Yo! Familiar Desire Funk (June 3rd - 7th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's a long weekend where I am, for Western Australia Day (formerly Foundation Day), so I'm looking forward to a Monday without any solid purpose. Right now I'm fighting a cold as well as a %#^^&$^&$# wisdom toothache, so forgive me if you know me irl and I'm a bit cranky.
  
A few new ones and some bands I just discovered this week. There's new releases from Camera Obscura and Bob Evans, plus Mona and Maria who I've only just found. Boards of Canada are another band I've been meaning to check out for a good 5 years or more. There's some rock classics from Blondie and Van Halen (on a huge Blondie kick still). A compilation packed full of funk and one with old school Hip Hop get a gig. The best of the Church is here too and lastly Pearl Jam's Backspacer.

Check it out:

• VA - Yo! MTV Raps
• Bob Evans - Familiar Stranger
• Blondie - Blondie
• Camera Obscura - Desire Lines
• Mona and Maria - My Sun
• Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children
• Pearl Jam - Backspacer
• Van Halen - Van Halen II
• VA - Funk Soul Brothers
• The Church - The Best of the Radio Songs

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Al Green
2. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell
3. Suzanne Vega
4. Oblivians
5. The Sonics

Song of the Week : Kraftwerk - Electric Cafe

Because Daft Punk's new one was flavour of the month last week, I gave it a spin. I have to say I really enjoyed it. The production is great and it sounds terrific, inside headphones especially. It is nicely intricate and it plays around with that retro sounding electronica. 

And there's the thing. Everyone was falling over themselves to declare it a masterpiece and raving on and on and on about how great it was, but forgetting that it borrows pretty heavily from a number of sources that they wouldn't afford the same rave reviews.

So with that in mind, I span another album this week by Kraftwerk. The title track off Electric Cafe is, from this album at least, probably the best example of where some of the sound of Random Access Memories comes from. I'm not knocking Daft Punk for pastiching and blending the way they did. As Simon said, there are elements of ELO on RAM too. It’s great, but people should acknowledge the debts it owes when fawning over it.

Kommen sie bitte und listen to Kraftwerk

Toodle Oooh

Happy weekend bliss wherever you are, but especially in Perth with the long one. Be excellent to each other and drive safe if you're on the roads - especially around one particular big black Jeep with a cranky, sniffly old hipster dufus in it.

Hasala malakim.

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:

• VA - Detroit Rock City
• Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll
• Bob Evans - Suburban Kid
• Sex Pistols - The Great Rock n Roll Swindle
• Nizlopi - Half These Songs Are About You
• Ice-T - VI Return of the Real
• Pegz - Axis
• Hole - Celebrity Skin
• Pretty & Twisted - Pretty & Twisted
• SineRider - The Watching Channel

Top Five Artists Last Week

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.

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.

Playlist : November 22nd - 26th, 2010

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This week's list has a little bit of an Australian flavour with Bob Evans and You Am I, as well as some 90s classics from The Breeders and Pearl Jam. Check it out.

• The Breeders - Last Splash : The first Breeders song I ever heard was Cannonball, which made it onto the first JJJ Hottest 100 compilation. That great song plus Divine Hammer and Driving on 9 all appear on this LP. A little bit of early 90s alternapop never hurt anyone.

• Pearl Jam - Vs : Okay, a lot of early 90s alternapop never hurt anyone. It has been a long time between listens for me and Vs. I lined up in the High Street mall in Fremantle, at 7am, having gotten up at 6am just to get there on time from Kwinana and buy this CD on it's world-wide simultaneous release. Never managed to get stinking concert tickets though.

• Wilco - Summerteeth : Another of my most loved albums that has been criminally neglected of late simply because I haven't gotten around to putting it on my iPod again. The very brilliant Via Chicago and the warmly moody How To Fight Loneliness are standouts along with the chaotic jamming of Shot In The Arm.

• Bob Evans - Suburban Kid : I think it's a great idea for a front man or anyone in a band with their own ideas about music to break off and do something on the side without splitting up the group. As Bob Evans, Kevin from Jebediah gives us something a lot more country twang and a little more lyrical than the usual Jebs fare.

• VA - Uncut - We All Shine On : Just another great free CD from UNCUT magazine out of the UK. This one features new music (at the time) from Teenage Fanclub, The Gaslight Anthem, Deer Tick, Los Lobos and others.

• VA - Return of the Grievous Angel : A fitting tribute to the late country rock pioneer Gram Parsons. Cowboy Junkies, Elvis Costello, Evan Dando, Beck, Whiskeytown and a heap of alt-country acts who owe much of their art to Gram's influence cover Parsons' songs from Hickory Wind to $1000 Wedding.

• Camera Obscura - Underachievers, Please Try Harder : A few choice tweets from the very funny Sarah Silverman introduced me to this dreamy acoustic pop duo with Scottish accents. Their simple melodies and layered guitars make for good listening.

• You Am I - Sound As Ever : The last time I took a You Am I album to work it was the Best Of compilation, Cream and the Crock. Along with Hifi Way, Sound As Ever was the very first You Am I LP I got right into. Since then I've become a big fan of Tim Rogers' solo and side stuff (with the Temperance Union) but these old YAIs still rock.

• Main Source - Breaking Atoms : This is the 1991 debut LP from Main Source. The track Live at the Barbeque features the very first released recording of rap superstar Nas. This album sits somewhere between the conscious and funky rap of the golden age and the hardcore yrics of gangsta rap that came soon after.

• Nas & Common - Uncommonly Nasty : This 2006 release features tracks from both Nas & Common who are known (more so Common) for a little bit of jazz in their sway and a message to preach. Tracks on this album contain several of the barbs that Nas shot at Jay-Z which fuelled their infamous beef.

That's the week's soundtrack. I hope you find something new. No words of wisdom this week, except possibly... nope. Wait... no.