Sail the Dirty Mystic Highway (May 28th - June 1st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Terrible week this time around tunesters. Lots of hard graft at work and the likely loss of the family pet. But you get by. Music always helps. And here's what I have.


I've slipped in a few Australian classics from AC/DC, Cold Chisel and The Saints. I'll probably have a few more next week. For my Hip Hop fix I've got LL and Plug One and Two of De La Soul. The latest LP from Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band is here, as is a classic from Randy Newman. For a bit of a Soul hit, who better than Sam Cooke and Mavis Staples. Finally, as always a bit of twang from Drive By Truckers.


Check it out:

• Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back
• Conor Oberst and Mystic Valley - One Of My Kind
• AC/DC - Highway To Hell
• Plug One and Plug Two - First Serve
• LL Cool J - Icon
• Cold Chisel - Circus Animals
• Drive By Truckers - Dirty South
• Sam Cooke - The Man and His Music
• Randy Newman - Sail Away
• The Saints - (I'm) Stranded

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. Melissa Etheridge
3. The National
4. Elvis Costello
5. Bob Evans

Song of the Week : Bob Dylan - Things Have Changed

This week I have had a number of songs following me around, which makes it impossible to choose just one. So instead I'll celebrate the 71st birthday of Mr Robert Zimmerman, known to his mates as just plain Bob Dylan. The song I chose is the Academy Award Winning song from Wonder Boys - Things Have Changed.


Apart from being a solid rocking blues song, this track perfectly suited not just the main character of Wonder Boys (who was a disgruntled author with writer's block) but also His Bobness himself. Once upon a time the voice of a generation, the white people's sounding block for the Civil Rights movement, the poster boy for the radical Left; Bob grew up a bit jaded and a little more laid back. We should have seen it coming though, he signposted it in My Back Pages: "But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."


Things Have Changed reminds me that we all shift our priorities constantly. Some of the things that seem at some point to mean everything to us, that get us fired up, can wind up seeming trivial at best. Certain things are always going to be worth caring about, but so much of the baggage we carry around could just be jettisoned. Bob's refrain "I used to care, but things have changed" is genius in that it could mean he just doesn't care anymore or that the things around have changed so much, it's hard to know what to care about. 


Happy birthday to Bob, the "savage gift on a wayward bus" Dylan.

So Long

Not much more to say this week. I'll be happy when it's over and I get to try again next week, only this time without the terrible hassles and the grief. 


Thanks for stopping by. Hasala malakim.

Futuristic Violet Model Pleasures (May 21st - 25th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well, I got my first take down notice from the DMCA. For The Spectrals - Get A Grip of all things. Not very punk rock guys. Still, who am I to take perceived income away from starving multinational corporations. So I dutifully took it down and I will henceforth quit posting a streaming link to Song of the Week. You'll just have to watch the YouTube video and go buy the single without hearing it properly. But of course, if you'd heard it in good quality streaming, you'd have been more likely to buy it, right? Isn't the Internet the new radio station? I wish corporations really were people, so we could punch them in the face. But I digress...


For my listening pleasure this week I'm holding Steve Tannen's Big Senorita, a CD I just got delivered from The Weepies' site. I have what must be the only BDP album I haven't heard; plus an album from Digable Planets' own Doodlebug. Reaching for some classics I have Elvis Costello and Joy Division; Melissa Etheridge is here because I just bought the vinyl; The 3rd disc of the Mermaid Avenue sessions is here; Pump Up The Volume thanks to a recent #Clay5 on Twitter; Jimmy Smith - Root Down because of the Beastie Boys sample; and finally High Violet because it has been quite some time. 


Check it out:

• Doodlebug feat. D.O.R. - Futuristic Sci-Fi
• Steve Tannen - Big Senorita
• Boogie Down Productions - Edutainment
• Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
• Jimmy Smith - Root Down
• Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions (Disc 3)
• Melissa Etheridge - Never Enough
• VA - Pump Up The Volume OST
• Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
• The National - High Violet

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. U2
3. The Clash
4. Dinosaur Jr.
5. Suzanne Vega

Song of the Week : Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost

This week's song comes courtesy of a TV show; the very great Parks and Recreation. I was a late comer to Parks n Recs, only getting into it after Season 3 was complete, but I've since caught up. I'm pretty sure you all watch it, but sometime in Season 3, April Ludgate mentioned Neutral Milk Hotel as her favourite band. The name didn't ring a bell at the time, so I decided to check them out .


As soon as I heard this song, Ghost, I knew I had heard them many times before. I even knew the words to it. I think I've stumbled across them on sites like themixtapeclub and 8tracks etc because they are obviously quite a popular act. They sound a bit like The Decemberists to my ears with a smattering of Arcade Fire. 


I dig this song in particular for its folky hipster vibe and the catchy melodies of "dee dee dee dee dee dee" and the line that I instantly recognised “She was born in a bottle rocket, 1929" I'm almost positive you know it, so I hope you like it.


Byeeee

Peace out homeys. Be safe, go well and don't let the Man bring you down. Go Eagles!


Hasala malakim.

Nasty Suburban Sea Songs (May 14th - 18th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


First up, I have to say I am still smarting from the passing of MCA. This week's Song of the Week was a special tribute edition and you'll see later on that it's quite long. It isn't just the tragedy of losing a great artist either, it's awful to see a man taken from his family and friends at such a young age. I am listening to To The 5 Burroughs and Hello Nasty this week to continue to pay respect and enjoy the music.


Besides the two Beastie LPs, I've grabbed my favourite Josh Rouse; there's the latest effort from Best Coast; Neutral Milk Hotel I am checking out thanks to Parks and Recs; I bought a bonus EP copy of Hand It Over on the weekend, so that's here; Australia's own Bob Evans makes an appearance; Suzanne Vega has been sounding great in the wetter weather; U2s monumental live album is along for the ride and finally a Bloodshot Records compilation. 


Check it out:

• Josh Rouse - 1972
• U2 - Rattle and Hum
• VA - Down to the Promised Land : 5 Years of Bloodshot
• Bob Evans - Suburban Songbook
• Best Coast - The Only Place
• Beastie Boys - To The 5 Burroughs
• Dinosaur Jr - Hand It Over (w/Bonus EP)
• Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
• Suzanne Vega - Songs in Red and Grey
• Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. Sonic Youth
3. 2Pac
4. The Lemonheads
5. Nirvana

Song of the Week : Beastie Boys - Right Right Now Now

The first time I saw the Beastie Boys was the film clip to Fight For Your Right. Being 14 / 15 at the time, these three brats from NYC talking about smoking and drinking and porno were the three coolest guys on the planet. (Side Note: I don’t know if you know or remember this, but kids actually used to steal VW emblems to hang around their neck like Mike D. I never did, but I remember trawling the streets of Koongamia looking for a Beetle to gank one off).


Part one of my multimedia tribute is the video on my tumblr (www.coreyj.tumblr.com) of an unaired live performance on Chappelle’s Show. This is how they were when I found them; raucous, NYC, precocious and wild. Part of them stayed exactly like that even as they matured.


After I saw the film clip for Fight, I immediately took some money from my Kmart job and bought the 45 of the song.  On the other side was Paul Revere. It was that song that for me established MCA as the “bad ass” of the three. Ad Rock was always the whiny brat and Mike D the smooth ladies man. MCA always came across as the tough guy, and that sort of has always carried on.

That’s why I chose Right Right Now Now from The 5 Burroughs as my SOTW. I think 5 Burroughs is unfairly underrated by even big Beasties fans. I have always loved it. This song shows beautifully how MCA was the counterpoint to the old school Beastie brattiness. As Simon pointed out, they still had fun while they spoke on important topics. Have a look at some of the exchanges of lyrics across the song:


Ad Rock:  With the sound delight we rock all night / And yes we're gonna party for the right to fight
MCA: What we do now is future moulding / Columbine bowling, childhood stolen / We need a bit more gun controlling


Mike D: I'm not here to fight, or incite  / I'm like the beach in the Bahamas make you feel alright 
MCA: I'm getting kind of tired of the situation / The US attacking other nations


When I watched Awesome! I F%#^n’ Shot That last night and saw them play as a live band, instruments and all, it drove home just how far they’d evolved from the hardcore punk band who wanted to be terrible at playing, through their rap pioneering and onto being accomplished instrumentalists as well as highly respected rappers. The band, the culture and the world will never be the same without MCA. It was a sad, sad day when we lost him.


Woah, long one. Sorry about that. But I think you know how I’ve dragged the Beastie Boys around with me like a security blanket from the age of 14; a constant touchstone to that part of my personality and culture. I sure am going to miss them – because I don’t think there’ll be any more output from the other two as a group. Hopefully there’ll be some lost tapes or something with MCA as star.

Nnnnnddroooop!

TTFN brothers and sisters. May your whole week be charged with new music and old favourites. If you're going out, play safe. Happy Mothers Day if you're a Mum in Australia. 


Go Eagles! (no chance) Hasala malakim.

Shame Dirty Nashville Jack Crosby (May 7th - 11th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


It's been a very busy and very productive week at work. A last minute task I completed on time has received rave reviews; which is always awesome. The wet weather is making the drive to and from all that more sucky, but you get by... you get by < /Cartman >.  So here's what I need to sail me through another working week. 


First of all, a note. I've just updated my list to include two great albums from the Beastie Boys after hearing at 2am this morning that MCA had passed (more on that later). I can't guarantee that next week's list won't have two more.


I'm finally getting around to listening to Crosby, Stills & Nash; I have a straight up 90s essential from the Lemonheads; a little bit of Sonic Youth; the latest from Beach House and Jack White; a bonafide classic from The Clash; a free mixtape from the Nashville Film Festival; and finally a familiar Weepies set for reliable service. 


Check it out:

• Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
• Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
• Sonic Youth - Dirty
• Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill
• Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
• Beach House - Bloom
• VA - Nashville Film Festival Mixtape
• Jack White - Blunderbuss
• The Weepies - Happiness
• The Clash - London Calling

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beach Fossils
2. Pixies
3. Snoop Dogg
4. Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5. Iron & Wine

Song of the Week : Spectrals - Get a Grip

Thanks to the lovely wet and cold weather, I almost went with a Bonnie "Prince" Billy song, but Spectrals have been my band of the week. After loving Beach Fossils all last week, I checked out Spectrals because Songl had them under Similar Artists. 

Turns out they are probably more like The Smiths than Beach Fossils. Very English, a bit Stone Roses, a bit Blur, a bit Smiths, detached hipster irony a-plenty. 


This song, Get A Grip is jangly and upbeat. What it shares in common with Beach Fossils is probably the echo and the layered guitars. A similar feel if not a similar sound. Check it out and see what you think.

Toodle-Ooh

Whatever you do this weekend folks, have a total ball. Eat great food, drink great (*insert your poison here*), have great laughs and listen to a ton of great tunes. I'll be here next week with some more of what I'm digging at the time.


Be good to each other. Go Eagles! Hasala malakim.


Post Script May 5th, 2012: I've just now finished writing a tumblr post on the passing of MCA of the Beastie Boys. I'm completely floored by the news. It's 2:03am Saturday morning and I'm off to bed with a very heavy heart. 

Timing like a clock when I rock the Hip Hop
Top notch is my stock on the soap box
I've got more rhymes than I've got grey hairs
And that's a lot because I've got my share

Rest in Power MCA.