Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.
You might have noticed there was no Work Tunes last week. That's because I was saving the surprise of my Top 10 Albums of 2012. My top 10 list has been my weekly soundtrack this week.
The albums I've selected are not necessarily the same ones that would make my critical top 10 list. These are my favourite albums this year, the ones I have especially enjoyed listening to. The one that I have continued to play all year whenever the mood strikes. These are my top 10.
I've written a few words on each of them and listed them in reverse order - just for the suspense* (*suspense may not be actual). At the end of the list, you'll find the next ten albums in my top 20 and finally a mixtape of one song from each top 10 selection.
Check it out:
10. Paul Kelly - Spring and Fall
This year's release is among Mr Paul (poet and living legend) Kelly's best in a while. Spring and Fall is the sound of a man growing old and weary but comfortable in his own skin. As 'over the hill' as the narrator of every song is, he's still obsessed by the universal themes of love and sex and death. By the end of the album with Little Aches and Pains, we hear a man expressing how the heart is willing but the flesh is weak. At the Stories of Me event, PK told us that the song was written because he and his siblings have a rule that they can only talk for 5 minutes about their medical complaints when they meet up, or else they talk of nothing else. I am really glad to hear yet another great Paul Kelly album.
9. The Bamboos - Medicine Man
This is the first spot I had to think really hard about filling and I wrote this list from top to bottom. A few albums have slipped into the lower half of my top 20 to make way for this. In the end I had to include it on the strength of the Tim Rogers collaboration alone. Plus, it is so good to see Australians putting out this kind of soulful rock music. I think if it was a US release, it would make a lot of international Top 10 lists.
8. Beth Orton - Sugaring Season
As an Orton fan since Sunky hipped me to her, I was eager to hear the new album. It has been a while between drinks for the "tall glass of water" (as she is referenced in Ryan Adams' English Girls Approximately). Worth the wait. Sugaring Season seems a lot more organic than previous efforts; meaning not as electronic - though I know there are plenty of keys in it. BO has managed to weave her distinctive voice through some very smooth piano and string lines. There's a bit of sadness in the lyric content, but it doesn't get too morbid.
7. Seapony - Falling
What can I say about Seapony? I loved their 2011 debut Go With Me, so I jumped at the next release. The two sound very similar, in that there is a sound that is distinctly Seapony. I hear it as a loud punk band playing behind a shiny piece of not-quite-soundproof glass. All the edge is taken off the crunch and fuzz and you get this dreamy kind of hum. I suppose that's why it's referred to as Dream Pop. It's good, anyway.
6. First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
Emmylou was all it took to get me to buy this album. The harmonies, the reference to country's veteran royal couples, the sweet, sweet melody. I was blown away when I found out these girls were Swedish. They sound like mountain folk - and I suppose they are, just Scandinavian and not Appalachian. There's other great tracks on the album too though and they are all as Americana as the one that got my attention.
When I first heard The XX with VCR, I expected more catchy pop tunes with a decidedly electronic backing. Listening to the whole album showed they were a little less shallow than they probably seemed at first. With Coexist, they've added a large ambient string to their bow and made a coherently whole album that sets a mood. Every song on it seems to have this ominous undertone like it’s the end of the world in a dance song – very fitting in these 2012 times, no?. I think it's just the keys, but whatever it is, it works and it definitely maintains a singular mood. I like it a lot.
4. Justin Townes Earle - Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
Besides the unwieldy title, this is a very good release from JTE. I only discovered the man and his music with 2010's Harlem River Blues but have since acquainted myself with the back catalogue. This LP is as soul-searching and redemptive as Harlem, but it doesn't hide the sadness behind catchy jigs. Where Harlem was a bit of a romp, NGCTWYFAMN is subdued and lonely. Songs like Unfortunately Anna and Won't Be The Last Time sound like late night confessions and cries for help. He still puts a stomp in proceedings a little with Look The Other Way, but even that is a song about how his mother never recognises the good things he does, and only focuses on the many negatives. It seems that JTE is getting better with each release. Early stuff had a couple of good tracks, maybe one great one in Midnight at the Movies; while Harlem River Blues was outstanding and this album is superb in its own right.
When The Only Place was released, I read a lot of good press, but just as many complaints by fans of their debut Crazy For You. The argument was that it was more of the same and that the repetitive choruses were now annoying. I'm of the opinion that this album is not more of the same, because the production of it and the ability of the band's lyricist and lead singer has exploded in a great way. Besides the deeper polish on the sound which gives it a 50s/60s feel, Bethany Constantino has developed a real voice. No longer the whiny LA surfy chick, she sounds more like Patsy Cline or Connie Francis on songs like Up All Night and How They Want Me To Be. This is a deserved Top 3 choice and I really should have bought the vinyl instead of the CD, but i cheaped out on the shipping. Silly me. Now I have to buy both anyway.
2. Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky
I'm probably a little biased here, because there isn't much I don't like from Dinosaur Jr. But I thought I Bet On Sky was better than Farm (2009), which I also enjoyed. What I prefer about Sky is the low end thump has been taken out of the sound, so it sounds less like Metallica and more like J Mascis lazily humming over a lovely warm and fuzzy guitar. So okay, maybe it all just sounded more like the 90s and I am a sucker for Slacker nostalgia. Whatevs. I really liked this album.
No surprises that probably one of the strongest releases from one of my favourite groups would make my Top 10 list. For me, Hilltop Hoods haven't put a foot wrong since The Calling. Since that breakthrough, they have been the undisputed high watermark in Australian Hip Hop, no argument. For me, the highlights on Drinking From the Sun are the massively hooky I Love It and The Underground; the out-of-left-field rapid fire rhythmic rhyming scheme of Rattling The Keys to the Kingdom, the awesome Joe Pesci sample in the Good For Nothing hook and the inclusive politics of Speaking In Tongues.
Filling out my Top 20 were:
2012 Mixtape Tracklist
The Bamboos - I Got Burned (feat. Tim Rogers)
Dinosaur Jr. - Don't Pretend You Didn't Know
Seapony - Prove To Me
Justin Townes Earle - Look The Other Way
First Aid Kit - Emmylou
Beth Orton - Dawn Chorus
The xx - Chained
Paul Kelly - Cold As Canada
Best Coast - Up All Night
And that's my whole year. I'm on leave until January 7, so no Work Tunes until then. If I get a spare moment, I might post a review over at
Make Films Not Movies, but most likely I'll just be 'maxing and relaxing'.
Have a great silly season. Whatever you do, be careful on the roads but more importantly in the shops - I've been there a lot lately and it is chaos!
As always and forever - hasala malakim brothers and sisters.
