Sail the Dirty Mystic Highway (May 28th - June 1st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Terrible week this time around tunesters. Lots of hard graft at work and the likely loss of the family pet. But you get by. Music always helps. And here's what I have.


I've slipped in a few Australian classics from AC/DC, Cold Chisel and The Saints. I'll probably have a few more next week. For my Hip Hop fix I've got LL and Plug One and Two of De La Soul. The latest LP from Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band is here, as is a classic from Randy Newman. For a bit of a Soul hit, who better than Sam Cooke and Mavis Staples. Finally, as always a bit of twang from Drive By Truckers.


Check it out:

• Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back
• Conor Oberst and Mystic Valley - One Of My Kind
• AC/DC - Highway To Hell
• Plug One and Plug Two - First Serve
• LL Cool J - Icon
• Cold Chisel - Circus Animals
• Drive By Truckers - Dirty South
• Sam Cooke - The Man and His Music
• Randy Newman - Sail Away
• The Saints - (I'm) Stranded

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. Melissa Etheridge
3. The National
4. Elvis Costello
5. Bob Evans

Song of the Week : Bob Dylan - Things Have Changed

This week I have had a number of songs following me around, which makes it impossible to choose just one. So instead I'll celebrate the 71st birthday of Mr Robert Zimmerman, known to his mates as just plain Bob Dylan. The song I chose is the Academy Award Winning song from Wonder Boys - Things Have Changed.


Apart from being a solid rocking blues song, this track perfectly suited not just the main character of Wonder Boys (who was a disgruntled author with writer's block) but also His Bobness himself. Once upon a time the voice of a generation, the white people's sounding block for the Civil Rights movement, the poster boy for the radical Left; Bob grew up a bit jaded and a little more laid back. We should have seen it coming though, he signposted it in My Back Pages: "But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."


Things Have Changed reminds me that we all shift our priorities constantly. Some of the things that seem at some point to mean everything to us, that get us fired up, can wind up seeming trivial at best. Certain things are always going to be worth caring about, but so much of the baggage we carry around could just be jettisoned. Bob's refrain "I used to care, but things have changed" is genius in that it could mean he just doesn't care anymore or that the things around have changed so much, it's hard to know what to care about. 


Happy birthday to Bob, the "savage gift on a wayward bus" Dylan.

So Long

Not much more to say this week. I'll be happy when it's over and I get to try again next week, only this time without the terrible hassles and the grief. 


Thanks for stopping by. Hasala malakim.

Playlist January 24th - 29th, 2011

Hola punks. What’s happening in your world?

This week my playlist has a distinctly 90s nostalgia feel about it. This is due almost totally to Portlandia; the opening sequence of which made me grin from ear to ear because of the way it completely nailed my version of the 90s. Not since The Simpsons put Homer in Sadgasm has any show reflected my 90s years to me so well. There’s a little bit of Australia in here too, because after all, it’s Australia Day (or more accurately, Invasion Day) on the 26th. I wish we’d move it to Federation, it wouldn’t be hard. But there you go… Anyway… here’s my list:

• The Beatles - Let It Be (Remastered) : After a discussion with a workmate about all the old classics that have been remastered from Fleetwood Mac to Led Zeppelin, I grabbed some Beatles. The same discussion extolled the virtues of FLAC and lossless formats, so I'll be listening in Apple Lossless.

• Nirvana - Incesticide : Two things conspired to have me listen to Nirvana this week. Firstly, my Miss 4 has decided to sing Sliver all the time and secondly the opening sequence of Portlandia. Portlandia is a new sketch show set in that other famously grunge city of Portland. When one of the characters discussed the 90s in the first few minutes ('you could sleep til 11am" "people encouraged you to be weird" "everyone taled about piercings and tribal tattoos") I was hooked. I remember wanting to go to Portland after reading about it's alterna-vibe in the fiction novel Bongwater (later a film featuring Jack Black). So forgive me my 90s nostalgia. Besides, this is after all a criminally overlooked set.

• VA - Standing on the Outside - The Songs of Cold Chisel : With the death of drummer Steve Prestwich last week, I felt it fitting to include some Cold Chisel. While I've exhausted the extent of my official Chisel releases in other playlists, this is a compilation of fantastic Australian artists such as Paul Kelly, Sarah Blasko and others covering the songs of Chisel's great legacy. Well worth a listen if you get a chance. Plus, it's Australia Day this week and it deserves some homegrown tunes.

• Paul Kelly - The A - Z Recordings (Disc Two) : The second disc of the A - Z boxset contains PK classics like Dumb Things, Don't Explain and Every Fucking City. I really enjoyed Disc One last week, in particular the songs I'd never heard (Behind the Bowler's Arm and After The Show). I'm really looking forward to more unknown tracks, which in this case are Emotional and Down To My Soul.

• Das Racist - Sit Down Man : Last week's Das Racist mixtape was Shut Up, Dude. This, as promised, is the follow up. Despite not taking my beloved culture very seriously, or maybe because of it, I liked last week's set for its sense of fun. I think I actually laughed aloud when I heard the band rhyme "Twitter get" with "Internet." I'm looking forward to more from this week's selection. You can download it for free from the link.

• Cowboy Junkies - Demons : This is a preview of the very latest release from Cowboy Junkies. I found last year's Renmin Park a little hit and miss. There were some terrific tracks in there and an overall cohesive feel to the album, but I felt like some songs weren't up to scratch with their usual output. I haven't played this yet, so I'm hoping it's an improvement.

• VA - Golden Era Mixtape : A free download of collected Golden Era artists which dropped last week on the 16th. For what seemed like ages, everyone attached to the Hilltop Hoods managed label was teasing us all on Twitter with sneak peeks and previews. When it finally dropped, they just about broke the internet. I have deliberately held off listening, but I'm fairly certain it will be worth the hype. Again, you can download it for free from the Golden Era store via the title link and listen for yourself.

• L7 - Bricks Are Heavy : More 1990s nostalgia brought on by Portlandia. The track Pretend We're Dead was on heavy JJJ rotation back in the day. You know, back when Triple J was the only place to go for your music unless you wanted to listen to pap. They are not the mighty beast they once were, but the still fight the good fight. Another highlight of this set is Shitlist. Judging by the anger of the song, you don't want to end up on L7s shitlist.

• VA - Reality Bites OST : After a recent discussion with my sister about Reality Bites and its place in Gen X folklore (followed by a flood of hysterical quotes), I decided I clearly had to wacth the film again on the weekend. If you haven't seen it, it's basically a slacker monument. It's like the mainstream (but not quite) version of Slacker. Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zhane aren't the stars, but they steal the show from Wynona and Ethan. The soundtrack features Dinosaur Jr. The Indians, Crowded House and even Ethan Hawke for the Hey That's My Bike song Nuthin'. It goes perfectly with the rest of my 90s nostalgia.

• Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored: I got to the end of my playlist and there didn't seem to be enough twang. I thought I could spin two vibes with one LP and grab some Evan Dando. While Baby I'm Bored was released in the 00s, Evan Dando is pretty much a 90s icon. He was even in Reality Bites in an hilarious cameo at the end. Hard Drive and All My Life are the standouts here for me.

So For those of us who were there, I hope you enjoy my little trip down 90s lane. For those of us who weren't, feel free to point and laugh at the geezer who's reminiscing about moshpits, tongue piercings, flannel and Docs.

Be excellent to each other.

Playlist : November 29th - December 3rd, 2010

Well, what a week it’s been in the world of tunes.

I got a crush on Wilco all over again last week. I also confirmed my love for Best Coast. Both bands helped bring something to the plate this week. With Wilco, it was twang and lyrical songs with real emotion and complex narrative. Best Coast made a little bit of noise a good thing. What came out of that jumbled mix looks like this:

• The National - Alligator : The official full length third album from The National was released in 2005. They had a solid following before that with their debut self-titled, but it wasn't until 2007s Boxer that they 'blew up'. I'm a big fan of the debut, but Alligator is a quality set including the superb Daughters of the Soho Riots and Mr November - the latter used as an informal Barack Obama theme song.

• The Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Vol. 1 : With the recent release of the Witmark Demos (Bootleg Series Vol. 9), Dylan's bootlegs are becoming like the Police Academy franchise - except awesome. This the first disc in a three disc set and contains mostly early finger-picked folk songs written when Robert Zimmerman first came to New York City. Disc 2 next week.

• Cold Chisel - Breakfast at Sweethearts : Chisel! amirite? Growing up with a love of all things 'bogan', I was exposed to Chisel very early on. However, for the most part, everybody got their Chisel fix from Radio Songs, the Best Of compilation (and later Gold). It was the only Chisel CD I owned until recently. The title track of this LP is one of their best.

• The Slits - Cut : The Slits were a punk band out of the UK who formed in the genre's heyday of 1976 (before it officially broke). Their sound is like a perfect segue between the raw distortion of Punk, the yet to be popular Ska pop and the much later New Wave. The lead singer of The Slits, Ari Up, died last month. Cancer. Fuck Cancer.

• Indigo Girls - Despite Our Differences : When I decided to put this on my list, I tweeted that I was going to sing a song from Cougar Town - Comfortable With My Sexuality. Yes the Indigo Girls are best known as lesbian singer songwriters, but something they really do well is lyrics and acoustic guitar. I like both of those. With songs on this disc like Dirt and Dead Ends about a neighbor with an illicit methamphetamine lab and the road trip themed Three County Highway, I enjoy the stories these ladies tell. So there.

• Prince - Dirty Mind : A recent formspring.me question I got asked who the most underrated musician was. My answer was unequivocally Prince. People tend to see the Purple one as just this guy who changed his name to a squiggle and wears feminine clothes (or had a rib removed in order to perform autofellatio, if you're into urban myths). Most of them have no idea that he is a multi-instrumentalist who carves pure gold out of guitar strings and quite possibly channels the ghost of the late great Jimi Hendrix. Plus, he is a funky mutha-ucka.

• The Muffs - The Muffs : The Muffs are an all girl alterna-grunge type band formed in 1991 in SoCal. This is their 1993 self-titled debut. Probably their most famous track is their cover of Kids In America which appears on the Clueless soundtrack. This LP is just a collection of noisy indie pop bubbles.

• Run DMC - Raising Hell : My friends are probably sick of this story, but back in 1985, between Primary School and High School, my then best friend came home from Bali with a tape for me. He told me it was 'Breakdance' music (we had been b-boys in 1984). Breakdance was already played out, so I scoffed. When he went home, I threw that tape on. It was Raising Hell. And within months, Walk This Way and by association, Rap was the biggest thing on the planet. This album watered my Hip Hop seed; planted with breakdance in 1983.

• VA - Thunder Road - Songs Inspired by the Boss : I'm hoping to get hold of The Promise for next week, Springsteen's outtakes from the acclaimed Darkness On The Edge Of Town. In the meantime, this is another great Uncut magazine compilation, this time full of Springsteen covers by a variety of artists from country to art rock. Stand outs are my favourites the Cowboy Junkies and Mary Lou Lord's subdued rendition of Thunder Road.

• The New Pornographers - Together : It wasn't until my mate Sunky went to The New Pornographers gig recently that I knew the always brilliant Neko Case was fronting the band. This is their latest release and is a nice showcase of Neko's voice and Carl Newman's songwriting. Also interesting is an appearance by the horn section of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.

About the wisest thing I’ve heard this week was from Miss 4, who said (and is fond of saying) ‘Can’t we all just get up with each other?’ which is her take on getting along. So, answer that, Koreas? Can’t we all just get up with each other? Of course we can.

Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?