Tom Vek! Where aaaarrrre yyyoooouuu?...

Seriously Tom, it's time to bring out some new material. The Blue Nile took 17 years between albums but that doesn't mean you have to try and match their record. I'm sure the new stuff will be good, and if it's not, then you can do a Prodigy and come back in 7 years with a half-arsed sophomore attempt.

Don't know Tom Vek? The guy invented New Rave! Not really, but he was blurring the lines between dance and and indie way before the current sweep of Dindie/Indiance artists.

MP3: Tom Vek - Things Are Here To Stay

To be fair, during his hiatus Tom has managed to appear on The O.C.

The Monday Chiller #24 - Johnny Flynn...

Johnny Flynn is one of those annoyingly multi-talented people who seem to be good at everything, especially when it comes to making music. Along with his band The Sussex Wit he creates good old-fashioned folk/pop music with no hint of pretension that serves as a complete antithesis to the current trend in certain scenes (i'm looking at you, Hoxton).

New single 'The Box' is getting a good push on 6music at the moment, get on down to Flynnspace to hear it in all its 96kb/s Myspace glory.

MP3: Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit - Oh, To Eat An Apple (Thanks to The Daily Growl)

And in case you missed it first time around, Brown Trout Blues is one of my favourite songs of the year and is well worthy of a re-posting.

MP3: Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit - Brown Trout Blues

'I could be somewhere else,

I should be someone else but,

I guess i'm happy as I am.
Sometimes I find it hard to be a man,
and it's easier just to play the same old game,
of trying to forget my bloody name.'

With lyrics like that at age 24, you know the guy has a future in music.

Flynnspace
The Box is out 12th November on Vertigo

Super Turbo bonus material:

The Black Cab Sessions Chapter 1: Johnny Flynn

The Black Cab Sessions, Chapter 12: Langhorne Slim and Johnny Flynn

I'm afraid that you've caught me by surprise...

Crystal Castles are playing as part of the Vice Unitaur over the next couple of weeks with French noise-makers The Teenagers and These New Puritans who I haven't actually listened to yet.

Get yourself over to this link to sign up for free tickets and get ya groove on, although if it's wall-to-wall with hipsters that could be harder than first imagined.

MP3: Crystal Castles - Trash Hologram

See you at The Faversham suckas.

The Monday Chiller #23 - Radiohead...

Surely everyone who wanted the album has got it by now, and even those who weren't sure couldn't cock a snook at a new record that was, for all intents and porpoises, free.

MP3: Radiohead - All I Need

All I Need is my favourite track from In Rainbows because it manages to sound unlike Radiohead, but then at the same time it sounds entirely like Radiohead. Purpose-built for a spot on The Monday Chiller.

The sounds of Claire Sweeney
Dead Air Space

Trick or Beats...

Shittybeatz aka Ric and Dan were kind enough to send me their new mix under the revised moniker Billion Dollar DJs. Here's what they have to say about it:

"Its a horror themed mix using loads of spooky electro/new-wave tracks, mostly from the 80's. Its got a kinda kitch b-movie feel to it and varys from fun Halloween dance tracks to dark horror stuff."

Bang it out loud while you're on a trick or treating mission or if you just want to annoy the neighbours.

Billion Dollar DJs - Nite of the Disco Dead mix (Z-share)

Tracklisting:

Chuckii Booker feat John 'Crypt Keeper' Kassir - The Crypt Jam
Goblin - Tenebre (Main Title)
John Carpenter - The End (Disco Version)
Ministry - Everyday Is Halloween
SSQ - Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die)
The Bollock Brothers - Horror Movies
Arch Oboler - Drop Dead Interlude
Mark Ayres - Nightmare On Elm Street Theme
Rockwell - Somebody's Watching
Marketts - Out Of Limits
Hashim - Al Naafyish (The Soul)
Pulsailama - Devil Lives In My Husbands Body
Honeymoon Killers - Wait And See
Flirts - Teenage Werewolf
Metronomy - Trick Or Treats
The Immortals - Ultimate Warlord (Remix)
The J Geils Band - Fright Night
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
Severed Heads - Dead Eyes Opened
France Gall - Frankenstein

It's been a while since there were any electro beats on here, feels good to have them back. Mr Oizo did a mini-mix on Radio1 tonight so if I can track that down it will be up quicker than you can say 'My cats breath smells like cat food'. Blip.

Billion Dollarspace

Ray Lamontagne/100th post...

Blimey.

100 posts and it only took 7 months.

Thanks to everyone who has read, commented, linked to me, and generally supported Eclectic Hermit since its inception. Shout out especially to Aidan aka Certified Banger who started up at the same time as me and continues to keep me informed on all aspects of hip hop.

The biggest shout of them all goes to the artists, without whom none of this would be possible. (This is turning into an Oscars speech. I'd like to thank my mum, dad, my pet cat Stan, that goldfish I won at the village fair once...)

If you haven't commented before, or even if you have, click on the button below and show some love.

I'm going to be showing Ray Lamontagne some love at his gig in Bradford tonight. To whet my appetite, here's his cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, and what a cover it is too.

Ray Lamontagne - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)

Rayspace
Buy from Amazon

Here's to the next hundred. Hopefully you have enjoyed the tunes so far, i've certainly enjoyed posting them and have discovered so much music that without blogging would have completely passed me by.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink... oh, wait...

From Tobinspace:

At the end of November, Ninja Tune is releasing a 4-song remix ep of Amon Tobin's song titled Kitchen Sink from his latest album, Foley Room. The release features remixes from Clark, Noisia, Boxcutter and Sixtoo and will be available on 12" vinyl and in digital download format.

You can listen to the 4 remixes on Amon's Myspace page now. For some reason I haven't got Foley Room yet, which is strange seeing as Supermodified is one of my favourite albums. Maybe I didn't want to risk the new album not living up to my expectations. Whatever the reason, i'm off to buy it now.

Amon Tobin - Kitchen Sink (Clark Remix)

If you like your beats experimental with elements of dubstep, hip hop, mentalism, etc then this is for you.

Tobinspace
Buy Foley Room
Buy Supermodified (Hermetically recommended)

FAKE RABBIT, REAL SNAKE!...

I really like The Young Knives. They are an odd looking group but crank out awesome songs with plenty of sweaty energy and british wit.

New single Terra Firma is out on 29th October, check this 96Kb/s version if you haven't heard it and buy the single when it comes out.

The Hives also have a quality comeback single.

As do Oasis. Who'da thunk it.

The Young Knives - Terra Firma

Knifespace
Welcome to my official website

The Monday Chiller #22 - Angus and Julia Stone...

'A book like this is an absolute winner. Hands down a five star master-piece.' Eleven Magazine

Eclectic Hermit favourites Angus and Julia Stone have truly delivered on the promise of their early EPs and produced a beguiling album well worthy of commercial success. Why is it that mainstream music outlets champion mediocre artists? Sod playing it safe, put some money into supporting people with real talent.

Angus and Julia Stone - Horse and Cart

Seriously, this album is in the year's top 10.

Stonespace
Buy A Book Like This

If there's a party can i come?...

Sportsday Megaphone seem to be turning into quite the reliable source for remixes these days, following up the alarmingly good (see what i did there) re-shuffle of The Rumble Strips' 'Alarm Clock', which incidentally i'm keeping in mind for the obligatory end of year best of lists, with a re-fix (how many other ways can you say rmx) of the Envelopes' 'PARTY', turning it into a weirdly hypnotic and funky track that I just played 4 times in a row. That sentence was long.

Thanks to Resonator for making me aware.

Envelopes - PARTY (Sportsday Megaphone Remix)

Sportspace
Buy some shit

Having hard times...

This post could be the first in an ongoing discovery of the great songs behind great samples, in this case Ghostface Killah's Buck 50 which digs heavily on Baby Huey's Hard Times sound.

I discover a lot of good music through soundtracks, especially to Snowboard/Ski/Skate movies. This particular one is from Absinthe Films' More, a sick ass snowboard DVD available free with this months White Lines magazine.

The Original then:

Baby Huey - Hard Times

And the no less original:

Ghostface Killah - Buck 50

The original track was written by the funk-master himself, Curtis Mayfield.

The refrain 'Aint no love to be found, having hard times, in this crazy town' is ringing true with me at the moment after a few days in Amsterdam. That city needs to chill.

Tom's gone to Amsterdam...

Back in time for The Monday Chiller.

Peter, Bjorn & John - Amsterdam

Rrreaching in my cupboard for a painkiller...

Heavy heavy heavy.

Some heads knock pendulum for being overproduced and commercial, but tell me an entire club wouldn't lose their minds if this came over the speakers.

Freestylers ft. Pendulum and Sirreal - Painkiller

The Pendulum Radio1 Essential Mix is well worth seeking out if you like your DnB rrraucous.

Pot o' gold!...

Blaow! Pitchfork has all the sweaty details and every man and his/her blog has no doubt posted the news but I had to jump on just to say 'sick but about time'. That's my two cents.

While salivating at the mouth and waiting for the album to mmm drrrrrrrop, check these tasty morsels that may be new to your ear-holes.

Radiohead - Talk Show Host (Black Dog remix)

Radiohead - The Gloaming (DJ Shadow remix)

Sebadohead - Fog (Radiohead cover)

I signed up for a new Fileden account so you can download direct instead of buggering about with multi-click links. Huzzah.

Is it wrong to want to pay 10p for the new album if i'm going to buy the Discbox?

EDIT: Talk Show Host link fixed.

The Monday Chiller #21 - Nightmares on Wax...

Strings and lilting beats pour Les Nuits.

Nightmares on Wax – Les Nuits (Z-Share. Man I hate Z-Share, it sucks nuts but yousendit isn't working tonight)

Nightsite
Buy ‘Carboot Soul’ ici