Friday, August 31, 2012

Talking Dead White Blowout Relics (September 3rd - 7th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

I'm just writing this all down on a Friday night (no, wait, Saturday morning) before bed. It's taken a while to figure out what I want to hear next week. I still think there'll be changes before I publish this. The list you read below will probably be different to the first one I put down. 

 So what have I got so far then? I have Oasis because how long has it been?! There's the recently released B-side compilation from Elbow; also in compilation format, I have the soundtrack to Wayne's World (party time, excellent); in the Rap corner I've got Jay-Z's Black album because it's been a while since I heard it from start to finish and I have Blowout Comb because I can never say no when my brain puts Digable Planets in my head. For something a little gentler I have The Weepies and Sea Wolf. There's some ancient artifacts from Pink Floyd and an EP from Dinosaur Jr. (whose new album comes out soon and I can't wait). Lastly I've chosen Billy Bragg again because I'm in rather a politically indignant mood lately - as you'll see from SOTW below.

Check it out:

  1. Ice-T
  2. Tracy Chapman
  3. Sex Pistols
  4. Black Sabbath
  5. Pegz

Song of the Week : Tracy Chapman - So



 I haven't really had a song step up and present itself for SOTW this week. Whenever that happens, I tend to look for topical happenings that have caught my eye and then find a song to go with it. This week's happening was Gina Reinhart calling for the lowering of the minimum wage and telling ordinary Australians to "get out of the pub" if they wanted to be rich like her. Sorry, but only 200 odd years ago, we would have cut her head off for that.

 There were so many songs about clueless, spoilt, rich idiots that I could have picked. Think Common People, Rich Girl, Talkin' About a Revolution, but I chose Tracy Chapman's So. This song is almost Folk music in its purest form. It's political, it's scathing and indignant, yet it's a sweet tune carried by a soothing voice and some smooth ringing chords and a flowing bass.

 It was an affront to me to read Gina's words. I have worked minimum wage. And not just as a student living at home; I was even on the dole at one stage and renting a place. Now back then it cost 2 of us a shared $90 a week for a flat on the river, but the dole wasn't that much less than it is now. Anyone claiming that minimum wage should be lowered is insane - or has an agenda, a la Gina.

 To be clear, I didn't only choose this because it talks about the rich getting fat. My criticism of Gina has nothing to do with her appearance. It's the unmitigated gall of someone who stepped into a fortune on the pure fact she came out of Lang Hancock's scrotum who thinks she can speak on the value of hard work. I chose it above all the others because of:
"You grind and grind and you push and shove
Claim that those most worthy
Will get what they deserve.
It can't be true.
'Cause I've seen too many hungry faces
I've seen too many of the likes of you."

So yeah, I have a problem with the ruling class :) I still have blue collar bogan blood - what are you going to do?


Addio, Amici

Thanks for stopping by. A happy Father's Day to all the Dads in Australia. I can almost taste the Spanish omelette and bacon tortilla I've been promised for breakfast on Sunday. It really is the little things, isn't it.

 Adieu. Hasala malakim.
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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Twisted Suburban Detroit Skin (August 27th - 31st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

 A stock standard busy-as-you-like week at work this week. I got some projects finished, had some finished product delivered and started a couple of new ones. Plus, I'm beginning a restructure of the whole company website, so that is going to be a ton of writing and 'html-ing'. Really looking forward to seeing the fruits of that project up and running. In the meantime, I'll be working away with a bunch of albums on the go.

 To start with, there's two soundtracks - one from the Sex Pistiols film and the other from a great rock/road film about Kiss fans. Speaking of rock, I've grabbed a little Sabbath compilation for some good old-fashioned vitamin RAWK. To calm things down, and for the first time in a while, I have Nizlopi and Bob Evans; I've added Celebrity Skin because I watched Hit So Hard last week. There's the self-titled Pretty & Twisted LP from Concrete Blonde's leading lady Johnette Napolitano; I've got some LA rap from Ice-T and some from Melbourne rhymes via Pegz. Topping it all off is some more downtempo beats from SineRider after I enjoyed LEURE last week.

Check it out:

  1. Billy Bragg
  2. Ryan Adams
  3. The Bamboos
  4. The National
  5. The Vaccines

 Song of the Week : The Vaccines - Teenage Icon



 I'm going with Teenage Icon by The Vaccines because of it's uber catchy chorus. I could have taken any track off of The Bamboos because I have really enjoyed it, but since J gave us one last week, I pick this. 

 I don't know much about The Vaccines. They only seem a couple of years old and this is their second lp I think. Besides the catchy chorus, this track has that pop punk sound that was popular late 90s, early 2000s with bands like Living End.

 See what you think.

Hooroo

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something you might want to listen to. If you check out The Vaccines song from last week, don't say you weren't warned about the catchy chorus. I'm still singing it.

 I was going to go to the boat harbour in Hillarys this weekend for some lunch in the sun, but I found out City To Surf is on and there's a heap of road closures. So instead I'll probably stay local and head down to the wharf in Fremantle like I should have in the first place (6.5kms vs 39kms). Still, a change is as good as a holiday and all that. We'll see. 

Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Friday, August 17, 2012

National Development of Moon Vaccines (August 20th - 24th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


No news to report this week. I finished Skagboys and I've decided to read Trainspotting and then Porno again, so it will be like an Irvine Welsh shindig for a while around here


Lots of new stuff this week music-wise though, starting with albums from The Vaccines and The Bamboos on recommendation from friends; another recommendation, also new, from The Thousands blog was Leure, which is downtempo beats I was surprised I liked the sound of; for a rap fix there's more new stuff from Arrested Development and I Self Devine; there's old stuff too from Pink Floyd, The National and Billy Bragg; a new Fleetwood Mac tribute and one of fifteen live sets from Ryan Adams' Live After Deaf box top it all off. 


 Check it out:

  1. Brand Nubian
  2. Elton John
  3. Concrete Blonde
  4. Ice-T
  5. De La Soul

Song of the Week : Elton John  - This Train Don't Stop There Anymore
Over the last couple of weeks, I have had each disk of an Elton John Best Of in my playlists. I have been a fan of Elton since I was a kid, but we all know that sometime in the late 80s, he kind of started sucking and he never fully recovered. Except, in my humble opinion, for the Songs From The West Coast album, from which this song This Train Don't Stop There Anymore, comes.

 Do you know what gave Mr John (not his real name) his inspiration to make a decent album? He heard a little record called Heartbreaker by one Mr Ryan Adams. I've heard Elton interviewed about it and he says he heard Heartbreaker and he was embarrassed. He said he was hearing honesty and a real love of songwriting in Adams that he had lost himself.

 So this song is all about the loss of inspiration, the dying spark inside Elton to write real soSengs - which ironically is one of the best songs he's ever put out for mine.

 "I used to be the Mid Express / All steam and whistles heading West / Picking up my pain from door to door / Riding on the storyline, furnace burning overtime / But this train don't stop there anymore." 
Bon Voyage

Thanks for stopping by. If you like a bit of electronica; which, it has to be said, I don't usually, check out Leure via the link and throw a tenner down on it. The Arrested Development album is free via the link, so grab that if you're a fan. 


That's all from me this week. I'll be back next week with another set of tunes to get me through the working week, and hopefully turn you onto something you haven't heard. 

 And speaking of what you haven't heard, if you don't know about #Clay5 and you're on Twitter, you're missing out. Check it out via the blog over at clay5.blogspot.com.au or just follow @Clay5. 

 Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Friday, August 10, 2012

Hardcore Haunted Jazz House (August 13th - 17th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

 A momentous week this week with Miss 5 becoming Miss 6. She got to chose her birthday dinner and picked Dominos pizza including (her first) delivery. She seemed ok with the results but I could tell she was a little confused, being used to her Mum's homemade gourmets on stones from the bbq or at the very least woodfired from Blend down the road. 

But enough about cheese and dough and tasty, tasty bacon, you came for the music not food. What's on the menu this week? Lashings of American Hardcore punk; a second helping of both Trainspotting and Elton John; there's a cheeky new jus of Ariel's Pink Haunted Graffiti; the ever faithful Concrete Blonde debut features along with the familiar flavours of Josh Rouse; you'll find hints of Ornette Coleman, with a slab of AC/DC to drink, all topped off with a cleansing dollop of Brand Nubian and De La Soul for dessert. 

Check it out:
  1. Elton John
  2. Babes In Toyland
  3. Big Star
  4. Jay-Z
  5. Neko Case

 Song of the Week : AC/DC - Thunderstruck




 This week's SOTW, believe it or not, is AC/DC - Thunderstruck. I know, I know, I'm so little of an Ackadacka fan that I copped an arse-whoopin' at high school for giving Who Made Who a bad review in the school paper. But like I said even then, Back In Black is great stuff! 

 The story behind my choice is just that someone at work on thursday mentioned one of those SS thunder ute things, another guy starts singing the song and we've all got it stuck in our head. So he wants me to find him a copy to listen to and get it *out* of his head. I didn't have a copy, so I chased down a link on Grooveshark and I listened to it too. 

 That relentless riff of squeally tapping, the chant aaaahahahahahahahaah! This song is the big dumb action movie of rock and roll - it's big, dumb and fun. In fact, I'm pretty sure it has appeared in several BDAMs by now. 

 So crank this, enjoy it for what it is - sweaty, simple and honest hard rock from Straya.
Seeya

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Perth, get outside before the rain comes because it is glorious yet again. We're just back from the beach and everything was magnificently smooth and clear. I was hoping for more of a stormy driftwood kind of a vibe, but it's actually quite warm. 

 Until next week, be good to each other. Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Saturday, August 4, 2012

Open My Big Cyclone Beach Home (August 6th - 10th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Guttentag meine kameraden! What's the haps yo? A comfortingly standard week for me this week just gone with a viewing of The Dark Knight Rises thrown in to shake things up. I enjoyed it, but honestly, Mr Nolan sir, EDIT just a little bit eh?

Alright then, let's get right into the tunes. What have I got this week you ask? Well, there's a compilation of songs for the road I picked up from the eBays which looks like it might have been sold at a petrol station; I thought I'd throw in som Jay-Z which made me think of Ice T and the 99 Problems line that Jay-Z stole; I've got some Kiss because, well it's Kiss; sticking with the 70s I've got the first disc of Elton John's remastered greatest hits; I also have volume 1 of Trainspotting because I'm still reading Skagboys (and I will have volume 2 next week); Neko Case is always great; there's Beach House's first album, some Babes In Toyland and finally Big Star thanks to my rediscovery of Thirteen this week.

 Check it out:

  1. Cheap Trick
  2. The Beatles
  3. Snoop Dogg
  4. Indigo Girls
  5. Divinyls

Song of the Week : Big Star - Thirteen



This week's track comes courtesy of James. In a roundabout way. When he requested the Evan Dando cover of Sam Stone, it made me add Dando's Live At The Brattle Theatre to my playlist.


One of the songs on the album is Thirteen. When I was listening to it this week, I knew I'd heard it before and it must be a cover. At first, I worked out I had heard Wilco do it, but I knew it wasn't a Wilco song. So I looked on the iPod and sure enough Wilco - Thirteen appears on Big Star Small World a tribute LP to Big Star.


I have a copy of Big Star's 3rd, but had never heard #1. So this is Thirteen from that album. I like it for its subtlety. It's a teen rebellion song with a protagonist who sounds like he'd rather sleep than run riot. I like that if you take away the "school" references, there isn't any line that couldn't relate to most people with a generational conflict. So it is the title and the inclusion of school that gives it a great deal of its meaning. Subtle and understated. Not enough of that these days.

Toodle Pip

Thanks for stopping by. Last minute preparation and supplementary gift buying this weekend as Miss 5 becomes Miss 6 on Thursday. She's been given permission to choose the meal for her birthday dinner and she's gone with pizza. I can't argue with that. She didn't say beer, but I'm sure she was thinking it, so I'll just have one to honour her wishes. 


Derby day today. It would be typical of my Eagles to lose this one if everything else goes right for them, like Hawthorn losing already has, so I won't get my hopes up. May the best team (not wearing purple) win.


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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