This Ocean Glowstream Explosion (January 7th - 11th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes for 2013.

So this is it. Just a stock standard weekend to go and I'm back at work for a new year. I've been spending my holidays here, there and everywhere, but not at any planned vacation. We did almost make the last minute decision to get out of the suburbs on NYE, but we stayed in and it turned out to be one of the quieter nights all year. Brilliant. 


As for the playlist for my first week at work, I can't really say I've put a lot of thought in. I just sort of browsed my iTunes library and put in whatever seemed like it could do with a listen. Doing like this, at first the whole list looks a bit of an eclectic and random mix, but look carefully and you'll notice it leans heavy on a couple of vibes. 

The first vibe is soul with Marvin Gaye, Syl Johnson and Frank Ocean (though the Sesame Street song One of These Things is Not Like the Others comes to mind). The second vibe is the twangy folky country thing from The Autumn Defense, The Rural Alberta Advantage and the This Is 40 soundtrack. That just leaves a little math rock from Datarock, some indie rock from JEFF the Brotherhood, some dreamy pop jangle from Cotton Jones and the FM radio mellow of Bruce Hornsby.


Check it out:

• The Autumn Defense - The Autumn Defense
• Syl Johnson - Total Explosion
• JEFF the Brotherhood - We Are The Champions
• Cotton Jones - Tall Hours in the Glowstream
• Bruce Hornsby - Greatest Radio Hits
• Datarock - Datarock Datarock
• Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE
• Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
• The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
• VA - This Is 40

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. Hilltop Hoods
3. Melissa Etheridge
4. The Rolling Stones
5. Whiskeytown

Happy New Year

Thanks for stopping by. My hope for 2013 is to find and hear more great music, rediscover old favourites and buy more vinyl. I also promised myself I'd play more guitar, but so far the year is guitarless. I never said I had great resolve. Let's not forget, I promised in 2012 to never read the comments - and that didn't go so well. 

Stay golden pony boys and girls. Hasala malakim.

Remember the Blue Brotherhood Decade (July 16th - 20th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


More great times for me at work this week with a bunch of important projects finishing up and a few more beginning. I managed to catch a few films at Rev on the weekend just gone, including The George Méliès Project which I am really glad I got to see. Didn't catch any during the week though, but that's okay because it meant more time at home with the wife and children. I am getting out there this weekend to at least two and maybe more before it closes. For now, let's talk about music, not film.


There's a healthy dose of Australian tunes this week with Augie March, early Ben Lee and Deborah Conway. Plus there's Split Enz who are one of those New Zealand acts who are so good we claimed them for Australia. I've added the latest from JEFF the Brotherhood and one of Lou Reed's best. For my weekly dose of rap I've picked some Jay-Z and the soundtrack to the movie Colors. A compilation of covers from KCRW and the first disc of the Neil Young retrospective round it all out nicely.


Check it out:

• Lou Reed - The Blue Mask
• JEFF The Brotherhood - Hypnotic Nights
• Split Enz - History Never Repeats : Greatest Hits
• Jay-Z - The Dynasty
• Augie March - Moo You Bloody Choir
• VA - Sounds Eclectic : The Covers Project
• Ben Lee - Something To Remember Me By
• Neil Young - Decade (Disc One)
• Deborah Conway - Bitch Epic
• VA - Colors OST

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. 50 Cent
2. Rickie Lee Jones
3. Ryan Adams
4. Cypress Hill
5. Bright Eyes

Song of the Week : The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime

I chose this song at the beginning of the week, because I have really enjoyed the tendency lately to find out songs were covers when I hadn't heard the original. This is Everybody's Got To Learn Sometimes by The Korgis, which was covered by Beck for the soundtrack of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.


This original version is one of those 80s ballads that is now kind of hard to take seriously. You know the kind, the ones with a clawing over-earnestness about them. The underlying strings sustain a sort of dull whine and it reminds me a bit of The Cars - Drive but a tad more saccharine.  


Beck's version on the other hand is bleak and stark like the Montauk winter scapes it plays over. I don't know if you all have seen the film, but you should if you haven't. I'm guessing you have. So Beck's version to me is far better - even if I believed until very recently that the song was his. 

Au revoir

I just finished watching 2 Days In New York (Julie Delpy directed), so I'm feeling a little bit French. Fun little film; a bit like its director - smart and cute. 


Thanks for stopping by. Here's hoping your weekend is full of all the joys of life - you know the ones; pizza, beer, music, love, laughter, pretzels, all that good stuff. 


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Playlist May 2nd - 6th, 2011

Well hello there tunesters. It's been a massive break for me over Easter. After the first weekend was spent working day and night, I tried to make the most of every day I had left. It was an excellent break.

And so on to the music. This week's list contains a number of new ones, from The Waifs, Okkervil River and Drapht. Plus I'm trying to hear some classics I haven't heard in a while (Blondie) or at all (50 Cent). Here's what I've got:

• Blondie - Parallel Lines
• Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
• Drapht - The Life of Riley
• John Mayer - Battle Studies
• The Strokes - Is This It
• JEFF the Brotherhood - We Are The Champions
• 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
• John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
• The Waifs - Temptation
• VA - Spin Magazine April 2011
  

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Tori Amos
2. Beastie Boys
3. Ryan Adams
4. Bob Dylan
5. Neko Case

Song of the Week : Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink

One of the things I managed to squeeze into my holidays was a 20 minute visit to a record fair in Vic Park. We were running late with everything we had to do that day, so I only just got there in time. I managed to pick up three great records for a total of less than $20. Madonna’s debut, Van Morrison – Moondance and the Pretty In Pink soundtrack.

I think I’ve mentioned before that Pretty In Pink was the first soundtrack (besides Grease) that I remember everybody my age (about 14 at the time I think) having. I wasn’t even really a fan of the film, beyond Molly Ringwald, but the soundtrack is superb. It has a pretty obvious euro vibe with New Order and The Smiths and OMD. Even Suzanne Vega sounds more English than American. Probably because she’s Canadian (I think, eh?).

I chose the Psychedelic Furs title track to the film, which inspired the film itself. I can’t tell you how 80s geeked out I was when I got this pristine condition vinyl ($9 thanks!) home and put it on the turntable. I had it on cassette back in the day, because I had my own ‘boombox’, but hearing it on wax was transporting. I played it twice in a row that day and I’ve spun it twice since. This is what the 80s sounded like. Enjoy.

Until May

I was going to resurrect the old style Work Tunes for May, but I got so busy on the holidays that I've changed my mind.

Until next week, may your mornings always be hot buttered toast with cartoons and your nights forever be cocktails and moonlight.