you may or may not know that moon safari by air is my favourite album of all time. it is the perfect album for absolutely anytime of the year. it’s an obvious choice for a summer’s day with it’s dreamy magical pop, but also try listening to it on a cold winter’s night. i remember having it on my ipod as i crossed the millennium bridge in a light rain. wow. i know this probably sounds ridiculously contrived, but it just made me feel like everything was good in the world.

anyway, the point of this post is two-fold. firstly to bring your attention to the short score the duo recently put together for some sort of campaign for cartier about love. secondly, to let you know that the new air album is out on 7 february next year. never a band to stick to the norm, this time they’re releasing an album inspired by a silent movie. brilliant. it’s going to be called le voyage dans la lune, which i think means something about travelling to the moon. i haven’t used google translate there, so it is no more than a guess though.

when i decided to start writing on here again i made the decision that i wanted to go back to featuring plenty of new artists as well. i’m not just talking about the latest hyped acts but more about those that are just starting out in their quest for stardom. those that email me with a track they’ve just made and a facebook page they put together last week. one such act is jethro fox.

jethro is a one-man music making type person. he plays all the instruments himself and what he produces is something that wouldn’t sound out of place on a playlist with grizzly bear or animal collective. the best description would have to be something along the lines of fascinating sixties indie folk. hear him for yourself by checking out ‘before’ below.

live review: summer camp. efes pool bar, london. 17 november 2011.

i could write about how great it was to see such a huge crowd. i could write about the brilliance of jeremy and elizabeth kicking off with an acoustic version of ‘better off without you’ while walking through the crowd. i could write about the girl who i was convinced was about to vomit on me throughout the gig. i could write about how much i want to find out where william got his shirt from. i could write about the second acoustic performance of the night for ‘losing my mind’. i could write about red stripe for £3. i could write about the superb company. i could write about summer camp’s rendition of r kelly’s ‘ignition’ during the karaoke after party. i could write about how this must be the eleventh or twelfth time i’ve seen summer camp at least and this was also the best.

i think the best way to tell you about just how good this gig was though, is by telling you that i fought through my hangover on friday morning to buy tickets to their scala gig next year because i am so convinced that every single person in that crowd would be doing the same thing and i cannot miss out.

album review: m+a. things.yes. 7 november 2011. monotreme records
(buy here)

every now and again an album crops up that it is just impossible to stop listening to. in these days of itunes and ipods (and other bits of kit not made by apple) it is simple to forget that you’re on the third listen in rotation of an album, and when you realise you don’t mind one jot. that has to be a good sign that the music is doing something right.

things.yes is one such album. whether that’s due to it being less than 3/4 hour long, or because the tracks pull together in such a way that you’re quite happy to drift away listening to it is unclear. one thing is for sure though, m+a have some serious talent coming out of their italian fingers. just out of their teens, the duo have not been shy about admitting they have been heavily influenced by the music they listen to. air and sigur Ros are the obvious comparisons, and sounds of the avalanches and even early does it offend you, yeah? crop up as well.

this is m+a’s album though. they’ve put in the time and they’ve stuck to their ideals to make an album that they themselves would listen to. there is the perfect mix of samples and a cohesion with both their voices that is rare and hard to force. it’s dreamy, it’s mysterious, it’s unusual, it’s brilliant.

the cover art of the album is fucking gorgeous as well. so simple and so perfect. just like the album inside.

9

this review originally appeared on the 405

it was in the days before this blog moved over here that i was properly obsessed with lissy trullie. i saw her first uk gig at the ica (actually it may have been her second because it was postponed and i think she ended up playing in leeds first. if i remember correctly, her drummer got ill or something. but i digress). i listened to the self taught learner ep a lot. an awful lot. i watched her perform ‘just a friend’ with adam green non stop on youtube. then nothing. she went quiet. it prompted me to write this post.

it has taken her over nine months to respond, but she has. and in the best possible way. a free download and news that her debut full length will land in february. i’ve marked it in my calendar under the entry “album of the year released today” already. the free download is of a track called ‘madeleine’. her recognisable rough voice breezes along to the slow guitar. i can hear toes tapping all over east london as i type. it’s fucking good.

one stop railway are the special kind of band that make you stop and think. their new release, colourbleed, is once again something special. the guitar opening to the first track, ‘burn’, feels orchestral. things somehow only get better from there on in. smart lyrics, lyrics that feel to be cleverly arranged yet still conforming almost to a stream of consciousness drag you in to the music, and from there on in you find yourself lost in the music.

it’s talented musicians, it’s wonderful sounds, it’s a beautiful vocalist, it’s almost as close to perfect as you can ask for, and yet it’s so easily accessible.

the only thing I can genuinely say to you is get yourself involved. but this. see them perform live. make personal friends with them. marry one of them if you can. this is a special band that is going places. do it. for yourself.

words by dave blackburn

ed isn’t very well at the moment. friendly fires have had to cancel a couple of upcoming gigs this week because of it. we here at sockformation hope he gets well soon of course. to try and help the residents of newcastle and nottingham through this painful time, here’s the new promo for ‘hurting’. the video is a sort of ‘crazy in love’ meets ‘sledgehammer’ affair with a bit of ‘the humans are dead‘ thrown in.

when tickets for yuck went on sale a couple of months ago, i snapped them straight up. they sold out shortly afterwards. i haven’t seen them since field day in 2010 and can’t wait to see them again. unfortunately, due to a slight scheduling mishap, i will have to wait a little longer. i can’t make the 24th in camden now so i’m going to give my tickets to a lucky reader. it could be you. all you have to do is either of the following. and yes, this is a thinly veiled attempt to gain more followers.

to win
when I reviewed their amazing debut album at the start of the year i referred to how fantastic it is to have an album influenced by one of my favourite bands (sonic youth), made by members of one of my favourite bands (cajun dance party). what two, or more, bands would you like to see a collab album from? there are a couple of examples in the original review. you can either tell me on twitter by @ing me here with the hashtag #yucksock or you can post it on the facebook wall here. or both to double your chances. i’ll then stick all your names in a metaphorical hat and pick a random winner.

the small print
the gig is at the electric ballroom in camden on thursday 24th november and probably starts about 8.
you can enter once on each site. feel free to do more, but you’ll only get your name in the hat twice.
entries close sunday 20th at 9pm to give me a chance to get your address stick them in the post.
you’ll need to follow me if entering by twitter so i can dm you to let you know you’ve won.
you’ll need to ‘like’ the facebook page if you want to enter on there or you won’t be able to post.
if you win, don’t sell them on please.

that text on the picture above is a sneak peak of a possible new design by the way. it may even include capital letters at times. what have i become.

hello. it’s been a while. how are you? i’ve decided to put some real effort into this again. a little undecided about the exact direction, but i’d like to go back to the days when i wrote about new music loads. i’m sure there will still be the odd album and live review and i’ll probably include anything i write for other sites on here as well, but the main aim will be new music. yeah. decided now. oh, and i’ll still post a load of videos. mainly because they take about two minutes to do and are an easy post. i thought as a bit of a welcome back (in addition to the amazing competition i’ll be posting either later tonight or tomorrow morning) i’d quickly tell you what i think about some of the albums that have come out recently.

sitting comfortably? then we’ll begin.

feist. metals. (buy here)
she’s fucking good isn’t she. she’ll be touring early next year and i want to go. feist at the albert hall? that’ll be amazing. 8

justice. audio, video, disco. (buy here)
brilliant. not as ipod friendly as † but this will sound pretty awesome live. 9

summer camp. welcome to condale. (buy here)
can you imagine if this had been rubbish. two years of stalking the two of them totally wasted. fortunately it isn’t. perfect. seriously. i love the little town of condale the’ve put together and i want to be brian krakow. 10

los campesinos! hello sadness. (buy here)
recently there was a twitter hashtag game of #lessexcitingbandnames. my favourite? “los campesinos.” i found that fucking hilarious. only challenged by “the bernard matthews band”. 8

yeah, so i’ve pretty much only chosen albums i really, really like. live with it. anyway, stay tuned for a competition coming up soon. i’m not going to give it away, but if you want to see yuck live in london at the end of the month, you’ll want to enter.

i am getting more and more excited as we get closer to the release of summer camp‘s debut album. as a preview here’s the video to the brilliant ‘down’. what a video it is as well. a great combination of gifs over still images. it’s like that website that does things from cult films. i’ll tell you what though… that fella dressed as the surgeon steals the entire thing. what dancing skills.