Green Worker's American Swim (July 29th - August 2nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

If you can believe it, I'm running ahead of time with my list this week. I've had it chosen since early in the week, to avoid rushing it. A few albums that I just haven't heard in a while managed to pop up.

One of those albums that has slipped the Work Tunes net forever is REM's excellent Green. @sunky mentioned another Mazzy Star LP last week and it made me think of Among My Swan. Jay-Z has been all up in everyone's grill lately, so I had to grab Vol. 3. A Billy Bragg album I'm yet to hear makes the cut this week, as does the My Girl soundtrack thanks to @BreeMateljan's SOTW. The very latest pack of funky tracks from Orgone is here and the Italian horror rock of Goblin. Incesticide is another neglected LP that made my list this week. What's left is some jangly folk pop from The Whispertown 2000 and some darker alt country infused folk from A.A. Bondy.  

Check it out:

• R.E.M. - Green
• Mazzy Star - Among My Swan
• Nirvana - Incesticide
• A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
• The Whispertown 2000 - Swim
• Orgone - New You
• Goblin - Susperia
• Billy Bragg - Worker's Playtime
• VA - My Girl OST
• Jay-Z - The Life and Times of Sean Carter Vol. 3

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Springsteen
2. Alice In Chains
3. Nick Drake
4. Van Morrison
5. The Replacements

Song of the Week : Alice In Chains - Angry Chair

It has been some time since I listened to Dirt. It's a lot heavier than I remember it. When I look back on it though, a lot of grunge was fairly heavy - Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Tad, Dinosaur Jr. It was just Nirvana and Pearl Jam who brought that pop sensibility to it that crossed it into the mainstream. In any other circumstances, that would be called "selling out", but I'm really glad they did. Because let's face it, in 1991 in Perth, there is no way we'd have heard starving indie rock bands from Seattle if they hadn't sold out. 

I chose Angry Chair because it was one of the releases from this album and because it is quite stereotypically "grungy". The apathetically depressed lyrics, the wall of deep fuzz and the pounding drums are all on the heavy side of the sound that I once knew and loved so well. Nostalgia may not be what it used to be, but some days a familiar tune can be a good warm hug. Enjoy.

Hooroo
I'm just finishing this all up on a Saturday afternoon. The wife and children are at swimming lessons and I am left here tasked with domestic duties because we haven't been home all day. We're unbelievably short on time today. A good thing I had this list planned early, wasn't it?

Hasala malakim.

Daft Dirt River Replacements (22nd - 26th July)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

I've been laid up with afflictions all of these last few days, so I have again rushed my list. But it's still pretty good.

I decided to continue my second chances for late-period Pearl Jam - I'll see if Binaural stands up now like it didn't before for me. To compliment Pearl Jam , I grabbed Alice In Chains. After Newsroom used Into the Mystic in the closing credits, I reached right for Moondance. I've got some Replacements here and the soundtrack to a doco on Big Star. Those two CDs seem complimentary. Another soundtrack is from The Wackness starring Ben Kingsley. After enjoying the production of Daft Punk's latest, I've gone back in time a bit with them. Back in time also with De La Soul and way back with Nick Drake's dream-like folky Pink Moon. All that leaves is Bruce Springsteen's classic double album from 1980, The River. 

Check it out:

• Pearl Jam - Binaural
• The Replacements - Tim
• Van Morrison - Moondance
• Bruce Springsteen - The River
• Alice In Chains - Dirt
• VA - The Wackness OST
• Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me
• Daft Punk - Homework
• De La Soul - Stakes Is High
• Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Foghat
2. Bob Marley
3. Why?
4. Josh Pyke
5. Dinosaur Jr.

Song of the Week : Chic  - Le Freak

After a few different discussions over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about disco and about Daft Punk's new album and how it is a) very disco and b) massively overhyped. But overhype aside, it's a decent listen if you like a bit of 70s disco. What I like about it, besides the pastiche of retro sounds is the engineering on it. It reminds me of 70s engineering too, because every layer seems to be painstakingly balanced and nuanced just right. Not every band bothers with all that trouble these days and a lot of pop music sounds like mud.

But no, my SOTW isn't Daft Punk, it's Chic - Le Freak. I hadn't heard this song in ages until my Daft Punk wonderings got me thinking about disco. There is a bit of this song in a lot of the tracks on Random Access Memories, in particular that funky little guitar chord riff so synonymous with disco. This will get your boogie shoes on.

Interesting aside if you haven't heard the tale, but Nile Rodgers says the song was initially titled "Fuck Off!" because they couldn't get in Studio 54 one night. Off home they went, wrote a funky ass bassline and chanted "Fuck Off!" instead of Freak Out! which is what they decided on to appease record companies. 

TTFN
If there is anything on my hurried list that sounds like it might suit you, go and have a listen. Spotify or Songl or Rdio that tish all you like. Life is too short for bad music. 

Hasala malakim.

Chic Blue Foghat Legend (July 15th - 19th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

There's not a second to spare tonight. I simply must get away and watch SHARKNADO! A movie about a tornado full of sharks - what's not to like?! Let's ride! 

I recently started watching Freaks and Geeks and one mention of Foghat and here we are. More 70s style from Chic and for a more serious 70s sound, there is Patti Smith's brilliant Horses. Also brilliant but world's apart is a Digable Planets favourite. Another favourite is from Dinosaur Jr. I've picked a tribute to Nick Drake that I've been meaning to hear for a while and will probably add Drake's Pink Moon on next week's list. Also a tribute of sorts, a new suite of remixes for Bob Marley's Legend LP. I chose Alopecia from Why? because I haven't played it for a while. The latest from Josh Pyke is here so I can give it a listen and lastly, also new, Jay-Z. 

Check it out:

• Josh Pyke - Beginning and the End of Everything
• Bob Marley - Legend Remixed
• VA - Way To Blue (The Songs of Nick Drake)
• Chic - The Chic Organization (Greatest Hits)
• Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
• Patti Smith - Horses
• Foghat - The Best Of Foghat
• Why? - Alopecia
• Jay-Z - Magna Carta Holy Grail
• Dinosaur Jr. - Without A Sound

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Josh Rouse
2. The Lemonheads
3. Son Volt
4. David Bowie
5. Chelsea Light Moving

Song of the Week : The Easybeats - Good Times

Back in, I guess, '87? when this song Good Times was released by INXS featuring Jimmy Barnes, I was a huge fan of both artists. I also had no idea that it was a cover. I later found that out, but had never heard the Easybeats original until this week.

Listening to it now it is obvious why Jimmy Barnes would choose to cover it. That even sounds like him on backing. Did he pinch his scotch soaked scream from The Easybeats all along? Is he even older than he appears and that is him?! Who knows? 

As for the song, that 60s rock n roll sound is immense. The main riff like the standard E A A E (e.g. "Mama took those batteries E A A E She took em away E A A E") blues refrain played after every line in the verse. The percussion all symbol and snare with the rolling bass drum. The little handclaps and Yeahs! It's so 60s and a little bit Aussie. In short, the perfect song for INXS and Jimmy Barnes to cover in the late 80s.   

Adeus 

That's Portuguese for goodbye, or so Babelfish tells me. I'm a fan of the Portuguese people; they gave us Nandos and one of my best friends from primary school. Shout outs to Steve B! 

Boa noite, amigos. Hasala malakim.

Dig Your Motherland Circus (July 8th - 12th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It seems like every week I am having to rush through picking a playlist these days. I've just returned from the usual shopping expedition and have forgotten a bunch of stuff, so I'll be off out again soon. While I am at home though, let's see what we have.

Before Portlandia and Wild Flag, the lovely Carrie Brownstein was in Sleater-Kinney, so check them out. Thanks to my SOTW this week, Raw Power gets a gig. Thanks to Jamie's SOTW from a couple of weeks ago, so does Dave Brubeck's immortal jazz classic Time Out. For a helping of newness, there's Editors and Bliss n Eso. Representing classic Australian rock, I've got the Easybeats only disc of Easy Fever, a tribute album. On old favourite from two or three years ago from Beach Fossils is here. From Hip Hop DJ Steinski, there's a retrospective. Natalie Merchant steps up with an album I haven't heard yet. Finally, what playlist would be complete without a good 80s compilation?

Check it out:

• Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
• Natalie Merchant - Motherland
• Editors - Weight Of Your Love
• VA - Eighties Complete Vol. 1 (1980-1982)
• Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power
• Steinski - What Does It All Mean? (1983 - 2006 Retrospective)
• Bliss n Eso - Circus In The Sky
• The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
• The Easybeats - Easy Fever 
• Beach Fossils - What A Pleasure

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Josh Rouse
2. The Lemonheads
3. Son Volt
4. David Bowie
5. Chelsea Light Moving

Song of the Week : Iggy & the Stooges - Gimme Danger

Last night I went to Opening Night at Rev and watched Burn; a documentary about the Detroit Fire Department. There are something like 80,000 vacant homes in Detroit and parts of it look just like a war zone a la downtown NY in the 70s. There are also a lot of arson attacks in Detroit, on vacant and occupied homes.

My SOTW is a tune the doco makers used in the opening scenes of Burn, to great effect - Gimme Danger by Iggy & The Stooges. Its abrasive fuzziness and the dark bass undertone really went well with footage of firemen standing inside burning buildings, shooting water OUT! These guys love a good fire and the starting salary is just 30k! I wouldn't push trolleys for 30k let alone put my life on the line. And there are dangers I didn't even think of - such as second story floors burning through, dropping giant bathtubs and air conditioners on their heads, or being trapped under collapsed facades.  

I'm sorry I only have a low bitrate version on my iPod of the track off Raw Power as the CD is at home. The only other version I have is from the Iggy Pop Nude & Rude compilation and that's a whole other mix. Somebody polished all the edges up so it sounds hollow. This original version has all the crunch and attack of a five alarm fire. Turn it up!

Paalam

It's almost time to head off out again. If you're in Perth this week, don't forget that Revelation Film Festival is on. There's a bunch of great films, including music documentaries like the one on Big Star and one on Muscle Shoals. Get down and support independent filmmakers, indie cinemas and film nerds like myself. 

Hasala malakim.