Tribal Culture's Guide to... Latitude 2012

No sheep were harmed.

Latitude Festival @ Henham Park Farm - 12/07/12 - 15/07/12

This, will possibly be my festival of choice this summer. With a superb blend of mainstream mixed with the up and coming, this promises to be a belter. Last year I ventured to Spain's, FIB Benicassim Festival in search of my yearly festival fix. And I wasn't disappointed, in fact I strongly considered boycotting British Festivals in favour of the more chilled out, warmer foreign festival. But, like everything there's a downside, the downside here being that foreign festivals rarely showcase good new music. And with the ongoing decline of guitar bands, its becoming increasingly hard to find this genre of music. Latitude 2012 has got me really excited, here are 5 reasons why:

Metronomy - 2011 was a superb year for Metronomy with the release of their third studio album "The English Riviera". This without a shadow of doubt would make it into my top 5 records of 2011, the band have come on leaps and bounds since their first release "Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 you owe)" in 2006. 


Baxter Dury  - I recently saw Baxter @ XOYO in Shoreditch and what a treat it was. "Happy Soup" is a superb album and is a perfect example of the brilliant music that is being created beyond the mainstream. If you haven't heard Baxter Dury, I strongly suggest you give them a try.


M83 - M83 seem to be doing quite well for themselves, I keep hearing "Midnight City" on various television adverts as I flick through the channels of an evening. But, like the artists mentioned above, once you go beyond "Midnight City" and scratch beneath the surface there's a brilliant album in "Hurry Up We're Dreaming" an album that's sure to please many tastes. 


Yeasayer - I first heard Yeasayer's second album"Odd Blood"  whilst round a friends house and automatically found myself drawn in. I can't explain why though? All I know is, its a ruddy good record and I've heard nothing but good things about their live shows. These guys are a must see at Latitude 2012!


Laura Marling - It would be rude not to put Laura Marling on this list. After all, she embodies everything that's great about the modern day musician. Humble, shy and talented. I manage an artist very similar to Laura called "Es Muss Sein" who I have extremely high hopes for. Both perform beautiful, soul ridden folk music, that you just know has true meaning.