Swittishness and good tunes...

A lack of posts recently is down to the fact that i'm seasonnairing in Switzerland for the winter so there aint gonna be much new music. I'll probably post pictures up when i can and recommend some beats for pure mountain enjoyment, but check out all the links on the right for up to date tunage.

Pure Groove records just sent me this crimbo mixtape so get the fire going and blast it out instead of the usual Cliff Richard and Fairytale Of New York malarkey.

Pure Groove Christmas Mixtape Side A

Pure Groove Christmas Mixtape Side B

There's tracks on there from Noah and the Whale, Eugene McGuinness, Lightspeed Champion, Jay Jay Pistolet, Beans on Toast and Chris T. Worth cocking a snook at I reckon.

Merry christmas y'all and a happy new year from the land of Clocks and Chocolate and snow and bell ringing.

Queue and Eh? - Little Joy Box...

I was introduced to Little Joy Box by Huw Stephens and his new music unsigned show on Radio1 a few weeks back. The track that hooked me in was Son of Dog, and after hearing the rest of their tunes on Myspace I had to contact LJB's creative voice, Sara, for more info.

Vital statistics (name, age, location etc)
A lady should never be asked to reveal her age, but I can tell you that i am, by birth and technicality an essex girl, though London is but a stones throw away!

How long have you been actively making music?
Little Joy Box was born about a year ago but before that I was playing bass, gigging and co-writing in The Itchy Tits (an all girl punk/rock band of friends I met at uni) for nearly 5 years which was great fun!

When did you realise that music was what you wanted to do?
My Mamma is a singer and had a contract with EMI when I was in the womb, in fact she was still gigging a week before i popped out so it's likely that I decided to do music about then!!

How did the name come about?
"Joy" in my opinion, is the ultimate word to describe happiness and I defo wanted that in the project. Put "Joy" with "Box" and (if you have a dirty mind) it can sound a bit rude, lol, but add "Little" to the front and it distracts from this and makes the name sound cutesy!

Does your location inform the music?
Hmm.. does Essex inform the music? Not intentionally, but i guess it must have an impact somewhere; circumstance, social, emotional situations are likely to impress my brain to paper.

What inspires you?
Gosh, if I analyse (haha i just noticed that anal makes up part of the word analyse!) my songs are about annoyances, animals, my Jesus complex, lost and future loves and sexuality, but i'm actually quite a nice simple girl in reality, these songs must just be a kind of cathartism!

What do you imagine people are doing when they listen to your music?
When people listen to my music they are either; loving it loathing it; busy being indifferent; eating, sleeping, going to the toilet, making babies, skipping and jumping all at once or not at all!

Favourite gig moment so far?
A lovely girl who randomly came to one of my gigs and is now a good friend told me that she liked my voice as it reminded her of chocolate, i liked that compliment!

Is there a particular song you like playing live?
When I play with my band, I like singing 'Hodgeheg' best as it's all jazzed up and about a hedgehog whose husband is cruel to her, so she decides that she "just can't deal with man's extra leg" and would "rather bat for the other side instead"

Have you a favourite moment from your career so far?
My most memorble JOY gig so far has to be my debut, when my loveable keyboardist didn't make it to the venue until the end of my 2nd song and then jumped on stage set up and played flawlessly through to the end of the set. It was kinda a Crystal Maze moment!

If my music was a fighting style it would be...
...akin to Buffy slayering demons whilst being witty in a US sitcom kind of way but being oh so girly at the same time. (or Mr Miagi; wax on, wax off!-who knows why?)

If I could be in any other band it would be...
...Queens of the Stone Age on their Songs for the Deaf tour and I'd be Dave Grohl pounding the drums!!

Are you signed to a label?
LJB is in discussion with labels but as of yet no pen has been put to paper.

Is your music available to buy?
There is a short run of JoY demo E.P'S which are to hand at gigs or on request via email.

Plans for the future?
Plans for the future all entail making JOY an epidemic!!!!

Thanks to Sara for taking the time to answer my reasonably cliched interview questions. Check out Son of Dog below, and when it's all over the blog-o-world in '08 don't cry when I said I told you so. Also, just put up on the Myspace is their cover of Pop-Hop track Hey Ya by the usually dependable Outkast. It's rather good I tell thee.

Little Joy Box - Son of Dog (YSI)

Little Joy Box - Hey Ya (Outkast) (YSI)

Little Joyspace

Squajillion Dollar DJs...

Bah, humbug the lot of ya. Billion Dollar DJs were good enough to send me their new mix, one created entirely from bleeps and bloops available on myspizzace, and by the time i get round to posting it it's already been downloaded 30,000 times and featured on kazillions of blogs.

Well done anyway boys, clearly big tings a gwarn for the future. If you're digging on this make sure to check out their Halloween mix posted in... October.

The MySpace Mix Compiled and Mixed by

Billion Dollar Djs

Click here to download

Frikstailers - Foonkie Boogie
Blackpool - Two Kids
Niyi - 808 Clapa
MK303 - Floos (Remix B)
Blamma! Blamma! - Carry Me Home
Catherine Ferroyer-Blanchard - Tu Fais Le Malina
The Faint - iDisappear
Matthew Savant Mix)
Arrow!!! - D.O.E.S (Demo)
Pimp The System - PTS Anthem
Lismore - All That You Are
Snowden - Black Eyes
Le Castle Vania Remix)
The Twelves - I Feel Fine
Trippple Nippples - RIP Meat
Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya - Fuck Friend
Flamingo Crash - Yes? Yes? Yes?
Shoot Charlie - Boaster
The Genevan Heathen - Swagger (feat Omnikrom)
You Say Party! We Say Die! - The Gap (Between The Rich And The Poor)
SIBOT - 12345
Glass Candy - Digital Versicolor

Karoshi Brothers could take Mario and Luigi down...

Recently i've been seeking out songs that soundtrack my life, were i a pro snowboarder. All songs like this fresh(ish) Karoshi Brothers track sound infinitely better when you can see Gigi Ruf dropping hammers on back-country kickers or Nicolas Muller popping off a cliff band on his way down a steep ass hill in your mind's eye.

I'm sure the press release for the song involved a combination of the phrases "anime-pop", "manga-disco", "Pokemon" and "Industrial-strength acid", because pretty much every review contains those words. And I thought journalists were hard-working types, not lazy hacks! (Note to self: get hold of industrial-strength acid)

Karoshi Bros - Love Da World
Karoshi Bros - Love Da World (Flash Atkins remix)

The Flash Atkins remix is great for when you want to escape those "cheeky" (another press cull) vocals and bliss out with the rolling bassline.

Bonus Turbo Points: Their label is based in Manchester. Big up the north.



Karoshispace

The Monday Chiller #26 - The Cinematic Orchestra...

Some of the more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed a dearth of posts on the Eclectic Hermit in the past few weeks. I wish I could say that my recent hiatus has been down to my constant pursuit of musical perfection and that i'm now able to present to you the most aurally pleasing sounds of the year. However, all i've been doing is working, drinking, planning for trips and most recently, getting into Jazz. More on the Jazz front later.

On the 14th of December i'm off to Switzerland to work as a ski guide for the winter. It's going to be great for me but not so much for the blog, which may well grind to a standstill while i'm away. Before I go i'll try to do as many posts as possible, which are set to include a couple of Q&As with bands that should be on your radar, and some electronica related goodness. Mashed potato anyone?

So for one of the last Monday Chillers here is some Cinematic Orchestra, a group specially bred for the purpose of appearing on this blog and giving the listener nigh-on 7 minutes of uninterrupted meditation. Sit back, turn up the volume, and enjoy a sample of our show.

The Cinematic Orchestra - Wheel Within A Wheel

The track comes from Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Exclusives CD, released in 2004. It's kind of taken me three years to get round to listening to it properly, but now that I have it'll go straight on the stereo when I need something to chill me to the core.

Buy some Cinematic Orchestra
Buy Worldwide Exclusives

Orchestraspace