Latitude is a music and arts festival that takes place near the east coast of England in Suffolk. Now in its fifth year, Latitude presents a popular yet relatively niche collection of established artists from a very broad and respected spectrum.

I’m currently on a 100% attendance rate and it’s been a real pleasure seeing it mature into the celebration it has become. Unfortunately my veteran status didn’t stop me from taking every wrong turn on the way there, thus turning a three hour trip into a four hour slog.

I digress. Once I had exposed the lying wench within the satnav, I spent a glorious few days in almost unprecedented thirty degree sunshine and in the company of (among very many others) – Empire Of The Sun, Laura Marling, Corinne Bailey Rae, Richard Hawley, Wild Beasts, Chief, Hockey, Yeasayer and a fresh-out-of-retirement Belle And Sebastian.

Empire Of The Sun - Latitude 2010

Check out these photos from a glorious festival weekend, and have a look at the official site to see more of Latitude.

Image credit: John Williams Photography.co.uk

We present… tadaaaa… Hockey! Can’t quite classify these lads… rock / pop / electro / dance / Kooks / LCD Soundsystem / Bloc Party / whaddeva-it’s-just-good.

Hailing from Portland, Oregon Hockey played at SxSW in mid-March (download the show audio below!), after a series of Manhattan and Brooklyn shows that stirred some serious buzz including a hook up as one of  Paste Magazine’s 10 New Artists to Watch in 2009.

The first single Too Fake is all over triplej, but there are already two awesome vids for Learn To Lose. The official version actually reminds me of New Order’s phenomenal video for Crystal. But the band’s own alternative vid is where’s it at. Someone get me a sharpie!

The album Mind Chaos is out on 28th August. Check the band’s vid Inside the Mind of Mind Chaos.

Oh, and I almost forgot… lots of Hockey downloads for you!

• Learn To Lose – Filthy Dukes remix
• Learn To Lose – Labyrinth remix
• Official single Too Fake on iTunes