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:

• VA - Open All Night : On The Road
• Jay-Z In My Lifetime Vol. 1
• Kiss - Dynasty
• Elton John - Greatest Hits 1970 - 2002 (Remastered) (Disc One)
• Babes in Toyland - Nemesisters
• Ice T - Home Invasion
• Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
• Big Star #1 Record
• Beach House - Devotion
• VA - Trainspotting OST (Volume One)

Top Five Artists Last Week

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.

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.

Playlist : 10 Albums I Missed in 2010

Hello and welcome back to Work Tunes for 2011.

Last post last year was a collection of my favourite albums of 2010. Naturally, I wasn't the only one who wrote down my Top 10 list. For my first week back at work this year, I have decided to listen to a few albums that others chose and I hadn't heard. Mostly these are collected from music blogs and news sites, as well as from the recommendations of friends.

My 10 albums I missed in 2010 looks like this;

• We Are Jeneric - Animals Are People Too : With a sort of freak-folk sound and tracks that don't take themselves too seriously (how could they with titles like A Sister and Brother in the Kitchen Trying to Fly like Eagles by Jumping Off of Counters), this is an enjoyable set that sounds like a few friends jamming at a late night party. It is a concept album of sorts, with all the songs about animals.

• Jackie Greene - Till The Light Comes : A recommendation by @poopsiegirl of Twitterati fame. This is the first I've heard of Jackie Greene. My twitter buddy was right to assume I'd dig him; he sounds like Josh Rouse and Ray LaMontagne had a baby with John Cameron Mitchell. That is a very good thing in my mind (as disturbing as the literal image is o_O )

• Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today Ariel Pink, one-time Animal Collective collaborator and notorious eccentric has released a more cohesive and less lo-fi album under the new moniker. This is indie-as-all-hell, electronically grimy rock-pop that grooves just a little.

• Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way : I was introduced to Ms Jones through the awesome 100 Days, 100 Nights album a few years back now. Recently, at work, I heard one of our Melbourne managers was into her and was bigging her up to a visiting Perth staffer. It made me realise I had totally missed her latest effort. So here it is.

• Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks : A little bit of countrified folk and a good dose of songwriting chops made me take notice of Karen Elson on previewing this album. I don't know if this is a debut or not, but I think I'll be doing some homework based on the strength of these songs.

• Cotton Jones - Tall Hours In The Glowstream : There's something of a 50s/60s revival going on in music at the moment; have you noticed? Bands like She & Him, Best Coast and Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are tapping either a bit of a go-go inspired, or else folk-revival vein. Cotton Jones do it too. These songs sound like popular country from the late 50s. Even the album cover shows a beach scene from that era. Could all this nostalgia be the result of the Global Financial Crisis?

• The Walkmen - Lisbon : Apparently The Walkmen have been releasing albums since 2002 with Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone. News to me. Regardless of how these guys slipped under my radar, this is a decent set. Their somewhat jangly indie pop is well worth a listen. They may have a new fan.

• Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy : Everybody has always loved or hated Kanye. Not me, I have ignored him, mostly. This album was on nearly every Best of 2010 list I read. I don't understand the fuss about the man; okay, he's Kanye and we're not, but what little I have heard has not inspired me. In fact, Kanye's "George Bush hates black people" line is imho his greatest lyric ever. But I will none-the-less give this LP a spin.

• Beach House - Teen Dream : Heavy on the keys and the sentiment, Teen Dream sounds a lot like its title. Beach House have added a bit of pop to their usual whispy synth scape and it works.

• The Black Keys - Brothers : Another album that made every Top Ten list but mine. Good bluesy tunes with a little bit of crunch in the bottom end. I quite like it, but it definitely wouldn't have been one of my ten personal favourites from last year. Possibly number 11.

So that's my listening schedule for my first week back. To ease me on into a whole new working year, my employer has generously provided a lunch and pistol shooting day on Friday. We like to call it Om Nom Nom Pew Pew Pew! I'm looking forward to it.

Hang loose bro; rock n' roll \m/