I guess we’ve finally mentally returned from Latitude, so it’s the time of the week to unveil Uncut’s office playlist. A few nice new entries that I need to spend more time with, and only a couple of obvious weak links here. Dive in. . .
In the interests of science, I've just had a look at all the blogs we filed at the festival over the weekend, and put together a chart of your favourites, based on the number of page impressions each one has had. Here's the Top Ten:
I guess if there’s an emerging newish music in Uncut’s world, it’s a kind of gauzy, harmonious strain of Americana typified this year by the Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes albums and, a little while back, by the second Grizzly Bear album. I trust you’re not sick of this stuff, because there’s another good one on the way.
Just back from the Mercury Prize shortlist announcement which, as you might imagine, was a hotbed of hype and low-level grumbling about the 12 nominations. I was doing some media-slag punditry, a lot of which revolved around the high-profile absentees: Coldplay, Duffy, The Ting Tings, Kate Nash and the one which actually annoyed me, Portishead. But before I start ranting, here’s the shortlist if you haven’t seen it yet:
Back from Latitude, then, and plenty of things to talk about. I spent the weekend blogging over at our dedicated Latitude blog. Lots of highlights, as you might imagine. . .
Over the weekend, the Uncut team filed innumerable reports from the Latitude festival. Here's a quick round-up of links to help you find your way through it all. . .
There's a term for a person who knowingly and consensually allows another person to inflict pain on them, and from this day forth they shall be known as Black Lips fans.
As I’m nearing the main stage, a mournful funeral wail of a riff starts up, soon to be joined by stiff drums and icy synth. If Sigur Ros hadn’t started their set with “Svefn-G-Englar” last night, it would surely be the most doomy headline set opener of the festival. Of course, it's Interpol.