Good things come to those who...

...Wheat! This blog somewhat sleepwalked into booking up for the Latitude Festival in July. Apart from Arcade Fire being closing headliners and it being in a rather lovely part of the world (near Southwold on the Suffolk coast), the reasons weren't too obvious. With other headliners including the deadly dull The Good, the Bad and the Queen and Damien Rice, and the threat of random poetry assaults lurking behind every tree the words 'senses' and 'taken leave of' were beginning to hover. But lo!, a development bordering on some kind of divine providence then occurs...

So they haven't been a functioning outfit for about four years and their last album earned them a right good kicking (but not here). But reallyrather - alone in the blogosphere?! - has kept the faith and their name in the mix and is now to be rewarded. Latitude have been announcing more names recently but don't seem to think that mention of Wheat coming to play on the Saturday will have any impact on sales since you have to go the band's MySpace site to find confirmation of this minor miracle. OK, lets push this wish-fulfillment thing. All we need now for a reallyrather spanking festival line-up are The Tyde, Rilo Kiley and matt pond PA, with plucky Brit upstarts My Sad Captains for openers. Latitude, you know it makes sense - come on, make those calls...

But what's this?! Seems Rilo Kiley will be in East Anglia in July but a couple of week's later at the Secret Garden Party...

Should you need to do some Wheat revision, this is a great site. The band's now eight-year-old album Hope & Adams is, of course, a near-perfect record scarred only by the artificially distorted More than you'll ever know. And who's brilliant idea was that? Check the credits and it would appear to be the same genius who does his best to ruin the terrific title track on the new Clap Your Hands Say Yeah release. reallyrather says: Oi! Fridmann - NO! Some loud thunder, while not the frankly essential purchase that was/is Clap Your Hands' debut, is half a really good record. Their producer's wayward tendencies notwithstanding the first three cuts again deliver more of that gloriously giddy pop goodness while the final two tracks, tho' little more than simple circular chord sequences with added wailing, also hit the spot. (Interestingly, its the bass that has the singalong parts in both this last pair.) Throw in the throbbing Satan said dance and you've got an excellently entertaining mini-album...

...and Clap Your Hands will also be turning up at Latitude along with Wilco, Explosions in the Sky, The National, CSS, The Magic Numbers...

Wahoo! cont'd... Some brand new tunes from a forthcoming matt pond PA EP entitled If you want blood are being rotated over here. As ever, more perfectly judged pop treats from this staggeringly under-appreciated combo...

...ditto The Weepies. Deb Talan & Steve Tannen generously sprinkle some of their songwriting magic dust over starlet-but-I'm-all-grown-up-now Mandy Moore. Spot Deb's harmonizing in the bridge of Extraordinary...

That Rosie Thomas / Denison Witmer show slated for a room at The Roundhouse on May 24 will now be at the Water Rats. Ordinarily this would be very much A Good Thing but reallyrather can't help thinking the hush that acts like this deserve would've been easier to generate at the original venue...
[rosie][denison]

The Water Rats is in fact becoming something of a Swedish cultural outpost down in Kings Cross. Essential upcoming attractions include:

--Loney, dear April 25 ... touring one of the year's best releases so far, Loney noir [see below]

--Suburban Kids With Biblical Names May 8 ... apparently the #3 album has never been officially released over here. yesboyicecream are remedying this hideous oversight next month, preceding it with an EP which leads off with the indubitable pop GENIUS that is Loop duplicate my heart [mp3]...

--Hello Saferide May 14/15 ... returning to the scene of her modestly triumphant UK debut late last year, Annika's band will again include kindred spirit Maia Hirasawa who's just released her own debut album. She'll probably open as well. This blog is grinning like a fool already...
[hello saferide][maia hirasawa]

Global warming: the record collection effect. The recent unseasonal heatwave is bringing lots of things out early. Mayflies, for example. It's now - blimey - almost ten years old but Summertown, the jangletastic debut from Chapel Hill band MayfliesUSA, remains a perennial high summer staple round these parts. Down with Peter Green, Baby's got her own ideas, A change in the weather, etc, etc, they all took an unprecendentedly early hammering last weekend. And what's this? Having fizzled out a few years ago after three albums, signs of life over there in North Carolina...?