Something goosh:

We were gonna do a series of articles about what we saw at Latitude this year, just like what we did last year, but then we left it too late so we probs won't do it. We have, however, found the time to tell you about this (which is already out, so we will be the last blog in the universe to write about it). It is "Your Body Is a Machine" by The Good Natured, who we saw at Latitude '10 (and she was very good too). You can buy the song içi, you can watch the video, above. And below you can see two stunning photographs of her Latitude live set. They are very exciting. Click to enlarge. No click. There you go.

The Latitude Report #5: Fever Ray

We could write you a lengthy and in-depth analysis of Fever Ray's performance at Latitude festival, but it wouldn't do it justice. It wouldn't convey, the sheer terror she struck into our hearts. No words could describe how those icy synth snaps and deep, undulating vocoder bore straight through us, and how her shaggy, African cloak revealed a painted face of horror that had us shivering where we stood. The spectacular laser and smoke show topped the whole thing off. Spooky stuff.

(As if that's not spooky enough in and of itself, this very post is the 666th post on Shiny & New! SIX SIX SIX! Clearly Karin Andersson Dreijer is in league with the devil, ALLEGEDLY).

The Latitude Report #4: Lykke Li

It was with much excitement that we queued to see Ms. Lykke Li. There is always room in our heart for a Swedish maiden, and Lady LiLi is no exception, with her starkly unique sonic landscapes, constructed from angular, almost atonal beeps, bonks and grooves all sewn together by Lykke's soft yet formidable vocals... *drifts off into trance*

Anyway, we being the ignorant donkeys that we are, thought the Lady called Li might be rather subdued and coy live. Not so. Complimenting her softly biting pop treats with striking dance moves and a confidence it's hard to fake, she put on a top notch show from start to finit. There was even a short interpolation of Lil Wayne's "A Milli" (WE KNOW!!!!) and some new material (a sort of African lullaby). We urge you to see her if you get the chance.

The whole fantastic experience was almost ruined by a group of idiots next to us who were moshing horrendously (at a Lykke Li gig!!!!) and persisted in making borderline sexist, louty remarks about "laying her good" everytime Ms. Li did a vaguely saucy dance move. Nevertheless, fabulousness won the day and in all it was brilliant showcase for Wicked Wi's talent. (You're fired forever - Ed)

The Latitude Report #3: Ms. Grace Jones

We first encountered the literally unstoppable sixty one year old hurricane known as Grace Jones on Jonathan Ross' pitifully bad yet addictive (due to the talent it attracts, God know's how) chat show earlier this year, and were immediately taken a few steps back at how fucking fabulous she was. A dynamic and colourful character sprawled across the sofa, effortlessly rolling off anecdotes and idiosyncrasies to revel in, consequently spurring us to track down some of her material. We started with a compilation of her best material, Island Life, which while not the most innovative music you will hear, is clearly a collection of iconic, era-defining music by an artist brimming with creativity. Of course, we had to find her latest LP, the aptly-named Hurricane - her first album in nineteen years no less. That single album forced us to take a double look at this artist. As we mentioned, she is in to her seventh decade - while really that shouldn't limit creativity, if we follow industry and media stereotypes, we should have been shocked at how fucking brilliant the album was, from start to finish. And we were.

So back in February when the headliners for Latitude Festival were announced, we were ecstatic to find Grace Jones was topping the bill of the festival's Saturday. The day arrived, and we found ourselves queuing for the front row barrier two hours before Ms Jones was due to arrive at the stage. We were aware of her reputation for being a spectacular performer of legendary status - performing inside cages with unrestrained tigers, walking off before she had reached the second song of her set because she hadn't received the correct vintage of red wine in her dressing room, spellbinding audiences across the world. Shiny & New can gladly testify, she did not disappoint. Arriving surprisingly on time, we found Grace abound a suspended platform behind a curtain which fell dramatically amidst dry ice and atmospheric beats. Immediately diving into opener "Nightclubbing", the audience of Guardian-reading, mostly middle-aged kagool wearers lapped it up, understandably. The electricity was unfignorable.


Gliding off stage between every song to arrive back with a new piece of dramatic headwear or jacket to augment her stunning stage presence, the audience were delighted with the outbursts uttered into the microphone off stage. "I am so thirsty everybody, and no one believes me. Give me something to suck on." "Are you still there?" "Get me a drink somebody. Actually get me a spliff." All in her entrancing Jamaican-American-European hybrid accent, we were treated to such treats as "There is too much light over here" and "Me and Michael Jackson were much alike, we both had horrible religious upbringings" were offered on-stage. Suffice to say, Grace Jones was the highlight of Latitude Festival for us.


Every song, whether it be from the early 80s or Hurricane, was spell-binding and accompanied by effortless stage presence and performance. At one point wrapping her spectacular Jamaican legs around a pole, we could not escape thoughts of Madonna and Grace, arguably our favourite female icons from the 80s, resorting to incorporating leotards leaving little to the imagination into their current day performances - not that we were complaining for one minute. Her body was in prime condition, her breasts were phenomenal (we can say that, we're gay) and, oh yeah, WE TOUCHED HER. Post reflecting a rainbow of lasers from a sparkling bowler hat, she wrapped her legs around an unsuspecting steward and commanded him to take her to her adoring public. Shaking hands with the entire front row, we managed to snag a grasp of her gloriously soft skin. She must bathe in cocoa butter.


We will definitely be seeing this gem in the future. A true icon.

Recommendations
"Slave to the Rhythm" - Grace Jones
"Pull Up to the Bumper" - Grace Jones
"Corporate Cannibal" - Grace Jones

The Latitude Report #2: Bishi

The very first music act we had the pleasure of regarding was Bishnu Priya, or Bishi to you. Bishi is an Anglo-Asian singer-songwriter, DJ and 'multi-instrumentalist' (which seemed to be buzz word of the festival). Although one of our number was vaguely familiar with her music before (through her friendship with Patrick Wolf) and didn't particularly have an impression of it, we decided to give her a go, and were pleasantly surprised. Despite her lyrics occasionally erring on the side of cringe, her music was overall rich, diverse and exciting, and she had oodles of stage presence. Her backing dancers, dressed as sort of BNP fetish bunnies were a little bit Lady GaGa Impersonation Fail (only a little bit) but she made a pleasing and diverting start to the festival proceedings.

The Latitude Report #1: Introduction

As you may be aware, we went on a very special little field trip over the weekend. We say 'field', and we mean it, quite literally, because WE WENT TO LATITUDE. As a side bar, typing the word 'latitude' just then reminded us of the fantastic song-and-dance sequence at the end of Bratz: The Movie, when they rhyme gratitude with platitudes. It's real art, Lady GaGa, real art. ANYWAY, we enjoyed ourselves so ridiculously we are going next year even if it's headlined by Rik Waller, a Steps tribute act and the Cheeky Girls. It was exactly the right amount of music, poetry, literature, culture, art, comedy, theatre, nature, beauty and sleeping in a tent, and we loved it. What will follow this little introductory ditty, will be a series of reviews accompanied by a series of beautiful pictures, by our resident photogenius. We hope maybe, that our detailed reviews will give you an itching to go next year, or just make for a sexy read.

We have to say, sauntering down from our tent, past multi-coloured sheep, through fairy-lit trees, across a calm, rippling reed-edged river and down to an arena full of some of our favourite music acts, all washed down with more cider than we thougt we could manage made for the best weekend of our lives. So enjoy the posts...

xoxo

You know when people overuse words?

Well often the word 'awesome' is thrown about more than it should be. We believe it can be correctly applied to Karen O's choice of apparel at Glastonbury.

Glastonbury Report...

• Amazing: "Paparazzi" & "LoveGame"
  
• Amazing: "Just Dance"
  
• Amazing: "Poker Face"