summer camp

New Music: Summer Camp. City


Posted by tim brown on 03 Jul 2012 / 0 Comment


What are the chances? WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? It’s the month I decide to dedicate to hip hop and sockformation uber-favourites Summer Camp tease us with another track before the release next week of their Always EP. What makes this amazing is that it features a verse from Jet Age of Tomorrow founder and Odd Future member Hal Williams. Therefore this automatically qualifies for #hiphopjuly. Listen to it below and then order the EP. I bought mine from this link right here because I wanted it on vinyl, but if you want to give me 3% or something feel free to click on one of the album covers to your right and search for it on Amazon.

Video(s): Twin Shadow. Five Seconds; Slow Club. Beginners; Summer Camp. Always


Posted by tim brown on 19 Jun 2012 / 0 Comment


There have been three excellent videos come out in the last couple of days, so thought I may as well put them all in the same post. I really should start some sort of weekly video post in fact if I’m going to keep posting loads. Anyway, first up is ‘Five Seconds’ by Twin Shadow. This was a free download last month and it’s great to see it get the video treatment. Not only is the song great, but the video is something special too. Apparently the story within is based on a book that George Lewis Jnr has written himself. Fancy. It also makes me ridiculously excited for his new album next month.

Next is ‘Beginners’ by Slow Club. It features Harry Potter wandering about The Faltering Fullback. If you’re ever in the area you should go to The Faltering Fullback. Great pub. It’s just a short walk from Finsbury Park station and not far from my house so you can pop round for a cup of tea afterwards. In related news, I played against Charles from Slow Club in a 5-a-side tournament on Saturday. he’s a pretty handy keeper.

Finally we have Summer Camp’s ‘Always’ from the forthcoming EP of the same name. It’s directed by Ollie Evans again and this time they’re just doing a quick bit of kidnapping and murdering in a camper van. As you do. Time for a bit of crazy golf as well. One thing though, they seem to have forgotten to ask me to be in it this time for some reason.

Live Review: Field Day. Victoria Park, London


Posted by tim brown on 04 Jun 2012 / 0 Comment


photo by tim boddy, photo editor of the 405.

live review: field day. victoria park, london. 2 june 2012.

Oh yes. It is Field Day and that means I get to Live Tweet. It was two years ago (not to the day because they’ve brought Field Day forward this year because of people from all around the world throwing spears and running around in circles during August) that I first live tweeted a festival, and that festival was Field Day. What fun.

Anyway, the day didn’t start off brilliantly if I’m honest with you.

Just to be clear, that fucking idiot was me. You can find out if Blood Orange waited for me later.

Those three tweets were just some rubbish stuff about my trip back to get my ticket. Worth mentioning though because walking in and seeing my rocking chair like that WAS THE SCARIEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. I’m pretty sure that it was moving slightly too. Also, a nice little plug for #coffeeonbusesplease.

That was me being hilarious because it was still a good few hours until Summer Camp were on. The queues outside were big though. I don’t really know what the organisers can do about it because they have to do the security checks of course, but where they have the entrance it is quite limited for width so they can’t just stick in a shit load more aisles. I do think that it is something that needs to be looked at though.

Blood Orange didn’t wait for me.

Let’s get on and talk about some actual music that I managed to see shall we. Starting with a band I had never heard before, but fell instantly in love with. Sunless 97.

Don’t listen to that kids. It isn’t big or clever.

It didn’t work, and Natalie & I are still yet to consummate out relationship.

I have lost count of the number of times I’ve seen Summer Camp now, but they never disappoint. I think I’m a groupie. On this occasion it was later revealed that Elizabeth was ill and had a sore throat (I think they’ve had to cancel a couple of shows on the back of it), but none of us had any ideas. Flawless once again. They revisited tracks from their very early days and threw in some from the forthcoming EP. They also replied to this tweets telling me that they are very much in love with me too. I’ve printed it out, framed it and it’s now on my kitchen wall.

The stain was obviously God punishing me for missing Zulu Winter, but the ostrich burger was fucking good.

It occurred to me later that perhaps this was to make up for the fact that Imbruglia couldn’t be delivered. Life then punched me squarely in the face though when her boyfriend turned up and they started kissing very publicly. I’m pretty certain that if he hadn’t been there we would have gone home together.

I’m a bloody idiot. I meant ‘A Thing For Me’. I think people knew this though. It is a great remix and Elizabeth Sankey agrees because she retweeted me. Take a quick break and go and listen to it here. Wow. Enjoy that? Good. More people should put donks on things.

And then my battery died. I can tell you that Franz Ferdinand in the rain was pretty special though. I wish I’d taken a jacket though.

This was a good Field Day. A very good Field Day. The queues outside were still huge, but once within the walls everything was much better than last year. More room in the tents, better bar processes and the toilets… well, nobody will ever solve the problem of queues at festival toilets. Ultimately though it is the quality of the artists that makes a festival and Field Day had them in bucket loads. There were plenty more I could have seen, and the depth of the bill was superb. I’ll be back next year.

New Music: Summer Camp. Life


Posted by tim brown on 16 May 2012 / 0 Comment


I’m bloody ruddy busy at the moment so didn’t think I’d be posting anything right now. If there is one thing that will force me to post though it is NEW SUMMER CAMP MUSIC. They’ve announced a new EP, Always, which will be out on 9th July. Plus, they’re letting us stream one of the tracks right now. It’s a move forward in sound that I’ve heard them start to bring to the fore in recent live performances. Elizabeth’s vocals ensure this is unmistakable Summer Camp though. I also love the way it ends so abruptly. Sorry, I’ve just spoilt the end if you haven’t already listened haven’t I.

Download: Summer Camp. Autour de la Lune. (Round the Moon, French Version)


Posted by tim brown on 12 Mar 2012 / 0 Comment


I bloody love Summer Camp. I also bloody love France. Part of my bloody loving France is bloody loving French Music. Here, possibly to celebrate their upcoming French tour, possibly just to show off, Jeremy and Elizabeth are doing their best Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot impression. This is a new version of their brilliant ‘Round the Moon’, or as the French say ‘Autour de la Lune’.

Video: Summer Camp. Losing My Mind


Posted by tim brown on 01 Mar 2012 / 0 Comment


One of the best tracks from sockformation’s 2011 album of the year gets a video. And what a great video it is. Directed by Ollie Evans, the man behind Tom Vek’s ‘A Chore’, it is inspired by awkward family photos. I was filmed for it as well but got cruelly discarded like a coffee revel. Probably for the best though as I would have only got overshadowed by Puck the cat. Anybody who reads this blog and is yet to buy Welcome to Condale or see the band perform live should stop and have a very hard look at themselves by the way.

New Music: Summer Camp. Losing My Mind (Saint Etienne Remix)


Posted by tim brown on 17 Feb 2012 / 0 Comment


I love it when favourite bands of mine come together. Here we have Saint Etienne remixing Summer Camp. Super. The remix is of ‘Losing My Mind’, which I think is Summer Camp’s next single. I should really remember as there is a certain low rent music blogger featuring in the video. I won’t tell you who, but I look even more ridiculous than I did in ‘Down‘. I’ve totally forgotten which song it was for though. Anyway, I imagine I’ll post about it real soon.

albums of the year. 2011


Posted by tim brown on 29 Dec 2011 / 0 Comment


how was your christmas? mine has been fun. present wise, i finally own a record player meaning that i can now play the piles of vinyl i’ve built up due to my complete lack of self restraint when faced with a pretty looking 12″. no longer will i have to shift uneasily or change the subject when somebody when i get home from flashback records and emma asks me why i’ve bought another record. having said that, 2011 has once again been dominated by digital music of course. your spotify account now links to your facebook, everybody has their top three played artists of the week feed through from their last.fm to twitter and you can’t move on the tube for people with a pair of beats headphones plugged into their iphone. some artists are fighting back though. it is not unusual to see a band release lovely vinyl versions of their albums with limited edition t-shirts, posters or chocolate brownies. but they still have to include that code for the digital download of course.

enough of all that though. let’s get on with the list. once again, i’ve nominated a top ten, with a single winner and then an extra addition which i simply couldn’t ignore. the 2011 apologies for just missing out go to battles, emmy the great, the kills, pj harvey, the pains of being pure at heart and last year’s winner cloud nothings.

bon iver. bon iver

he’s still a miserable fucker, but compared to for emma, forever ago this is positively rainbows & puppies. let mr iver take you on tour of his favourite places while he sits alone in a vets. (buy here)



girls. father, son, holy ghost

their ep was one of my favourites of 2010 and this full length is a worthy successor. in a year when the beach boys announced they’re reforming for 2012, girls released an album that any californian worth their salt would be proud off. (buy here)



the horrors. skying

i’m still at a loss as to how a band can improve so immeasurably (actually, you can measure it. only in terms of back to the future though). still debating whether it’s as good as primary colours, but who would i have thought they’d be anywhere near this list four years ago? (buy here)



lykke li. wounded rhymes

oh lykke. we all love lykke. her second album ticked all the boxes about growing up and while not as instantly pickupable (real word) as her first is far more accomplished overall. (buy here)



m+a. things.yes

this was the album that i could just put on this year and drift away. what a a truly beautiful album. (buy here)



metronomy. the english riviera

what isn’t to love about this album? nothing. the perfect advert for tourism of the english coast. (buy here)



times new viking. dancer enquired

there are lots of bands producing that lo-fi sound that i love so at the moment. the greatest example of the year though came not from a teenage genius in his bedroom, but a five-album veteran three piece. (buy here)



tom vek. leisure seizure

so excited i was about the release of this album that i dedicated a day to tom vek day. any other year he would have probably walked off with the winner’s badge. tom vek is back in a big way. (buy here)



yuck. yuck

the first new album i listened to of the year. a great start it was too. especially for a sonic youth and cajun dance party fan like myself. (buy here)


so, who wins? if you’ve been an avid reader of this blog over the year i’m sure you already know. a couple of years ago nobody knew whether they were a swedish collective or an east london teen. it transpired that they were in fact a guy who was already established as solo artist in his own right, and a girl who was a music journalist – and had in fact been asked to cover the band before people knew their true make up. i’ve seen them over a dozen times live and i hoped the album would live up to the high standards they’d set. it more than did.

summer camp. welcome to condale

summer camp introduced us to the fictional american town of condale. with teen crushes, a burgeoning rock band and ultimately death, welcome to condale and the accompanying fanzine takes us through an americana dream. it isn’t just the story that makes this album so good though. elizabeth has the sort of voice that is recognisable and easy to listen to. jeremy knows more about electronic instruments and how to use them than i know about cheese. the songs have more variety than early releases did and straight away remove the risk of becoming bored of the sound. this is a worthy winner. as an aside, if i was writing a list of my live performances of the year, i fancy summer camp’s gig at efes would top that too. (buy here)



alex turner. submarine original songs

i couldn’t complete the list without giving a shout out to alex turner’s soundtrack to submarine as well. my favourite film of the year was also my favourite soundtrack. just six tracks long, but it was pretty much all i listened to for a period earlier in the year. superb songs, brilliantly performed. (buy here)

in case you’ve ignored all of my subtle hints to buy the albums mentioned, you can listen to them all on this handy spotify playlist.

live review: summer camp. efes, london


Posted by tim brown on 19 Nov 2011 / 0 Comment



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.

news: i’m back


Posted by tim brown on 10 Nov 2011 / 0 Comment


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.