Festival Forecast - First Aid Kit

Set for the Sunrise Arena at this year's Latitude fest, (appearing on Sunday lunchtime, they'll no doubt be hoping they're not up against Thom Yorke!) First Aid Kit are building a reputation for nice, slightly twee songs in a similar vein to Slow Club.



If you miss them at Latitude, they'll be at End of the Road...

Festival Forecast - The Sparrow and the Workshop

This is the debut single, out on Monday no less, from The Shadow and the Workshop, a band whose singer came third in the world female stone skimming championships. With this being a music, rather than a stone-skimming blog, we're going to focus on the single which sounds like a cross between the outlaw country of Merle Haggard with the gothic melodrama of Nick Cave. It's very good, it's out on monday (album to follow in June) and they're appearing at End of the Road. That's all you need to know.

Festival Forecast - Dear Reader

Widely tipped South African band Dear Reader are down to play the Sunrise arena at Latitude this year. The orchestration reminds me a bit of Broken Records, whom they are rumoured to be supporting on Wednesday so will report back then. For now, here is the latest single Dearheart. The album is out soon, so this will be an interesting couple of weeks for them...

Festival Forecast - The Leisure Society

Despite the music press' obsession with electro/pop bands at the moment, this lot seem to be building up a little bit of buzz. Like their music it's subtle and understated buzz, but with an album out and a load of festival dates and gigs planned over the summer they could well be receiving a lot more attention by the time they appear at End of the Road in September. The album sounds reminiscent of the kind of americana peddled by Vetiver and Midlake albeit with a distinctively English twist. Here is "A Short Weekend Begins With Longing" live in Brighton.

Festival Forecast - Jonathan Jeremiah

It's been a busy week or two on the festivals front with plenty of announcements. That means it's time to start picking out a few acts, new and old, that can be seen at festivals I'll be attending this summer...

First up is Jonathan Jeremiah, a folkie singer songwriter from London. His myspace is light on details except that a) he has his debut album coming out on Island (no details as to when) and b) Bernard Butler guested on said album, as did Fred Wesley and the new JBs. I'm sure we'll all know more by the time he appears in the sunrise arena at Latitude, but until then we have this rather lovely song, "It doesn't bother me".