okay, so i know i keep posting very quick stuff and usually it just includes a video but i seem to be very busy with work and life at the moment. i will start posting some more reviews, downloads and shit soon.

this is m.i.a.‘s new video, for ‘xxxo’. when i first heard the album i think i described this as sounding a bit like britney if britney was still making music (is she?) and was a bit better. i think you know what i mean. it is quite poppy at times, but with m.i.a.’s style still there for all to hear.the video is a bit of a social media theme with nods to youtube, iphones and those shitty little flower flower & glitter things that 16-year old girls use on their facebook photos (not that i am friends with any 16-year girls. obviously). my favourite part is the bit where m.i.a. changes into a tiger for a bit though.

there has been a bit of a music scene in and around colchester for years now. starting way back with three of the most famous nursery rhymes of all time (‘humpty dumpty’, ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ and ‘old king coel’ since you ask), through jamiroquai, robots in disguise and of course blur. bubbling away more recently there have been bands i featured on the original sockformation such as amberblacks and the hawds… now, from the ashes of the fantastic neat people, come hero and leander. and fuck me, are they good.

unike the previous guitar led bands, hero and leander offer something very different – a beautiful vocal, a quirky melody and sadness tinged lyrics. maybe we’re heading back towards the historic nursery rhyme period of colchester. that would be nice.

hero and leander. one three four (soundcloud)

this is the cover art for the new weezer album, ‘hurley’. amazing.

normal service should be resumed tomorrow by the way when i will be posting about an actual band and talking about actual music.

seriously. they’re a bit mental. royksopp have made a short film as a precurser to their forthcoming new album ‘senior’. the above is a preview as the full ‘adventures in barbieland’ is an exclusive for the guardian at the moment.

how do i describe the film itself? fuck knows. old people. a typewriter. dolls. and of course music from ‘senior’. whatever it is meant to represent and show i have no idea, but then again i’m no movie critic. i’ll leave that to claudia winkleman (jokes. i’m better than her. then again, so is my six-year old son). it is only ten minutes long though, so you may as well watch it and make your own mind up. you’ll have to sit through an advert for kerrygold first though i’m afraid.

“is this the beginning of the end?
nah, the end of the beginning. now we get serious. g”

that quote is from the los campesinos! formspring and is related to the departure of the original drummer ollie campesinos! it’s apparent that fans (gareth has responded to rumours multiple times in multiple mediums) saw ollie’s departure as symptomatic of a wider schism in the band, which would result in the eventual death of los campesinos! gareth in his formspring answer assayed these fears but his wordplay and declaration of ‘now we get serious’ has repercussions with regards to how we should view ‘all’s well that ends’.

all’s well that ends is, seemingly, the metaphorical line in the sand that separates “the beginning” from the “serious”. contextualising ‘all’s well that ends’ reveals it’s a lyrical fragment from ‘i warned you do not make an enemy of me’ from romance is boring; this inexorably ties the ep to romance is boring ie. “the beginning”, but instead of an exploitative cash grab acoustic ep, we’re presented with legitimately reworked versions of ‘romance is boring’, ‘a heat rash in the shape of the show me state or, letters from me to charlotte’, ‘straight in at 101’ and ‘in media res’.

the “serious” is not that these songs are sombre (the conceit that bands that get darker are getting serious is hideous) in their reworking: that’s too simplistic; the “serious” is an acknowledgment on los campesinos! part that they are moving away from their roots in twee revivalism, as they were once termed by swells (in a kinder moment). this acknowledgment is heard through the prominence given to gareth’s lyrics and voice, no longer are they buried under the weight of a fast tempo, rather, the narrative is now dictating the tempo. the removal of layers, best heard on ‘(all’s well that ends) in media res’, is another aspect of the tacit acknowledgment that they are moving away from their roots and getting “serious”.

it’s a genuinely interesting ep both musically and for what it represents with regards to the future of los campesinos!

words by luke carlisle

as a general rule i don’t listen to bands with women singers, not in a sexist chauvinist way, but i really dont like the sound. honestly. sorry. there are few exceptions, and telepopmusik are one such exception. in hindsight, a french electronic influenced offering was always going to be a winner, and while they’re not quite air or daft punk, they’re very listenable, at times very good and always something a little bit different.

telepopmusik are a band i’ve liked for a while but one of those bands i can’t remember how i heard. they pop up on the related artists of zero 7 and nouvelle vague, which would probably explain the conundrum, but the similarities aren’t that great. they are fairly mainstream, moreso since the release of their second album, angel milk, in 2005. a proverbial lovechild of röyksopp and bonobo, may be closer to the mark, a bed of light trip-hop under tuneful electronic production, with guest vocalists reminiscent of both bands in style and gender choice. not unlike the other bands listed, telepopmusik are most likely a band you’ll either stick on a playlist, or find sufficiently boring as to have forgotten them by the next time you hear them. it’s difficult to dislike them, there’s not much to dislike, but they’re not massive on passion or depth, although i suppose the same could be said for trip-hop in general.

as with many bands from the genre, telepopmusik’s greatest fortune has come through backing music on adverts, and in 2009 peugeot advertised their 308 cc model with the non-album track ‘ghost girl’, the spotify link to which i’ve attached. truly the best and worst of french culture combined. you’ll have to trust me in saying that the song is far more worthy than the car, or of peugeot.

telepopmusik. ghost girl (spotify)

-words by ron walker-

right, here’s the deal. i get sent a lot of music to post. i get round to listening to it eventually but way too late to post*. anyway, with my laptop knackered at the moment i’ve had an idea… asking you what you think about the track! i can’t listen to it, so i’m leaving it all up to you.

the track i have chosen is by frederik teige. i like his band, efterklang, so i have high hopes for the single. it is described as feisty, short & sweet! what do you think? i’m well aware that 99% of my comments are from people wanting to sell me some crap or other so this is a risk. please listen (either click the headphones to listen online or right click & save as). please comment.

frederik teige. what is new? (mp3)

*this doesn’t always happen so please keep sending me music. thanks x

i knew doing some live tweeting (follow me! follow me! @sockformation) would be invaluable. now all i have to do is copy & paste my tweets for a thorough field day run down. i’ve decided not to remove the bit when i mention i was published in the guardian this weekend (ahem). my phone battery died before phoenix as well, but i can confirm they were once again very good. probably. i don’t remember much from that point onwards.

enjoy. it is probably best to start at the bottom by the way.

i love blood red shoes. this is helped somewhat by my love of laura-mary carter. seriously. look at her. and her blue nail varnish. i will marry this woman. i know her current bloke, felix white, may have a thing or two to say about this but my plan is to offer him a shit load of cheese in exchange. i assume all the maccabees like cheese.

anyway, the new video for ‘heartsink’ is out. the track is one of the stand outs from an already ace album and the video is nice. i like videos that are simple and this one is just that. simon and the future mrs sockformation are playing among a bunch of bored youths in the middle of a load of rubble. now and again the youths break shit. at the end they break loads of shit. i like it. it has some nice choppy (technical term) shots too. i like that as well.

note – as my laptop is broken i watched it during my lunchbreak at work with the track playing on my ipod. i managed to match the timing up pretty fucking well. i impressed myself.