live review: atp, nightmare before christmas. butlins, minehead. 9-11 december 2011.

And the live tweeting of #atpnbc begins. In fact, it begins with a coach transfer between Taunton and Minehead

— Tim Brown (@sockformation) December9, 2011

when i first posted a review based solely on my tweets it was basically a lazy way to review field day a couple of years ago. i developed the idea and wireless 2011 was what i perceived was the pinnacle. now, with the ability to embed tweets (you may have always been able to do this but i’ve only just found out), we’re taking it next level motherfuckers. you can reply, retweet and favourite. go fill your boots. it seems to slow down the site a bit though, so you’ll have to click to read… (more…)

the above is a picture of how i prepared myself to decide on my favourite ten albums of the year. i’ve sort of been thinking about it for a while and in the end sat down, made a list off the top of my head and by checking itunes and my last.fm from the past twelve months. that sort of thing. a few i’d forgotten about came back into the running and i got down to a short list of 30something. i succeeded in getting it down to ten. sort of. i have given an honourable mention to one outside the top ten as well because it just wouldn’t have been right not to. you’ll probably understand why when you see what it is. rather than a chart, this is a collection of the top ten in no order (actually, fuck that – i’ll post them alphabetically) other than number one. there always has to be a winner. one other thing to note is that this is just albums. three of my favourite records of the year are eps but i decided to exclude them. i expect i’ll make a post about some of my favourite things of the year in general over the next fortnight and summer camp, spectrals and girls will all feature heavily in this.

with apologies to those that just missed out, including but not restricted to mount kimbie, los campesinos!, kele, yeasayer, abe vigoda, blood red shoes, sleigh bells, girl talk, janelle monae and (the last album to be dropped) foals, here is the albums that are between my second and ninth favourite of 2010.

arcade fire. the suburbs. august.

brilliant story telling album, that just reaffirmed arcade fire as one of the most reliable bands for delivering quality with every record. buy here.

bombay bicycle club. flaws. july.

i cannot tell you just how many time i have stuck this on during my journey to work on a miserable morning and it has cheered me right up. buy here.

the black keys. brothers. may.

one of my gigs of the year and, to me, their most accesible album is also their best. buy here.

crystal castles. crystal castles (ii). april.

another band that excelled live. maybe not quite as good as the debut, but ‘celestia’ is one of the most beautiful yet thrilling things i have ever heard. buy here.

flying lotus. cosmogramma. may.

he’s in even more experimental mood than usual and when flying lotus experiments, the results are always both interesting and superb. buy here.

gayngs. relayted. may.

there is no way this album should work. ever. it does though. now you get twenty odd mates together and write an album inspired by one track from 35 years ago and see what you come up with. buy here.

mystery jets. serotonin. july.

the eel pie island boys have now made the perfect indie pop album. this is. fuck knows how they’re going to improve on this, but i can’t wait to hear them giving it a go. buy here.

no age. everything is borrowed. september.

a cleaner offering than nouns hasn’t meant that no age have lost any of their edge. this may be clean, but is also wonderfully dirty. buy here.

wavves. king of the beach. august.

the best of the lo-fi chill wave type albums that all but took over the world this summer. josh’s favourite album by the way, since you ask. buy here.

let’s have a bit of a drum roll then. the best album of the year isn’t even an album in the regular sense. it is a combination of previous eps and releases from a teenager with a talent for making the unlistenable listenable. when you can’t really make out the guitar, it doesn’t matter because you’re enjoying his voice. when the lack of production and lo-fi sound cracks through the speakers it doesn’t matter because that tune is perfect. i have listened to so little else over the last few weeks that even now as i write i can hear ‘water turns back’ in my head so perfectly that it is as if i have the album playing now.

cloud nothings. turning on. november (i think?)

if you don’t already own this, you need it now. let’s see if first album proper, due next year, will hold the same position this time next year. buy here.

and finally the special mention. i couldn’t leave this out, despite it not quite reaching the heights i hoped it would. i’m seeing the film on tuesday, and i’ll let you know if this goes from an 8/10 album to 10/10 like i hope it will. i love you thomas bangalter and guy-manuel de homem-christo.

daft punk. tron:legacy soundtrack. december. (buy here)

what have i missed? what shouldn’t be there? let me know in the comments. by the way. i am fully aware that the ’0′ at the end of the ‘top10′ text on the cover art graphics is slightly cut off. i noticed after i’d done the last one and couldn’t be fucked to fix it, so live with it.

christmas is coming. we know this because there are lights on oxford street and m&s is every other advert on tv at the moment, rather than every fourth advert like the rest of the year. i know what you’re thinking though. i wish sockformation would do some sort of christmas music buying guide because with the closure of woolworths we can no longer rely on their ‘cd of the week’ recommendations. you’re in luck. i have some ideas for everybody important in your life.

mums are always tricky to buy for and i suppose it depends somewhat on what type of mum you have. if your one is anything like mine she is trying to relive her youth and likes some real shit, but at the same time will listen to some pretty decent bands if i don’t give her a choice in the matter. ‘brothers‘ from the black keys is going to be perfect for my mum. she’ll love that, and i’m sure your mum will as well. failing that go for the tron legacy soundtrack.

buying for your dad can be a minefield of tedium (is that a word?). thankfully, there is the perfect antidote this year. all dads like david bowie, right? in fact, all people like david bowie, right? a tribute album, ‘we were so turned on‘ came out in september. it may not be perfect, but some great contributions via artists like warpaint, vivian girls and even a pretty decent bash at ‘life on mars?’ from keren ann make it well worthwhile. alternatively, how about the new tron legacy soundtrack?

i haven’t got a teenage sister, but if i did i know exactly what i’d buy her. first off, i’m assuming she likes all that current poppy rnb and hip hop that the youth of today listen to. trick her into listening to clapton, the ramones and pet shop boys, by getting her girl talk’s new one, ‘all day‘. it is business as he mixes in some classic examples of good music with stuff from ludacris, rhianna et al. she’ll love it. probably. if you don’t agree, get her the tron legacy soundtrack instead.

Your best mate is going to want something seriously good. not just that but something you can chat about and get excited about. another september release for them then. ‘everything in between‘ ticks all of those boxes and you know you are supplying your friend with quality. if they already have that i’d suggest going for the tron legacy soundtrack.

what to get your girlfriend? are you mental? don’t get her a cd. she can get all she wants off your itunes anyway, and she knows this. she’ll kill you if all you get her is a cd. be more imaginative. i’m not helping you with this one. unless you want to get her the tron legacy soundtrack. that’s a decent shout.

i don’t have a boyfriend, but i am one myself. what does every boyfriend want? the tron legacy soundtrack obviously. not me though. i have the limited edition version on pre-order, so it’d just be a waste.

i knew doing some live tweeting (follow me! follow me! @sockformation) would be invaluable. now all i have to do is copy & paste my tweets for a thorough field day run down. i’ve decided not to remove the bit when i mention i was published in the guardian this weekend (ahem). my phone battery died before phoenix as well, but i can confirm they were once again very good. probably. i don’t remember much from that point onwards.

enjoy. it is probably best to start at the bottom by the way.