album review: grimes. visions. 12 march 2012. 4ad
(buy here)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Grimes’ album Visions has been like a new cool friend in the past few weeks. I can take it anywhere: on the bus, all back to mine after the pub or out running and it fits in just fine, doesn’t offend, and anyone you introduce it to is genuinely fascinated. Grimes or should I say Claire Boucher, comes from a similar sort of rough and ready, DIY dance music scene from which fellow Canadians Peaches and Feist emerged several years earlier.

Grimes’ sound however, has more in common with Scandinavians Robyn and Lykki Li in terms of glacial beats and helium vocals. The first song I heard off the album, ‘Genesis’, is all delicate plinks and aural swirls, but don’t be fooled: there’s plenty of meat to the bones here. ‘Oblivion’ and ‘Circumambient’ for instance, feature much heavier slabs of rave-like bass, twisted and fed back to within an inch of their lives. Things get a little murkier on ‘Symphonia IX’ and then more reflective and pared down towards the end on ‘Skin’, where it’s just piano and echoey vocals swishing around some lightweight dubstep. Claire herself says the album is an “ethereal escape; a quest for the ultimate sensual, mystical and cathartic experience and the vehicle for my psychic purging.” Which sounds like quite an ordeal to me. Let me reassure you, then, that Visions is an album you’ll find yourself defaulting to time and time again and getting more out of with each listen.

8

Words by Helen Parton

If you’re one of those lucky bastards that is going to SXSW next week (anybody would think I’m bitter) then you’re also lucky enough to have the opportunity to see Royal Canoe. They’re a young group from Canada and have just released their debut EP, imaginatively called Extended Play. You can hear it below and there should also be a link to pay the very $5 to own it for your very self.

First off let me try to describe them for you though. We’ve got definite Animal Collective undertones here. If the band weren’t listening to ‘Brother Sport’ when they wrote opener ‘Hold on to the Metal’, then I will eat my words. ‘Bathtubs’ makes great use of a vocoder and I fucking love a vocoder when used well. The remaining two tracks, ‘Bloodrush’ and ‘Caught in a Loop’, showcase their versatility even further. Everything they’ve grown up listening to and been influenced by, Animal Collective included, has worked a treat. The EP is a wonderful 4-track advertisement and I have no doubt they’ll be taking Austin by storm.

live review: theme park / the cast of cheers. the lexington, london. 6 march 2012.

What a double header this was. Two up & coming bands joining together to offer a show with something for everyone. With Theme Park taking headline duties, it was up to Dublin foursome The Cast of Cheers to get us underway. Catchy vocals over their Battles-esque rhythm, the band were as into it as the expectant crowd. They steamed through a collection of tracks including the fantastic ‘Family’. Theme Park followed with a flawless set that showed off their potential to be a real cross over act. Both bands worked together perfectly and I salute their idea to tour together as such close buddies.

I know this is late notice, but if you happen to be in Austin for SXSW or are made of actual gold so can now pay through the nose for a flight and hotel, you can go and see Flying Lotus at ND (me neither) on Saturday. It’s being put on by Turntable.fm and you’ll also get to see Araabmuzik among others. I know that you’re thinking. This is all well and good Tim, but if I want to enter this competition I need to do it NOW. How do I do so? Well, all is revealed in the next paragraph…

So, to win a pair of tickets to see Flying Lotus on March 10 at SXSW, send an email to contests@theconfluencegroup.com with “Sock Formation 3/10″ in the subject line. Got that? If you click the email address back there it’ll do all the hard work for you. We’ll even let them off that they’ve separated ‘sock’ and ‘formation’. Good luck.

It’s becoming a reality now. Lissy Trullie’s debut album is finally going to be released in just over a month. I haven’t seen the track listing yet so I don’t know if any of the older stuff will be on it. I hope so. Here’s a brand new video that is being billed as a single from said album though. ‘It’s Only You, Isn’t It?’ has definite classic Trullie traits so it goes without saying that I’m hopeful for an album of the year contendor. Reality.

live review: sleigh bells. electric ballroom, london. 1 march 2012.

Fascinatingly for you sockformation readers, this Sleigh Bells show is the first fruits of my New Year’s resolution to buy more gig tickets in advance rather than wait for last minute spares or guestlist +1s. And so it’d been nearly two whole months since my purchase. Practically forever.

I’d worked myself up into a bit of a frenzy truth be told, having repeatedly watched this promo video and latest single ‘Comeback Kid’. And grown a bit of an obsession for singer Alexis Krauss’s fringe (usurping my previous hair idol Zooey Deschanel) as well. Well, the fringe and the rest of her and bandmate Derek Miller didn’t disappoint.

A wall of amps and a smoke machine turned up to 11 worked as a perfect backdrop to Sleigh Bells’ own brand of hardcore riff laden with girlie vocals. All the two minute wonders: ‘Kids’, ‘Riot Rhythm’, ‘Infinity Guitars’ from their debut album Treats were powered through. They’ve really cornered the market in metal-lite that doesn’t scare the horses. Much like Pulled Apart By Horses. That Leeds quartet aren’t quite as stunning as Alexis or as hipster as Derek though.

The encore begins with the Funkadelic-sampling ‘Rill Rill’, which like Florence’s ‘Kiss With a Fist’, sounds confusingly like nothing else they’ve ever produced. It’s like a little bit of light, bubblegum relief amidst the sweaty, stop-start noise of the rest of the set.

Like wearing a distressed Iron Maiden t-shirt, Sleigh Bells are essentially an indie kid’s entry point into something a bit heavier. Don’t think I’ll personally be swapping their latest release Reign of Terror for Slayer’s Reign in Blood any time soon though.

Words by Helen Parton.

I know I’m posting not much but videos at the moment, but I have plenty of stuff planned. Just been a bit busy. This one is more than worth it though. It is the second track we’ve had the chance to hear from The Shins’ upcoming Port of Morrow. The band are pretty much unrecognisable from the original now with James Mercer assembling a new group of musicians around him, including Modest Mouse’s Joe Plummer on drums. The sound has always been Mercer’s though and it is there is all its glory. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

If I was talking to you face to face right now, there are a few phrases I couldn’t pull off. One of these is “this shit is heavy”. Luckily, when I write it down (and more importantly explain that I can’t pull this off face to face) I can get away with it. Maybe. It is the perfect way to describe this track, taken from the former Cypress Hill man’s forthcoming second solo album.

Now also seems a good time to point you in the direction of Muggs’ first album Dust. I used to have ‘Rain’ on constantly. What a track. Grab the album here in anticipation of the follow up.

One of the best tracks from sockformation’s 2011 album of the year gets a video. And what a great video it is. Directed by Ollie Evans, the man behind Tom Vek’s ‘A Chore’, it is inspired by awkward family photos. I was filmed for it as well but got cruelly discarded like a coffee revel. Probably for the best though as I would have only got overshadowed by Puck the cat. Anybody who reads this blog and is yet to buy Welcome to Condale or see the band perform live should stop and have a very hard look at themselves by the way.

SXSW
13-18 March 2012
Various Venues, Austin, USA
sxsw.com

In a sentence
An unreal number of acts showcase their talents at parties and networking events alongside a film and interactive at the festival I wish I was going to more than any other.

Headliners
The Magnetic Fields (there are no headliners as such, but The Magnetic Fields are probably the biggest band there.

If you only see one band
Firstly, you’re wasting a perfectly good opportunity and I deserve you pass. If you are limited though, winner of sockformation’s album of the year 2010, Cloud Nothings will be unmissable.

Hidden down the order
It’s all about those little hidden acts. There are a band called The Coathangers playing and despite the fact I’ve never heard of them, I’d ensure I was checking them out with a name like that.

Other sockformation favourites
Bez, The Big Pink, Blitzen Trapper, Blood Orange, Bos Angeles, Breton, Cheap Girls, Clock Opera, Daughter, Dutch Uncles, Micah P. Hinson, Jenny O., Michael Kiwanuka, Talib Kweli, Lamb, Dan Mangan, Tashaki Miyaki, Neon Trees, S.C.U.M, Shiny Toy Guns, The Spinto Band, Tall Ships, Theme Park, Therapy?, Tilly and the Wall, Lissy Trullie, Alabama Shakes, Idiot Glee, Zulu Winter, ANR, Jonquil, Niki & The Dove, Spectrals, Yuksek, Royal Canoe.