Continuing my love of all things Ninja here’s another stonking album. Listening to Amon Tobin is like listening to big magnets grinding against each other. Powerful, cool and metallic. I just made that up but really you should listen to the tunes to get a real feel for him. Four Ton Mantis in particular is an amazing tune full of bass and oozing class. Murderous class, but class none the less. If normal electronica music is like Roger Moore then Amon Tobin is like Daniel Craig. Still cool but edgy as well.

PS - I actually like permutations more than supermodified but 7digital didn’t have it

Let me say this first and foremost. If you like your GEEE-tar then you’ll like ol’ JJ Cale. Bluesy guitar tunes without that melancholy edge, just wonderful music with catchy rhythms, wonderful lyrics and a wholesome feel. You’ll probably recognise a lot of the tunes of his as they’ve been covered a lot of times by various people including the famous cover of cocaine by Eric Clapton. Really though, don’t listen to Eric. Eric Schmeric. J.J. Cale is where it’s at. Take a listen and see for yourself.

Dr Rubberfunk. Does what it says on the tin really, only I don’t know about him being a Dr. He’s certainly funky though and what the hell for all I know he’s made of rubber as well. Funky produced tunes that will get your head nodding AND your feet tapping (that’s considered upbeat in my music collection - trust me). I actually prefer his album ‘the first cut’ but 7digital didn’t have that for download so I went with this one instead. Seriously, if you’re looking for some modern day dancefloor friendly funk then look no further.

The boswell sisters were introduced to me on a work-related road-trip back in 2006 (thanks Sam!) and I instantly fell in love with them. They’re a 1920s trio of sisters who sing the most heart-warming swing and jazz you’ve ever heard. I possibly only like them because of the ‘antique’ sound they have but actually the harmonies and tunes are incredibly catchy and get stuck in your head for days to come so I think they deserve to be respected in their own right.

So in the spirit of blogging more regularly (there’s another album review launching at 5 tonight!) I thought I’d let you know that I’ve been accepted into Courvoisier Future 500 which is pretty awesome! Of course, the main reason I’m writing this blog post is to link to my Distilled post as I think it’d be amusing for it to out-rank the Courvoisier website so if any of you fancy joining in at home and linking as well then please point your links at the distilled post and don’t forget the anchor text!

One of the first albums to get my interested in the whole ‘electronica’ genre this album truly stands the test of time. Incredible chilled music which both soothes the soul and keeps the head nodding as well. Favourite tracks include Sugar Rhyme, The Plug. While this is a produced album from Simon Green’s bedroom don’t let that put you off if you’re only a fan of ‘real’ music as it sounds very wholesome - there’s no bleeps or ticks in this one. Also - if you ever get a chance to see him live, go.

Apologies for the lack of updates around here recently, I’d like to claim it’s been because of the hordes of fan mail I’ve received but in truth it’s been because a lion bit off my fingers. They’re better now of course.

Anyway - I’m going to trial something for a little bit, in true Zen habits fashion, by proclaiming my ambition right here on the blog it means I’m more accountable for it. You, yes you, the loyal readers can pester me if I deviate from my ascribed plans.

So without further ado - from here on in I’m posting an album review every (week) day. Sounds tough, well let’s see if I can manage it. Of course most reviews will be short but hey, that’s the way these things go. Gotta be better than the lack of content on here at the moment right?

I’m insanely excited.

Listening to Keith Jarrett is like listening to the thoughts of an angel. The music is subtle, beautiful and easily accessible. I can recommend no album more highly than The Koln Concert. Take a listen and then be jealous that I’m seeing him live in London at the Royal Festival hall in a few weeks. His first concert in London for over 5 years.

Booya!

I don’t know the background of the site but it looks like it comes from the same guys who run muxtape since it feels so similar but Favtape is the latest web17.5 music/playlist/social media MASHUP and you should get on board. It pulls a playlist from your last.fm or pandora profile in literally seconds (so none of the waiting to upload that you get with muxtape - took me about 20 mins to upload my muxtape). The web crowd love nothing better than something which is ultra fast (even if you don’t get much control over your playlist)

Tom Critchlow’s Fav Tape

Howdy folks - did you miss me? Wow I should try and update this more often. I have been busy though - operation kitteh has been taking up about 12 hours a day but thankfully I’ve finally managed to work my voodoo black magic on google/live/yahoo and hey presto - over 10% of the first page images for a [tom critchlow] search result in a picture of a kitten. Job Done. Case closed.

Google

Yahoo

Live

Now, what’s next - maybe Stephen Pavlovich knows?