Playlist July 4th - 8th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Straight into the music this week. I was completely floored by Gillian Welch's new one The Harrow & The Harvest and so I'm spinning another of her classics this week in Hell Among the Yearlings. While trawling my iTunes, I found an album I'd forgotten about from Little Barrie and that's here too. Along with some smooth jazz hop from Pete Rock and some even smoother flows from Rakim, I've got two breakthrough classics from Madonna and the Boss, the soundtrack to Larry Clark's 1995 Kids and a little alt country as usual from Son Volt and The Autumn Defense.

Check it out:

• Gillian Welch - Hell Among The Yearlings
• Madonna - Like A Virgin
• Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Main Ingredient
• VA - Spin Magazine July 2011
• Rakim - The Master
• VA - Kids OST
• The Autumn Defense - Once Around
• Little Barrie - Stand Your Ground
• Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
• Son Volt - Wide Swing Tremelo

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Gillian Welch
2. T. Rex
3. Bias B
4. Jimi Hendrix
5. Ladybug Mecca

Song of the Week : Gillian Welch - Tennessee

The weather is partly responsible for my song of the week. A while ago, I preordered Gillian Welch’s new album. It’s been a long time between drinks for her and when she finally released something, I didn’t hesitate to grab it. The CD is in the mail, but on release day, I got a DL link to lossless quality mp3s of The Harrow & The Harvest.

I don’t know if it’s the cold, or the music or the high quality of the sound files, but the whole thing sounds amazing. I’m not sure what you’d call it, but there’s all this space in the tracks like it was recorded in some huge and ancient cathedral. Dave Rawling’s guitar rings out in the hollows like bells and you can hear the breath in Welch’s voice. I told someone it’s like the whole thing is haunted.

The track is the best example of what I mean about the haunting. The story goes that for all these years since her last LP Soul Journey, they have been recording things and then ditching them as not good enough. What I think has changed for the better is the personal aspect of the lyrics. Where once they’d write old gothic hillbilly tales, these songs are about their own lives but still sound like those Appalachian dirges. It’s just blown me away and is definitely the best thing she’s released since Time (The Revelator). You can stream the whole album at NPR http://n.pr/mvy5lL

Ciao Bellas

That's all folks. I'll see you at the same blog time, same blog channel next week. I'm going to bed now to listen to some tunes before some sweet, sweet sleep. Nighty night.

Playlist : August 9th - 13th : The 1980s

After handing last week's list over to the 1970s, it seemed only logical to have an all 1980s week this week. When I was choosing this week's list, what struck me as funny about the 1980s was how there was a stark dichotomy of music style going on. I suppose all decades are that way, but the difference between say , WHAM! and Pixies is insane. I've tried to grab a little bit from both sides.

• Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction : Everybody in my high school had this album; girls and boys. Slash was a guitar hero then too, just nobody made a video game. And of course, Sweet Child O Mine was a massive hit that every kid and his Fender copy wanted to play.

• Pixies - Doolittle : The fuzzy indie pop riffs and catchy melodies of Pixies is a world away from the 1988 best seller George Michael's Faith, or Kylie Minogue's self-titled set. Did anyone guess that the Pixies would go on to influence my generation's Beatles and Stones in Nirvana and Pearl Jam (and indeed much of the Seattle sound).

• Violent Femmes - Hallowed Ground : Another band who sounded very little like the era's mainstream bubble gum pop and who have never followed the crowd. Something about the happy tragic tunes and jaunty rhythms of the Violent Femmes really works for me.

• INXS - INXS : This was INXS before the XS made them no good. Arguably Australia's most successful musical export next to AC/DC, INXS were then less the rock stars and more the geeky synth pop hipsters without a sax player.

• AC/DC - Who Made Who : A true bogan classic but not as good as Back In Black - despite what my critics said about my review in my Year 10 school paper! I got a smack in the chops for my troubles, but I was right. It's not a bad album, but its no Back... I put it in here instead because I've not heard it in a while.

• The Smiths - The Smiths : More music from (comparatively) another planet. Despite the mopey Moz lyrics and whiney vocals, I find The Smiths rather good to work to. I couldn't tell you why.

• The Psychedelic Furs - Mirror Moves : I added the Furs to compliment The Smiths and Violent Femmes. Furs have the same intelligent music as they do and the sound is a complimentary style. I reckon if iTunes Genius put them together, I wouldn't mind at all.

• Various Artists - Breakin' : Breakdance, the dance and the movies, was a big part of the 1980s for me. The first Breakin' film I saw with my older cousins at Piccadilly in Perth. There were hundreds of kids around our ages there for a Saturday matinee session. You'd never see so many people at Piccadilly these days - which sucks, because its a magical old place.

• Various Artists - 1984 Shakin' : Another big part of the 1980s was the compilation. There must have been 3 or 4 a year. My now sister-in-law's mother used to buy every single one on vinyl and slip us a cassette copy (my SIL and me) to play in our tape decks. Home taping sure didn't kill music for me - it kept the passion up and showed me new bands til I earned money to buy things. Anti-torrent types should remember what mixtapes and dubs were all about.

• Jimmy Barnes - For The Working Class Man : Barnsey! Another ubiquitous classic for us flannel and DB wearing Kwinanaites. This album was everywhere. From Mandurah to Koongamia, I couldn't have escaped it if I wanted to. And I didn't. Why would I? It's Barnsey!

• Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back : This is truer to my own personal sound of the 1980s. In 1987 I had heard Run DMC and the Beastie Boys and along came these guys, Public Enemy with Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Already sounding dangerous and angry, when they dropped Nation, they were harder than hard militant rap soldiers who had something to say. So you best listen.

• U2 - The Joshua Tree : When Joshua Tree was still quite popular, I remember when Rattle and Hum came out. Along with INXS dropping Kick, I don't think I've seen as clear an illustration of when a band goes from being popular to being monumental. U2 blew the hell up from there on until they lost it somewhere after All That You Can't Leave Behind. Joshua Tree is still awesome.

• Madonna - Madonna: Speaking of blowing up, this is another LP that came before the crucial moment. After this self-titled and solid set of likable pop, Madonna gave us Like A Virgin and you all know the rest. Can I just take this time to suggest Lady Ga Ga find another vault to violate.

• Wham!- Make It Big : If you want the 1980s, you have to take the cheese that goes with it. Two blokes with hair like girls and delusions of soul who wrote some pretty good tunes as it happens. And then filled every Blue Light Disco, classroom party and rollerskating rink with it until 1986 when they split and George Michael went solo. Then his songs took over.

I hope you get a nostalgic giggle from some of the tracks in this list. For the good stuff, I hope it you haven't heard it you will check it out.

Have a mintox week. Push pineapples, grind coffee. Happy birthday for Monday to my clever chops oldest daughter who turns 4.