Playlist : January 9th - 13th, 2012

Hello and welcome to a new year of Work Tunes.

So the world ends this year apparently. At least if you're an ancient Mayan it does. Did anyone ever think maybe some Mayan calendar maker just got jack of adding year after year after year? 

"Hey Bob, I got to December 2012 and I can't be stuffed!"

"Yeah, I don't blame you. Just finish there, no big deal. Who's going to care?"

Regardless, this year we're going to party like it's 1999... again.  And to start my working year right, I've got a few choice cuts. 


Listening to an 8 tracks mix the other night, I first heard the title song from I And Love And You, so I checked it out. I've also got the final release from The Beatles; the latest R.E.M. retrospective; new albums from Common, Weinland and The Do; a Smiths tribute;  the soundtrack to Downtown 81 (a film released in 2000 but shot in 1981 starring Jean-Michel Basquiat); Spin's 2011 mix and finally, some Australian Hip Hop from Vents. 


Check it out:

• The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
• The Beatles - Abbey Road
• R.E.M. - Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982 - 2011
• VA - Spin Magazine Best of 2011
• Vents - Marked For Death
• Common - The Dreamer / The Believer
• The Do - Both Ways Open Jaws
• VA - Downtown 81 OST
• Weinland - Breaks In The Sun
• VA - Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to the Smiths

Tah Tah

That's it for now. No song of the week until next week, and no Top 5 Artists because I haven't been scrobbling. I can tell you I've been listening to a lot of Camera Obscura as well as a bit of the Beach Boys and other surf themed tunes thanks to the weather and some timely trips to the beach. 


Hopefully your holidays were a great big bunch of fun and your new year is the best one yet. Be good to each other. Hasala malakim.


PS Support Hunter the Documentary and help get a film about Hunter made.

Playlist April 11th - 15th, 2011

What's shaking this week Hep Cats? This is my last week of work before I get some holidays for Easter, so no Work Tunes for a while.

What I'll be listening to at work next week sounds a little bit country, a little bit hip hop, a little bit Australian and a bit of everything else; just like me.

• Outkast - Stankonia
• Common - One Day It Will All Make Sense
• Tracy Chapman - Crossroads
• Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I See a Darkness
• Jebediah - Jebediah
• Golden Smog - Down By The Old Mainstream
• Counting Crows - Hard Candy
• Bjork - Debut
• Ben Lee - Ripe
• VA - Batman Forever Soundtrack
  

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Digable Planets
2. Radiohead
3. Josh Rouse
4. Fleet Foxes
5. Jenny Lewis

Song of the Week : Digable Planets - Nickle Bags

I haven’t had a lot of time to think about SOTW. Nevertheless, I have chosen a track that I’ve been into all week. I recently took delivery of a Digable Planets record for which I paid far too much money due to a nasty eBay bidding war that I didn’t want to lose. Well worth it though, because darn this sounds eleventy billion kinds of funky on wax. The funky grooves of the record as a whole are why I chose this track. Nickle Bags is smooth as butter and funkier than I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter left in the sun. This album isn’t the one I bought, it’s basically a Best Of Digable Planets with a couple of new tracks, but the track itself is on my record along with half this compilation. Here’s a jam to kick your Friday into a smooth mellow good vibration kind of feel. Enjoy!

Until May

It's going to be a strange month because I'll be on holidays and there'll be no work for almost a fortnight. So after a two week break, I'll resurrect the old style just for May. Make sense? Too bad, that's what I'm doing.

Until May, don't let the Man get you down. Power to the people. Right on.

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.