Those Drive-By Reality Seeds (December 9th - 13th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Just back from the terror that is holiday season retail. Went to get my sister a present. I knew what I wanted. I knew where it was. I wanted to get in and get out. They of course had run out. I came home with something else for her, plus a bunch of stuff I didn't intend to buy. Seriously, how hard is it, with modern stock control programs, to make sure you have enough stock to cover Christmas for an obviously popular present. Grrr.

Besides finishing the Paul Kelly/Neil Finn and Michael Jackson sets off, I'm grabbing a DBT album I haven't heard. Then there's new stuff from Those Darlins and a live KCRW session from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. A compilation from Inertia called Critics' Choice gets a gig along with a remix of Midnight Marauders. Snoopzilla (*eye roll*) and Dam Funk bring 7 Days of Funk and lastly the soundtrack from probably my favourite film ever is going to ease me through my last full week of work for 2013. 

Check it out:

• Michael Jackson - This Is It (Disc 2)
• Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
• Those Darlins - Blur The Line
• Dam Funk & Snoopzilla - 7 Days of Funk
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Live from KCRW
• VA - Critics Choice
• A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders Revisited
• Neil Finn and Paul Kelly - Goin' Your Way (Disc 2)
• VA - Reality Bites

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Adam Ant
2. Jason Isbell
3. Michael Jackson
4. Graham Reynolds
5. Neil Finn & Paul Kelly

Song of the Week : Artists Against Apartheid - Sun City

A Facebook post about The Specials and music teaching you things is the impetus behind my SOTW. 

As a teenager, it was Rap that taught me about things like the Civil Rights marches, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X. We didn't learn any of that in school. Same as we didn't learn about Apartheid and Nelson Mandella. All I knew of South Africa then was a bunch of Australian cricketers got kicked out of the team for going over there to play. It wasn't until U2 and Silver and Gold from Rattle and Hum that I really heard the word Apartheid. Then this song came out and was getting airplay on the Hip Hop show I listened to on Saturday nights - Scratch FM.

I bought the 12" vinyl of this, but the only digital copy I have comes from an 80s compilation. This is Artists Against Apartheid and features Lou Reed, Little Steven, Kool Dj Herc, Run DMC, Melle Mel (hence the Scratch FM airplay), Dylan, Gil-Scott Heron, John Oates, even Miles Davis, Pete Townshend and Herbie Hancock. It's basically the We Are The World of anti-Apartheid songs. 

With the death of Mandella and the Specials post, I thought it was a good time to celebrate the way we learn so much from the music we love - especially the good stuff (not much to be learned from Beiber I don't think). 

Au Revoir
That's all there is to it this week. I'm still dirty about not getting that present I was after. I'm certain the replacement will be well liked too, but that's hardly the point. Never mind. Onward and upwards. 

Vale Mandella. Hasala malakim.

Rockin' Lost Daybreak Dreams (October 28th - November 1st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Lovely day for it. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, bees are trying to have sex with them - as is my understanding of these things. No matter what else, I'm still making pointless Simpsons references, so everything is normal. And so, to the music.

There's mostly older stuff this week. I finished Just Kill Me, my punk history book and I've grabbed some X-Ray Spex. Some old favourites in a Lost Highway records compilation and Ben Folds' Rockin' The Suburbs are getting a spin. Even more old favourites this week are Reckoning from REM and Beyond from Dinosaur Jr. There's albums from Veruca Salt and 50 Cent that I haven't heard, plus Go-Go Boots from the Drive-By Truckers that hasn't had a play in a while. I have a Hip Hop album from The Cancel and I'll be bringing it's follow up in next week. Finally, because I'm still in awe of her most recent song for the Real to Reel compilation, I've got a Stevie Nicks album to give it a go.

Check it out:

• VA - Lost Highway: Lost and Found 1
• Stevie Nicks - In Your Dreams
• Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
• Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs
• REM - Reckoning
• The Cancel - Daybreak
• Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
• 50 Cent - Curtis
• Veruca Salt - Resolver
• X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Nirvana
2. Brother Ali
3. Jason Isbell
4. Bill Withers
5. Sonic Youth

Song of the Week : Best Coast - Fear Of My Identity

I had a hard time picking a song this week, and then I chose this one in a sort of protest. I don’t want to rant, but you've all probably seen that JJJ took over the digital radio station ABC Digg in an attempt to recapture the 30+ demographic that is being lost to JJJ. The gist of their press release was that 30+ year olds have left JJJ because they don’t follow new music anymore. The freakin’ nerve right?  I have a bunch of 2013 releases in my possession and not just from established rock acts like Bowie. I’ve jumped on releases from California X, Teenanger, Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils, Iceage, Telekinesis, Surfer Blood etcetera etcetera this year. So I kind of took exception to the implication that us “oldies” don’t listen to JJJ because of new music. I just don’t think they play very good new music. At least not when I last listened a few years ago. 

So when reaching for a SOTW I just picked one off of the newest set I brought to work this week – Best Coast’s new EP, Fade Away. I picked this particular track Fear of My Identity because I have dug it all week and also because it is sort of relevant with the “You taught me that my heart would grow old’ refrain. Best Coast are a relatively new band with their debut LP released in 2010 and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Having said that, there is a lot of the aesthetic of 90s rock about them and that is the “sound” that the JJJ run Digg seems to think we all want after a certain age. I have to say they are probably right about that. When I first checked out the new Digg, they were playing Cherub Rock and it felt good, man. So maybe these bands I’ve discovered the last few years are just tapping into that 90s sound. 

Nostalgia may feel comforting, but there is always room for new sounds, or new artists who reinterpret those old sounds (I’m thinking of how ‘old’ Fitz and the Tantrums or She & Him sound). I mean, wouldn’t we all kill for the next Nevermind to come out and take music in a whole new direction? I think if the new Digg is going to play a good mix of those old JJJ staples and the most innovative of the newest artists (and not mainstream synth pop songs) it could be a terrific thing to have around, plugged from my TV into my hifi (I don’t have any other digital radio source!). 

Toodle-Ooh

I just bought a $4.95 DVD copy of Running On Empty. No, not the River Phoenix film, this one! Australia, bogans, 1980s, muscle cars, Deborah Conway acting. How fun is that?! Last time I watched it would have been 1986 on VHS. Funnily enough, I watched Rock n Roll High School last night. Must be a nostalgic week ahead, what with the old films and the old favourite sounds I selected. Plus, don't forget JJJ has retooled ABC Dig to sucker in old folks like me who miss the days when JJJ knew about good music.   

C'est la vie. Hasala malakim.

Evil Drive-By Jacksonville Stooges (October 8th - 12th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm just now finishing off this list. I sat up late writing a review of The Town over at Make Films Not Movies, which I have been meaning to do for ages. Luckily, ideas for tunes weren't oo hard to come by this week. 

First up, I have a couple of favourite Australian albums. You Am I's Hi Fi Way has been a staple for me since release. Originally I had the cassette, which I still have, but it's a little worn out. The other is The Hummingbird's loveBUZZ. Another cassette that I bought purely because it was the name of the Nirvana song from Bleach. I didn't know The Hummingbirds at the time. 

A link from a friend made me think of this Prince album of unreleased songs. I couldn't go past the brand new Public Enemy and I slipped in a rap classic from Dr Dre to compliment it. 

A mid week beer and a spin of Jacksonville City Nights' drunken heartbreak put that on my list. After Jason Isbell made SOTW last week, I thought I'd have some Drive-By Truckers from when he was with them. Nicely going along with both of these is the timeless folk of Bob Dylan's first real masterpiece. 

Scoring a free sampler from Spunk Records for Laneway was a blessing and I picked The Stooges because I wanted something to put some dirt in the whole bag.

Check it out:

• Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
• The Hummingbirds - LoveBUZZ
• Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights
• Public Enemy - The Evil Empire of Everything
• Prince - Vault: Old Friends For Sale
• You Am I - Hi Fi Way
• VA - Spunk Records Laneway Sampler
• The Stooges - Funhouse
• Dr Dre - The Chronic
• Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Brother Ali
2. Mumford & Sons
3. Thurston Moore
4. Paul Kelly & The Stormwater Boys
5. Devo

Song of the Week : Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Cigarettes & Wine (Acoustic)

I was two seconds away from selecting Deep Purple for my SOTW and an instant of reflection on my day changed my mind. On exhausting days like this one, I have this rather effective internal reset button. I don't even use it consciously, but it always happens when I feel like I've hit a massive wall. What is it? One beer and about 20 minutes of guitar.

So Wednesday after work I found myself, Stella and 12 string in hand, searching the internet for the tab to this song. Like the sentiment of the song itself, the chords are simple. I like singing and playing this song because it's so raw in this format and so honest in the lyric with  perhaps the least romantic chorus ever:

She smelled like cigarettes and wine
She kept me happy all the time I know that ain't much of a line
But it's the God's own truth

The key change at the chorus is effective too. It makes it sound drunk and pleading. I think I'll need to find something to play tonight too, because the day wears on.


Ciao 

Thanks for stopping by. The next Work Tunes will be written on a new computer, so here's hoping it goes off without a hitch. Whatever you are doing this fine (in Perth, anyway) weekend, have yourself a merry little weekend-mas. Be excellent to each other.

Hasala malakim.

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.

Brighter Imitation Fire Theory (April 9th - 13th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's Easter this week and that means Friday and Monday off with a chance of picnic. It also means the same amount of work tunes in a smaller space of time. More music per square inch. 

So, what have I got? I have dived into the Drive-By Truckers back catalogue after enjoying Jason Isbell recently; there's an old favourite acoustic compilation from Triple M; Justin Townes Earle's latest LP that I've been waiting with baited breath for; I grabbed the rarities disc from both Ben Folds and Prince's best of 3 disc sets; because April 4 has just been, I grabbed The Unforgettable Fire; a bonafide Hip Hop classic from Tribe; a Something From Kate LP I haven't listened to yet and the acclaimed Pet Sounds.

Check it out:

• Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

• VA - Triple M Cordless

• Justin Townes Earle - Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now

• Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne

• Ben Folds - Best Imitation of Myself (Disc 3) Rarities

• Prince - The Hits, The B-Sides (Disc 3) The B-Sides

• A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory

• The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

• U2 - The Unforgettable Fire

• Something For Kate - Elsewhere for 8 Minutes

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
2. Lucinda Williams
3. U2
4. The Beatles
5. (RAS) Riders Against the Storm

Song of the Week : Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - The King

On April 4 1968, 44 years ago (4/4 44years… just realised that), MLK was assassinated in Memphis. The song I have chosen in respect of this tragic anniversary is Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – The King.


The song was released in 1983 on the On The Strength album, but it must have been ’87 or ’88 when I heard it on 100FM during their Scratch FM hip hop show. At the time, I am ashamed to say I had no idea who King was. I had been told about slaves (and I remember not being allowed to watch Alex Haley’s Roots even though it was a huge deal on TV at the time) and segregation, but I didn’t know the first thing about the Civil Rights movement. This song made me look King and Jesse Jackson up in the school library. That quickly led me to reading about Civil Rights in the US, about the Freedom rides, the marches, the bus boycott, the lunch counter sit ins and everything else. 


Since then I have read anything and everything I can get my hands on about the movement, I've watched countless documentaries and listened to a lot of music that references the same things (from the Staple Singers to Tupac). With this, I learned that the line from this song: "He wasn't scared of any man, didn't have no fear" was in no way whatsoever an exaggeration. King knew he was a target, knew his life was in danger everywhere he went, but continually put himself in situations that risked his life because it would further the mission he felt he was on. I don’t know about any of you, but I don’t even have an ounce of that man’s courage. 


So in celebration of a life not wasted, please enjoy. 

Hasta La Vista

Thanks for stopping by. Please have a safe and outstanding Easter if that's your thing. If you find any new music, hook a brother up. 


Go Eagles! Actually, if West Coast do for some reason lose to Melbourne today, I won't be overly distraught, as Melbourne deserves some positive karma for ditching a sponsor whose CEO made racist and sexist Facebook comments - regardless of the fact that doing so cost the struggling club AU$2M. So, Go Eagles! but congratulations Melbourne. 


Hasala malakim.

Playlist : March 28th - April 1st, 2011

Hey there Work Tunes peeps. This week I have got a couple of new albums (Iraho and Go-Go Boots), an old favourite or two (Let Love In and Pretty In Pink OST), an album by a band I've been meaning to hear more of for a while (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and a recommendation from a trustworthy Twitter source (The Felice Brothers). What it all looks like together is something like this:

• Awesome Dre - Can't Hold Me Back
• Iraho - Iraho
• VA - Pretty in Pink OST
• Justin Townes Earle - Good Life
• The Felice Brothers - Tonight At The Arizona
• Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
• Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
• Nick Cave - Let Love In
• Steve Tannen - Stopped at a Green Light
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

Top 5 Artists

1. De La Soul
2. Uncle Tupelo
3. Bright Eyes
4. Mr. Bungle
5. The Velvet Underground

Song of the Week : The Buggles - Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade)

I stumbled across this album last week and my first thought was “OMG they had a whole album?!” ‘They’ being The Buggles, he one-hit-wonder extraordinaires who wrote Video Killed The Radio Star.

The other tracks on the album are fairly diverse. Sometimes they sound a bit like Madness, others you think it’s The Cars, but generally nothing else sounds like Video (which I still maintain is a superb pop song).

I thought I’d make a track SOTW just so you could say you’ve heard more than one The Buggles song. I chose this one because it’s about Astroboy and he’s pretty mint.

Adios Amigos

That's it for now. I will try and narrow down the whole month's list to maybe 5 albums for a proper review later in the week. Until then, keep a good head and always carry a light bulb.