while waiting at bethnal green tube station the other morning i noticed a poster advertising oasis’ latest money grabbing rehash of 90′s classics. i’m sure there was something very similar to this last year called ‘stop the clocks’? anyway, ‘time flies’ is a singles collection, all 5627 of them. some are outstanding (‘supersonic’, ‘cigarettes & alcohol’), some are truly awful (‘sunday morning call’, ‘i’m outta time’) but it got me thinking about ‘the old days’. the days of blur vs oasis, the days of jarvis at the brits, the days when bands had personalities, the days when i had album release dates etched in my gsce revision drained memory and marked on my jet from gladiators calendar. what happened to those days?

why don’t we queue up at virgin megastore at midnight anymore to buy a new album? ok, that’s a bad example because virgin no longer exists, but those were the days when bands were exciting, albums were events, and music was front page news. maybe i’m showing my years and my ever receding hair line here, but the kids of today (did i really just say that?) don’t know what they’re missing.

i don’t blame the internet, i fucking love the internet, great for arty pictures of the female of the species, or so my friends tell me, but leaking albums is the norm now and we’re never going to get back to the excitement of going ‘daan taan’ to buy that shiny new cd, and racing home to listen to the eleven or so songs on repeat. now we know all nine or so songs well before the official release date and tend to be bored of the offering before it hits the grey metallic shelves. this has it’s advantages. our pockets are lined with extra sterling to spend down the local boozer, but we’re now faced with a lack of excitement in purchasing new music, and also awol is the camaraderie and personality.

previously mentioned bethnal green tube poster reminded me of what had passed, and what we lack now. our folks had lennon, jagger, pressley and rotten, we had gallagher, albarn, cocker and mike flowers pops, but who have the youth of today got? turner? maybe if he gets back to his sheffield tracksuit routes. doherty? he can barely open his eyes long enough to voice an opinion. that bloke from kasabian who wants to be russell brand? not exactly news of the world stuff is it? we had weeks of excitement, saving of paper round pennies, and midnight queues, today it’s torrents and bit rates. so come on today’s bands, step up, lets hear about your tv throwing, mistress madness and narcotic naughties, that after all is the romance and charm of rock n roll that can never be taken from us, virgin megastore or no virgin megastore…

words by jamie day (twitter, blog)

live review: caribou. heaven, london. 16 june 2010

having listened to caribou’s album swim since i got my hands on a copy earlier this year, i have very much anticipated seeing this 32 year old mathematics phd in action. this has no doubt been one of my favourite records of the year. it’s a mix of psychedelic pop, dance and electronica and this makes for one hell of a record.

it’s 10pm and i am in the packed out crowd in london’s heaven under the arches and along with everyone else i am waiting for the man to play the critically acclaimed music he has been making for 10 years. previously known as manitoba he plays a set list of tracks mainly consisting of songs from his latest offering swim. from hearing the crowd talking before the gig i can tell that a lot of them are here on the basis of swim alone. starting the set with sundialing from the 2008 polaris music prize winning album andorra, we get a glimpse of the former psychedelic and less ambient sound he previously made. next up are leave house and kali, this is what people are here for. the nine fantastic tracks from swim, mixing synth pop and tender vocals really get the crowd going. using two guitarists and a drummer for the live performances is where these songs really excel on a live platform . we then go back to andorra for the guitar heavy but soft vocals of melody day, this really give the audience a good chance to see just how much caribou has moved further into the dancey euphoric song making we all seem to love. we are then treated to three songs back to back from swim. The entire crowd love it as the songs get more of a psychedelic dance beat to them with the soft but sometimes haunting vocals we are accustomed to. we hear found out, bowls and the insanely cool beats of odessa, the first song on the album. and what a song it is, a funky dance beat that made what felt like the whole venue move. halfway through the song we are treated to caribou pulling out a recorder to a play a part of the song and you can see the appreciation of the crowd for the attention to detail and for not taking the easy route out of having the sound pre recorded on to a computer and simply played at the appropriate time. we then drop back to sandy from his previous album. next up is hannibal a song that feels like its building to a moment where it will blow open and really take you away. this does not happen on the album but for the live performance caribou and his band really go to town with this song. at six minutes fifteen seconds it’s already a fairly long song but they extend it and really make it a totally different experience, with caribou going from keyboard to bass to another set of drums it’s really a sound that totally blows you away. the duel drumming is fantastic to say the least. next up is the song that really got me listening to this album in the first place, the stunning jamelia. another slow builder that just keeps growing and growing, with some sharp (what sound like) violins thrown in, it really is a treat to hear this live the with the lyrics sung with what feel like real emotion. sun is the second song on the album but feels as much as an album closer (if not more) as jamelia does. this for me is my favourite song on the album. it really has a sense of a song that can take you away, it’s the perfect summer song. now on the record this is a really chilled euphoric psychedelic dance song with repeated vocals that work so perfect it really gets you in the party mood (ibiza anyone?) and i was interested to see how this will work live. it started very much with the record’s feel to the song, soft vocals but then with the live band this song comes alive. it really feels the summer dance anthem we all want, (and possibly need if dizzie rascal is to make another song with calvin harris) the drumming is intense and gives the song a great background beat for caribou and the guitarists to work around. the whole crowd is dancing and it has the feeling of a euphoric club night. it’s the perfect song to end the gig with.

everyone seems to be blown away from what they have seen and how it ended with the mesmerizing sun. caribou and his band come back for a one song encore and they play the song from his 2005 album the milk of human kindness, it’s a good little number with a real band sound and a great instrumental in the middle,  but if i’m honest i think people were still blown away from the fantastic spectacle that was sun. this was one of the best live performances i have seen in quite a while and if you get the chance to see caribou i advise you to take that.

caribou has just announced a uk tour for the end of year and will be playing london, manchester, glasgow, leeds and many more.

additionally he has been announced to play a night curated by four tet at the the coronet theatre on old kent road, london in november.

-words by kris maher-

i’m finding this really hard to admit but for the last week or two i have been listening to the latest soundtrack to the twilight films – the twilight saga: eclipse. first of all i am not proud of this in any way shape or form. my main reason for even getting a copy of this is plain and simple, and that is battles, the new york (what myself and any fan) like to call super group.

having endlessly played mirrored to death and still not getting bored of it i was full of anticipation when I heard that there was a new song on the way as there had been no new material for 3 years. after some long and hard investigating (google and wikipedia) i listened to the song countless times and i loved it. even to the point i currently have it on while i write this. it’s a very typical battles song with mesmerizing john stanier drumming (something you become accustom to when listening to mirrored), although it has more vocals on the song than you would expect for a battles track which for me is a nice change. then as a battles song does it steps up the tempo halfway through the song and really opens up.

after looking through the list of artists on the rest of the record i did the unthinkable and gave it a listen. to my amazement it was a really enjoyable compilation. when a record has artists such as battles, the black keys, beck, bat for lashes and bombay bicycle club making new tracks for the it, it’s a record that is going to make any music loving twilight pessimist think about doing the unthinkable and listening to it. i implore anyone who likes these artists to give it a try. even if you have to do what i did, remind yourself you still don’t like the films and that corey feldman in lost boys is taking out the hi school moody looking vampires as you listen (this helped me deal with the guilt). i still can’t fully digest the fact that i have anything on my computer with the words twilight saga on it, let alone have it as one of my most played albums on last.fm in the last week or two but it really has surprised me. i do feel less of a man and more like a 15 year old goth girl but after hearing the dark and epic lets get lost from beck and bat for lashes you start to realize that maybe sometimes something good does come from something bad.

after this i will be no doubt telling how good the alvin and the chipmunks record is and how much i am looking forward to hearing impeding smurfs movie sound track, that is of course if i have not pained my eyes black and refuse to leave the house till day light dissolves.

-words by kris maher-

carl barat has finally stopped with that dumb idea of becoming an actor and going back to music. the libertines have, of course, already confirmed their massive huge exciting reading/leeds comeback and now carl has released details about his solo album and tour. alright, so the second dirty pretty things album may not have been up to much, but this is carlos barat. the carlos barat. the album hasn’t been named or anything, but it should be out in october. the tour starts in brighton on the 15th of that month and ends twelve days later at scala, here in london.

buy tickets here

this is probably the worst news ever

rip natalie portman’s shaved head. long live brite futures.

a few weeks ago, while trying to avoid my daily mind numbing workload, i decided to write a festival guide. not just a load of text with a “don’t forget your wellies and wet-wipes” note to round it off, no this was on a new level of festival geek. written with a load of ‘computer code’, this all singing, all dancing guide would tell you everything; prices, line-ups, directions, photos, toilet cleanliness etc but it also included the odd sly dig at festivals that had failed to impress me in the past, or those that for some unknown deep-rooted reason i felt particular negativity towards. the isle of wight festival was one of those. i’m not sure why, i’d never been. it was possibly because i went to bestival last year and had one of the best weekends of my life, and therefore had decided that if you were ever going to go to this small island to enjoy music, you’d do what i’d do (which is surely right?) and go to bestival…

all this changed massively when a couple of weeks ago i was greeted with the news from my other/better half that she had got us free tickets to the isle of wight festival! never one to pass up a freebie, all ill feeling quickly disappeared. i was going to the isle of wight! for free! woo! and to top it off, the tickets were vip meaning i’d get the opportunity to run over the geldof sisters backstage in a golf buggy!

musically the line up was not up to much, it was quite v-like, in terms of acts like the saturdays and pink drawing bigger crowds than the brilliant bombay bicycle club. but there were two names on the bill that got my heart beating slightly quicker than the off-road golf buggies… the strokes and paul mccartney. obvious choices? yes, but the strokes are possibly my third favourite band of all time (we’ve all got a top five in our heads) and macca is just macca, the closest thing i’ll ever get to seeing those scallys from merseyside, so it was a gig i was never going to miss.

both were brilliant. paul mccartney was amazing in a kumbaya round the campfire, one massive jolly sing-a-long way. it was a night i’ll never forget but i do wish i’d been a little closer to the action just to throw him some ‘macca guns’*. the strokes played a classic set, all the songs we, the fans wanted to hear and throw our drunken sun burnt arms aloft to – the kind of set noel gallagher always threatens when oasis play, but then throws in some crap liam song just to piss everyone off. we heard ‘someday’, ‘last night’, ‘new york city cops’, ‘under control’, ‘reptilia’ and many more but sadly one of my favourites ’12:51′ was omitted. but 12:51 or no 12:51, i found myself moved by their set. emotionally moved, i couldn’t take it all in. i’d been drinking (heavily) in the sun all day and there i was watching the strokes blow thousands away with their thumping drums and amazing guitars. oh, and a leather-biker-jacket-clad jules wasn’t too bad on vox either. not wanting to look like a big baby, i held back the tears in front of the girlfriend, but i’m not ashamed to admit this gig, this festival, isle of wight did something to me. maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the booze, or maybe, just maybe, ’cause it was the fucking strokes.

(*apologies, in-house joke)

words by jamie day (twitter, blog)

the new mystery jets album (serotonin) is, quite simply, the album the drums wish they’d made. the perfect indie pop album. i’ve already listened to it about fifty times and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. it is that good.

spotify is good isn’t it. i really like it. i always find myself making playlist about this, playlist about that. then you can share them. brilliant. then, just to make things even more exciting you can get people to collaborate on them. i know. amazing, eh?

anyway, i’ve put one together that is all about my favourite tracks by any artist. basically you can’t have more than one track by any artist, but you can have as many artists you like. this isn’t one of the collaborative ones. this is mine. subscribe though. go on, because i change it and add to it quite a lot. also, let me know who i haven’t included yet because there are bound to be shit loads to be fair. just write the artist in the comments. i will then of course be embarrassed when there are no comments, but in my defence i haven’t really started pushing this about the web yet.

the best ever playlist. ever (spotify)

alright, so i figured i should probably get on with it and post something. to get us started here is the man i have been listening to as a relief from those vuvuzelas that there is no getting away from at the moment. ghostpoet is probably one of the most chilled out rappers i’ve heard in a long time. he basically talks about drinking, girls and life. his songs include humour and tell a story. a real life story at that. i can just imagine him waking up and writing down exactly what he’s doing, then rapping about it. in fact, i say rapping but i’m not convinced that’s the right word. i’ve seen it described as closer to a lullaby elsewhere so i’m just going to steal that. he hasn’t got poet in his name for no reason either… this is not your everyday rapper. micachu produces for him and you’ll see her feature on the superb ‘morning’ too.

ghostpoet / morning (featuring micachu)
youtube

keep your eyes peeled and follow us on twitter for now… @sockformation

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