the above both now confirmed for Latitude 2010, are the following:

The hat is probably more suited to the Manchester climate than that of California?

There have been parallels made in both cases, some of them quite tenuous, with Laura Marling. In all honesty I don't think that either side is likely to have any problem with the other. The really strange thing is that only a few years ago who could have imagined that, instead of hard-core rap, we would be trading banjo-wielding singer-songwriters?

Another artist and a stranger tale still is that of Jesca Hoop. We have long been used to UK artists eloping to the sunnier side of the Atlantic but she has now been co-opted as a Manucunian; the grey skies and drizzle perhaps being more conducive to song-writing? At least there is a good excuse to stay in and get on with it and, when it arrives, the fleeting sun will seem far more precious!
On the other hand hers is not a conventional background anyway; she is from a musical, Mormon family but later trod her own path and in time that included being live-in nanny for Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's three kids. Now that is something - Waits' music is challenging in itself, his comments on artists perhaps even more so. I'm not sure if she plays banjo but I wouldn't rule it out...

Lissie, a native of the part of Illinois bordering the Mississippi River, most certainly does and without any need to apologize. She is performing on the 'Sunset Stage' at Latitude 2010. It is tented, relatively small and leaks if it rains, but is actually my favourite... I will never forget seeing Crystal Castles there in 2008 - it was possibly the most frightening live performance that I have ever seen.

Lissie is not going to be scary like that... but the reviews are already quite something and she seems to be setting-up-shop in the UK for what passes as our summer. If you want to catch her live, sooner rather than later, here's your chance.

That is not to dismiss the chance to witness a full set by Sweden's 'First Aid Kit' either. They had to cancel at Latitude 2009 but I did get to see them at EOTR 2009.

They are returning to Latitude 2010 supporting their first full-length album, 'The Big Black & The Blue', and for good reason.

Slightly modernised but only in a way that kept it relevant to the early 21st century their with-no-clever-tricks-at-all live take on 'Universal Soldier', written by Buffy Sainte-Marie and from the album 'It's My Way' (1964), was actually more devastating than it was sublime.

It was received with a resonance that befitted it - awe and total silence - and a rare moment when thoughts from the Cenotaph came to a festival.

Not many can do that and fewer those still in their teens - although many of those killed in The Great War were exactly thus.