Playlist : November 28th - December 2nd, 2011

Hello and welcome to the Work Tunes that almost never was.

I recently had to let go of my 160Gb iPod Classic after a few good years of service. It actually still works, but it wouldn't connect to iTunes, so it made playlists a very hard thing to make during my lunch breaks as I'm used to. I'vbe got a new one now and I'm beginning the arduous task of filling it up again. But I have a list now, even though it was a little rushed.

Classic albums and artists are over represented, probably because they're the best thing to reach for when you don't know what you want. Luckily Spin came through with the December issue so I have some brand new tunes too. Thanks to a viewing of Rock The Bells, I grabbed Wu-Tang's classic 36 Chambers. I threw in some Iggy Pop to go with my recent obsession with Velvet Underground. I got so excited about the new The Roots LP coming soon that I hooked up an old one and that's about it.

Check it out:

• Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers
• Bruce Springsteen - Tracks (Disc One)
• The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series 6 : Concert at Philharmonic Hall
• Melissa Etheridge - Breakdown
• Pixies - Surfer Rosa
• Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
• James Brown - Live at the Apollo
• The Roots - The Tipping Point
• VA - Spin Magazine December

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Mr Bungle
   
2. The Doors
3. KRS One & Marley Marl
4. Kathleen Edwards
5. The Deep Dark Woods

Song of the Week : Bob Dylan - I'll Keep It With Mine

Musically speaking, there has been a strangely coincidental Velvet Underground theme following me around. I happen to have chosen Beck's Record Club tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico album for this week's list, but more than that I watched a doco on Sunday about Lillian Roxon who photographed and wrote about VU and also Bowie and Iggy Pop in the early days at Max's. I've also seen a bunch of people bagging out the Lou Reed / Metallica collaboration (and so I won't listen to it and sully my high opinion of Lou Reed). This all lead me to listening to lots of VU and checking out Nico's solo album Chelsea Girl on Songl. On it, she covers Bob Dylan - I'll Keep It With Mine.

There are only two versions of Dylan's original that I have heard. One is solo piano and it's called Bank Account Blues. The other is with a band on the Bootleg Series. Hearing Nico sing it in a slow droning monotone, reminded me how good Bob's Bootleg version was. It's a pretty catchy pop melody without the throw away lyrics. What's most enjoyable about this version though is that Dylan is playing it with the band during the Blonde On Blonde sessions for the first time. They haven't rehearsed it, they're throwing together the backing as they play. You hear the producer reassure Al Kooper on the organ to play what he was playing earlier and then Al starts up. Bob at the end of a verse asks the band, "Right?"

I find it a fascinating insight into how great songs are recorded. It's also frustrating that the song wasn't ever recorded properly. There are far too many songs that have been thrown away by great musicians that never made their own releases. I'm thinking about Springsteen never doing Because The Night, Paul Kelly giving Cake and the Candle to Kate Ceberano and Nico strangling the life out of this song.

This YouTube video is not the version from Bootleg Series Vol. 2, but it is an instrumental version with footage from Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas. But the song title link is the real deal. Enjoy!

Ya'll Come Back Now

To my American friends, I hope your Thanksgiving and Black Friday were exceptional. To those of here in Perth, how about this heat hey? To everybody else, thanks for stopping by.

Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 21st - 25th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Let's get right into the music after a pretty uneventful week. My next playlist has a rarity from Prince, the soundtrack to Boogie Nights as well as the new Muppet movie, some Billy Bragg because I haven't picked up Fight Songs yet and a tribute to The Velvet Underground and Nico from Beck and some friends.

I've also got a band I only just discovered, The Deep Dark Woods, the KRS One and Marley Marl collaboration, some new Kathleen Edwards and an old Rickie Lee Jones and, because it's been so long, The Doors.

Check it out:

• VA - Boogie Nights OST
• Billy Bragg - William Bloke
• Rickie Lee Jones - Flying Cowboys
• Prince - Camille
• VA - Muppets OST
• Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur
• The Doors - The Very Best of the Doors
• The Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours
• KRS One & Marley Marl - Hip Hop Lives
• Beck's Record Club - The Velvet Underground & Nico 2

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. People Under the Stairs
   
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Billy Bragg
4. Dinosaur Jr
5. Lou Reed

Song of the Week : Billy Bragg - Never Buy The Sun

My choice cut for today is Billy Bragg – Never Buy The Sun. I’ve been playing this song constantly all week. I’ve been a fan of Billy Bragg for decades now, because as you know I’m a hard-line lefty and I love a good fighter who takes the rage to the system.

This song is in response to the News Of The World phone hacking scandal. The voice mail of a (it turned out later) murdered girl was hacked by reporters while she was missing. The same reporters paid off cops to get hold of sensitive information. And this was only one instance of hacking in a mass of violations which saw the closure of the paper, owned by our evil ex-citizen Rupert Murdoch.

The chorus line “Scousers never buy The Sun” is a reference to how the people of Liverpool long ago boycotted The Sun newspaper (also one of Rupert’s) because of the way in which they reported the Hillsborough disaster (which if you don’t recall was the human crush inside a soccer stadium where a number of Liverpool supporters died).

I am hoping to soon grab a copy of Fight Songs, Billy Bragg’s latest release from which this track comes. Unfortunately, it’s not selling on his site in download format and I can order the CD and wait for it much cheaper than I can get it on iTunes. So, in the meantime, I’ve been playing this over and over because I really believe something must be done about the state of journalism in Australia, let alone the UK. I won’t get on my high horse here, but really it probably needs nuking from space.

Enjoy. Fight the power!

Toodle-oo

That's it for the week. Play nice out there kids. Take care of each other and maybe do something nice for someone, eh?

May your weekend be awash with perfect moments. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 14th - 18th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Not much to report on the week just passed besides sick kids and a sore thumb. I don't think I've ever felt anything as painful as a chunk of flesh missing from the corner of my thumb. At least no pain I've felt has ever put me close to passing out like this did. But enough whining, it's music time.

What have I got? I'm glad you asked. I grabbed the first Sweet Relief compilation after realising I hadn't heard Summer of Drugs in years. For fans of Community, I have Donald Glover's (Troy) debut commercial release as Childish Gambino. I was late to Community, so I heard the Gambino mxtapes before I knew who he was. I also grabbed some Billy Bragg because his new album is out.

Twitter buddy @kirstimelville made me pick Wham!'s The Final after a chat about 80s music and I grabbed Lou Reed's New York to balance the yin and yang of that decade in song. Add Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad thanks to #occupy, Gram Parsons, some 90s stuff from Dinosaur Jr and the forgotten SPDFGH and all we have left is Tim Rogers.

Check it out:

• VA - Sweet Relief : A Benefit for Victoria Williams
• Childish Gambino - Camp
• Billy Bragg - Don't Try This At Home
• Tim Rogers & The Temperance Union - Dirty Ron / Ghost Songs
• Gram Parsons - GP
• Wham! - The Final
• Lou Reed - New York
• Spdfgh - Leave Me Like This
• Dinosaur Jr - Green Mind
• Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost of Tom Joad

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Wilco
   
2. Josh Rouse
3. U2
4. Veronica Falls
5. Deer Tick

Song of the Week : Deer Tick - Let's All Go To The Bar

Deer Tick’s Let’s All Go To The Bar made me sit up and say ‘oh hell yes!’ while working away. The sentiment was instantly relatable at this stage in the week, but the sound is decent too. It’s a bit of a ruckus in the early 50s rockabilly vein but with a bar song sing-along chorus refrain. It stomps and rocks and runs around drunk shouting everybody drinks.

It’s a good thing, I think, that Deer Tick can do songs like this as well as the more subdued and sombre tracks they have. I wouldn’t say I’m a massive fan of the band, but they do sing a mean tune. So picture that first Friday beer when you slip this song on. Cheers!

Cheerio

Tah tah for now then, kids. Stay safe out there and have an excellent weekend.

Before I go, if you're an old school head like me, you might be ineterested in parting with some cash to preserve Style Wars. Henry Chalfant is raising money through Kickstarter and if you pay just $25 you can get yourself the 2 disc DVD or Style Wars Revisited. I've thrown some cash down because Style Wars is one of the touchstones of all Hip Hop culture. It should one day be preserved in the Smithsonian or something. Have a look.

In a much sadder piece of old school news, last week saw the passing of Dwight Arrington Myers, better know as Heavy D. 'Hev' was a rap pioneer and the among the creators of the early 90s soft r&b hip hop sound. More recently he was a movie actor, with roles in Cider House Rules and the just released Tower Heist. I have to say thank you to Heavy D for being a part of my burgeoning journey through Hip Hop when even his rap break in Janet Jackson's Alright felt like a massive acknowledgement of 'my' culture by mainstream Pop.

Rest in peace Brother Heavy. Peace be upon you. And to you all, hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 7th - 11th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well the week is over again and guess what your boy did? Only put $20 at 35 to 1 on the horse that came SECOND in the Melbourne Cup by the smallest margin in Cup history. Mugs. Game.

For the next week at work I'll be listening to a mix of old favourites from Josh Rouse, Wilco and Pink Floyd, some new tunes from Deer Tick and Veronica Falls and a few compilations; one being an 80s compilation I recently found on vinyl, another an Achtung Baby tribute and the third a brilliant old skool mixtape from Brooklyn Radio.

Check it out:

• Deer Tick - Divine Providence
• VA - Ahk-Toong Bay-BI Covered
• Josh Rouse - Subtitulo
• Wilco - Being There
• VA - Rocktrip '82
• The Three Sounds - Vibrations
• People Under the Stairs - Highlighter
• Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
• Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
• VA - Rubradio 1986 Mixtape

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bob Dylan
   
2. Funkoars
3. Nightmares On Wax
4. Kool & The Gang
5. The Breeders

Song of the Week : Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling

I don’t know anything about Veronica Falls. I don’t know if that’s the solo artist’s name or a band. This song Bad Feeling was on the Spin Magazine playlist for November. You can still pick it up for free with a US iTunes account from http://www.spin.com/itunes What I do know is there is something I like about the track and the sound.

It calls up some early 80s UK post punk in a way, mixed with the indie pop that came later in the 80s. It’s a little bit Smiths, a little bit Joy Division. It’s a swirling wall of reverb and a steady hammered drum beat with female vocals. See what you think.

Farewell

Farewell sounds so final and morbid, doesn't it? I wonder why? At any rate, it's not farewell for good, just for now. I'll be back here next week listing out my listening for the 3 of you who are reading (Hiya!).

Until then, be excellent to each other, don't sweat the small stuff and all the rest of those snappy little clichés that you read and then roll your eyes at. Really, just do what you do with respect for others.

Hasala malakim.