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My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket (Latitude 2011) It was an odd start to the festival with noticeably fewer punters than in previous years and a mutual feeling of misery throughout the site as the torrential rain in stark contrast to the blazing Friday heat took the vest wearing optimists by surprise. But My Morning Jacket reminded me what Latitude was supposed to feel like and gave me the rush I'd felt in previous years. Getting front and centre with ease was strangely disappointing rather than gratifying, it felt like someone was throwing a party and no one had turned up. But what a party it was, as the... M83 - M83 "Midnight City"from the album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming2011iTunesIt's been a long and fruitful journey for M83's Anthony Gonzalez. Started in the early '00s, the once-duo-but-now-solo project has been pumping out albums of top-tier electronic shoegaze for the better part of a decade. That said, M83's been kind of quiet since the release of 2008's excellent Saturdays=Youth, but it seems that the time off was a necessary evil: Gonzalez recently announced the imminent arrival of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, an epic double LP due out October 18. With that release date slowly approaching,... Gomez - Gomez - Whatever's on Your Mind It’s a long time since Gomez won the Mercury Music Prize. Thirteen years, to be precise, since they beat The Verve, Massive Attack and Pulp to the award back in 1998. And after one spin of this, their seventh studio album, you’ll think it was even longer ago. Perhaps in another life altogether. To be fair, Gomez have been sliding towards middle-of-the-road mediocrity for a while now. Those first three albums - Bring it On, Liquid Skin, and In Our Gun - were rife with a sense of raw, youthful experimentation, blending British and American folk... Jeff Buckley - Jeff Buckley - Grace While Jeff Buckley’s sole complete studio document has achieved two million sales worldwide since its mid-90s release, its impact at the time was far from impressive. And that’s from both critical and commercial perspectives, as although today it’s regularly held in high regard come top-albums lists, a mixed reception greeted it on its initial emergence. Listening today, almost 17 years to the day after that first release, it’s easy to hear why reviewers weren’t universally moved by Grace. Its best-known track isn’t even one penned by Buckley, Hallelujah being a cover of Leonard Cohen’s haunting masterpiece. Nor is Corpus... Eels - Eels (Latitude 2011) Having seen Eels a fortnight prior to Latitude at Main Square Festival, I was appropriately excited for the sublime set I knew was in store. It was a performance that converted me from a casual fan to a full on screaming teenage girl. Mark Oliver Everett's life has been blighted by tragedy, much of which has been the influence behind his 13 albums. His lyrical black humour, gruff vocals and rock n' roll style instrumentation translates well on stage but what makes E's performance really special is the emphasis on entertainment. The band is visually fantastic, with each member looking identical... Coldplay - Coldplay - Parachutes (2000) Lightly tasteful tablature stories and fables is the best way to describe the debut album that put Coldplay on the maps of the music industry. Just like the reality of a Parachute, this album will seem to be taking its time. Truth is, the combination of musical professionalism and lyrical content is truly going the speed of light. Track three, “Spies", resembles an overcast system hovering over beautiful tropic skies. From one environment to another, using every format of creative instrumental technique to blend into one 5 minute and 18 second song. “ And if we don’t buy here, They’re going to find us,... Caribou - Caribou (Latitude 2011) Electronica music is always bound to go down well at a festival; it's danceable, atmospheric and energetic; the perfect way to keep spirits high and leave the crowds buzzing. Few are better in this field than Canadian Daniel Victor Snaith, with many musical monikers and projects under his belt, but none more popular and with a larger discography than Caribou. Snaith's set exuded professionalism; entertaining the packed Word Arena with synthesised tracks and complicated time-signatures causing awkward middle-class Latitude-goers (who were already cautiously coming out of their shells) to bop their heads all the more awkwardly, which only added to the... Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright - House of Rufus Not for Rufus the typical annotated reissue package, compiled a respectable time after the originals first appeared. House of Rufus is more a one-stop career shop, the ultimate extravaganza for the besotted collector. Because it’s a given no Rufus virgin will jump into bed with a 19-disc, 193-track box set, no matter how seductive the red velvet packaging and 90-page hardback (no sniggering, please) book containing handwritten lyrics, art prints and interview gush with the likes of sister Martha and Pet Shopper pal Neil Tennant. So what awaits the committed Rufus lover after all that foreplay? Setting aside... Pink Floyd - Pink Floyd - Meddle (1971) Growing up, I learned a passion about music and it was mostly due to Pink Floyd. Watching as my parents enjoyed the music with a subtle intensity, it was of course, albums like "The Wall" or "Dark Side Of The Moon" that began my education of this legendary and unstoppable formation. But as I began to dig around the household collection, I find this eery, yet plain blue covered disc. A short release from Pink Floyd, their sixth album, Meddle.I will not lie, the first few minutes I ever spent with this CD had my short attention (12-years-old) span skipping ahead to more... Radiohead - Radiohead "Separator"from the album The King of Limbs2011iTunesPlenty of bands are perfectly content to find a sound that suits them and spend their careers making variations on the same album. Radiohead is not one of those bands.In fact, you could argue that Radiohead has never really settled on a sound at all. From Pablo Honey in 1993 through The King of Limbs in 2011, the English band's most consistent hallmark has been the restless wanderlust of a never-ending search for what's next.That's a source of frustration for fans of the band's early work, who... |