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.

Darkness Never Moving Toto (January 14th - 18th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

The first working week of the year is done and dusted and it wasn't half bad. The usual administrative start led smoothly into the massive workload and busy bee of a the end of the week. Through it all of course was the music, just like next week.

For next week, I have a few musical equivalents of a warm cup of cocoa with 80s radio-friendly sets from Toto, Van Halen and The B-52s. I've got a Skip Hop contingent from a compilation and an album from The Herd; as well as more Australian music from the one and only Paul Kelly. I'm trying to rediscover the Ryan Adams & the Cardinals outtakes from III/IV and I bought a Sonic Youth album I haven't heard. Lastly, for a little bit of groove, I am including Jamiroquai. 

Check it out:

• Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving
• Toto - IV
• Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - III/IV
• Van Halen - 5150
• VA - Official: The Best of Australian Hip Hop Vol. 1
• Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge
• The B-52s - The B-52s
• Paul Kelly - Words and Music
• The Herd - The Sun Never Sets
• Sonic Youth - Murray Street

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Hornsby
2. The Autumn Defense
3. JEFF the Brotherhood
4. Datarock
5. Cotton Jones

Song of the Week : Joe "Bean" Esposito - You're The Best

Speaking of holidays, mine was great, thanks for asking and it inspired this week’s SOTW. It’s actually more like Song of the Month because we've hummed and sung and played it all holidays. 

As you probably know from Twitter, I got my girls a skateboard each for Christmas. I haven’t had a chance to take Miss 3 out because we kept her in the day care routine as best we could, but I taught Miss 6 the basics and she is doing well. She can now stand up and push and coast in a mostly straight line. I have taught her to lean turn but she can’t turn in a big arc yet. Still, a lot better than me at 6 when I used to basically sit on my plastic board and roll down our steep driveway. 

Because it was like a training montage of trying and failing, I happened to sing (for Mrs Coreyj's benefit) the Joe Esposito track from Karate Kid – You’re The Best. Big chuckles ensued of course. But the song hasn't gone away. It’s been stuck in all our heads for weeks. So now I’m giving it to you! The interesting thing about the track is how cheesy and comically-sincere it is, but at the time, it was completely serious. It’s a “hard rock” track with keys in the mode of a Journey or even a Toto, but with small and aborted attempts at Ian Gillan style vocal acrobatics. 

So, try to ignore the fact that this track is from the GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE and just judge it on its own merits. 

Adieu

Thanks for stopping by. As always, happy musical trails to you all. Hasala malakim.

10 Nebraska Gemini Killers (November 19th - 23rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's Friday night and I'm getting this all done now before a big weekend visiting the In Laws. They have a lovely 5 acre patch of bushland but hardly any 3G coverage. I'm hoping to get in a bit of kayaking on the lake while I'm there, so that should keep me distracted from the Internet. Keeping me from getting distracted at work next week, I've got some sweet, sweet tunes.

I have the vast dichotomy of a collection of Ice Cube songs and Springsteen's homemade classic, Nebraska. A classic also from The Lemonheads. Because @sunky got me thinking about Wild Nothing, I'm playing Gemini; Los Angeles from LA punks X is here; you can thank Metal Evolution again for Van Halen. The final disc from The Motown Years is here, as is an Us3 album I only recently found. Patterson Hood, Drive-By Trucker is here with a solo effort. And last of all, as a tribute to the band's announcement that they've played their last show (some would say, thankfully) I have the 25th anniversary edition of INXS - Kick.

Check it out.

• Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
• The Lemonheads - Come On Feel The Lemonheads
• X - Los Angeles
• INXS - Kick 25th Anniversary
• Van Halen - Van Halen
• Us3 - Questions
• Michael Jackson - The Motown Years (Disc 3)
• Patterson Hood - Killers and Stars
• Wild Nothing - Gemini
• Ice Cube - 10 Great Songs

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Cody ChesnuTT
2. Mumford & Sons
3. Paul Kelly
4. Alice Cooper
5. Wild Nothing

Song of the Week : Cody ChesnuTT - 'Til I Met Thee

If you haven't already heard it, check out the new Cody ChesnuTT album, Landing On A Hundred. It's packed full of some really funky soul. 

The only other ChesnuTT track I knew before this was Look Good In Leather, which is funky as hell, but not very serious and soulful. The tunes on this album seem to borrow from all over the Soul spectrum, grabbing Stevie Wonder style rhythms here and there, Sam Cooke crooning and on my SOTW, Marvin Gaye's horns.

The song is 'Til I Met Thee and I am sure you will hear the Marvin Gaye all over it. There's the horn section and the doo wop backing as well as the smooth bass and the layer on layer of instrumentation. I guess ChesnuTT picked it up too, because he seems to be trying to channel Marvin through his voice as well. 

Adios

Thanks for stopping by. May this weekend be the one you have that epiphany you've been waiting for; and may you get as much of a lie in as you need.

Hasala malakim.

Margot Wrecking the Supreme Sun Clock (March 12th - 16th, 2012)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Not much to report from a busy week at work, so it's right into the music. 


A last minute inclusion to this week's list is the new Hilltop Hoods LP Drinking From the Sun which released on Friday 9th. Thanks to 8Tracks again, I discovered two bands I hadn't heard of in Margot and the Nuclear So and So's and Jack's Mannequin. I lean a little heavy on the twang with Felice Brothers, the Farrar, Johnson, Parker, Yame collaboration and the new one from The Boss. Old favourite Cardinology makes the cut, as does Pearl Jam's era defining debut Ten and a compilation from The Cult. Rounding out the list, there's a Ghostface Killah solo album that a workmate recommended.


Check it out:

• Pearl Jam - Ten
• Hilltop Hoods - Drinking From the Sun
• Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - Not Animal
• Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cardinology
• Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger
• The Felice Brothers - Yonder is the Clock
• The Cult - Pure Cult
• Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
• Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames – New Multitudes
  
• Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Whiskeytown
2. Black Sheep
3. The Smiths
4. Nirvana
5. Bias B

Song of the Week : Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Stop

This week's song is a bit of a drag for a sunny Friday, but by the creed of SOTW where we choose the song that has had the most impact or defined our week or just generally loomed large over the last seven days, I chose Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Stop.


Again a song I was listening to late at night stuck with me and infected the music part of my brain. This song is about addiction and the desire to quit. It seems to crawl along with repetitive phrases in the lyrics and seemingly unstructured piano lines before it gets a little epic with strings and crescendo like a drama.


To me the way it begins sounds like a man at his piano late one night, sick and coming down from a bender, telling himself he's gone too far and it's time to stop. He's coaxing himself through a very dark place with lines like "Lie down. Breathe." reassuring with "There's so many of us. You are not alone. Ever." The reverb on the piano means you can almost hear the empty silent space around him, like the piano is in the middle of a big room with a high ceiling - or even the basement of the church where "these people, they talk."


Sorry to bum you out, but enjoy anyway.

Peace Out

That's all folks. Be good to each other. Stay cool on ths sweltering weekend if you're in sunny Perf. Go out, get yourself something nice and just generally feel good. Okay?. 


Hasala malakim.

Playlist : December 12th - 16th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Not a great deal to report this week. Still wishing I was on holiday down south with the wife. I could easily have stayed there, bought the record store and started a new life on the beach away from the city. But then there were tourists to consider. They ruin everything. I should know, being one and all.

This week's list features the next installment of the Tracks box, another set from The Deep Dark Woods, The Roots' fantastic new album, some old favourites and two compilations - including Australian Hip Hop Supports Canteen, MC Hunter's final project before he left us. RIP brother.

Check it out:

• Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
• Bruce Springsteen - Tracks (Disc Three)
• I Heart Sharks - Summer
• Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
• The Roots - Undun
• VA - Australian Hip Hop Supports Canteen
• VA - The Best of American Songwriter Sessions
• The Decemberists - Her Majesty - The Decemberists
• Aerosmith - The Essential Aerosmith
• The Deep Dark Woods - Place I Left Behind

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. New York Dolls
2. Honeyhoney
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. The Black Keys
5. Terra Firma

Song of the Week : The Roots - Undun

On the music, I feel I ripped off The Roots last week (as good as that HH track is), because all I really listened to was Undun. I finally found a track I could send you and this is it.

What I like about The Roots in general is their musical ability and their melodic hooks. As you probably know, they are the house band on Jimmy Fallon’s show. That musicality shows through on things like the ridiculously juicy bass rolls in this track Make My. Then you have a vocal crooning chorus that goes with the deep smooth bass of the verse rap.

This album is thematic and it all holds together nicely as an expression of both inner-city violence for subject matter and a blueprint of more melodic, mature and important hip hop music. I don’t know how much you guys hear of people like Drake or Odd Future, but there’s no substance to it all and it sounds plastic and manufactured to go with the misogyny and homophobia. The Roots is how it should be done.

Ciao Bambinos

Tah tah for now kids. Have a terrific weekend and remember not to get hung up; be cool.

Hasala malakim.

Playlist : December 5th - 9th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Just a really super quick one this week because I've been away all weekend down South. I chose these albums hurriedly before I left.

Disc two of Springsteen's Tracks was an easy choice. After a Velvets kick last month I felt like some New York Dolls. The new Hilltop Hoods song made me get all mooshy for Skip Hop, so there's some Cross Bred Mongrels (featuring now DJ for the Hoods, Dj Debris) and Terra Firma. Honeyhoney I discovered last week, so I'm giving them a go along with Summer Camp who I also recently found. New Black Keys, old Joanna Newsom, The Low Anthem and the always excellent Gil-Scott Heron and we're done.

Check it out:

• The Low Anthem - What The Crow Brings
• Bruce Springsteen - Tracks (Disc Two)
• Honeyhoney - Billyjack
• The Black Keys - El Camino
• New York Dolls - Rock n Roll
• Gil-Scott Heron - Moving Target
• Cross Bred Mongrels - World Domination
• Terra Firma - Waking the Past
• Summer Camp - Welcome To Condale
• Joanna Newsom - Milk-Eyed Mender

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Rolling Stones
2. Pixies
3. Bob Dylan
4. Bruce Springsteen
5. James Brown

Song of the Week : Hilltop Hoods - I Love It (featuring Sia)

In all likelihood, if I could get hold of a copy, this week's SOTW would be off The Roots' forthcoming album Undun. I've been streaming it once a day all week from NPR. But, no leaks and no release yet means I have to go with something else. This something else is pretty damn great too. And speaking of no release, the Hilltop Hoods album that I Love It is from doesn't drop until February. Right around the time that I'm off to see my very first Hilltop show and also to see Radams with two of you lovely people. Jamie if it isn't too soon post-baby, grab a ticket for the show ($40.80) at Capitol on Feb 3 and I'll meet you there. I wasn't going to go, feeling as I am too old for a packed crowd full of homeboys, but damn it I love these guys.

And that's why I chose this song in lieu of The Roots. Hilltop are without a doubt the pinnacle of Oz rap. These guys dragged the mainstream in without losing their original fanbase and everything they've done since The Calling has been untouchable. Record sales, first oz hip hop #1, highest placing rap song ever on JJJ, Arias galore. This song doesn't seem to have fallen off the pace either. That fantastic Sia hook and the usual larrikin lines from the lads has already made the song the #1 iTunes release last week. I don't listen to broadcast radio any more, but I'm guessing JJJ is killing this already. So I apologise if you've heard it on air a million times. I can only hear it when I play it - which is a lot!