Friday, February 24, 2012

Sabbath of the Lost Cowboy Horses (Feb 27 - Mar 2)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This last week or so, I've been re-watching the excellent BBC documentary series Seven Ages of Rock. It's been influencing my choices quite a bit. I could have filled a whole list just with music from the various bands the series looks at. That much classic rock might blow the circuits in my laptop and my headphones, so I'll space it out instead. 

What I've picked this week from the BBCs inspiration is Black Sabbath's Volume 4, Pink Floyd's Meddle and Ramones Rocket to Russia. For a bit of balance, I've got The Palace Brothers, Wilco, Cowboy Junkies and Jamiroquai. For those Hip Hop taste buds, I chose Black Sheep and Mojo's Roots of Hip Hop compilation. Finally, there's a selection of the Billboard 100 from 1982 for a twist of cheese. 

Check it out.

Top Five Artists Last Week
  1. Ryan Adams
  2. The Rolling Stones
  3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
  4. Dolorean
  5. KRS-One

Song of the Week : Led Zeppelin - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You



My SOTW this week is inspired by my drive in this morning and also by the BBC series Seven Ages of Rock that I’ve been re-watching. The most recent episode I had on was We Will Rock You* (*Edit - It's actually We Are The Champions. Different Queen song. I knew I should have checked that.) about stadium acts such as Queen, Dire Straits, KISS and the band who started it all, Led Zeppelin. The doco claimed Led Zep were the first band to tell the promoter, “we’ll take 90% and you can have 10%” which was the reverse of how things used to be. They got away with it because they filled massive spaces and 10% of Led Zep was still huge money. 

I woke up singing the riff from Whole Lotta Love and then, driving in to work, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You comes on random on my iPod. This song is epically constructed, massively overblown and bombastic, hard hitting and wildly screamed and yet more than 40 years later, it’s still brilliant. It still makes you feel the kick drums in your chest and Plant's wail in your brain. It could be released by a band tomorrow and the critics would hail it as the redemption of rock music. Except, they don’t make many like these any more. 

I’d slip you the lossless version, but it’s a huge file. Besides, I’m betting you all have it on a CD somewhere. It’s made me think of buying the 4 LP vinyl Mothership boxset. The actual albums are hard to find on vinyl in good condition for under $100 each. But the box has most of the best tracks for about $100 the lot. 

Crank it up loud and enjoy.

Aloha 
Big weekend for me, with Ryan Adams at the Concert Hall. I saw Grizzly play in 2006 at Metro Fremantle with the Cardinals. This concert though is acoustic and solo. Should be really different to the Cardinals gig which totally rawked \m/

See you next week. Don't forget to take time out to listen to some tunes in your busy schedules. 

Hasala Malakim.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Friday, February 17, 2012

Playlist : Love is the Electric Bite Marked Exile (Feb 20th - 24th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Happy belated Valentine's Day, cherubs. I was once under the mistaken belief that Valentine's was akin to "Love Day" (as portrayed on The Simpsons #5F09); made up by card and chocolate companies to sell product. Not so, sweet cynics, it did in fact originate in 496 AD in honour of several Christian martyrs named Valentinus. It became about romantic love in the 14th century thanks to Chaucer. Given all this, I'm quite happy to take the day as one particular celebration of not just my love for my wife and soul mate, but the joy of romance itself. So, no cynicism from me - all you need is love.


And music. You need music too. As for me, what I need this week is Exile on Main Street after watching the excellent documentary Stones In Exile; Love Is Hell because I am seeing young Grizzly Adams next weekend; I need The Cars, just 'cause it has been so very long that I almost forgot they existed; Brother Ali's latest EP; The Militia; Bob Dylan's mellow 70s New Morning; the debut self-titled LP from Mount Washington; a true classic with Electric Ladyland; Stiff Little Fingers, inspired again by High Fidelity; and finally a Mojo compilation of music that is supposedly 'the roots' of Nirvana.


Check it out:

  1. Hilltop Hoods
  2. Paul Simon
  3. Tori Amos
  4. The Rolling Stones
  5. Pearl Jam

Song of the Week : The Beta Band - Dry The Rain



The night my wife and Miss 5 spent at PMH, I watched High Fidelity. It’s a great film, simply for its overarching theme of music’s place in everyone’s life. It made me make my wife a mix CD (complete with artwork) of all the songs that used to be “ours” when we were dating and then at our wedding.


I've listened to the soundtrack this week, but I also checked out The Beta Band because of the scene where Cusack plays Dry The Rain and says he’ll now sell 5 copies of Three EPs. I thought “I’d totally have bought one”. Turns out Dry The Rain is the most obvious single off the set. It’s very Beatlesque in a jangly UK pop way, and it starts slow and quirky before kicking into gear with a refrain that has been stuck in my head for days – “I will be alright, I will be alright…”


The most fantastic quote from High Fidelity that sums up how the film makes me feel is from Cusack’s character Rob, who says:
“Books, records, films -- these things matter. Call me shallow but it's the fuckin' truth…”
Amen, brother.


Toodle-oooh

If you're wondering why the crazy title on this week's playlist, it's something I always do at work. I name my playlist based on a few titles. I've been meaning to post my blog entries with the right name for ages, and never got around to it. I'll most likely forget from week to week, but I'll try to keep it up. 


And there we have it. Another week, another playlist. I'll be hard at work next week on a new campaign and looking forward to the Ryan Adams concert on Saturday night. In the meantime, I hope your respective weeks are sensational and you stumble across some music you've never heard that changes your life.


Hasala malakim.
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, February 10, 2012

Playlist : February 13th - 17th, 2012

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


So the bad news is, I didn't get to go to the Hilltop Hoods gig. I had to sell my tickets because my cousin/old mate could barely walk, let alone stand for hours in a mosh pit. These things happen. I'll throw my Parade of the Dead DVD on, turn the lights out and mosh in my lounge instead.


To the music then. This week's list is a little bit all over the place. Don't you judge me! I've got Paul Simon's monumental Graceland; the very latest from KRS One; a bit of Pearl Jam; the soundtrack to High Fidelity, plus Three EPs by The Beta Band featured in that film (I watched it on the weekend); some My Bloody Valentine for obvious reasons; Tori Amos; Beastie Boys; The Smiths and Jason Isbell because he's supporting Ryan Adams in a couple of weeks and I've never heard him.


Check it out:
  1. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
  2. The Doors
  3. Melissa Etheridge
  4. John Coltrane
  5. X

Song of the Week : Hilltop Hoods - City Of Light



I don’t know if you saw my indignant rant, but I recently read an article on how JJJ listeners were bitching about the amount of airplay AUS rap gets. That’s a matter of personal choice and I don’t have any problems with that, but the author of the article tried to say the reason was that AUS rap is no good; that it’s a pale imitation of current US rap. For starters, US rap is a pale imitation of itself these days; and secondly, AUS rap has always been it’s own phenomenon.


The writer seemed to be questioning the authenticity of Australian rappers; as if because they didn’t grow up in Compton doing drive-bys that they don’t know how to rap, or aren’t part of the culture. Why they pay people to write who have no idea of their history is beyond me. Australia, whether people like it or not, has had it’s own Hip Hop culture since the early 80s. What the best AUS rap acts are doing isn’t trying to be American, it’s telling their own stories in their own voices. Kids today seem to think that rappers should be talking about guns and bling and bitches, because they don’t know any better.


So my song (and this is also because I missed the gig) is Hilltop Hoods – City Of Light. I choose it because it’s a telling of their time growing up within Australia’s Hip Hop subculture. These are stories of Australian graffiti writers, Australian fashion trends (I bet Tupac never wore a Country Road parka), Australian open mic gigs. The Hoods helped get me back into rap after my long absence precisely because I was relating more to the lyrics and to the style. I fell off because I didn’t care for gangsta rap and I got back on because this wasn’t gangsta.

Turrah

There goes another list for another week. I'm writing this rather hurriedly at 1:30am on Friday because I've been up making Mrs coreyj a Valentine's Day present. I promise that no macaroni, glitter or PVA glue was used in the construction of said present. Plus, there will be other pleasant, more store-bought, treats.


Be excellent to each other, people. If you have a special someone and you celebrate such commercial constructions, have a happy Valentine's Day. If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with ;).


Arrivederci amanti.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, February 3, 2012

Playlist : February 6th - 10th, 2012

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well, I must say, Hugo was spectacular. Scorsese used the 3D tech to bring the characters to life, more so than the action; and to add magical touches like snow in the theatre. If you're a film obsessive like me, you'll love details like seeing the iconic Moon scene from Le voyage dans la lune in 3D and you'll love Scorsese's complete affection for the art of movie-making. But enough Hugo plugging, let's talk about Sets baby. 


The Golden Era Mixtape for 2012 dropped this week, for free, so that's here and you can grab a copy. For the quiet moments during the long week at work, I've got some jazz from Coltrane and the sweet indie pop of the Away We Go soundtrack; more Bonnie 'Prince' Billy; another mixtape, this time from Rhymesayers' I Self Divine; some X, The Doors and Vetiver; as well as Dan Mangan who I only just discovered and The New Pornographers' 2003 effort Mass Romantic.


Check it out:

  1. Public Enemy
  2. Hilltop Hoods
  3. The Felice Brothers
  4. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
  5. James Taylor

Song of the Week : The Felice Brothers - Frankie's Gun!



This week I’ve got a track from The Felice Brothers’ self-titled LP from 2008. Frankie’s Gun! is a dirty country rock song which seems to be about a guy working as a bagman for criminals who is either shot by Frankie or is pretending that he was to justify a missing $30 meant for a girl named Lucille. The song is sung to Lucille explaining how Frankie shot the narrator.


What I love about the track besides its rollicking fun time jig is the rhyming scheme in the lyrics. Some lines almost make me laugh at the rhymes and the way the words get packed in – “My car goes / To Chicago / Every weekend to pick up some cargo” and “I saw a man hit my Mom one time, really / I hurt him so damn bad I had to hide in Jersey”. It’s just a lot of fun with a timeless vibe like it’s about the bootlegging era but could just as easily be about today.


I hope you dig it.

Ciao For Niao

So there you have it. If anything takes your fancy, go and check it out. Drop me a comment if you know anything you think I might want to hear. 


Be good to each other kids; we're all we've got. 


Hasala malakim.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)