if you have been partying as hard as the awesome people in the picture above this christmas, you may not feel like a trip to the shops to find amazing one off deals that you will never be able to find again (at least until february anyway, but then you’ll have to pay the increased vat. and that will amount to 25p for every tenner you spend). never fear though. i have done the hard work for you and found the very best deals on music related shit to be found on amazon. this has absolutely nothing to do with me being an amazon associate and getting a percentage of everything you spend. honest. please use the links i provide though. just for, erm, just do. thanks.

[edit - before you read this paragraph, please bear in mind it is a joke. don't stop reading just because you think i am a secret nickleback fan. i am not. apparently this was not made obvious. usually i wouldn't mind and would let it slide, but detest them so feel i must set the record straight on this occasion. thanks]. first off, check out all these mp3 you can get for 59p. that’s right. it includes gabrielle cilmi who was on never mind the buzzcocks a while back. or, how about this. remember ‘rhythm is a dancer’ by snap? well you can pick up the 2008 edition which also somehow manages to be the original! that’s clever. the fun doesn’t stop there though. two words for you. nickleback & ‘rockstar’. don’t miss out on this amazing chance to pick up the song that made dfs famous. grab your download now. the full list is here. even better than all those expensive choices though, you can get a cover of that matt cardle song by some band called biffy clyro for just 49p. amazing! they’ve changed the name though.

on the album side of things, there are actually a few genuinely good deals to be had. buy arcade fire’s fantastic ‘the suburbs’ for a fiver and get pretty much any other decent album for £2. the extra albums include klaxons, foals, the black keys and loads more. take up the offer here. it doesn’t have the be arcade fire as the first album by the way. you can mix and match all sorts. there are a few large collections available at a good price too. ‘unearthed’ johnny cash is there for just £19.59, which saves you over £50 apparently. and you can save over £40 by getting bob marley’s ‘songs of freedom’.

it can be nicer to have a proper actual cd in your hand though. here are five quick deals i found for you:

vampire weekend. contra. £3.99

bombay bicycle club. flaws. £4.49

laura marling. i speak because i can. £4.47

janelle monae. the archandroid. £4.93

gorillaz. plastic beach. £3.99

elsewhere you’ll also find 10% off quite a few ipods. there are also some great deals on docks, including this fantastic gear4 one or this ridiculously cheap veho 360 option.

as for me, i bought josh a harmonica as part of his christmas present, so i think i’ll be getting him this as well.

sorry for the sales pitch type post, but i didn’t have much to post about and thought this may be useful to somebody somewhere. i’ll be posting some review from mr joshua river brown tomorrow to make up for it.

coming up over the christmas period i’m with the family and all that jazz for most of the time so posts might be a little irregular. i’ll be trying to do a couple of features though and a few spotify playlists. first off, this one. i’ve chosen my favourite track from each of the 2010 albums of the year i picked, other than those that aren’t on spotify. as an extra bonus i’ve put in my choices from my favourite three eps from 2010 as well. what’s more, my two favourite singles that aren’t on any of those records (still with me?) are here too… that’s ‘the sea is a good place to think of the future’ and spanish sahara’ by the way.

sockformation’s top ten albums of 2010 and then some other tracks as well (spotify)

live review: foals. brixton academy. 12 november 2010

i remember the first time i saw foals at field day in 2008. on the way there my friend was getting all excited because he’d seen them a couple of times before but this was to be my first time. “there is nothing like seeing foals for the first time” he kept saying. he was almost right.

i’ve seen them many times since but this was the first time emma had seen them. i took the role of my friend this time with the excitement of going with somebody who has never seen them before. i don’t know why though. each and every time they have been superb. they manage to create this amazing balance between beautiful soft instrumentals and frankly mental energetic craziness. there aren’t many bands i will let get away with a long instrumental (i fall asleep whenever i remember flea’s 20-minute solo for red hot chili peppers at reading a few years ago), but foals excel at it. yannis get medieval on the drums is an experience that can’t be replicated.

emma loved the gig, but i did just as much. my friend was sort of correct, in that he was saying how good a live band they are. he was wrong that there is nothing like it though. i enjoy them now as much as i did then, and i imagine i always will.

it’s the mercury music prize tonight. i think wild beasts or foals should win. i think paul weller will win. or the xx. probably weller though.

so, reading festival, then. traditionally the home of hard rawk and the a-level celebration. on this year’s evidence, the latter very much dominated – you were never more than six feet away from a honey-limbed 18 year old in a class of 2010 hoodie. but who cares when the line-up’s this good.

pulled apart by horses made an early bid for performance of the weekend, killing the festival republic stage with a tight, energetic set. great song titles too, including ‘i punched a lion in the throat’; ‘e=mc hammer’ and ‘high five, swan dive, nose dive.’ from rock gods in the making to rock has-beens at the end of friday night, guns n roses turned up onstage an hour late and, my sources told me, performed a set nearly as bloated and lame as axl himself. i went for lcd soundsystem instead, who ran the gamut from their jokey electroclash beginnings through to the grown up dance music of their latest album this is happening. a class act.

onto saturday and mystery jets, who’ve come such a long way since their eel pie island, dad-in-the-band days. they might just have sneaked the song of the festival, not to mention the summer, with ‘after dark’, while the rest of the set showed a wholly enjoyable self confidence that left no one in any doubt that this band are here for the long haul.

a few notches up the bill, the maccabees combined a similar maturity and also self-deprecation at their thoroughly deserved main stage slot. singer orlando weeks’ voice has a real melancholy to it and songs such as ‘love you better’, ‘can you give it’ and ‘precious time’ got me a little teary eyed, i’m not ashamed to admit.

the libertines’ performance was on time and filled with all the hits and bromance you’d expect – get a room you two! note to axl rose, if pete doherty can do it, you’ve really got no excuse. arcade fire’s slot above the boys of albion was technically good and ticked all the boxes: great songs, lots of instrument swapping, régine chassagne’s silvery prom dress, but i just didn’t feel it as a headline performance. a lot of the festivalgoers, particularly the kids, seemed to agree, eschewing montreal’s finest to watch the rabble rousing pendulum on the radio one stage instead.

and then there was sunday. the weather didn’t know what to do – heavy rain, sun, wind – and the crowd were a little befuddled by that point too after a 48 hour diet of cider, bad burgers and no sleep. local natives soothed the bruised and the broken with gorgeous harmonies and songs about lost love. without question, one of my highlights. which is more than can be said for the drums. now, obviously, it’s not entirely their fault they were hyped to oblivion at the start of 2010, but really, boys, stop the posturing until you have the songs to match. otherwise, you’ll be just another bravery. and no one wants that.

living up to the promise of their early career, foals delivered a far more engaging performance that managed to be both intimate and huge at the same time. songs such as ‘spanish sahara’ and ‘miami’ from total life forever blended well with their earlier, more frenetic work.

over on the main stage it was left to the more mature artists – weezer, cypress hill and headliners blink 182 to the bring the party to a close in spectacular style. while klaxons’ set headlining the radio 1 stage was patchy – good when playing ‘echoes’ or anything from their first album, boring when attempting anything from their second effort – blink 182’s piece de resistance had the drum riser flipped upside down with the drummer suspended in the air. now that’s how to show the kids how it’s done.

words by helen parton

with the hardest working day of the week now consigned to water cooler history, and only four office days left until field day festival i thought i’d get home, relax and put my weary feet up with some terrible television. i wanted terrible but watchable tv. you know, shit, but still leaves you feeling warm inside (surprise surprise, howard’s way, that kind of thing). to my annoyance i’ve painfully just watched the first 41 seconds of ‘snog marry avoid?’ and i’m left questioning our existence. but instead of writing a tear and blood stained final message directed at jenny frost, ‘pod’ and overweight orange girls giving them the satisfaction they crave, i’ve instead gone through my itunes to make a rather more life embracing note of my favourite five albums of 2010 so far. so for all those looking for something other to do than start gang warfare against glowing perma-tan girls, go listen to the following…

foals. ‘total life forever’
raising the bar not just for bands from studious oxford, but for all british bands right now. amazing. 9
favourite song… ‘spanish sahara’

arcade fire. ‘the suburbs’
not out for a few days yet, but thankfully for us (but not their bank manager) it’s leaked and is currently set on repeat on my iphone. quite brilliant. 9
favourite song… ‘ready to start’

mystery jets. ‘serotonin’
the strongest middle of an album i’ve heard in a long time, irresistibly catchy. 8
favourite song… ‘show me the light’

avi buffalo. ‘avi buffalo’
sounds like the album mgmt tried (but failed) to make with their second offering. poppy and summery, lovely stuff. 7
favourite song… ‘truth sets in’

yeasayer. ‘odd blood’
in places sounds like a perfect pilled up, loved up, (but still relatively calm) summer rave. odd blood, odd sounds and oddly scattered bits of genius. 7
favourite song… ‘love me girl’

so there you have it, my top five. a special mention should also go to sleigh bells, the coral and two door cinema club who just failed to make the grade, i’m sure they’re crying into their supper right now. with that written, i’m off to watch ‘lee nelson’s well good show’. someone pass me a gun.

words by jamie day (twitter, blog)

do you see what i’ve done with the title there? probably my proudest moment. anyway, the mercury prize nominations have been announced. as the title suggests, gorillaz have missed out. i’m disappointed. out of those that have made it, i’d probably like to see foals or wild beasts win it please. thanks.

so, those nominations in full..

biffy clyro. only revolutions
corinne bailey. rae the sea
dizzee rascal. tongue n’ cheek
foals. total life forever
i am kloot. sky at night
kit downes. trio golden
laura marling. i speak because i can
mumford & sons. sigh no more
paul weller. wake up the nation
the xx. xx
villagers. becoming a jackal
wild beasts. two dancers

i’m more excited about the popjustice twenty quid music prize probably.

album review: foals. total life forever. 10 may 2010. transgressive

every year there are one or two albums that completely blow me away. the kind of album that if i was listening to it on a cassette during my pubescent days, would have died in a pile of thin black tape after only a few listens. last year it was the brilliant ‘primary colours’ by the horrors, played to a point where i knew the songs so well, i felt like i wrote them.

this year it has to be ‘total life forever’ the second album from foals. every song is just the right length, even ‘spanish sahara’ at almost seven minutes leaves the listener begging for more. it’s quiet and timid to begin with but then brilliantly, leaves you just when it finally arrives. after the first listen ‘after glow’ was the one track i struggled with out of all of the oxford lads’ offerings, but on reflection and after countless plays it’s now up there, knocking about with my other favourites on the 2010 musical pedestal (alongside previously mentioned ‘spanish sahara’, ‘this orient’, ‘total life forever’ and ‘black gold’). best part of the track? skip to roughly three minutes in and it transforms from a melancholic growl into an explosion of funky beats that get my head a-nodding and feet a-tap tap tapping.

the vocals on this album push yannis to a level he didn’t even attempt on ‘antidotes’ and the lyrics seem personal. the music is catchier than ever and the songs have that “i need to see these live” effect (foolishly i turned down the chance to see them in camden a few weeks ago, what a twat i am).

i should have reviewed ‘total life forever’ when it leaked in the weeks leading up to it’s official release, but sometimes it’s best not to rush an opinion. i’m now convinced it belongs in the list of the elite albums i’ve heard in recent years. i don’t declare to know everything about music and i’m not hip enough to know every trendy band that’s filling the shoreditch gutters, but i do know that this is an album that will last. well, at least until next year…

8.5

words by jamie day (twitter, blog)