Latitude 2015

Yeah I was a 90s teenager, hence why I'm a huge [P] fan. First heard Mysterons used on some spooky review programme of weird events from the previous year, back in Jan 1995. Found out who the track was by and got hold of Dummy (Mysterons being the opening track which confirmed I'd written down the right name from the credits). Hooked ever since. Peerless musicianship. Purest performers too; there'll be no flashy showmanship or rote crowd participation routines. It'll be awesome sound performed by a group of artists who know how to express their emotions through the sounds they create. You'll be amazed at how much power comes out of such a tiny little woman when she (Beth) really gets going too; fragile and emotionally wrought yet sharp and direct. Geoff is a production genius with a penchant for dark hip-hop & experimental Kraut rock and Adrian is a fine guitarist with a distinct style (beyond the 60s spy noir jangles of Sour Times & Glory Box). Not sure how a non-partisan festival crowd will take to them (as headliners) though, as I've only ever seen them at their own gigs or festivals they've curated. For many years, including the first two albums, live album and loooong hiatus I never saw them live and never thought I'd get the chance. But then the third album finally surfaced and this will (hopefully) be the 6th time I've seen them. You'll have to get somewhere near the front with me for them then, shifts permitting of course...[8D]

As I said, they are the chief reason I pushed myself to turn 'must do Lat one year' into actually going, so all names that follow are looser interests that I'll take as, when and if they come:-

Must say I wasn't blown away by Catfish & The Bottlemen (on tv, haven't seen them live); The Strokes did it all much better and with more conviction a decade ago. But they could still blast it out, so we'll see...

When I first stuck my name in the hat as a volunteer, back in early March (just spotted amongst my old Facebook post about it that I paid up in early May btw for shift allocation ref; when they'd just added Roni Size & Reprazent, Charlatans, Santigold & Matthew Herbert to the bill) I picked out these from the list available at the time:-
alt-J, Caribou, Femi Kuti, Lianne La Havas, Seasick Steve, Django Django, Public Service Broadcasting, Wolf Alice, Thurston Moore, SBTRKT, La Roux, Years & Years, Young Fathers & DJ EZ

There's a few others like Unknown Mortal Orchestra who I've heard of but need to check out. Need to remind myself whether I like Savages, King Creosote, Drenge (snap!), Toro Y Moi & Sun Kil Moon too; all familiar names from 6 Music though...

Plus George the Poet is one from the Sound of 2015 list that I liked, who was mentioned in one of the promo vids that I hadn't previously spotted in the line-up.

And finally of the most recent names to surface, Nitin Sawhney stood out. Plus Young Fathers (possible second performance) & East India Youth are two I've liked since the last Mercury Music Awards and they've recently been announced as being part of Ireland's Other Voices which Lat is hosting (not that either of them are Irish). Nor is Rozie Plain who if she's the right Rozi I heard on 6M yesterday then she might be worth catching @OV too. I'd noticed the add for her gig at the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts (Stowmarket, Suffolk) in Grapevine magazine, so my ears pricked when I heard a Rozi mentioned by either Steve Lamacq or Marc Riley Weds eve and I liked her voice.

There's bound to be others that have been added that I missed, names I'm familiar with but don't know their work, surprise unknowns etc etc, but as we've both said, I'll play it all by ear beyond Sat night...

Apologies for the massive post (I'm about to find out if that's postS plural if there's a size limit...); I get carried away when I start talking about my passions - music & footy.[:I]

ps. Oh and then there's the comedy...!