after much hype, a few weeks ago i caught the band i dream in colour live in east london. i was impressed with richard judge’s born for the stage vocals guiding us through the imaginatively progressive songs, often beginning with the most timid of introductions catapulting to a mature and ear pleasing musical culmination.

i dream in colour have teamed up with sockformation to offer a free download of recently recorded single ‘if you’ produced by phil tyremen (doves, belle & sebastian) that you can download here:

i dream in colour. if you (mp3)

before the band hit the studio early next year to record their debut album they have taken to the road, relentlessly gigging to sell out venues and attracting a wave of new fans. stand out forthcoming gigs include november 11th hoxton underbelly and november 26th camden barfly. get along, and by that time you’ll have no excuse to not know all the words!

words by jamie day (twitter, blog)

a great way to get me to read your email is to relate yourself to bands i love. when cowlick told me they came from by divine right, a band that has spawned members of broken social scene and holy fuck, i was always going to listen to their songs. i’m pleased i did and i’m pleased they’re letting me share.

cowlick. wires (mp3)

it was actually fellow sockformationer luke who sent me some cozimnot! bits, with the title of this post in the message. he’s busy at uni at the moment, so i’ve decided to post about them, but using luke’s words.

“they’re a three-piece from lemington spa”. good start. he goes to uni in warwick, so that explains the knowledge.

“they are really fucking good”. that was used to get me to listen to them. it worked.

“cozimnot are proper good”. all i can do i agree. well, that and share a couple of tracks with you.

cozimnot. rubble games (mp3)

cozimnot. zero jack (mp3)

single review: marina and the diamonds. shampain. 4 oct 2010. 679 records

the future mrs sockformation (aka marina diamandis) is re-releasing ‘shampain’ next week or something. i’m sure it’s a re-release isn’t it? i know it was one of her first tracks i heard. while the track isn’t up there with ‘obsessions’ in the higher echelons of her output, it is a whole lot better than ‘hollywood’, the track that she seems to have been her biggest mainstream success. pictureplane has done a seriously dark remix of it too. you can have that for free right now in fact.

marina and the diamonds. shampain (pictureplane’s deep dolphin remix) (mp3)

vampire weekend have announced all the support for their tour this autum. it includes some great acts like beach house, ratatat and janelle moore. plus, you can see them with the amazing arcade mother-fucking fire in dublin. that’s got to be worth a trip and a few pints of guinness (especially if you suffer from an iron deficiency). the list of when and where they are playing is massive, so have a look here to find your nearest chance.

they have also kindly sent out a track to share with you. it’s the basement jaxx remix of ‘white sky’. the file is too big for my little blog here, so it’s uploaded onto mediafire… just to warn you.

vampire weekend. white sky (basement jaxx remix) (mp3)

single review: vic goddard. blackpool ep. 11 oct 2010. gnu records

i got sent this track over the weekend and thought i’d post it for three reasons… firstly, i’ve been a bit shit recently due to my laptop situation, so thought it might be nice to give you some free music. secondly, the track is all about blackpool and being a spurs fan i need to post it as a show of solidarity with them as arsenal turned them over at the weekend. or something. finally, this is really a bit different. i don’t think i’ve posted anything like this on either incarnation of sockformation.

the track, from vic godard, was written for a musical by irvine welsh called ‘blackpool’. the musical wasn’t going to be your usual west end type all singing all dancing affair, and the ‘trainspotting’ had something very different in mind. things went a bit wrong and welsh wasn’t involved in the end and the musical didn’t follow his plans. it flopped by all accounts, but godard wanted to release the music anyway. i’m pleased he has because this track is fucking genius.

download the song and see what you think, but expect a sort of fun, old time sing along about blackpool. take that theo walcott. that’ll show him.

vic godard. blackpool (mp3)

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

my friend, who i won’t embarrass by mentioning here, accidentally dropped beer on my laptop the other day. there are a couple of keys not working, but i can still sort of post thanks to copy & pasting. it isn’t easy though, so posts will be short & sweet until later in the week. she’s getting it fixed and everything so i have nothing against the lovely nicola at all, just thought i’d explain the situation. to make it up to you, i have some free music. it’s a remix from these new puritans, a band that don’t have an ‘o’ or an ‘l’ in their name, so are easy to mention.

these new puritans. hologram (salem remix) (mp3)

single review: thee single spy. ok corral. 9 aug 2010. robot elephant records

thee single spy is the brainchild of alex mattinson, which has turned into a proper band with a proper album and everything. not just that but it is produced by a man who has done some engineering for sockformation favourites, the maccabees. i would love to come across all knowledgable and tell you exactly what he’s done for them, but a wikipedia search of luke joyce only brought up an accrington stanley footballer. i don’t think he’s the same one. anyway, the link to the maccabees was enough for me to give it a listen and i’m pleased to report back i like it. don’t go expecting anything resembling the maccabees. we’re talking more lo-fi type folk, but with a certain indie pop element.

fantastically, i’ve been given permission to share the b-side with you. if you like this, you’ll love ‘ok corral’. download this one, then wait patiently until august the 9th and pop over to your local record shop, hand over the cash and walk home with your new 7inch. alternatively it’ll be available on itunes as well no doubt.

thee single spy. in clay, in cloud (mp3)