A friend of mine uses the ‘list system’ for making important life decisions (especially those regarding his love life). Diligently noting down the pros and cons in opposing columns to determine which is the best course of action.

It’s all very rational , but it doesn’t really work that well cause there’s usually some kind of fudging going on and it’s not like all pros and cons have equal weight.

To be fair this track probably wouldn’t make it past the system. Too many cons baby!

First among these being some super-camp lyrics with an awkwardly persistent building theme;

Exhibit one;

“Got myself some tools together
I’m ready to hump some walls downTell me what’s the biggest project
My hammer-drill will sort that out”

It takes a lot to like, no love, a song that has that as it’s lyrical theme.

Thankfully our scandinavian brothers have more than enough in the kitty to overcome.

Synth heavy with just enough retro (just enough future) to keep both sides of my tastebuds happy and, most importantly,the best name for a band I’ve heard in freakin ages.

All hail Black Viking *

*big thanks to ‘job’ from djh for putting me on to this.

Gotta say jez’s post will be keeping me going for most of the weekend.

Damn! indeed.

Just incase you’re still in need of some weekend loving, here is a brief (but heavy) piece from marc mac’s criminally under-appreciated epic ‘It’s Right to be Civil‘ . Heaven knows what they are putting up in the water in Dollis Hill to keep North (of) London’s most prolific beat maker so inspired, but when the sun starts shining here in London (as it has this week) suddenly a nice dilla-esque two minute beat heavy jam is all I need to take my mind off all the ’summer heat’ that’s been just so, so distracting.

Anyway three days to make the most of it.

Enjoy.

Marc Mac-King’s Music

this week I will dispel with the formalities and trick plays and get down to the brass tacks. spent the weekend on a Florida (Panama City) beach sipping belgian beer and mexican tequila—behold the clout of globalization. nothing like getting a little sand between the toes and in the shorts during a game beach volleyball to help align the spine. i know that all sounds a bit hippish, but ya can’t argue with science.

one complaint though: the criminal absence of some decent music in the tiki bars and beach clubs; there was mostly standard north Florida fare; in other words Bob Marley, Jimmy Buffet, hard rock cover bands, and God-awful techno/house. listening to crap music while staring out at the sugar–sand beaches and the gulf of mexico is a bit like purgatory, i.e. spiritual limbo. at any rate, if you ever find yourself in Dante’s first circle or in a tourist-trap game of limbo, request this song from Stax’s house band, 100% guaranteed to help you bend a bit lower or get you a little closer to heaven.

Booker T & the MGs-Soul Limbo

scrabbling around my itunes for something for the weekend i somehow got caught up in a donut hole.

i’ve heard a couple of things recently which have made me wonder what they’d have been if j dilla had’ve been around to produce them. i find myself missing that ear for a hook, that particular high-hat sound, that laid back head bobbing groove which he brought to so many killer tunes. and i’ve not even had that long to get to know him. in fact before he died it was really only d’angelo’s voodoo and spacek’s dollar which graced my headphones with his unique style. the moving coverage of his premature death made me seek out more of his stuff and subsequently rank donuts as one of my albums of ‘06.

listening back to a couple of track this morning i got into the (industriously) fatal ‘oh, just one more…’ which made me realise once more what a fantastic piece of work it really is.

so rather than take money away from the good work of the j dilla foundation i figured i’d post some source material.

have a super weekend y’all.

the sylvers - only one can win

so while some of us headed out into the megalopolis, midweek to test a new central london bar (that’s taking corporate social responsibility to its most selfless end) and others stayed in and took care of the blog (and their tiredness quotient) extolling the virtues of a quiet night on the sofa and off the booze, the following night saw some of the latitudes heading out on a school night to support our favourite yankee minstrel, mr j.tillman while he woo’d an audience of journalists and folkies on this current tour with jesse sykes.

even though the wilds of sheperds bush was not being done any favours by the weather, our merry troupe made it to the venue in plenty of time to catch the forty minute set, which ended with a song dedication to horselatitudes.co.uk (our first… and you know what they say, you never forget your first). more beers and probably far too many cigarettes later we were hanging in an hl local’s sister pub (the defector’s weld) and i found myself in the somewhat enviable position of sharing a table with not one, but five beardy guys all crazy-stuck on music and happy to chat the night away.

suffice it to say that tillman’s as sweet a guy as his voice betrays and its a pleasure i look forward to having again in the autumn, to hear him sing live all over again. weeks of on-the-road boredom, duty-free lucky strikes and rock cliche drinks don’t dampen josh’s voice any and his eyes-wide-shut journal-entry* songs filled the tatty baroque of bush hall, even if his sideline comedy stylings fell on deaf ears.

*not his diary, mind…

despite what i said last week about talking heads quickly becoming the hl’s most blog’d you know i’d never let the seattle-side down, and if you’ve not bought the double reissue of i will return/long my you run, j.tillman currently out on fargo records then get to it, immediament.

rather than give away yet more of his music for free we’re going to dedicate a song back to you, josh.

so here’s the rotary connection’s version of the band’s the weight, which although it’s kind of lighter and frothier does feature a rather awesome drum sound (not that i’m ragging on levon fo’ sho, bro)

i’ve been a mite distracted for the past few weeks, too busy and preoccupied to unleash my rambling monologues on the latitudes and slightly bereft of thrilling new music to send your way, but its the freaking weekend (as i believe r. kelly once put it) and though the weather seems set to take a turn for the wetter here in the megalopolis, this bank holiday has a birthday party per day ratio which is making my liver wince.

so a word about the fantastic picture of chinese new year above.

as part of our limited and new editions, a very good, though very distant friend of the latitudes, oak (yep, that’s really his name, kids) will be posting occasional shots from his stomping ground, beijing. a much missed friend of mine, he’s a supertalented photographer and london/norfolk native who relocated to china and is enjoying the life of a creative ex-pat amongst the hysterical expansion and terrific velocity of China’s most happening city.

wallpaper* magazine recently commissioned him to capture the city’s must-see sites for their terrific city guides series and his beautiful prints are in demand amongst the best arti-stocracy, which is why we’re awful pleased that the great firewall of china’ll grant him leave to send some of his stunning images our way every once in a while. keep watching our skies for regular posts of great beauty.

and for the rest of your weekend, here’s a song which i’m posting for no other reason than that i’ve had it on repeat all day, just the ticket for any kind of weather (or hemisphere) it’s got the catchiest choruses and makes me dance in my swivel chair. oddly becoming one of our most blogged bands, and once more displaying david byrne’s genius (see below for the jezzy endorsement and here for jaksoul’s kudos) its talking heads - and she was.

Been a quiet week here at the hl-as a reward for our lacsidaisical attitude to posting, here is something extra special. Fresh from the 24 hour production powerhouse that basilika towers has become recently is a dirty, dirty re-edit of the Prince classic and hl fav ‘Bob George‘.

Whereas the original keeps it all stripped down, raw and darkly funky, part-time shark trainer and international jazz pastry chef ‘crispy’ teacakes moves the vibe away from seedy detroit underbelly with some seriously dance-floor compliant tweaking and editing.

It’s pure uncut hl exclusive dynamite.

(and a sneaky taster for forthcoming, synth and vocoder-heavy, side project ‘ULYSSES 82′)

We only gonna host it for a week(at this bitrate anyway), so this is especially for our regularly hl readers.

Thanks for the support-have a great weekend.

Prince-Bob George (teacakes edit)

So part two. More from the Motown 12″ section. NOT the stone cold classic Brothers Gonna Work It Out - at least not this time, maybe later in the year. Nearer the General Election…?

No, this is another one to get the blood circulating back down to your feet from your brain as Friday night zooms into view.
Many readers might already know this one, heck! you might even own the 12″ yourself. Puff your chests with pride if you do. This is surely one record to be proud of. While D’Angelo and Cee-Lo were running around telling all and sundry they ‘gotta go pee-pee’, this man Willie Hutch was laying it on a lady. With style and then some.

From the intro to the outro, he has you hooked. Killer synths and killer boogie.

Willie Hutch - In And Out

A little late getting the weekend started here at Latitude Plaza. Left to my own devices I dithered about what to post - as always. Will it be Coati Mundi…Sandy Kerr? La Bionda? Eddy Grant??

Oh the list was endless this morning and nearly made me late for work. Well, actually it did make me late. That and sleeping late…But that’s okay.

So here I am better late than never, and just to make up for it I thought I’d soothe you with two great Motown 12″s.

This first I played at Juliet’s Birthday as the party goers streamed in, so here it is again for the requesters…

One of the most beautiful records I own. Guaranteed to get me on the dancefloor with a smile on my face. Camp as Christmas, from 1979 it’s…

Thelma Houston - Saturday Night, Sunday Morning

**and if you want more from Miss Houston be sure to check out funky16corners blog.

Photo courtesy of PS Zollo via Flickr

You were very close to getting some music from the man known as Kaoz 6:23…or Kerri Chandler to his friends. I couldn’t decide whether to beef up the weekend with the Arnold Jarvis’ track Inspiration or to take something from his Ionosphere EP.

Indecision got the better of me and I suddenly remembered I’ve had this Kraak & Smaak tune in my record box for a while now, that deserves a wider audience than the limited gigs that I play.

I first heard this played by DJ Harvey so I’m not going to claim it as one of my finds. It should however help you get in the mood for whatever your weekend holds in store for you, wherever you are.

Keep your ears open for the live chickens on percussion…

kraak & Smaak-keep on searchin’