Word to your mother...

Word magazine are responsible for one of my favourite ever CDs, a free compilation that came with one of their issues back in 04 and opened my eyes to some great new music. I had forgotten about it for a while but yesterday I was thinking about Nick Cave and his performance with Grinderman on Jools Holland, which led to 'where the hell is that amazing CD I used to have with Nick Cave and a multitude of great artists on it?'. So here are the best songs off of the disc I got for free and am passing on for the greater good.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Easy Money

Many people would kill for melodies like these. Many good songs have been written in prison.

Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue

Jaunty indie from a fellow who was on Marc Riley's show on 6music this week. Go listen again if ya likes it.

Paul Weller - Early Morning Rain

Go on Weller! One of his best songs since The Jam, dude sounds like he's trying to be Bruce Springsteen and succeeds in writing something better than old Brucey ever did. This is the one. too right.

Groove Armada - Little by Little

Sounding more like Zero 7 than the radio-friendly Groove Armada i've come to hate, my anger that The Armada even exists subsides slightly when I hear these beats. Barbecue-perfect.

Robyn Hitchcock (with Gillian Welch & David Rawlings) - If You Know Time

Shimmering acoustic folk with an eastern tinge thanks to the guitar work. Let this one soak in.

The Bees - Wash in the Rain

The ever-excellent Bees do it again with a great uptempo singalong song. All together now, wash in the rain!

Sons and Daughters - Awkward Duet

This song prompted me to buy Sons and Daughters second album which in turn prompted me to buy the first. They had me hooked, and they're from Scotland which is always a bonus. I'm gonna stick this on repeat for a while.

The Handsome Family - Gail with the Golden Hair

Time for a bit of oldschool country now, get some wheat in yer mouth and sit on the porch reminiscing about love ones lost and chances taken.

The Honeymoon - Passive Aggressive

Oh man this CD just keeps on giving, it would be my desert island disc no doubt. Ethereal melodies abound on this beauty.

The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love

It's like the lady says. Bouncy indie-pop with horns, drums and singing aplenty.

Adem - Everything you Need

If there is one unifying theme to these songs it would be that each has a great melody that really hooks the listener in and enables you to either sit there humming along or get a little deeper and check the equally as amazing lyrics. Adem ain't no slouch, he's got the hook(s)up too.

Sorry about the brief descriptions on each track but I can't be arsed to sit here and pontificate all day. Tell me what you like or don't like about these songs, and how's the new Hermit? My photoshop has died so it's a work in progress but so far I likes it. Blue is the colour eh.

Albums of 2006 - Various Production...

"See you later, I'd hate to see you soon"


Dubstep meets Folk. If that thought puts you off then don't bother with this post, it'll only scare you. Sounds good? Then read on.


The thing is though, that description is far too simplistic for the type of tunes that Various throw out. Grime rythms, haunting, melancholic folk-like vocals, beguiling melodies and a rough edge that takes you to dark places while telling you that 'Everything's going to be OK'.


While it's taken Portishead 8 years to come up with a follow-up to their self-titled second album, Various have snuck in there and produced some of the most vital 7" and 12" records of recent times and still nobody really knows who they are. Media-shy almost to the point of arrogance, this collective, led by two producers with a smorgasboard of vocalists in tow, are not to be slept on. Their debut album 'The World Is Gone' is at times beautiful, menacing, driving and at all times, wholly indispensable. Buy.



Various - Deadman
Various - Hater
Various - Sir

London etcetera?...

'Stupid people think it's cool, smart people think it's a joke; also cool.'

LDN is a Victim

I got this musical tidbit straight from todays Guardian (ahead of the curve) but the satire on the track is so spot-on i had to post it. Taking a pop at everyone on the London scene from Lily Allen to Just Jack by way of the Audio Bullies and Kate Nash, the song rips on those people who have started to make their careers out of singing in affected southern accents to fit in with the scene. It's a novelty record but i hope the guys behind it are working on some other stuff because this track shows much promise. 'None of that Staars in their Eeeeyyes'. Myspace.

Ratatat - Seventeen Years

The problem I have is that my mp3s are split up into 7 or 8 different folders and as such tracks will get downloaded and then forgotten about. I-tunes could well prove to be the solution but until then i shall enjoy looking through old folders and finding tracks like this one by Ratatat, which i got months ago and filed away in an obscure part of my C drive. Good job i did find it though because it's a bit of a corker.

This tune represents the essence of what Eclectic Hermit started out to provide. Filled with cut-up beats and loping synths, electro-claps and samples, I couldn't want much more from a tune.

AFX - Windowlicker (Run Jeremy's X-rated Lick)

Nicked from the Electric Collective, this track has become part of the staple diet my car radio enjoys. A very original take on the original (?), when the beat switches gears around the two minute mark and a French lady starts mumbling something about '...j'aime faime les croquettes au chique' some serious head-noddage goes down.

Always interesting, this track takes me on a musical journey from Cornwall to the south of France via a Belgian farmhouse producing only the finest Moloko.

Keep it foolish...