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

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

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

The (late) Monday Chiller #20 - Tom McRae...

Before Tom McRae became the wearisome troubadour he is today, his eponymous debut album contained a perfect mix of brooding menace, melancholic lyrics and musical experimentation. The first track on the album, 'You Cut Her Hair' is a fine example of this and only serves to remind listeners of McRae's later work that they'd be much better off listening to his first effort.

Tom McRae - You Cut Her Hair

Buy the album here. Average 5 stars after 60 reviews? On Amazon? Good skills.

McRaespace. Listen to an ace live version of Bloodless from 'Tom McRae' with total audience participation.

The Monday Chiller #18 - RJD2...

RJD2 - Get Off My Spaceship Bitch

Taken from the 2004 '1976' EP on Def Jux.

The Monday Chiller #17 - Curtis Mayfield...

Curtis mayfield - Billy Jack

If you neglected to download the Electroma soundtrack the other week, here's another chance to catch Curtis Mayfield's ridiculous funk-fest 'Billy Jack'. By the time it's over you'll either be contemplating a career in funk or in a puddle on the floor. Feel that bass!

The Monday Chiller #14 - Lovage...

Dan the Automator doesn't put many of his feet wrong, and this 2002 mixtape supports that in a big way. One of the hardest working men in music takes some time to roll out the beats and produces a seriously eclectic mix, one of the highlights of which is available for your i-pod below.

Lovage - Stroker Ace (Z-Share)

Get it off of Amazon
Monkeys available here

The Monday Chiller #13 - Nick Drake...

I'm in Edinburgh at the moment for a few days at The Fringe, but I did go record shopping today for the first time in yonks and have got 6 new albums and a couple of vinyls to pick tunes from, so expect a steady trickle of these from Thursday onwards, which is when I have to get back to Yorkshire and reality.

I got the Nick Drake Family Tree album last week and pretty much every track is worthy of being a Monday Chiller but Leaving Me Behind fits the bill perfectly.

Nick Drake - Leaving Me Behind

Maybe this feature should be renamed the Monday Melancholy Moment, most of the songs I post are quite depressing! Not to worry, upbeat electro next week.

Oh aye and if you are in Edinburgh this week then go see Hostage on Friday night @ Studio 24.

The Monday Chiller #12 - Tunng...

Tunng have a new album out August 20th. From it, here's 'King', a killer song containing a rambling grip of melodies combined with an ominous vocal delivery and the usual array of intriguing glitches and samples.

Tunng - King (Removed at the request of the Web Sheriff and Tunng. Buy the album!)

Pre-order 'Good Arrows' from Amazon.

The new single 'Bricks' will be released August 13th (my birthday) on Ltd Edition 7", featuring remixes from Dntel (aka Figurine / The Postal Service member Jimmy Tamborello) and Daedelus. Download it from Bleep.com on August 6th.

The Monday Chiller 11# - John Martyn...

Apparently when Beth Orton was at uni she spent most of her time getting high and listening to John Martyn's seminal 1973 album Solid Air. I can't argue with that. The title track, available below, is a tribute to John's friend Nick Drake, who was suffering from depression at the time. Heavy.

You've been taking your time
And you've been living on solid air
You've been walking the line
You've been living on solid air
Don't know what's going wrong inside
And I can tell you that it's hard to hide
When you're living on
Solid air

John Martyn - Solid Air

The Monday Chiller 10# - Elbow...

Don't mix your drinks
Don't mix with him
It will kill you one day
Good advice, sound advice
Why can't you be
Like him, like me
Look what you could achieve

Elbow - Don't mix your drinks

The Monday Chiller #9 - Datasette does Interpol

It's been a lazy week here at Hermit Towers. On wednesday I drove up to Edinburgh for a few days of good eating and drinking with the family, and celebrated both my sister's graduation (congrats on the MA) and my Gran's birthday (congrats on making it to 86). As such i've been out of the blog loop for a bit, haven't read any blogs or downloaded any new music for a week or so. I've been using this time to consolidate the stuff that I have got, and a certain few tunes have really come into the category of What Feels Right in terms of what i'm into these days. Over the next week then i'll be playing catch-up with music that I think needs to be shared and trying not to post stuff that's already all over the interweb. After this post, that is.

Interpol - Untitled (Datasette version)

Still haven't worked out which Datasette stuff needs to be posted after I found a good 30 or so free tracks on his website, but this will most definitely do for now. One of those tracks that makes you skip back to the start because you get so into the vibe of the song.

Check out Rest My Chemistry and Mammoth especially off the new Interpol album available here.

The Monday Chiller 8# - Scrotum Ear Lobe

Oh man, what began as a simple Monday Chiller post about one Datasette song has snowballed into a mountain of information and music that i can't possibly tackle in this post alone. Therefore i'll find a replacement track for today and try to get to grips with this can of worms tomorrow.

All i'll say at this point is that Datassette is my new favourite artist, simply because of this description of his track Eggs of Length:

'A short blast of egg-based nonsense'

Well, there are other reasons I like him too but that is one of the best. Anyone not tantalised by this eggy promise should look elsewhere for musical nourishment.

Here's the song then, Scrotum Ear Lobe by Lucky and Easy, from the album I Would Do Anything For A Dairylea. I have no idea where I got it but it's been on my computer for years and I just remember loving the name, the fact that the tune is good is a bonus. There's nothing like some nice downtempo electronica reminiscent of AFX to ease you into the week.

Lucky and Easy - Scrotum Ear Lobe

I've inspired myself to start creating a post of songs with great names like the two mentioned above, but i'll probably forget by the time i've finished this. Got any suggestions?

Oh yeah and this is my 50th post! Thanks to everyone who visits the site, has linked to me, commented and whatnot. Big up especially to Aidan of Certified Banger who inspired me to start. Here's to the century.

The Monday Chiller 7# - Caustic Window...

One of Aphex Twin's many monikers, the Caustic Window LP Compilation is for the most part a journey through some very dark and twisted electronica. Thumping bass and techno beats provide no respite, apart from track 4 Italic Eyeball which lays out snappy drums and a rippling, rolling bassline under a breathless vocal and pied-piper style synth melody.

Caustic Window - Italic Eyeball

For a taste of the darkside try the unrelenting squelch-fest that is album-opener Joyrex J4. Listener discretion is advised: may cause eyeballs to melt on repeated listening.

Caustic Window - Joyrex J4

Phew i'm off to listen to some whale song. And... relax. Actually, have you heard that shit? Sounds like dinosaurs having sex. Maybe some Sigur Ros then. D'oh! Sounds like whales having sex.

Find out more about the Window/Twin at Discogs or buy the LP at Boomkat

The Monday Chiller 6#...

Lavender Diamond - Like An Arrow

I get sidetracked easily. I was supposed to write about Lavender Diamond's debut album 'Imagine Our Love' last month before its release but, as with other post ideas, I never quite got round to it. But wait... Aha! The Monday Chiller, perfect.

If you really wanted to get into what Lavender Diamond are about and what their manifesto is, you would find out plenty about the 'friendship revolution' and all sorts of talk that owes a heavy debt to the vibe of the 60s and 70s. However if you're all about the music then you would do right to think of words like uplifting, heartfelt and charisma to name but three.

Led by golden-voiced singer Becky Stark, this Los Angeles four-piece have crafted a beautiful album full of pop songs (chamber-pop is a bad name for a genre), full of shimmering tambourines, deep drum beats, soaring melodies and lyrics about love, peace and friendship. It's good to see that the hippies never died out completely. It's not all flower-power though, Like An Arrow is a hypnotic piece of music with layers intertwined with layers and a P.H. phat beat.

Two other songs off the album for your listening pleasure:

Lavender Diamond - Oh No

Lavender Diamond - Here Comes One

Find out more about the LD on myspace or at their offical website

The Monday Chiller #5...

While the rest of the world is talking hard about The White Stripes, i'm gonna post a little tune by The Black Keys, another American blues-rock band that started to recieve recognition only a few months after people took interest in the Stripes. It's fair to say that so far they have been overshadowed by their colour-coded counterparts in terms of a mainstream audience, but to those fans who know the truth, they are one of the hottests bands out there. This track is taken from their 2006 album Magic Potion and if you like it then maybe you should invest in their back catalogue instead of Icky Thump. Just a thought.

The Black Keys - The Flame

The Monday Chiller #4...

Lismore - Come Undone

I would recommend listening to this song while travelling, preferably in the rain. The insistent beat and ethereal vocals lend themselves so well to thunderstorms or journeys across frozen landscapes, as seen above. If you have no plans to go outside today then simply stare at the picture and let the track do all the work for you.

The Monday Chiller #3...

Venetian Snares - This Bitter Earth

Argh i've let it slip again, the Sunday became the Monday and now the Tuesday, but to make amends i'm posting a certified chiller of the highest order.

Jazz. The word alone used to inspire fear in my very bones and leave me trembling in the corner muttering about trumpets and horrible free-form screeching that tends to go nowhere, but no more. Well no, I still dislike the genre as a whole but this Snares track is like some sort of deformed breakbeat jazz with proper melody, good structure and a great breakdown that hits you around 1.18 and sends the listener into a jazz trance for the rest of the track.

Restrained sampling and cheeky snares make this a highlight of Aaron Funk's career to date.

He plays the Glade festival in Berkshire in late July. Be there.

Nice...

The Monday Chiller...

After a seriously inauspicious start the Sunday Chiller is moving to Mondays to become... ah you guessed it, the Monday Chiller! (Did the title give it away?). This will probably work out better than a Sunday post because anyone reading this at work on Monday will be in need of some calming tunes to allay fears about the week ahead. Or maybe it should be called The Comedown for all you party heads. Anyway, whatever it's called and whenever it's posted there will always be a great tune at the end of the rainbow.

So Tunng then. If I had a blog two years ago I would have posted this song right there and then, instead of sitting on it until now. Chances are you've never heard of them, so briefly here is the deal: two guys called Sam & Mike, both play guitar, one produces and the other sings. Their sound is basically folk, but with a few glitches and bit of electronica thrown in. They are taking music back to basics, and they make beautiful songs that meander through soundscapes of abandoned towns, forests and information superhighways. That last bit is made-up and nicked from Fight Club. The album that this song comes from was recorded underneath a lingerie shop, and the guys had to go through the changing room to get to the studio. Savage.

You can download extra goodies and find out more about Tunng at www.tunng.co.uk

Tunng - Tale From Black

And a little something else, I just got this one off their website today but it's what the Monday Chiller is all about.

Tunng - Woodcat