New Music - Part 22 - a long awaited return...

Back in 2008, my first year of properly planned festival and live music attendance, one of the new acts that I saw at Latitude and then also live at Bristol Harbour Festival a few weeks later was a singer called Beth Rowley. She is from Bristol, which in part explains her appearance at the latter where she blew away the audience in Queen Square Gardens on a sunny summer afternoon. That year also saw the release of her début album Little Dreamer by Universal. If it had a systemic fault it is that it was too timidly produced, tending towards the Radio 2 end of the market if you will.
After that she seemed to fade away but it is all about to change...

This coincides with a set of three EPs; the first of which, 'Wretched Body', is released on July 8 and here is the title track from it.
It is rather a promising direction I think and, reading between the lines, I suspect that Universal is no longer involved. This is the track listing of what appears to be a digital-only release:

• Wretched Body
• Can't Stop Tomorrow
• Steal Away
• Princess

Have One On Me - Joanna Newsom

I don't know if her Australian distributor, Spunk, intended to do this on purpose but it seems to have spilled the beans.

Joanna Newsom live at Latitude 2008

The link might be hard to reach, or have even been abolished, but it certainly existed as I and many others reached it. There are however reasons to think that it is probably genuine...

Her US label, Drag City, posted the following enigmatic cartoon on its site a little while back...
The date, 2/23/2010, is very plausible as albums are usually released on a Tuesday in the US. The Australian release date was given as 19 February, which fits with local release practice. In the UK albums are almost always released on a Monday and all of this has to do with the way weekly sales figures are recorded in the respective territories.

If this turns out to be correct I am more than interested to discover what it sounds like: no doubt her harp and trademark vocal acrobatics will be back but I wonder what else. When she performed at Latitude 2008 she played three then very new and unreleased tracks and performed all of them unaccompanied on grand piano and I remember thinking at the time that two of them were really quite special but sadly I cannot remember their titles.

Here it is...

Latitude 2009

Just a very quick note: Tickets for the fourth installment of Latitude, held as always at Henham Park, Suffolk, went on sale at 7pm UST (GMT) this evening - 23 March 2009. It sold out well in advance in 2008, so don't ponder too long before joining in. The dates are 17 - 19 July 2009, with the camping area opening from around midday on 16 July.
The main stage headline acts are:

Friday: Grace Jones
Saturday: The Pet Shop Boys
Sunday: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

For the latest additions see here Latitide 2009 - news and for criticism see here.

I was there in 2007 and 2008 and, don't even doubt it, I'm going again in 2009.

See you there?

A Balloon Called Moaning

A Balloon Called Moaning - what does that mean as an album title? Well nobody seems to know except those responsible, and they are not telling! This is the first release from a band that I had not heard of until I saw them play on the 'Sunset Stage' at Latitude 2008 and I think I've found live picture from that gig that I haven't used before.

L -R: Justin Stahley, Ritzy Bryan and Rhydian Daffydd.

Ever since it has been on my list of bands not to forget.

When I discovered in January that Pure Groove Records were to release their début album I could hardly wait.

Eight tracks and 29 minutes: some would call it a mini-album. It is however several minutes longer than they were allocated to play their set at Latitude - but it doesn't take long, for better or for worse, to make a lasting impression.

Call it what you like but there is no point reviewing the tracks individually.

I could easily have been disappointed by the weight of my expectations here, as has happened many times before, but this is just brilliant and I'm so glad that I saw them live first.

Nitrogen Pink

Another artist I saw live at Latitude 2008 was Polly Scattergood, who performed on the Sunset Stage early on Sunday afternoon. While the picture below looks rather of the kind that one gets from booths that take passport photos, it is actually the cover of 10" vinyl single Nitrogen Pink (Mute, 2007, and since released by Mute US in 2008).

No album yet but several singles - all available on vinyl - and already a very fine live act indeed.

Hard to categorise I know and, while some would say pop-punk in an instant, that's not the half of it. She is indeed both these things at times but at many others she has too much of that wilful, yet vague, dislocation of the care-worn singer-songwriter for that aspect not to come out in the wash. Her music is all the better for it.

[Click images to enlarge the images below and ask me if you want other versions.]

Polly Scattergood on the Sunset Stage @ Latitude 2008.
Adjusting the microphone... this was taken just before the soundcheck.

That is not to say that this means gloomy, depressing music or performance. This is music aimed not at those angry at a particular moment in time, as punk quite deliberately was, but at a whole new generation of uncertainty.

Just fifteen minutes later and very much live!

2008 and all that ...

The global credit crunch, Jay-Z at Glastonbury and economic catastrophe all started as minor issues. The almost total lack of a summer in the UK, and the usual music industry machinations, surely made this, overall, the worst festival summer in living memory?
It had its flaws of course, like every other, but I just think that it was what made it matter. I'm more inlined to think that, after a decade of almost uninhibited growth, 2008 was the year that started a change of direction. Leeds/Reading remain fairly unreconstructed but even they are, increasingly, becoming less appealing. This does not apply merely to those who have been regulars since their teenage days but are now getting older. [I am older than all those that I am referring to!]
Music is changing and of course it always does; now it is changing in surprising ways. As I was wandering though ASDA today I was struck by this headline on the cover of 'Guitar Magazine'...

Seasick Steve - hobo to hero.
I'll fully admit that a year ago, had I had even noticed it in the first place, I would not have taken a second glance and that it would have been a huge mistake. As luck would have it I got another chance...

Seasick Steve live at Latitude 2008.
He was just jaw-dropping good: I almost forgot to take any photos and it shows!


I Started Out With Nothin' and I Still Got Most of It Left

This is his latest album. If you like blistering acoustic blues performed by an inspired and inventive, yet very much livin' and original, traditional artist this is for you. This was for me, and clearly very many others, one of the defining revelations of Latitude 2008.

Coming Soon - new music 2008 (Part 5)

Autumn is always a time for new releases by established artists and in 2008 Safe Journey Home (released 3 November 2008 in the UK), the third album from Dido and the first since Life For Rent in 2003, is an obvious one to mention. I'll readily admit that two albums, and over twenty million sales of them, have not made me any less curious about this new one.

So it is about the second album by Jem, Down To Earth released in the US on 16 September, and which I'm told that it is jaw-droppingly good. I sincerely hope so too but I am, as yet, unfortunately unable to comment definitively.

The strangest thing is that it is not necessary to orbit the planet to find things musically wonderful - and I may well be mad but it is nothing new - because France will do nicely instead!

Yes, there are a lot of them in New Grids. Yes, 'Coming Soon' doesn't sound French, but it is certainly not British for that matter, but it is nevertheless their début album and yet the word genre is one quite lost on their music. They are all French too - just how good is that?

Sticking with things French, Soko (Stephanie Sokolinski) is currently in Seattle putting the finishing touches to her début album, which should be released in early 2009, at Bear Creek studio. I'd want to hear this album anyway but, having already seen her perform live, it is simply a must-have.

Soko live at Latitude in July 2008.

Ingénus only? Not this time!

An oft-heard criticism of the Mercury Music prize is that it favours new artists, and maybe that is true, but that doesn't mean that they always prevail and certainly not in 2008...

Manchester's Elbow have been around for about a decade, very impressive without the acclaim that should go with it, but finally their fourth album 'The Seldom Seen Kid' has done them proud and it has, rather against the popular odds, won them the 2008 Mercury Music Prize. It is not deserved on tenacious effort alone, though they certainly have that, and not on sales but simply on its own merit.
While it is special it seems effortlessly so - not only is it the album that so many bands would die to write, they are a band that can also play live as naturally, and I was lucky enough to catch them live earlier this summer.

Elbow live @ Latitude 2008.

The End of Summer?

Most in Britain might reasonably tell you that 2008 was the summer that didn't happen. The weather was fairly rubbish, the credit crunch suddenly seemed more real than anyone realised, and then there would be that disappointment that comes around only every fourth year...
The first two came to pass but Team GB in the Olympics, something that we tend to regard as an affirmation of our poor record in sport, proved anything but that and a launch pad for London 2012. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, accepted the Olympic flag and he is possibly the only recipient who, had he felt inclined to do so, could have quite easily made his acceptance speech in classical Greek!
You might well ask why I mention this here and also 'What does that have to do with music?' It has a lot in common - music has for years usually been regarded as a team GB thing, regardless of where the artists come from or their ethnic background and now sport has, apparently quite suddenly, become seen in much the same light. That the Olympians were played off-stage in Beijing by Leona Lewis, only for her to arrive back in her home city in the midst of the Notting Hill Carnival - the world's largest Carribean festival - is something of which both London, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in general, can be justifiably proud.

The thing is that, despite all the global uncertainties, Britain seems more comfortable with its place in the world. I don't think that music is going to let us down between now and 2012 - innovate, adopt, adapt and export will probably accelerate the recent trends, but I suspect that we will also become more receptive to those from overseas.
The main festivals have now come to an end, with Leeds/Reading this weekend, but the pre-sales for 2009 are now on offer, except for those for which the limited allocation has already sold out, and that is most of them.
If one thing is certain, despite several summers of poor weather, Britons remain in thrall to outdoor live music and now there are some out-of-season indoor festivals too. I''m planning to go to Sŵn 2008.

Two more bands that amazed me...

British Sea Power were, as I have already mentioned and had also been led to believe, simply terrific live. What I did not anticipate is that I would soon feel the same way about two other bands, both of which come with at least some kind of reputation that might possibly have presaged a disappointment.

Foals - live on the Obelisk Stage @ Latitude 2008.

While Foals have been hotly tipped since they first appeared, and never more so than for their live performances on which their reputation is built, it does predispose one to worrisome thoughts. Their set was, however, one of the best I have ever heard and I now understand what all the fuss is about! If this is what "math rock" really means then I'm a convert now...

I have mentioned acts on the Lake Stage (BBC Radio 1 - Huw Stephens - Introducing...) before and I spent a great deal of time there at Latitude 2007. While I did not spend as much time there this year it was, regardless, the venue graced by the last of my "top three" bands!

The Beep Seals live @ Latitude 2008 on 19th July 2008.

The break-down to the final track of the set was just incredible - in both scope and disciplined execution - and without doubt it takes a lot of practice to make such apparent ad lib chaos so perfect...
They did it, with no second thoughts, and it was quite simply AWESOME.

Latitude and the french connection...

I have previous convictions for blogging French music and French artists and, should I decide to do so, I could quite happily spend the rest of this weekend listening to nothing else. It is, in fact, very tempting given that I'm already listening to Gourmandises - Alizée.

The tenuous Latitude 2008 connection is Parisian singer/songwriter SoKo, aka Stephanie Sokolinski, live on Saturday afternoon attempting, but failing ever so slightly...

...to behave as if she were a normal human being!

This was another wonderful set on the Sunset Stage, nestled in the woods and lending itself to photography, which will forever in my mind be associated with acts that are strange in all the best possible ways.

If more evidence were required, to prove that normality and SoKo simply do not occur together in the same place, here it is:

The 'kittens' were borrowed ad hoc from the audience and if proof that French pop can be stunning, as well as not merely taking itself too seriously, was needed then this was certainly silliness of the highest order but it was also very funny indeed!

SoKo is just perfectly unhinged and quite brilliant!

To read a review of a more recent live performance go here:
http://www.bobbysix.com/2009/01/soko-oxford-art-factory.html

Latitude and the US influence...

"Is Latitude a typically British Festival?" was another topic that we ended up talking about while there, not that we ever came to a definite conclusion about this, and in so-doing I think we probably got it just about right!

In some ways it is, particularly in the non-music arenas, but although the music programme is certainly predominantly given to UK artists it is not overly so and to prove it this was a truly wonderful choice.

Did it matter that she actually forgot the lyrics to one of her songs? Not at all! In fact she seemed more embarrassed about the genuine applause that greeted her admission of fallibility than that for her earlier confession concerning her nervousness of playing completely solo, and at a festival too, for the first time in over a year.
Latitude was a perfect venue and in the middle of the set she took to the grand piano to showcase a new song, which became three new songs and the second of them was particularly good I think, but what really struck me was that the way she plays the piano made it sound rather harp-like. I wonder if she writes songs on piano, at least primarily, and then transposes and elaborates them on the harp? Whatever the truth about that she was awesome and without-doubt one of the top-three acts I saw at Latitude 2008, which leaves you to guess the other two.

We like to complain that the US market does not, generally speaking, readily take to UK artists. That is true but I think we have a little soul-searching to do here because we are guilty of this too and almost certainly for the same reasons. This is taken from a message I sent to my niece earlier this afternoon:

That said the current wave of US talent doesn't stop there. One of my favourite albums of the moment is not yet on general release in the UK but was released by Archer Records (ARR 3319272-2), a US independent label, in late 2007. Anchors and Anvils is the second album by Amy LaVere who writes, sings and also plays a rather unusual instrument, upright bass, which is like a double bass but even larger!
The album is a seamless mixture of new tracks and a few covers (including Bob Dylan's 'I'll Remember You') and is, on the face of it, a fusion of delta blues and Americana but for the use of Wurlizer, gypsy violin (that lends an eastern European folk influence) and various unusual guitars, plus of course upright bass, which makes it near indefinable. While I dislike none of them I find these two tracks particularly impressive:

• Tennessee Valentine
• Pointless Drinking
  

Now I also want her first album - This World Is Not My Home - too!

I can see a theme here...

Searching for lyrics certainly remains an issue and, while I wish I could do more, time is the problem. I have an agenda of my own and, while it certainly does include lyrics, that it is only part of the whole. Live music is a large part of it, but not certainly not the only thing that I liked about Latitude in 2007 and 2008.

On Saturday evening, as we were waiting for Sigur Rós to do an encore, the moon rose over the proceedings and I pretty much had my back to the stage when I took this.
Taken a couple of hours, and a couple of pints, later is this snapshot of festival life...

Home for the weekend - 'red sector campsite' @ 2am Sunday.

I'm still not quite sure how I would define Sigur Rós, and I never have been, but seeing them live was quite something.
They are, and this is nothing of a revelation, quite unlike any other. As a live show it was certainly convincing and some, that I later overheard or talked with, described it as 'biblical'!
I'm still not sure exactly what I think so this, at least for now, is about as good a description as I can currently muster. Nevertheless I'm very glad that I was there listening to it for if live music is not to engender debate then I wonder what purpose it has!

Why go to a festival?

My answer in a general sense is "How could I possibly know what motivates you?", which is another rhetorical question, but this kind of approach gets nothing practical done and we all know it!

If that were not true there simply could not be the festivals there are as they would not attract sufficient support to be viable. The deviations from normality are certainly newsworthy but this is simply because they are so unusual. If you want a statistically safe weekend away this is it: choose a festival of your choice, avoid drugs, and travel by train for as much of the journey as possible.

You might even want to listen to the music, enjoy a weekend away camping (possibly in a sea of mud) and partake of the other myriad delights on offer. On the other hand you might be one of the very few who simply see it as a chance to steal from others. Petty theft is the most common crime committed against others at festivals and much of it is easily avoidable but another problem was not the best start to my weekend. When I put my tent up on Thursday afternoon the pole supporting the porch split at a joint so even the tent wasn't worth thieving. It survived the weekend without further problems and maybe this further reduced the likelihood of depredation!
Just in case any of my former Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition groups are reading this:
Yes, I had checked it fully before I left home and I had even had a pole splint (that I needed as it happened) and lots of spare pegs (that I lent to my neighbours)! Far too much is made of the downsides and if someone really wanted to steal my manky, old (now only xenobiotically warmed) sleeping bag and some T-shirts, that are only one wash removed from becoming the next floor cloth, there is nothing much I could do about that. As you might predict, I still have them all...

Festivals are in fact very appealing for other reasons too - the variety on offer, the other-worldly aspects and the surprise factor being only three amongst many. Festivals also highlight both the contrast and the unpredictability of live performance because things, technical or otherwise, will go wrong from time to time. My experience suggests that, at Latitude at least, the audience is most tolerant of this sort of inevitability.

Beth Orton, playing on the Obelisk Stage on Friday afternoon, had an acoustic guitar with a mind of its own... it simply would not stay in tune from one song to the next! She wasn't exactly to everyone's liking anyway but her handling of the situation was exemplary and, never one to mince words in her lyrics, her ad lib was no exception and certainly not in the use of expletives!

Her set was followed by British Sea Power (who I have already mentioned) but there is also the time and place for an act whose music is just joyful Technicolor abandon.

The Go! Team is a band that is even more improbable in reality than it was in its conception. It started as Ian Parton's kitchen-table project - just using samples from here, there and everywhere - but then anything can happen...

Two albums later here is Go! Team very much live. Yes it does routinely use two drummers, from any of the four normally cited, but in this live set every band member took a turn on drums!
And Ninja wore stripy leg-warmers in July, which is surely just what a real festival is about?

Those I saw live @ Latitude 2008 (Part 1)

Festivals are not really that demanding when it comes to getting out of bed early in the morning, which is another appealing thing about them, but a little bit of effort can still pay dividends.

Live and exclusive on the Sunset Stage at about 10:40 on Sunday morning.

This was taken during the sound-check when they performed a complete song, not included in the ensuing live set, and for which the audience (excepting festival and band crew) was extremely limited indeed. The set itself was extremely good too and Tallulah Rendall is another artist to watch in 2008-9.

This next is the case of 'Who's That Girl?' (the one that I remember, who was she with her hands wrapped around the world?) and a late addition to the Latitude 2008 line-up.

Beth Rowley performing in the Uncut Arena on Saturday afternoon.

If there was one remarkable thing about this performance it is that, although it was preceded by a couple of minor technical hitches, it seemed as if she wasn't even trying to impress anyone. That it sounded even better live than on the album Little Dreamer was proof perfect. Given only twenty-five minutes on-stage she didn't even perform the single 'So Sublime', but it was.

2008 Mercury Music Prize nominations

The twelve albums that are short-listed for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize were made public today and, as it happens, the list dovetails with both my thoughts on Latitude 2008 and several other matters on which I have commented in the last year.

To serve as a point of reference here are the 2008 Mercury nominations (in alphabetical order):

• Adele - 19
• British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
• Burial - Untrue
• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
• Estelle - Shine
• The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement
• Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
• Neon Neon - Stainless Style
• Portico Quartet - Knee-Deep In The North Sea
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
• Radiohead - In Rainbows
• Rachel Unthank And The Winterset - The Bairns

The selection is, as perhaps we would like, eclectic and that makes my life easier. Two acts here - Elbow and British Sea Power - were amongst those that I saw live at Latitude 2008 and in a pantheon that was not without competition, even if some of it was not eligible for a Mercury nomination, was far from lightweight.
[As usual click the images for a rather larger version.]

I've been told many times that British Sea Power are stunning live and, if I ever doubted you, all I can say is that I now plead guilty as charged; you were right and I was wrong!

Naval pennants, foliage and Hungarian backing vocals - British Sea Power live at Latitude 2008!

On a different tack I'm delighted to see that modern folk gets two nominations and that Northumbrian band Rachel Unthank And The Winterset are amongst them is yet another massive boost for the impact that folk-inspired music now has and, as you might well know by now, Laura Marling has been on my play list for over a year and it is about time that she got some recognition.

This leads me on to another band in that genre and, as there is a collective tendency here, one with whom Laura Marling has also often played live. That is Noah and The Whale. They were at Latitude 2007 on the Lake Stage but I didn't get to see them. They were back this year, on the much larger Uncut Arena, and although there was a big turnout this time I did see them and it was another highlight of the weekend.

Noah and The Whale - live on the Uncut Arena - at Latitude 2008 on Sunday 20th July 2008.

Latitude 2008 - first thoughts

Latitude 2008 is where I've been these last few days. This will be brief, because I got back not long ago and some things such as a hot bath and some proper mugs of tea (simultaneously!) came before blogging.

I must say that, despite doubting it could be as good as last year, I wasn't disappointed. More importantly, perhaps, is that the many others that I discussed this with were largely of the same opinion. Everyone can think of a few things that they would change at a festival, were they in charge, but once again, although the weather was rather cool and gave us a few showers, there were no problems with that. It remains so genuinely friendly and real and, although it is a very selfish point to make, we all hoped that it isn't spoilt it by making it too big next year.

In one sense it the biggest little festival and that certainly goes for some of the music too. Sure the headline acts probably sell the most tickets - and Joanna Newsom and Sigur Rós are two that are about as diverse as one could wish for - but that is not to say that lesser known acts are any less important and that is what really matters at Latitude.
I'll mention some of both, and add pictures of my own, in the next week but to start off here is one that I took at the Sunset Stage on Saturday morning:

Wallis Bird live at Latitude 2008.

Also live on the Sunset Stage, but on Friday morning, were the now London-based three-piece 'The Joy Formidable'.

Ritzy (guitar and vocals) trades venom with Rhydian (bass and vocals) to good effect while Justin, drums and vocals but not visible in this shot, ensures that the whole show keeps on track!

To look into the eyes of a borrowed horse...

One thing I did this morning, as part of the preparations, was to have a good lie-in and then a soak in a hot bath. Whatever the weather this coming weekend neither of these little luxuries is going to be possible. Both yesterday afternoon/evening and today I've been having a retrospective of Latitude 2007. While I already owned music by some of the artists, which is what really prompted me to go in the first place, it is only when I thought about it in this way it that I realised what an influence it has had on the music I have acquired in the last year.

Some of it has become mainstream in 2007-8, some of it hasn't, but that aspect doesn't bother me a bit. It would perhaps be possible to live entirely within the small world of music on the radio but it would be an unwelcome challenge. On the other hand it is getting more difficult but no less interesting, almost by the week, to keep tabs on new music. Here is one such item, long awaited but finally released two weeks ago by new artist Cate le Bon who I first heard at Latitude 2007, that only makes that issue more obviously difficult!

Edrych yn llygaid ceffyl benthyg. To look into the eyes of a borrowed horse.

It is hard to tell what might be the greater problem: the fact that it is only released as a 10" (45 rpm) EP, limited to just 400 copies all on heavy ivory-white vinyl (Peski 009) and only available through independent retailers, or the fact that it is entirely sung in Welsh! The title of this post is a mere translation. It is a saying similar in meaning to the phrase "to look a gift horse in the mouth" but rather more ambiguous.
This item is clearly not going to bother the UK charts, whether single or album, but it is worth noting that the album Rockferry, which is far and away the biggest selling in the UK in 2008, is the first by another Welsh singer-songwriter - Aimée Duffy - who hails from Nefyn.

In fact it is tempting to compile a list (in no order other than alphabetical) comprising ten of the acts that I most enjoyed at Latitude 2007:

• Arcade Fire
• Bat For Lashes
• Cate Le Bon
• Charlotte Hatherley
  
• CSS
• Jarvis Cocker
• Kate Nash
• New Young Pony Club
• Slow Club*
• Stephanie Dosen

And here, using last year's Festival guide but compiled today, are ten more that I now wish that I had seen:

• Blood Red Shoes
• Emmy The Great*
• Jaymay
• Joan As Policewoman
• Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong*
• Make Model
• Noah & The Whale*
• Patrick Wolf
• Scouting For Girls
• The Teenagers

* These artists are also appearing again at Latitude 2008 and so I will have a second chance but I can see the conflicts, between bands I want to hear but playing on different stages at the same time, are going to be even more acute this year.
Those highlighted in green have (from memory) been mentioned, at least in passing, in my blog but these are not currently links. I can promise myself one thing and that it is not going to be possible other than to make such mistakes again. That is probably the mark of a good festival!

It is supposed to be summer... Virtual Festival 3

This has to do with festivals both real and imaginary. On the real side, the latest Latitude 2008 update shows that a "special guest" will play on the Obelisk arena at midday Sunday. I can think of several that would be fit for purpose. There is however one, amongst them, that I would have deemed the most improbable...

...and that is Joanna Newsom.

She is often pigeon-holed as freak folk, which may or may not be a good call, but one thing is certainly true --- there are few artists, in this or any other genre, for whom the instrument of choice is a double-stringed acoustic harp.

One thing that I totally failed to predict for 2008 is just what an influence American music would have on me. Some of it I have mentioned already but, if more examples were needed, here are another couple of albums on my 'Want To Listen To' list.

She sings while also playing upright bass at the same time.

This is yet another, from New York, that has come to my notice in the last couple of days.

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about it is that these three albums have all been released on North American independent record labels. Three different ones as it happens and artists and labels such as these deserve our support.

How not to plan a festival schedule?

Having just concluded that perhaps I should have chosen to go to Glastonbury, I've just been looking at the latest list of performers at Latitude 2008 with an eye to trying to work out my preliminary schedule. Last year I didn't even attempt it until the Thursday evening, by which time I was in my tent and armed with the festival program. This year, despite the fact that I've thought about it at the point when last year I had just decided to get a ticket and go, the situation looks more problematic! I suspect that I'll end up making some decisions on the fly but at least I'll have considered the possibilities that will give rise to the greatest conflicts.

As it happens I don't have to wait until Latitude for some live music, although of a somewhat different slant. My longstanding liking for folk-influenced music has probably already become apparent on at least a few occasions in this blog and I've got a ticket to see Seth Lakeman live at the "Cheese and Grain" on 9th July, as part of the 2008 Frome Festival. While Latitude 2008 will involve a round trip of almost 500 miles, this is about as convenient as it could get; I can be at the venue twenty minutes after leaving home and that is on foot!
His latest album Poor Man's Heaven (his fourth) was released today.

The one I want to hear first however is 'Kitty Jay' (2004), his first album. The title track is a telling of a well known, although very indistinctly chronicled, Dartmoor story (probably dating from the 17th or 18th century) thus making it good for elaboration.
Kitty Jay apparently killed herself due to the infidelity of her lover and was buried at a remote crossroads, lying on the boundary of parishes and remote from any settlements, because suicides could not be buried in consecrated ground. That much is, in so far as it is possible to say, fact.
That the grave remains to this day, at the crossing of a minor road and a bridleway, still remote from any settlement but always with fresh flowers, is really quite surprising. The fact that this is the second, completely distinct song, attempting to tell the tale is remarkable. The other song I am aware of is 'Lady Jay', which was on the fifth album by Wishbone Ash (another band with Devon roots) There's The Rub (1974).

That it is the last day of the first half of 2008 has reminded me that no-one has asked about my favourite albums of 2008 yet, which is good, but I will say that I'm not anticipating having any shortage to choose from come the appropriate time. It does however prompt me to consider what I would like on my listening list in the next month or so. I've just been thinking while writing this and I'm a bit lost, which has much to do with my comment above concerning the amount of new music I already have.
I have had to single out one album completely unheard (well sort of, but I'll try to add more later in the week) based on their first album and seeing them live last summer, it would have to be 'Donkey' by CSS:

It is not going to sound like their first, Cansei De Ser Sexy, but if it is anywhere near as catchy it will be a winner and, given the reports from Glastonbury 2008 it most probably is. The latest release date that I am aware of is 21st July in the UK.