An off-the-cuff thought on music and festivals.

I'm not going to Glastonbury. Indeed I never sought to do so. Were I there you would, without any doubt, find me at one of the smaller stages.
As it turns out of the three main stage headline acts, following Dave Grohl's unfortunate and unforeseeable accident just recently resulting in the withdrawal of Foo Fighters and a band that I would very much like to see live, I have seen two of the now Glastonbury 2015 headline acts before and both when playing their first ever significant festival headline set. As for Kanye West, the other headline artist/act, let's just say that I'm not sad about missing that. It's quite simply not my thing.
I seem to have no usable pictures of Florence and The Machine playing Latitude Festival 2010, although I remember that the performance was excellent. As for Arcade Fire, well that was the final impetus that prompted me into festival-going - and that was Latitude Festival 2007. I shall not be at Latitude 2015 either but I'll be out and about at other festivals over the coming summer.
Whatever festivals you may be headed to have a great time and remember the things that become memorable are often the acts on the small stages and including the ones that you have almost no, or indeed any, prior knowledge of. My personal view is that festival line-ups, although usually announced from the head-liners down, are best assessed from the bottom up; that is by examining those artists playing on small stages and also the opening acts on any stage. I don't see any reason to change my view - it is a issue of sustainability - in the light of what I saw and heard last year. Some will cut the grade and others won't - but at the very least you will know it for real.

To reinforce that idea - and just in case you arrive five days early for some reason - check this out. I pretty much guarantee that you won't regret doing so.

The Midnight Novel (2014) is a wonderful LP.

I do hope that the weather is kind, that everyone stays safe and has a wonderful time at any and all festivals.

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

New Music 2011 - Part 10 - more things I am looking forward to.

I mentioned in my last post that it was my intention to, metaphorically at least, cross the Atlantic for my next post in this sequence.  I'm sorry that it took a few extra days to appear but, rest assured, I value the transatlantic trade in new music, evident in the last few years, more than almost anything else.
I prefigured this album in September and here is the track listing for it.

Tell Me  ---  Jessica Lea Mayfield

1. I'll Be The One You Want Someday

2. Our Hearts Are Wrong

3. Blue Skies Again

4. Somewhere In Your Heart

5. Grown Man

6. Trouble

7. Nervous Lonely Night

8. Sometimes At Night

9. Tell Me

10. Run Myself Into The Ground

11. Sleepless

It is released by Nonesuch Records and, like 'With Blasphemy So Heartfelt', is produced by Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys).

I'll follow this with an album that, although I included it in my 'best of 2010' lists, and also saw the artist responsible live in 2010 (at Latitude in this case), I don't think I have ever featured specifically:

That is Lauren Pritchard and inter alia the album 'Wasted In Jackson'.  The album is amazing in my opinion, hence its inclusion in the above mentioned list.
I saw her perform live before I bought the album and that, as often seems to be the case, was revelatory. Much has since been made of her (regular) live cover of  TLC's 'Waterfalls' (1995) - it does not appear on the album. To witness it performed live from the front of the stage was quite something and that it precipitated one of the few torrential showers of the weekend, as if summoned from above by Lisa Lopes, was rather other-worldly.  If that were not enough for just one set, that only lasted forty minutes, the July sun then appeared shining straight into the eyes of Lauren and her band. Her response was simply to rap an Eminem response ad lib and to say that the assembled audience was *stunned* truly deserves the term litotes.  She has since said that this [Latitude 2010] live performance is her most memorable to date and, take it from me as one of the audience, I'm quite happy to believe that.

Better late than never, I suppose. I have already posted some pictures of Jessica Lea Mayfield performing live that I took at EOTR 2010 but I intend to have posted at least one of Lauren Pritchard live at Latitude 2010 by this time tomorrow.

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 11  ---  New Heads On Old Shoulders?

Part 12  ---  Snowglobe - Jesca Hoop

Part 13  ---  Queen of the Minor Key

New Music 2011 - Part 2 - (eponymously) Yuck

As I suggested a while back the début album by UK/US/Japanese band Yuck is to be titled exactly that. It is such a good name for both band and, by extension, not using it for the album would seem contrary.
It is due for release on January 10, 2011 and is a worthy topic of my second post concerning new music to which I am looking forward in 2011, which is not to say that I have lost hope for more worthy of comment in 2010.


I have seen Yuck live twice this year, so I feel able to comment, and on both occasions found them impressive which provides a link between this year and next.
This had many hallmarks of music that in all probability I would like.  I was truly impressed, to the point that what might have been an anticlimax exceeded any expectation that I had. More telling, perhaps, is the tenor of the comments that I overheard, or have received since then, by those who heard them with no preconceptions whatsoever, in some cases not even having any prior knowledge of their existence. 
There have been a couple of tantalizing releases to date:

This one, which was a limited cassette-only physical release (!) is, hence the parentheses, a stripped back, acoustic incarnation of Yu(c)k. I don't have this, nor currently any viable equipment on which to play cassettes, but it may still be available to download from the band's blog [I'll look in to that and report back].
There is also a three-track a 12" vinyl EP 'Rubber' that was released in October, 2010.

With the benefit of hindsight and reflection on my part, and in the light of this wider observation, they should be well worth watching and listening to in 2011.


Further posts on New Music 2011:
Part 1  --- Esben and The Witch
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 12  ---  Snowglobe - Jesca Hoop
Part 13  ---  Queen of the Minor Key

My day has just been made...

Listening to BBC Radio 1 just now, on a Sunday afternoon after a bit of gardening, Jo Whiley played 'Be My Animal', by Newbury's  The Good Natured and deserves recognition for that:
http://rpgreenhalgh.blogspot.com/2010/07/not-least-latitude-part-5-good-natured.htm

Not gone away; just taking stock of 2010.

Well I intend to write more this weekend but I haven't been idle in the meantime.  I've been trawling through all those mostly useless photos that I have taken during 2010 and also some of those from earlier festivals if and when they are still of relevance.  Sometimes I miss worthwhile ones by mistake and others become more (or less) relevant with the passage of time.
This is a recent one, taken at Latitude 2010, of a band that is of ever increasing prominence and one that is coming towards the end of a month touring the US.  This is Esben and The Witch.  The EP, available now, is Marching Song.

More live pictures to follow soon and, hopefully, also plenty more thoughts on new and/or upcoming music too.  Returning UK artists include several that I have mentioned before, including The Duke Spirit.
If there is one grain of comfort in today's 'Spending Review' it is that the London Crossrail project goes ahead: it has already resulted in the demise of the 'Astoria'.  It was a venue of Great British character - all sticky floors and heritage facilities.  You can decide which was to be found where but to be honest you'll almost certainly be right regardless, and the essence of long-faded grandeur pervaded all parts of it. The last band I saw play there was 'The Duke Spirit' and that was back in May 2005.

Ain't Nobody - Clare Maguire

It is time to tackle lyrics again and this is one that has proven to be harder than most.  It is also one that I have wanted to do more than most; ever since I saw it performed live in front of a public audience for the very first time almost three months ago.  The usual caveats apply but here goes regardless.


Ain't Nobody
Ain't nobody, hey,
can love me like you do (x4)

Meet me in the red sky
And dance with me
Let the valley change you
And the night set you free
It's dusk in the desert
It's heaven at the gates
You are my desire
You are my escape.

Ain't nobody, hey,
can love me like you do (x4)

Open up your torment
And bury me inside
I can see us changing
Like the seasons over time
The silver old river
Reflections of your love
Tell me in the silence
You'll never come undone.

Ain't nobody, hey,
can love me like you do (x4)

The shadows are falling
Tomorrow's closing in
Stay with me till morning
And open up your wings
I can hear your whispers
Calling out my name
Will you promise me that
We'll steal the night again?

Ain't nobody, hey,
can love me like you do (x4)


Meet me in the red sky
And dance with me
Let the valley change you
And the night set you free
It's dusk in the desert
It's heaven at the gates
You are my desire
You are my escape.


For what I have gotten wrong I am sorry.  On the up-side, I hope at least something is better than nothing!  These lyrics are the best that I can divine from her live performance of it, as recorded in the BBC Maida Vale studios today. It is released as a single on 18 October in the UK.

For more pictures of Clare Maguire, live at Latitude 2010, see here:

http://rpgreenhalgh.blogspot.com/2010/07/not-least-latitude-part-3-clare-maguire.html

The album 'Light After Dark' is released (UK) on February 28, 2011.

North-eastern folk - EOTR - Part 2

I saw a trio of acts that fall in to this general category last weekend and of them I have already mentioned 'Lanterns On The Lake' briefly.  The other two were arguably more traditional even if much of the material was new or at least recent.
I saw a very small part of 'The Unthanks' set at Latitude 2010 and was banking on seeing the full set at EOTR 2010.  This avoided clashes between artists I wanted to catch at Latitude and also it struck me that the Garden Stage at EOTR would be a more suitable setting than the Obelisk Stage at Latitude.  I was lucky - the weather was glorious last Saturday afternoon - in that I made exactly the right decision back in July.

This performance was indubitably one of the highlights of the weekend for me.

 It wasn't a weekend short of highlights, that is for certain.

In some ways they are iconic as regards the popularity of music that is folk and folk-influenced; something which currently commands currency on both sides of the Atlantic.  It is all part of a fascinating dichotomy in music today.

Here is a thought: I doubt that few of the crowd watching this were anything other than quite conversant with music from the likes of Eminem, Lady GaGa and Scissor Sisters -  yet they could also sing 'Here's The Tender Coming' back to The Unthanks when invited to do so.
Last, but certainly not least, Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell performed in the Tipi Tent earlier the same afternoon and I was very glad that I caught that set too.  This set was very well attended, as indeed were all those that I attended in the two smaller venues.  This explains why both the Tipi and Local stages have been significantly enhanced in capacity since EOTR 2009.

Lucy Farrell & Jonny Kearney, Tipi Stage, EOTR 2010, on Saturday afternoon.

EOTR is the kind of place where, should you wish, you can chat (with hitherto complete strangers) about musical influences, chord progressions and signature time changes and no-one will think it strange at all.  Equally improbably, can you imagine GaGa performing in muddy wellies that look as though they might be in daily and not just festival-only use?  It must have been a fashion statement as waterproof footwear was happily quite unnecessary at EOTR 2010.

Latitude 2010 → EOTR 2010 → New Music 2010 - Part 17

With EOTR 2010 just a few days away and Latitude 2010 still quite fresh in my mind, it is time to tackle a few more images, expectations and hopes for the future. If the following is a little unfocussed, or simply downright confusing, then I'm afraid that this is simply an occupational hazard of 'Thoughts on Music'.  It may completely mystify but, even if not a single person reads it, writing it does make things clearer to me and that matters.
There is some overlap between acts that appeared at Latitude and those to appear at EOTR.  I used that to try and minimize conflicts when I wanted to see more than one act that was performing at the same time. Here are three such that I did at least catch some of at Latitude. Someone asked, only a few days ago, for today's thought on Latitude... 
Oh, how I wish I could but writing a daily post still remains something of a distant ambition.  These photos are probably not the best but hopefully they convey at least something of the atmosphere and the musical variety to be found at such festivals...

This was simply perchance - I admit that I had never heard of her before - but that is all part of the wonderful festival experience. It is that moment; when something or someone impinges on your musical conscience for the first time.  I think that she is a late addition to the line-up at EOTR 2010.


The foregoing is not true of this band. Canadian psychrock five-piece 'Black Mountain' are on the cusp of releasing their third LP, Wilderness Heart, and I own and adore the previous two. This one is just a little different --- and no less awesome.

Stormy High.  Black Mountain live @ Latitude 2010, in the Word Arena.

I wasn't really close enough to do this justice but, let me tell you this, Black Mountain rock.  I can't wait to hear them again at EOTR 2010. The LP Wilderness Heart is high on my list of New Music I Want.

While the music is completely different, The Unthanks are another EOTR act that I caught only very briefly on the Obelisk stage at Latitude 2010.

I think a more intimate setting will suit both them and their music to perfection but that they, and many others of folk-influenced persuasion, played the main stage says a whole lot about music today... I can't wait to see the full live set.

That, of course, is not to say that the whole scene was for ageing folk-hippies...  This act is quite the opposite but on the other hand most of the little kids, there with their parents, seemed to find this act absolutely riveting...  It was the second time that I have seen them live - and for all the chaos [and the almost inevitable premature ending] - it was better than the first and only slightly less scary as I was further away from the front than when I saw them on the Sunset Stage at Latitude 2007.

It is strange to say this but, for all the chaos and strife, Crystal Castles has the same kind of attraction that the equally tempestuous and unpredictable Libertines did (and post-Leeds/Reading 2010 now have once again). Live, while it lasts, they are totally magnetic. The album Crystal Castles II (2010) is pretty flawless; what they self-destroy while performing live is really rather haunting when recorded in the studio and never more so than when recorded on vinyl.

The list of UK bands that I have seen/want to see is growing by the day.  Here are another few pictures from Latitude 2010. I have mentioned all these acts before.

The Good Natured live @ Latitude 2010.

Yuck - as well as their album I'm looking forward to their acoustic side-project as Yu(c)k. The band is performing at EOTR 2010 too.

As I am mentioning forthcoming new music I could hardly fail to include 'Without Why', which has now been released.  Rose Elinor Dougall made a good case for it at Latitude.
If you include acts from outside the UK the list is...
to be quite frank, almost endless.

Not Least @ Latitude - Part 9 - Cevanne

Gaggle opened the Lake Stage on Sunday - it was a suprise extra at midday.


At a three day festival Sunday morning can be something of a struggle. Gaggle has however been making waves all year.   While on that subject this London-based vocal ensemble deserve a big shout for drawing in a large, possibly somewhat incredulous, tired or hung-over crowd at midday as a 'Special Guest' slot...

Their performance in The Union Chapel, London in the spring of this year was raved about and, after this one, I can now see exactly why that might be.

The assembled were again modest in number when Cevanne opened the stage for real on Sunday lunchtime.  She, and her band even more so, looked nervous as hell as they came on stage.

Latitude has a policy of showcasing local artists - and Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian is indeed a Suffolk lass - but the artistic influences are more eastern European and Levantine than strictly east Suffolk. That she is a dancer and harpist only adds to the cross-over theme however.

By the end of the set they had the biggest crowd I have ever seen at the Lake Stage on Sunday lunch time and fully deserved it too. This is what a swelling and appreciative audience - their biggest ever and at the band's first ever festival performance - can do for confidence...

You might even ask the crowd to sing along!

[and also use coconut shells as percussion in a live setting]

They nailed it.  OMG we all heard that, so another one to watch.

Cevanne live @ Latitude 2010. The forthcoming album is 'Big Ears'.

New Music 2010 - Part 16 - Across America in music.

This is perhaps going to be a hybrid of acts I heard at Latitude 2010, those that I am looking forward to at EOTR 2010 and others that have impinged on my consciousness for one reason or other.
If I can keep it focussed then it might work out OK.  If not it will become more than one post, maybe one of them devoted to Latitude artists or to US-based artists and acts.
At the start of the year I mentioned that I thought that diversity might be one of the beneficiaries of 2010 and, while I may not have specifically made that point, I'm starting to think that was a valid one nevertheless.  That which is certain is that, as regards the things I am listening to and those I now want to listen to, it most certainly is!


The US is springing surprises on an almost weekly basis and I have already mentioned some of them and 'Dead Flowers' - Caitlin Rose is on some kind of rotation as far as my personal play list is concerned. That the title track is a cover of a Jagger/Richards song only serves to make the self-written songs all the more apposite.

It is therefore not surprising that I now have the album 'Own Side Now' of which more later. What pleases me is that the US albums that I want are scattered across genres -  I have already mentioned Avi Buffalo's eponymous début album, which gets better with every listen I think. 

What is in it for...

Also on my list (and I'm hardly the first to mention this one) and if we get some late summer warmth then it is hard to imagine a BBQ that is not California-themed and sound-tracked, at least in part, by this...

...Best Coast's 'Crazy for You'.

They both have critics, of course. Some say that the lyrics of Avi Buffalo are too contorted (to be West Coast?)  while others that those of Bethany Cosentino's creations for Best Coast are too simplistic; just lyrics by numbers.   Well, and this is my point I suppose, you can take your choice: For me it is "yes, please" and "both, thank-you".

* If you are reading this, and it seems strange, you are quite normal*

In retrospect I should have gone all analogue instead and spent the time on those lyrics that simply require listening to on vinyl and putting a pencil to paper!  That of course puts me in mind of  New York, which metaphorically this trip is as yet nowhere near, and Caroline Polachek's line about 'the most evident utensil'.

While entirely imaginary this is proving suspiciously like the real thing.  Transport malfunction and unexpected detours amongst them. It was a very bad idea to start on Wednesday night, however...

The road trip can wait 'till tomorrow except that what was once tomorrow  is now today; and it has been so for a while now. I am, however, still west of the Mississippi and thus some way short of my next musical destination. The rest of today has been spent in Farmville, IA.  If  Facebook notifications are anything to go by then my sister farms a large part of it now.  She is always the industrious one.

Strange day today (August, 19) but not as bad as I thought it might be and

with it came some thoughts on music that had never really occurred to me before.

Travelling east, we will reach the home of another artist that I have mentioned. What is new is that this is now readily available in the UK.  It appeared in the US before her 2010 début album 'Catching A Tiger' and she is from Rock Island, IL. It is one of the Quad Cities that border the river that is the Iowa - Illinois boundary.

A mini-album, it is too long really to be an EP even in the broadest sense, and also totally worth a listen in its own right is Why You Runnin', by Lissie.
Tomorrow is another day so, once it is done, do I then cross the river and head east or do I take a right turn and follow the river south?


You are my guides for I do not have sat-nav for this virtual journey.
I'm heading south by popular request.
Here, therefore, is a thought for the next year and this applies to UK music even though that might seem surprising.

Pedal steel is not exactly that well known over here but it is a very worthwhile complement to slide guitar, which I have long liked.  I think we might be hearing a great deal more of both instruments in the next year or so.


As for the road trip and quite where the journey will end is anyone's guess now.  I like the idea of Seattle, or possibly even Portland, via Canada and I have my reasons why.  That said I'm not paying for the fuel and, that being so, I know exactly the vehicle I would be driving - one that I once owned.
It was nothing remotely flashy... no air con, even heating/cooling was a pretty much hit & miss affair but, at least soon after I bought it it had a CD auto-changer that had more wires than the rest of it but was one of the things that never failed.  That alone was worth all the other problems. It is a journey in progress.


I've got a docket in my pocket
It says all I've ever wanted is to be free.

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.

Not Least @ Latitude - Part 7 - Beth Jeans Houghton

You may perchance have thought that I had come to the end of my thoughts on Latitude 2010.  It is not so, I have simply been diverted by other things. Here are some more that I regarded as highlights.
I have mentioned Pete Paphides' praise of Beth Jeans Houghton at Field Day 2010.   I first saw her live at EOTR 2009 and again at Latitude 2010 and all this is still before the release of her début album; before the end of the year?   Yes, she was a star in the really rather basic, but also rather good, Live @ The Local tent at EOTR 2009 but the potential was quite obvious and I was there to watch and comment. Even so I would not then have suspected that she would headline the Lake Stage on Sunday at Latitude 2010.

The fact of the matter is this: even if her stage persona might have visibly changed as an artist she has not, except for becoming even better at what she does.  The new songs, along with one or two from the 2009 'Hot Toast - Volume 1 EP', destined for the forthcoming album were impressive.  The other point to note is this: when it comes to relating to a live audience she just has that skill so naturally - and it works both ways.  There were plenty there who had never seen her live, possibly never even heard of her before. She got the great majority of them on-board without them even noticing the trick - one that is worth its weight in gold - and you tend never to forget anything, or anyone, that can do that.

I went straight from her performance to see Vampire Weekend headline on the Obelisk Stage, so could she possibly get away with the comparison?

Quite probably she could and Vampire Weekend has it too: it is not just about the music, however good that may be, it is about the presence.  Artists that don't have it are, at least to me, underwhelming when live almost regardless of any other relevant considerations.

 It was a well deserved vote of confidence I believe.

The closing song was one from the aforementioned CD-EP  and it was 'I Will Return, I Promise' - and against that assertion it is now very hard to argue.  It might, however, be on a rather larger stage.
Vampire Weekend certainly didn't disappoint either.

Lyrics again - Babelonia

Babelonia

she is the fractured one sewn
from sums of fractured time
her heart speaks a fractured tongue
her life a fractured design
she shares the weight of the sun
a love that burns alone
leaving their heart with no one
claiming no other their own

babelonia
it's a wonder
you can believe
in what you see
babelonia
divided love
childhood history
adult's mystery

she is her prophet and god
she is the comfort she seeks
she is a thousand wires sewn
through the outcome she receives
they share the cloak of the moon
under the darkened sky
they leave their secrets to roam
in the forgiveness of night

babelonia
it's a wonder
you can believe
in what you see
babelonia
divided love
childhood history
adult's mystery


I mentioned School of Seven Bells (SVIIB) as one of my highlights of Latitude 2010 and, now I have the album 'Disconnect From Desire', I am only reminded why that is and the music is only the start.
Amazon.co.uk will send it to you as mp3 for £7.90 (obviously including delivery).  No chance... for £8.24, including the rather pertinent issue of delivery, I was more than happy to patronize a UK independent music store.  That is not just a matter of loyalty or conscience, however, for that extra 34p ($0.50) resulted in a tangible item; something (it is actually spilt across two 12" slices) real, totally loveable and also easily damaged.  The moral of the tale is that new vinyl can be affordable it just takes a little effort and the support of the independent labels and retailers. In this case it was Reflex Records in Newcastle and the record is released in the UK by Full Time Hobby as FTH094LP.

 If £0.34/$0.50 in this regard becomes a matter of life or death then I'll quit.  

Not Least @ Latitude - Part 6 - Wilder

I mentioned this Bristol four-piece shortly before I left for Latitude 2010.  Here they are live - and yes you guessed - on the Lake Stage.

Sam plays guitar and also sings but clearly not in this shot.

  Joe plays bass while Jay (out of shot)  does the duty on synths.

So far that is quite unremarkable but there was a problem: they had no drummer that they could call their own and that is where the story becomes slightly surreal. Everyone goes to a supermarket when they need some munchies and the proto-Wilder are of course no different except that (to fan the fires of haters of a certain chain in particular) they struck lucky.  As well as what they were there for they also found their fourth piece. Drummer Beci is now also, apparently, the de facto band interviewee (and sometimes interviewer) and they didn't even have to pay for her at the checkout.

They were ferocious live on Sunday afternoon. The single Boys vs. Girls was as good as might have been expected but so was the rest of the set. The band has very recently been signed to indie label Rough Trade Records and the LP should be out around the end of this year. Wilder is, in my book at least, another one to watch.

New York @ Latitude 2010

Time for a very slight change of tack now. Last year I saw two truly impressive NYC acts at Latitude - Chairlift and Yes Giantess - neither of which I had heard live or possessed (at the time) any music by or from. I have posted about both and the Chairlift album 'Does You Inspire You' remains one of the most frequently played that I have; I bought it immediately afterwards.

This year I was equally blessed but the dynamic is slightly different. The thing runs like this: my fourth Latitude and so surely somehow the possibility of a disappointment beckoned.  Call me gloomy, like Eeyore, if you like but it was not to be so this time.

In fact it was possibly, as regards the music, the best I have yet attended and my main failing is that I am simply unable to be in more than one place at once. Last autumn I saw School of Seven Bells, as support to Bat For Lashes, in Bristol and they were very good.  'Alpinisms' remains a fine album, and I still like it, but when I was lucky enough to catch them playing live, once again, at Latitude 2010 I was in for a real surprise.

Here they are in the tented, 6500 capacity, 'Word Stage' early Saturday afternoon.

They were absolutely captivating playing songs from their second album 'Disconnect From Desire'. With my limited abilities this stage is not one at which I find it easy to take pictures but, although I say so myself, I'm rather proud of the above. It is unaltered except to shrink it to a blog-friendly size but, far more importantly, it encapsulates almost all that I like about festivals and live music in general.
The other NY band that I was absolutely delighted to see live is one that has divided opinion to some considerable extent.  I will say that I have pretty well all their recorded output, as it pleases me, but Brooklyn-based 'The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart' is clearly not to everyone's taste and I respect that.

They played the 'Sunrise Arena' early on Sunday evening. Some say that their music is derivative shoegaze, shambling, or even cutesy.  I'd say that it is actually all of these, and also so much more, simultaneously. I find it both captivating and also quite charming escapism.