whenever my seven-year old son is visiting, i always make sure to take full advantage and get him to give me his views on some music for me. this is simply another example of my laziness for writing posts myself. he tends to have pretty decent taste in music (although i’m not happy about his elvis costello review here), and knows what he likes. he used to love little man tate, so it isn’t any surprise to see him like his a couple of those that he does below. plus, all kids love professor green don’t they?

arctic monkeys. hellcat spangled shalalala
yeah, i didn’t like the beginning but i really like the drumming.
3.5 stars

beastie boys. don’t play no game that i can’t win (ft. santogold)
i don’t like this. there is nothing good about it.
1.5

elvis costello. sparkling day
he’s the man on the wall in your flat and in the restaurant the other day (banners) isn’t he. i don’t like the song though. it sounds weird.
2

emeli sande. heaven
oh no. i’ve heard this before and don’t like it.
1

the pigeon detectives. lost
the actual song is quite good actually.
3

professor green. at your inconvenience
it’s quite a good one. i like the words and like that he is angry.
4.5

wretch 32. don’t go (ft josh kumra)
i don’t like his voice.
2.5

thanks josh. as insightful as ever.

it’s been a quiet month here on sockformation thanks to me moving and finding out that virgin media can’t service my flat. the shits. that means that the playlist for june doesn’t fit in with the posts quite as simply. that’s nice in a way though as you can hear what i’ve been listening to on the bus every morning instead.

one of the mains things is monsieur serge gainsbourg. i watched the biopic and my obsession with all things to do with cool french people smoking just increased. what a man. anybody who has ever looked at the header here will know that i’m a bardot fan of course, but funnily enough after watching the film i’ve decided that serge and jane birkin are my new couple crush. what a pair they were. having said that it’s a bardot duet that i’ve gone and included on here so that makes little sense.

you can get your playlist here and i’ll be back with more frequent posts soon.

one of the many things that tom vek does well is wear glasses. i wear glasses as well, but he wears them better. what better list to compile then than my favourite glasses wearers in music. not only is it a catchy title, but it gives me another chance to compile a list.

i’ve decided not to include tom vek himself. today is all about him already and i don’t want it going to his head. there are also a number of other omissions. some are explained in the top five itself, but i should say sorry to elton john. he always gets in these lists, so i’m letting somebody else have a go for once. others that came close were graham coxon, the bloke from semisonic, jarvis cocker, jeremy warmsley, timmy mallet, judge jules and all three from cleopatra.

5: craig david
i decided it necessary to include a blind person. they all wear sunglasses very well and i like their style. it could have been ray charles or stevie wonder, but surely the most famous of all blind musicans is craig david.

4: elvis costello
i love elvis costello. he’s even my twitter avatar. he has similar glasses to me and is a bit of an icon for me. the space could easily have been taken by buddy holly or hank marvin, but it’s my list and i’ve chosen elvis costello.

3: kanye west
i don’t like kanye west. let me make that clear. it’s just what happens when you sample daft punk in such an atrocious way. i also don’t like those crappy slanty shade things he wore. you have to give him some props for them though because what else would knobheads wear to late to yates’s in the summer.

2: john lennon
he made those little round specs his own didn’t he.

1: lisa loeb
in number one spot it has to be lisa loeb. would ‘stay (i missed you)’ have been so successful without those leopard print beauties? would she have got a song on the soundtrack to the rugrats movie if she didn’t have that affiliation with chuckie? i’m certain she wouldn’t have managed to keep recording for so long if she wore contacts. she is the ultimate glasses wearing musician.

well done lisa. in case you can’t use google, here are pictures of each of the other four winners.

this was my christmas. 9am. josh got up. later than expected. open stocking. 10am. kedgeree. good. 10.30am. open presents. i’m getting a bike so i had a book and some lights. josh got a table football table. ben 10 ds game. lego. lots of bits basically. 11.30am. to my brother’s with the family. guinness on arrival. 12.30am open presents. i got a massive daft punk print. josh got an ant world and chemistry set. i see danger and mess ahead. 1.30pm. sister in law’s family arrive. rum is given to me. good. more guinness. 4pm. dinner. very good. brother and his wife’s first effort. impressive. red wine. 5pm. christmas pudding. custard. excellent. 6pm. rapidough. lager. 7pm. shout out loud. lager. 8pm. london underground game. lager. 9pm. four player mario kart on the wii. i won. lager. 10pm. christmas cake. black bomber & biscuits. lager. 11pm. sports resort on the wii. i won. midnight. fifa on the wii. i won.

what this basically means is that i don’t know what to post about. how about a spotify playlist to relax on a boxing day to? perfect.

boxing day playlist (spotify)

if you’d like to know who’s included, probably best to check the tags at the bottom as i can’t be arsed to write out the full playlist here

i fucking love elvis costello. he’s influenced everybody from bret easton ellis to theophilus london (post about mr london coming up soon) to my very own choice of eyewear. he has released details about his upcoming album today. entitled ‘national ransom’, out on october 25 and featuring the above artwork, the track listing looks like this…

national ransom
national ransom
jimmie standing in the rain
stations of the cross
a slow drag with josephine
five small words
church underground
you hung the moon
bullets for the new-born king
i lost you
dr watson, i presume
one bell ringing
the spell that you cast
that’s not the part of him you’re leaving
my lovely jezebel
all these strangers