The Black Keys have recruited Trash Humpers director Harmony Korine for the video to ‘Gold on the Ceiling’, and the result is just as bizarre as you would expect. Fantastic.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
13-15 & 20-22 April 2012
Empire Polo Club, California, USA
coachella.com

In a sentence
With two identical line ups on consecutive weeks, Coachella boasts what is probably the strongest overall line up in the world.

Headliners
The Black Keys
Radiohead
Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg

If you only see one band
This could have been anybody of dozens, but ignoring the headliners, I wouldn’t want to miss The Shins.

Hidden down the order
It shows the strength of the line up that Gaslamp Killer looks like he’ll be on very early on the final day.

Other sockformation favourites
Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, M83, GIRLS, The Horrors, Frank Ocean, SebastiAn, Yuck, Neon Indian, WU LYF, The Dear Hunter, Miike Snow, Jeff Mangum, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, Azealia Banks, A$AP Rocky, Buzzcocks, tUnE, yArDs, Black Lips, The Big Pink, Justice, Beirut, The Weeknd, Girl Talk, The Hives, DJ Shadow, Wild Flag, Modeselektor, Real Estate, First Aid Kit, Metronomy, Wild Beasts

live review: the black keys. alexandra palace, london. 10 february 2012.

I’d never been to a gig at Alexandra Palace before. The setting is of course beautiful. The acoustics not bad (also not perfect). The bar large enough to cope with the crowd. And it’s five minutes from my flat. Perfect basically. It is not your usual venue. It’s much closer to a festival set up with different food vendors and a large open space for the bar. I saw Bloc Party at Olympia a few years ago and it’s the same sort of set up.

Nobody gives a shit about me describing the venue though. Let’s talk music. The Black Keys are so damn good live. Dan Auerbach’s voice is as good as ever, whether revisiting older tracks from The Big Come Up or playing the brand new El Camino album. I love Patrick’s energetic drumming, although I’m convinced that he will end up with some serious back problems thanks to how hunched he gets over the drums. The way he bobs along means that even I, with my absolute lack of rhythm, can attempt to nod along in time.

It’s the combination of the band and the venue that really makes this worth talking about though. Just look at how big The Black Keys have become. It wasn’t so long ago that the band were considered a good, but low key, rock band with a blues edge. Over the past two albums they have become one of the biggest rock band on the world. Somehow they have managed to keep to the ideals that made them stand out in those early years, but also become huge. Properly huge. Huge enough to pack out Alexandra Palace for three straight days. And the venue and the band are the perfect match

Oh, and I hit a man for spilling my pint.

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)

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.

live review: the black keys. brixton academy. 2 november 2010

did you know you’re not allowed to take sharpies into brixton academy? seriously, what damage are you going to do with a sharpie, that you’re not going to do with a biro. in a way, biros are more dangerous because the felt tip of a sharpie will give somewhat compared to the solidness of a biro tip. do not fear though, the sharpies (that’s right, plural motherfucker) were returned undamaged after the show.

before we get onto the actual music itself, can i just talk about brixton academy a bit as well please. now, i know it has the brilliant sloping floor and is a decent size, but i have a list of things wrong with it. queues queues queues for the bar. you’re one of the biggest venues about… please get bigger bars. the cloakroom. okay, so cloakrooms everywhere are bad, but £2 per item? and you’re slow. very slow. the sound wasn’t bad last night, but i’ve had some very poor experiences with that. why split the men and women going in as well? there really is no need. i’ll let you off the heat because there are a shit load of people there, so there isn’t much you can do. all i know though is that i used to love that venue. not anymore. i’ve probably been there twenty times plus in my lifetime. i have one more planned there (foals next week), but after that i’m going to have a good think about going again. it annoys me. sorry. rant over.

so, the black keys. you multi-instrumental geniuses you. last night they were superb. not quite “the best gig i’ve ever been to” as emma described it, but very, very good. i couldn’t believe how much noise they managed to make between the two of them. playing a variety of tracks from the past two albums (‘brother’ really is a stupidly good album still) they, and i’ve always wanted to use this phrase, rocked the joint. you can tell that they both ooze talent as an hour and a bit simply flew by. at the end there wasn’t a disappointed face to be seen. they had to be good too or i’d have been well pissed. i missed tottenham’s glorious european night of pure footballing excellence to go to this gig. that is something. in fact, imagine if they’d had the game showing on a big screen? watching gareth bale tear inter milan apart while listening to ‘everlasting light’. amazing. that would get me back to brixton.

as an aside, i don’t understand the big hooha about support act, the walkmen. i don’t like them one bit. i don’t know why, but i don’t. their apparent biggest track, ‘the rat’, sounds like a sub-standard album track from the music. i love the music (the band, not the walkmen’s music), but nobody wants a sub-standard anything.