Secret Memory Cloud Flag (December 10th - 14th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Capitalism Christmas. You know what that means. It means I have to spend some Saturdays shopping for presents. It also means that my Top 10 for 2012 is not too far away. In actual fact, it will be next week. This isn't it though; this is a different list.

In preparation for refining my final Top 10 list, I have a few 2012 albums from Cloud Nothings, The Mountain Goats and Swans. Thanks to a recent Clay5 on Top 5 5th albums, I have Melissa Etheridge's fifth and probably best album. More Whiskeytown is here while I'm still reading the book. I've got the final installments for Dylan and the Stones. Pulling another selection from Kurt's top 50, I've got Black Flag. Finally, my Hip Hop taste buds will be tantalised with Wu-Block and Nas.

Check it out:

• Black Flag - My War
• Wu-Block - Wu-Block
• Nas - Illmatic
• Swans - The Seer
• The Mountain Goats - Transcendental Youth
• Melissa Etheridge - Your Little Secret
• The Rolling Stones - GRRR! (Disc Three)
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Volume 3
• Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
• Whiskeytown - Stranger's Almanac

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. Whiskeytown
3. Bob Dylan
4. The Notorious B.I.G.
5. Beach Fossils

Song of the Week : The Knack - Good Girls Don't

I've been digging a little into Kurt Cobain's top 50 album list for the last few weeks. This week's selection was The Knack - Get The Knack. Everybody knows the monster hit My Sharona, but it was another song on the album that caught my eye. 

As a young and impressionable lad of about 7 or 8, I had a cassette tape (still have it) called Chipmunk Punk. It was The Chipmunks doing "punk" songs. Except they were all covers of new wave songs from Blondie, Queen, Tom Petty, Billy Joel, The Cars and others. At the time I had no idea who usually sang it, but my favourite track was Good Girls Don't. It was The Knack, and I have only just heard the original song now for the first time. 

Imagine my surprise when the real lyrics were... well, let's say "adult" and "colourful". Listen yourself and then have a look at the Chipmunk version on YouTube. 

Enjoy my shattered innocence! :)

Addio, Amici

Thanks for stopping by. Have the best couple of days off you can muster. Don't forget to check in next week for the Top 10 for 2012. There could well be a mixtape, but don't tell the DMCA.

Hasala malakim.

People's Official Wild Dummy Trick (September 10th - 14th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Just a quick one today. I'm at home looking after Miss 3 and I am sick as a fully chrome set of mags. I thought about not posting this weekend, but since my target audience is me, I'm the only one who misses out. So, let's get into the music shall we?

A couple of kitschy sets this week in a compilation of Journey's best and Fastway's soundtrack to the long forgotten 80s horror film Trick Or Treat (starring Skippy from Family Ties with a cameo from Ozzy Osborne). There's a few old favourites from Something For Kate, Kathleen Edwards and A Tribe Called Quest. The new Meliisa Etheridge album is here - she seems to have gone back to her rock roots and is playing all guitars on every song. Also new is Dylan's dark Tempest and Wild Nothing's Nocturne. Because I've been listening to a bit of electronic music lately, I decided to get on someone who does it right, so I added Portishead. Rounding it all off, Ozi Batla's solo album is here because I recently heard the new Evil Eddie song and it reminded me. 

Check it out:

• Fastway - Trick or Treat
• Something For Kate - The Official Fiction
• Portishead - Dummy
• Journey - Greatest Hits
• Wild Nothing - Nocturne
• Melissa Etheridge - 4th Street Feeling
• Bob Dylan - Tempest
• Kathleen Edwards - Failer
• A Tribe Caled Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
• Ozi Batla - Wild Colonial

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Ice-T
2. Tracy Chapman
3. Digable Planets
4. Sex Pistols
5. Pegz

Song of the Week : Digable Planets - Dog It

As for my favourite track this week, it's a cut from one of my 5 or 10 favourite Rap albums, Digable Planets - Blowout Comb. For my weekly work list, I try to avoid playing the same things all the time and keep it fresh every week. That leads to me deliberately avoiding great albums like this one and Pneumonia etc. Thing is, when my brain told me to slip Blowout Comb on this week's list, I checked back and found that August 2010 was the last time it made the cut. 

I chose this song, Dog It because it is "hella" funky. The brass and the bass on the track are as cool as can be and the whole thing puts me in the New York groove (won't Kiss be pleased!). The other reason I chose it is because all week I've had a bar of lyrics from it stuck in my head - because it's a catchy rhyme and because it's clever:

"Now, I'm making bacon,

Still saying wa assalamu alaikum" 

It's a good groove for a Friday afternoon. I hope it gets you dancing.

Okey Doke

Thanks for stopping by. That's it then. I best go away and try hard not to shrivel up with dehydration and die. I'll see you all next week, with a good deal more energy I hope.

Go Eagles. Because if you don't 'go', that's it for 2012. Hasla malakim

Futuristic Violet Model Pleasures (May 21st - 25th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well, I got my first take down notice from the DMCA. For The Spectrals - Get A Grip of all things. Not very punk rock guys. Still, who am I to take perceived income away from starving multinational corporations. So I dutifully took it down and I will henceforth quit posting a streaming link to Song of the Week. You'll just have to watch the YouTube video and go buy the single without hearing it properly. But of course, if you'd heard it in good quality streaming, you'd have been more likely to buy it, right? Isn't the Internet the new radio station? I wish corporations really were people, so we could punch them in the face. But I digress...


For my listening pleasure this week I'm holding Steve Tannen's Big Senorita, a CD I just got delivered from The Weepies' site. I have what must be the only BDP album I haven't heard; plus an album from Digable Planets' own Doodlebug. Reaching for some classics I have Elvis Costello and Joy Division; Melissa Etheridge is here because I just bought the vinyl; The 3rd disc of the Mermaid Avenue sessions is here; Pump Up The Volume thanks to a recent #Clay5 on Twitter; Jimmy Smith - Root Down because of the Beastie Boys sample; and finally High Violet because it has been quite some time. 


Check it out:

• Doodlebug feat. D.O.R. - Futuristic Sci-Fi
• Steve Tannen - Big Senorita
• Boogie Down Productions - Edutainment
• Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
• Jimmy Smith - Root Down
• Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions (Disc 3)
• Melissa Etheridge - Never Enough
• VA - Pump Up The Volume OST
• Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
• The National - High Violet

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. U2
3. The Clash
4. Dinosaur Jr.
5. Suzanne Vega

Song of the Week : Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost

This week's song comes courtesy of a TV show; the very great Parks and Recreation. I was a late comer to Parks n Recs, only getting into it after Season 3 was complete, but I've since caught up. I'm pretty sure you all watch it, but sometime in Season 3, April Ludgate mentioned Neutral Milk Hotel as her favourite band. The name didn't ring a bell at the time, so I decided to check them out .


As soon as I heard this song, Ghost, I knew I had heard them many times before. I even knew the words to it. I think I've stumbled across them on sites like themixtapeclub and 8tracks etc because they are obviously quite a popular act. They sound a bit like The Decemberists to my ears with a smattering of Arcade Fire. 


I dig this song in particular for its folky hipster vibe and the catchy melodies of "dee dee dee dee dee dee" and the line that I instantly recognised “She was born in a bottle rocket, 1929" I'm almost positive you know it, so I hope you like it.


Byeeee

Peace out homeys. Be safe, go well and don't let the Man bring you down. Go Eagles!


Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 28th - December 2nd, 2011

Hello and welcome to the Work Tunes that almost never was.

I recently had to let go of my 160Gb iPod Classic after a few good years of service. It actually still works, but it wouldn't connect to iTunes, so it made playlists a very hard thing to make during my lunch breaks as I'm used to. I'vbe got a new one now and I'm beginning the arduous task of filling it up again. But I have a list now, even though it was a little rushed.

Classic albums and artists are over represented, probably because they're the best thing to reach for when you don't know what you want. Luckily Spin came through with the December issue so I have some brand new tunes too. Thanks to a viewing of Rock The Bells, I grabbed Wu-Tang's classic 36 Chambers. I threw in some Iggy Pop to go with my recent obsession with Velvet Underground. I got so excited about the new The Roots LP coming soon that I hooked up an old one and that's about it.

Check it out:

• Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers
• Bruce Springsteen - Tracks (Disc One)
• The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series 6 : Concert at Philharmonic Hall
• Melissa Etheridge - Breakdown
• Pixies - Surfer Rosa
• Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
• James Brown - Live at the Apollo
• The Roots - The Tipping Point
• VA - Spin Magazine December

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Mr Bungle
   
2. The Doors
3. KRS One & Marley Marl
4. Kathleen Edwards
5. The Deep Dark Woods

Song of the Week : Bob Dylan - I'll Keep It With Mine

Musically speaking, there has been a strangely coincidental Velvet Underground theme following me around. I happen to have chosen Beck's Record Club tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico album for this week's list, but more than that I watched a doco on Sunday about Lillian Roxon who photographed and wrote about VU and also Bowie and Iggy Pop in the early days at Max's. I've also seen a bunch of people bagging out the Lou Reed / Metallica collaboration (and so I won't listen to it and sully my high opinion of Lou Reed). This all lead me to listening to lots of VU and checking out Nico's solo album Chelsea Girl on Songl. On it, she covers Bob Dylan - I'll Keep It With Mine.

There are only two versions of Dylan's original that I have heard. One is solo piano and it's called Bank Account Blues. The other is with a band on the Bootleg Series. Hearing Nico sing it in a slow droning monotone, reminded me how good Bob's Bootleg version was. It's a pretty catchy pop melody without the throw away lyrics. What's most enjoyable about this version though is that Dylan is playing it with the band during the Blonde On Blonde sessions for the first time. They haven't rehearsed it, they're throwing together the backing as they play. You hear the producer reassure Al Kooper on the organ to play what he was playing earlier and then Al starts up. Bob at the end of a verse asks the band, "Right?"

I find it a fascinating insight into how great songs are recorded. It's also frustrating that the song wasn't ever recorded properly. There are far too many songs that have been thrown away by great musicians that never made their own releases. I'm thinking about Springsteen never doing Because The Night, Paul Kelly giving Cake and the Candle to Kate Ceberano and Nico strangling the life out of this song.

This YouTube video is not the version from Bootleg Series Vol. 2, but it is an instrumental version with footage from Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas. But the song title link is the real deal. Enjoy!

Ya'll Come Back Now

To my American friends, I hope your Thanksgiving and Black Friday were exceptional. To those of here in Perth, how about this heat hey? To everybody else, thanks for stopping by.

Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 15th - 19th, 2010

Hey, what's happening cats? Been a good week in your world? Mine has been kind of same old, same old. But, you know what they say - no news is good news.

A lot of what I'll be listening to this week is fairly laid back. Apart from some grooves from Cee Lo Green and Jamiroquai, and a little bit of obligatory Skip Hop from Pegz, everything else is easy like Year 8 maths. Check it out:

• Elvis Costello - The Best of Elvis Costello : It has been a good while since I tucked into my favourite EC album, Spike. Much of his more recent fare is a little on the middle of the road lounge jazz side - although his late night talk show features some great performances. Early on in his career, Costello was known as Punk and then among the vanguard of the Post Punk and New Wave movements. These are all still great songs.

• Melissa Etheridge - Brave And Crazy : With much less of the vitriole and psychotic obsession of her debut self-titled album, ME's second release is still very raw, if somewhat more subtle and subdued. The romantic road trip of Sleep While I Drive and the deep remorse of You Used To Love To Dance are placed easily beside the incensed outrage of No Souvenirs. This is a decent album prior to Etheridge's peak, Your Little Secret.

• Pegz - Capricorn Cat : I put a bid on Pegz vinyl recently. It was signed and online to raise money in the Heat for Huntz appeal. It wasn't this album, it was the brilliant Axis. The auction isn't over, but I'm not prepared to pay $150+ for it. I'm going to sulk and play Capricorn Cat instead. I like Pegz.

• Concrete Blonde - Free : At the request of one of my Song of the Week buddies, Sunky, I recently made a Concrete Blonde mixtape for him as he only knew Joey. I haven't listened to a lot of Blonde since the late 90s when I saw Johnette Napolitano play live, acoustic and solo. Free is my personal favourite Blonde LP, and the title track that never made the album is brilliant. It's on my mixtape though. If you drop me an email, I'll hook you up with it.

• The Lightning Seeds - Cloudcuckooland : I didn't know The Lightning Seeds when one day I saw a cassette in a hock shop for $1. Being it was the early 90s and everything that looked a little indie was of instant interest, I grabbed the tape and happily enough I dug it. Which is lucky, because I wasn't expecting such synth based pop. It's not bad though, check it out.

• Cee Lo Green - The Ladykiller : It seems like everywhere I go I'm hearing F$#^ You! That's Cee Lo's song, that's not random people screaming out in the street. Although, this one time... Anyway, I like that the Soul just keeps growing and growing. It seems to me like everyone is getting their groove on at the minute. Long may true Soul rule the airwaves.

• Jamiroquai - Rock Dust Light Star : Speaking of getting your groove on, this is the latest release from Jamiroquai, the UK funk pop outfit fronted by the often be-hatted Jay Kay. An ex-boss and friend of mine (hello Chris) introduced me to Jamiroquai and it's good music just to have on. Not really musical wallpaper, but not really deep and meaningful music either - although it quite often has a 'message' (given the 'iroquai' bit of their name comes from the Iroquois Native American tribe). Good stuff for a Friday, that's for sure.

• Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Live at Metropolis Fremantle : I was at this gig in the front row and I've only this week been handed the link to the archive. I have downloaded the files and listened to a few snippets for quality - it's good. It was a great gig too. You can download the whole thing from the link in this title. Coming up soon, the Cardinals are releasing a double album of music created around the time of the epic 2LP Cold Roses album, further illustrating how prolific Grizzly once was.I will most likely play this recording more than once this week.

• Kathleen Edwards - Back To Me : Spinning Failer a couple of weeks ago was a good decision. I had forgotten how much I liked Edwards' writing and melody and I was so surprised, I tweeted it. This week I've decided on Back To Me rather than Ask For Flowers because the latter is a little sadder and quieter and as Flav would say 'I ain't tryin' to hear that' right now. As mentioned when I blogged about Failer, the track Old Time Sake from this set is in my 'Hottest 100'.

• VA - Uncut - Love Above All: 11 Songs Compiled By Devendra Banhart : I hadn't heard much of Devendra Banhart's music before I saw a tour documentary about him (The Family Jams). He definitely has a distinctive style. This isn't his music though, it's eleven songs he chose for an Uncut magazine compilation. Uncut compilations very rarely disappoint me, so I thought I'd check this one out.

That's it for another week of tunes at work. I'm hoping my Soul Train DVDs will come soon, and if they do, expect lots of funk next week.

This week's free advice: Be all that you can be bothered being. Ciao for niao cats.