Murder never sounded so good...

A straight-up downtempo banger from Slow Train Soul here, providing an instantly engaging piano loop, a beat that'll make your neck ache, and vocal hooks that will stick in your brain for a long while.

Released in 2004 on Tommy Boy records, i've clearly been sleeping on this for a long while. But, as with many things, better late than never. Make sure you don't sleep any longer and download this track, as it's one of my favourites of the year so far.

Slow Train Soul - In The Black of Night (128) (YSI)

Slowspace

Amazon throws up the relevant info on purchasing the album.

Got any Clarky Cat?

As if an obscure Brass Eye reference wasn't enough to make your day, the news that Chris Clark has just dropped his new long player 'Totems Flare' certainly will.

In celebration of this news (and it must be good news as it's forced me to blog after 2 months of silence) i'm throwing up an mp3 from his previous album 'Turning Dragon' to remind you, if necessary', just how good he is.

I haven't yet listened to 'Totems Flare' but if the marked evolution of his work so far is anything to go by, this new album should be an interestingly fresh take on the classic Clark sound.

Clark - New Year Storm

Buy some Clark from Boomkat, you know you want to.

Clarkspace

Knight Baggy, you are the man...

An Australian friend put me onto this video, not that his origins have any bearing on the pure genius/autism that is Knight Baggy. In it, a Swedish man extols the virtues of his bezzy mate, and confuses us all in the process. A lot.

1) The mystery. Just who is this Knight Baggy? How did they meet?
2) The lyrics: "He's the king of the hill on the top of his horse, he's the master of all living warriors"
3) The hideous overexposure
4) The white dreads
5) The masks and overall dress of the dancers
6) The euro-rave beats
7) 5-30 secs - The lead singer's dancing.
8) The chorus! "Knight Baggy, he is ma friend, forever, and ever again". wtf?
9) 1.05-1.15 - Special effects split-screen bonanza.
10) 1.25 - The singer mimes the first bit of the verse and then what, forgets the rest?
11) 2.10 - During the breakdown the singer sits and contemplates his friendship with Knight Baggy
12) 2.25 - The dancer picks his nose, eats it, then sings the chorus.

This Website doesn't really help clear things up.

Tell your friends.

Waiter, there's a Black Moth Super Rainbow in my soup...

I discovered BMSR while sitting at a bus stop in a French ski resort, and was instantly taken in by their blend of robust beats, fuzzy synth loops, distressed vocals and all-round good vibes.

Now, thanks to the power of the internets, you can be too. Go listen somewhere you wouldn't otherwise.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - I Think It Is Beautiful That You Are 256 Colours Too (YSI)

This post was inspired by good music and the power of memory.

Grab yer crayons kids...

Let's not mess about. We all know who Blockhead is and what he does. This latest project from him titled 'Uncle Tony's Colouring Book' is self-released and features all sorts of jaunty, catchy, instrumental hip-hop beats for you to nod your head to over the coming months or try to hone your leftfield rhyming skills on.

This sample track contains all the jaunt you could possibly need for a good night in, so make sure to buy the album if you just can't retrain those feet from tapping.

MP3: Blockhead - Grape Nuts & Chalk Sauce (YSI)

Buy it

Also, this track feels instantly familiar. Has it been used on any commercial/film/tv project recently?

It's Dubstep, but not as we know it...

...Or maybe it's exactly as we know it. Dubstep is one of the fastest growing musical genres in the world today, often breaking far away from its roots in UK garage, 2 step and grime. Producers like Vaccine, 2562, and most recently Martyn spring to mind as artists who are tackling the genre from different perspectives, whether geographically or musically.

Martyn doesn't like to pigeonhole his sound into a particular category, rather he prefers to dub it 'Martyn music' (fair play seeing as he's the one who's making it). It's a preference that becomes clear when listening to the new LP Great Lengths, as each track reveals something more about the Martyn sound, whether it's Boards of Canada style vocal samples, stabbing rave synths or lolloping melodies that ground the track while giving other sounds room to manoeuver around the bassline.

So, a dubstep album that isn't strictly dubstep, but neither is it techno, ambient, house, garage, or any of the other genres you may care to fling at it. It is however interesting, challenging and fresh. Let's hope producers of a lesser caliber than Martyn's don't try to emulate his sound, as i doubt the result would be any more listenable than this fine effort.

The album Great Lengths has been out for a week. Go buy it.

Martyn - The Only Choice (YSI)
Martyn - Little Things (YSI)

Martyn Myspace

TiredEyes...

Pic: Christian Pondella. Rider: Eric Pollard

Those of us who keep half an ear to the soft, fluffy ground of the freeskiing world will doubtless need no introduction to TiredEyes aka H-Mob Productions, soundtrackers as they are of the hugely popular Nimbus Independent webisodes that began last winter season with the future classic 'Hunting Yeti' series, and continues this year with 'En Route', a travelogue of the world's best powder locations and feelgood moments, brought to us by the Nimbus crew that includes, among others, Eric Pollard, Pep Fujas, Chris Benchetler and Andy Mahre. Note to self: bone up on grammar and sentence structure.

However it seems that outside the skiing bubble TiredEyes is yet to make significant waves. With a forthcoming album (digital release only so far), things are hopefully set to change. With influences ranging all the way through soul, hip-hop, jazz and beyond, this music aint your typical jump-out-yer-seat stuff, in fact it can be slightly soporific if you're not paying attention. But once you start to peel back the layers, this fresh, innovative and emotive sound will soon become your powder cruising/summer barbecuing/(insert any relaxing moment here) music of choice.

A couple of tasty morsels to whet your appetite for the full release: Take Care of My Family, which is structured round a Cali P acapella; We're OK Watch TV; and To Say Goodbye.

TiredEyes - Take Care of My Family (YSI)
TiredEyes - We're OK Watch TV (YSI)
TiredEyes - To Say Goodbye (YSI)

No solid release date on the album yet but I know i'll be checking his myspace regularly for updates, and i hope you will too.

Nimbus recently dropped their second episode of 'En Route', and it looks like they enjoyed getting to grips with the lederhosen as much as the beer steins. Check it out, then go right back to the start and watch Hunting Yeti. Pow.

TiredEyespace
Nimbus Independent

Dubbel Dutch Dubstep...

If you were in to holing pigeons, you could declare my posting on Eclectic Hermit sparse, sporadic or scarce to name but a few, this post making only the sixth of the entire year.

However, quality not quantity is the name of my current game and the Dubstep bomb I received in my inbox this morn was sufficiently tasty to oust me from my malingering stupor and coax some words out of my brainbox to accompany said tune.

Turns out Dubbel Dutch isn't a Dubstep producer by trade at all but a purveyor of fine House/Techno/Remix tracks, but he knocked this one up seemingly for a laugh and it turned out mighty fine indeed. All the ingredients are there: voice samples, scattershot drums, wonky basslines and a dark overtone. Here's to DD giving up his day job (techno) and creating more fine tunes in this style.

One to watch.

Dubbel Dutch - Majesty (YSI)

Myspace.com/dubbeldutch

It's me again...

You know when you hear a track for the first time and it makes that instant connection, you fall in love, but then you don't know who it was or how to find it?

Enter the Hotstepper himself, monsieur Ini Kamoze, with One A Dem. Instant reggae banger.

Ini Kamoze - One A Dem (YSI)

Buy some music.
Inspace.

I'm talking 'bout the elephantitis...

Pic: Jayenems

As introductions to Jamaican music go, you can't go far wrong with The Story of Jamaican Music. By no means comprehensive, it still serves as a taster of the Carribean scene from its early inception to the current Dancehall phase, taking in dub, ska and reggae influences along the way.

I was listening to an old Blue Room a while back when Monsieur Da Bank played 'Diseases' as part of the Dub Club segment on the show. Upon hearing said track i dropped everything and vowed to seek out a copy and share it with the wider world (or failing that, bloggers).

Which, in a roundabout way, is how i came across The Story of Jamaican Music. A 4 cd compilation, beginning in 1958 with ska and ending with the first wave of dancehall in 1993. A quick scan of Amazon reveals that copies are going for well over 100GBP! However, you can always do a crafty google search and download the torrent (but you didn't hear that from me).

As hard as it is to pick a favourite from the 95 tracks on offer, i'll have to go with the first one i heard, 'Diseases' by Michigan & Smiley. It still puts a smile on my face and makes me skank like a bad boy, and garners plenty of 'Who is this?' attention from friends when played in the car.

Having said that, i can listen to the entire collection quite happily (only having to skip Shaggy's dreadful Oh Carolina) and a few of the songs have made it onto my all-time favourites list.

Do yourself a favour and download them all.

The Wailers - Simmer Down
The Maytals - 54-46 (That's My Number)
Jacob Miller - Tenement Yard
Black Uhuru - Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
Michigan & Smiley - Diseases (Hermetic Seal of Approval)
Tenor Saw - Ring The Alarm

All links are Yousendit. You have a week. Go!

The Monday Chiller .28 - Velvet Underground...

How has it taken me this long to listen to The Velvet Underground? Maybe because this album was so influential, so popular, so hyped that i felt the need to shy away from it. Having listened to it a few times over now though, there is one track that really stands out, it being Venus in Furs. Lou Reed gets kinky with the lyrics and musically the song is outstanding. Damn, makes me want to go live in New York and shoot smack.

The Velvet Underground & Nico - Venus in Furs (YSI)

Jeez, get off your horse and buy the album already.

Posts Postponed...

If you've seen the new Indiana Jones film at a cinema in the past week then you may have seen this gem of a short before the main feature. Some may argue that the short was actually better than Indy IV, but i'll leave that debate alone.

The theme explored in this animation is the reason why i've not posted anything since getting back to Blighty, but rest assured there is something on the way. Albeit slowly. Very slowly.

Oh what, a new post?

Basically when the season ends i'm gonna have nothing to do so there'll be a round up of beats found, mountains skied and limbs lost, but for now try to sate your thirst for knowledge with this new mix from the CCCs themselves, Chewy Chocolate Cookies. It promises to be a banger.

CCC's Oven Fresh Mixtape

CCC Sweet Intro
CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Time
CAZALS Life is boring CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Rmx
JUSTICE Genesis CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Rmx
CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Kisses in the night
THE WHIP Trash CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Rmx
LOTO Back to disco CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Rmx
BOYS NOIZE Shine Shine CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Rmx
ROCHELLE Fer de lance CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Burning Rmx
PLASTIC OPERATOR Home 0207 CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Rmx
CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Profondo Rosso
CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Cheeseburgers
DANGER 11H30 CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES Rmx (Old Version)
TCB Salmon dance CROOKERS Rmx
CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES BatmanReEdit
CCC Sweet Outro

My listening tastes have changed recently, and after hammering Knightlife, The Knife, and Led Zep all through last summer i've been discovering The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and above all Liquid Swords by the GZA. Changing beds while listening to Unexplained and Shadowboxin' has become a weekly pleasure. Oh mad one!

I'm in Serre Chevalier, France until near the end of April and it just dumped a foot of frsh pow so the skiing is ridiculous. As is my goggle tan so it happens. Tomorrow i'm off on a mission the find the most 80s combinaison (one-piece) possible. There's a local shop where you can pick them up for 1euro!

Right now i'm in the pub waiting for this weeks guests to arrive. They're supposed to get here at 8pm but delays at Lyon means 2.30am and they all want feeding! Purely radge.

Will post up pics and beats soon enough, i've basically not looked at any other blogs since december so can't wait for finding some sick new tunes. If anyone has a recommendation let me know cos right now i'm completely in the dark.

A bientot mofos.

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

Pyrelli freestyle...

My boy at Certified Banger posted a nice review of Pyrelli's debut album here a couple of weeks ago, and I just came across this little nugget on youtube of Sincere and Pyrelli freestyling on Tim Westwood's 1xtra show. Companion piece, or blatant idea biting? Answers on a postcard.



Buy Pyrelli's Vitamin A - A Twist Of Fate

I said fuck dancing all night but then that's just what we did...

This is the offical video for Jape's song Floating. It was directed by M&E and D.A.D.D.Y. Floating is taken from the EP "Jape is Grape" which is due for release on the 19th of November 2007 (yesterday) on V2 records.

Any video that involves slow-motion and exploding fruit is good in my book.




If you like that then be sure to cop a feel of the EP, and in the meantime check out the killer remix of Floating from Tronik Youth.

Jape - Floating (Tronik Youth Mix) (YSI)

www.myspace.com/richiejape
www.myspace.com/matthewandemelie
www.myspace.com/teamdaddy