Tricky Southeastern Surfer Punk (June 17th - 21st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's my birthday tomorrow and I'm feeling old as dirt, so forgive any grumpiness. Let's all try to forget that I'm turning 35 (again) tomorrow, shall we, and get on with it. I reached for a few old favourites this week. Maybe a touch of nostalgia from the stupid birthday thing? Whatever.

I grabbed U2's reinvention, Achtung Baby and Bright Eyes' (imho) best album, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. There's more favourites in Wilco's Sky Blue Sky and a Punk compilation of music from 1977. Volume 2 of one of my desert island compilations, Rare On Air is also here. There's a few new ones too though, from the magnificent Jason Isbell and from Surfer Blood. I got hold of The Wild because they were filed under Folk Punk and I had to hear what that was like. For something Trip and Hip Hop respectively, I grabbed Tricky's Maxinquaye and Tape Two from Young Fathers; who are believe it or not a rap trio from Scotland. 

Check it out:

• Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
• U2 - Achtung Baby
• Jason Isbell - Southeastern
• Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
• VA - Rare On Air Vol. 2
• Tricky - Maxinquaye
• VA - 1977 - The Spirit Of Punk
• Young Fathers - Tape Two
• The Wild - Dreams Are Maps
• Surfer Blood - Pythons

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Dolorean
2. The National
3. Sonic Youth
4. Concrete Blonde
5. Brother Ali

Song of the Week : The National - Fireproof

This week's SOTW comes from my LPOTW. You all know I dig on The National and their new album has done nothing to harm that fanboy relationship. It's full of solid songs, but the reason I chose this one is because I think it illustrates a lot of what I like so much about The National's sound. 

Fireproof is simple enough, with a consistent riff played throughout as the main backing music. There is a tightly constructed time sig about everything from the percussion to the guitar. And then you get Matt Behringer's vocals and lyrics which seem like a random ramble over the top, always seeming to threaten to get out of time with the track. When he starts singing "Jennifer you are not the only reason..." he sounds like he's mumbling to himself and there happens to be this tight riff under his thoughts. I've always liked the way he phrases a lot of words around a small bit of space.  

Enjoy!

Bye Bye Baby, Baby Goodbye, Baby 

I'm off to the video store (link included for those born after 1995) with the kids to get a bluray for tonight's viewing. I'm hoping Monsters Inc is available or I'll be stuck with The Lion King, or worse, Rio. 

Live long and prosper. No AFL for me this week, so I hope your team does well. 

Hasala malakim.

Kamaal the Sad Television Companion (April 16 - 20)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


I can't begin to tell you how busy my week has been, so I won't try. Suffice to say I shall be busy at work from now until, roughly... the END OF TIME! To get through this overwhelming metric ton of work for the foreseeable future, I'm going to need plenty of tunes. 


Which is why I have some smooth Hip Hop grooves from Q-Tip and Mos Def's Black on Both Sides; some anarchic and cathartic punk from Black Flag;  self-titled LPs from both The Far West and Television; The National's mostly overlooked second LP;  the latest from Counting Crows and M. Ward; the first album in the first Holy Trinity from Bob Dylan and a solid compilation from KCRW.


Check it out:

• Q-Tip - Kamaal The Abstract
• Black Flag - Damaged
• Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
• The Far West - The Far West
• Television - Television
• The National - Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
• Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine
• M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion
• Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
• VA - KCRW Sounds Eclectic 3

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Prince
2. Drive-By Truckers
3. Uncle Tupelo
4. A Tribe Called Quest
5. U2

Song of the Week : Prince - Nothing Compares 2 U

So now to my song for the week. I was bitterly disappointed (though not at all surprised) that Prince isn't coming to Perth. I could probably wrangle a work flight to Melbourne and see him there, but I don’t want to stay away from home to catch him. Besides, what was touted as “keeping with current tour prices” (which was as low as $25) has become, I’ve seen, as much as $850 a ticket. Ridiculous.


So I’m definitely not going to see Prince. But I can pick my favourite live Prince track for SOTW. This is the original and best version of Nothing Compares 2 U. A world away from Sinead O’Connor’s forlorn pop ballad version, this is heart wrenching Soul from the purple one and Rosie Gaines. Gaines’ voice is amazing and you can hear Prince smiling as he coaxes responses from her within the song lyric. 


Besides missing a moment like the legendary George Harrison tribute, I think what I upsets me most about missing the Prince tour is the chance to hear some of Pop music’s greatest songs done live by a living legend. C'est la vie. Enjoy.

Hoo-roo

Until next time, may your weekend be filled with music and the good kind of mayhem. If you find something new to listen to, don't be a selfish hipster and hide it away for yourself - hook a brother up.


And speaking of shared knowledge, I just got back from The Record Finder in Fremantle. I go there every chance I get, which is a lot, but now something is bugging me. The range is huge, no doubt; but the prices on new LPs are out of whack and the used vinyl is sealed up so you can't check it. I think why it suddenly bothers me is that Mills Record Bar up the road have beefed up their selection and cut the prices to very reasonable levels. The range may not be the same, but they do stock some of the best records ever made - from Bob Dylan to The National. So my advice if you're hunting vinyl in town is only check Record Finder for more left-field used vinyl and be prepared to ask to see it. 


Vinyl tragics unite! Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 1st - 5th, 2010

I've gone a bit heavier than usual on the compilations this week. There's also an 80s vibe as well as some classic Beatles and the usual Skip Hop.

The soundtrack of my life for the next week will be;

• VA - KCRW Summer Mix : Another excellent and free compilation from the outstanding San Franciscan radio station that gave us Rare On Air and Sessions at West 54th Street. This mix features Eels, Moby, Iron & Wine, Sonic Youth and a stack of lesser known indie artists.

• VA - Hitwave '81 : Whatever happened to the kind of awesome compilation tapes we had in the 80s? The most recent compilation I can recall was sponsored by Mentos or something, Not to mention the featured artists were not a patch on Adam & the Ants, Visage, Split Enz, Elton John and Men At Work. Plus, this has Loverboy - Turn Me Loose \m/

• Ryan Adams - 29 : The last of Grizzly's 2005 output and the one he didn't put the Cardinals on. I remember on first listen of this, @sunky and I, who'd both been awaiting it's release impatiently, were convinced Ryan Adams was going to be a suicide within the year. With lines like "Can you still have any famous last words if you're somebody nobody knows" and the cover art showing Death approaching what looks a little like the house on Ryan's Freightwhaler Sessions bootleg, can you blame us?

• The Beatles - Rubber Soul : I bought this album on vinyl at the Melville markets last weekend for $10. Ten dollars. Bargain. There are some classic tracks on Rubber Soul, one of the LPs considered part of The Beatles' psychedelic output. As well a Drive My Car, there's Michelle, Norwegian Wood and Nowhere Man. All good to have on vinyl.

• VA - Soundtrack - Singles : I have been away from the brilliance that was the early to mid 90s lately. When they were new, this soundtrack and the movie were frequent places to visit for me. If you haven't seen the film, you're not missing too much, but its well worth it to see Eddy Vedder acting along side Matt Dillon.

• Flowers - Icehouse : Yes, that's the right way around. Iva Davies' band Icehouse was originally called Flowers and they changed their name based on the name of this LP. Two Icehouse tracks everyone knows appear on this album; We Can Get Together and Can't Help Myself.

• The Herd - An Elefant Never Forgets : A bit disillusioned with the more xenophobic elements of our online community lately, I have listened to the brilliant 77% a lot in the car. While the rest of this album doesn't come close to the vitriol that Ozi Batla spits in that track, it's overall a decent listen. "Wake up! This country needs a fuckin' shake up."

• Jurassic 5 - Quality Control : I've had this album for quite some time now and probably only heard it twice in total. Given I'm usually hearing the Jurassic's as part of the Dino 5 children's compilation I bought Miss 4, its only right that I give their main work a fair go.

• Kathleen Edwards - Failer : The very first time I heard Kathleen Edwards was an Uncut magazine compilation. That was a song called 12 Bellevue which appears on this album. I'm grateful to Uncut for the introduction, because other songs on this album are even better (Hockey Skates and One More Song The Radio Won't Like). Plus, Old Time Sake from the Back To Me LP is in coreyj's Hottest 100.

• VA - Uncut - Only Love Can Break Your Heart : And here is that Uncut compilation that introduced me to Kathleen Edwards, as well as Jesse Malin and Tim Easton. Malin's fantastic tale of hipster ennui, Brooklyn, is another of my 100 favourite songs. Tim Easton's Watching the Lightning was once a Song of the Week and I am convinced it is about Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. Find a copy and let me know what you think.

That's another list done and dusted. I'm looking forward to bunkering down inside my headphones with a ton of editing and review to do next week.

Stay golden, Ponyboy.