Top 10 Favourite Albums of 2013

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Like I did last year, I chose to not post in my last week of work and use my top 10 list as my playlist.  

It seems like every year, I think there's been no monumental album releases until I reflect back and try and choose a top 10. This year saw the best Jason Isbell album yet, probably the best She & Him volume so far, a new David Bowie LP and a bunch of other releases that made my 20. 

Like lists past, these aren't necessarily the *best* albums of 2013, but certainly my personal favourites. A mixtape of one track from each of the top ten is again available for download.

Check it out:

10. Iggy and the Stooges - Ready To Die

Surprisingly just the 5th Stooges album, Ready To Die is just as raucously anarchic as anything they've made before with an added sly wink at the process of aging. The hilariously knowing title Ready To Dies says it all. There's Iggy on the front strapped in explosives with a cross-hairs on his heart. But hey, says the album, he's just a bloke who plays rock and roll for a living - and according to Job, "it doesn't pay shit!" Preoccupied with the same things as they were as teenagers - sex, death, money and drugs; this album has a great deal of energy for a bunch of old geezers.  

9. Camera Obscura - Desire Lines

Ever since I discovered Camera Obscura some time ago, I've been an avowed fan of Tracyanne Campbell's lyrics and voice and the band's melodies. 2009's My Maudlin Career is still on high rotation. This album was produced in Portland with Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Neko Case, My Morning Jacket) and you can hear the difference in the sound. There is much more of an Americana gloss to the songs than we usually get from the Scottish group - even if Tracyanne's vocals still drip heavy with her Glasgow accent. The subjects of every song are familiarly grounded though: I Missed Your Party is an account of what the subject was up to instead of going to someone's party; New Year's Resolution is a kind of apology for a thawing relationship. The title track is a sorrowful lament to a lost lover met in California. This isn't my favourite Camera Obscura LP so far, but it's cracker.     

8. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

I am a long-time, unashamed fan of The National. Their previous release, High Violet made my 2010 list. Trouble Will Find Me is a bit more subdued, but mostly more of the same. And more of the same is exactly what I wanted from The National. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Not that their sound hasn't changed at all, but Matt Berninger's voice and lyrical themes are so recognisably The National that they could never pretend to be anything else. For some highlights, Graceless kicks around with a swag of chaos interspersed with the odd fragile-sounding key riff, Pink Rabbits seems to threaten to be out of time but never quite is and Fireproof is an atmospheric and sweetly sad melody.   

7. Josh Rouse - The Happiness Waltz

Another year, another great Josh Rouse release (two actually, when you count the soundtrack to Spanish film LA GRAN FAMILIA ESPAÑOLA). The Happiness Waltz is the like an anti Blood On The Tracks. It's sweet sounds and sweeter words about the joy of living, loving and being. Julie (Come Out Of The Rain) is a romantic musing on the beginning of a relationship. It's Good To Have You is about living with the love of your life and forgetting all else. Start A Family is a pretty shuffle about, you guessed it, starting a family. What Rouse has done is make an album about all that grown up stuff and each song celebrates the joy of it all. This is a theme far removed from the lost, lonely, uncertain alcoholics and depressed people of his 1972 or Nashville LPs.  

6. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

This album was obviously massive this year and, in terms of global popularity, will probably make number 1 on a lot of lists. It is an enjoyable listen, particularly for those of us who still dig funky disco riffs. I personally don't feel it lives up to the critical acclaim it received  simply because it's just a nice bit of fun nostalgia and nothing at all new is going on here. No denying that it is a great listen though and deserves recognition for blowing up so large. Give Life Back To Music is a funky riff filled celebration. The massive hit Get Lucky is Nile Rodgers at his disco best with a groove and tons of repetition. Lose Yourself To Dance features Pharrell Williams' falsetto over the disco-est break since 1978.  

5. Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt

I've been waiting for a post No Code release from Pearl Jam to really grab me and none of them have. Lightning Bolt is the first release since the 90s that has made me consider myself a Pearl Jam fan. As soon as the opening track Getaway kicked in, PJ had my attention. Mind Your Manners kicked it up another notch again. It's got an energy that wouldn't be out of place on Vs, as does much of the album. Yet they're not afraid to end it with a slower, more contemplative track, Future Days. I hope Pearl Jam can keep this kind of quality coming for many years yet.

4. David Bowie - The Next Day

I have to admit that I didn't expect another album from David Bowie this year, let alone one so good. Another set of songs from an old timer which have a hardened edge (with a world-weary energy) - I'm looking at you Stooges and Pearl Jam. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) is a definite highlight and would have been so even without the brilliantly creepy film clip starring Bowie and Tilda Swinton (quite fittingly "stars" out and about in the suburbs). The Next Day is loud and cranky like much of the album. The softer Where Are We Now? sounds like a mash-up of old and new Bowie tracks. I was highly surprised by the depth of this album. Obviously taking so long to get it out was worth it.  

3. She & Him - Volume Three

There is something old world about She & Him. The good old world of class and sophistication and manners, not the bad old world of institutionalised racism, sexism and homophobia. Volume Three is probably the best of the Volumes so far. It's better because Deschanel and M. Ward's songwriting is evolving, maturing even; with more substance to the catchy 50s pop tunes. Never Wanted Your Love is a smart and wry attack on the cult of celebrity and the ever present tall poppy syndrome - something I think Deschanel knows all too well. I've Got Your Number Son is a bouncy warning not to try any bullshit on the narrator. Somebody Sweet To Talk To is a pretty little gem which is like whispered proclamations with a swinging chorus. The cover of Blondie's Sunday Girl is some great icing on a fantastic cake. 

2. Charles Bradley - Victim Of Love

The first time I heard Strictly Reserved For You, I was blown away. Blown away by the authentic soul of the song and by Charles Bradley's voice. I went right out and got all the Bradley I could - which turned out to be two albums and a documentary. Charles Bradley was a James Brown impersonator who was virtually homeless until the release of his solo debut in 2011. This year's release Victim Of Love contains the aforementioned Strictly Reserved For You, the pleading Victim Of Love, the very funky Hurricane and the instrumental Dusty Blue featuring members of the Dap Kings. The whole LP is right at home at Daptone Records who have a host of other Funk and Soul acts such as Sharon Jones, the Menahan Street Band and The Sugarman 3. This is music for what ails you.

1. Jason Isbell - Southeastern

Southeastern could have made my number 1 spot on the strength of Elephant alone. That track is the most raw and immediate window into the final stages of terminal illness that I have ever heard sung to a guitar. Every other song on the album is just as honest and real. Jason Isbell is becoming one of the great all-time songwriters in a genre known for songs that aren't throwaway. Songs That She Sang In the Shower tells the tale of lost love and the way that music becomes inextricably entwined with people and situations. Relatively Easy is a cautionary tale about being grateful for our first world privilege. New South Wales takes a stab at the kind of things travelling musicians hate on the road (the price of cocaine and the bad tequila) in the Australian state, but pays homage to the landscape as the best place ever to 'sit and think'. Every song is a story of pure poetry and Jason Isbell's finest hour in a career full of fantastic songs from Outfit to Cigarettes and Wine.

Filling out my Top 20 were:

• Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight,
  The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
• Paul McCartney - New 
• Beach Fossils - Clash The Truth 
• Local Natives - Hummingbird
• Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
• Nick Cave - Push the Sky Away
• Elvis Costello & The Roots  Wise Up Ghosts
• Justin Rutledge - Valleyheart
• Telekinesis - Dormarion
• Mavis Staples - One True Vine

2013 Mixtape Track List  

Charles Bradley - Strictly Reserved For You
Josh Rouse - A Lot Like Magic

Pearl Jam - Mind Your Manners
Iggy & the Stooges - Job
David Bowie - The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
The National - Pink Rabbits
Daft Punk - Give Life Back To Music
Camera Obscura - I Missed Your Party
She & Him - I've Got Your Number Son
Jason Isbell - New South Wales

Get the Mixtape

Buon Natale. ¡Feliz Navidad. Frohe Weihnachten. С Рождеством. Merīkurisumasu. Maligayang Pasko. Joyeux Noël, Vrolijk kerstfeest

Be excellent to each other on the holidays. As always and forever: hasala malakim brothers and sisters. 

Playlist : November 7th - 11th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well the week is over again and guess what your boy did? Only put $20 at 35 to 1 on the horse that came SECOND in the Melbourne Cup by the smallest margin in Cup history. Mugs. Game.

For the next week at work I'll be listening to a mix of old favourites from Josh Rouse, Wilco and Pink Floyd, some new tunes from Deer Tick and Veronica Falls and a few compilations; one being an 80s compilation I recently found on vinyl, another an Achtung Baby tribute and the third a brilliant old skool mixtape from Brooklyn Radio.

Check it out:

• Deer Tick - Divine Providence
• VA - Ahk-Toong Bay-BI Covered
• Josh Rouse - Subtitulo
• Wilco - Being There
• VA - Rocktrip '82
• The Three Sounds - Vibrations
• People Under the Stairs - Highlighter
• Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
• Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
• VA - Rubradio 1986 Mixtape

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bob Dylan
   
2. Funkoars
3. Nightmares On Wax
4. Kool & The Gang
5. The Breeders

Song of the Week : Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling

I don’t know anything about Veronica Falls. I don’t know if that’s the solo artist’s name or a band. This song Bad Feeling was on the Spin Magazine playlist for November. You can still pick it up for free with a US iTunes account from http://www.spin.com/itunes What I do know is there is something I like about the track and the sound.

It calls up some early 80s UK post punk in a way, mixed with the indie pop that came later in the 80s. It’s a little bit Smiths, a little bit Joy Division. It’s a swirling wall of reverb and a steady hammered drum beat with female vocals. See what you think.

Farewell

Farewell sounds so final and morbid, doesn't it? I wonder why? At any rate, it's not farewell for good, just for now. I'll be back here next week listing out my listening for the 3 of you who are reading (Hiya!).

Until then, be excellent to each other, don't sweat the small stuff and all the rest of those snappy little clichés that you read and then roll your eyes at. Really, just do what you do with respect for others.

Hasala malakim.

Playlist - February 7th - 11th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes. What's shaking cats?

This week I've got some classic rock, a little bit of a sunshiney beach set, an alt-country favourite and a mix of songs Spin thinks were great from 2010. I've also made a mixtape of obscure old school tunes inspired by Nas.

Here's what it all looks like:

• Bright Eyes - The People's Key : I heard this latest Bright Eyes release last week via NPR. Their review of the set said it was the greatest Bright Eyes album ever. On first listen, I would have to disagree and say that I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is still the best. I thought I would give this one another listen to see if it grows on me.

• The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed : After blipping the great, rollicking track Song For Keith by Ryan Adams (who hung out and got drunk with Richards himself when they were at the same recording studio), I decided I was going to buy some Stones on vinyl. Nothing after 1979 or before 1967 though. This is from 1969 and includes the well-known Stones tracks Honky Tonk Woman and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

• VA - Spin Best of 2010 : I have a subscription to Spin magazine and Rolling Stone via Zinio on my iPad. The coolest thing about music magazines has always been the free CDs. A bit hard when you get a digital copy right? Wrong! Spin included a download code for redemption on the US iTunes store to get a bunch of tracks they considered the best of 2010. And here they are. I'm pleased with the inclusion of Boyfriend by Best Coast after their album Crazy For You was among my favourites all year.

• Josh Rouse - El Turista : After growing up on the coast all my life, I have only really now discovered a love of the beach. That might have something to do with taking my girls for a swim rather than chasing seals and going squid-jigging in rock pools around Point Peron, or walking across to Penguin Island on the Safety Bay sandbank as was the usual go when I was young. Either way, we've been going to the beach for a swim every morning on the weekends and I'm loving it. This album is a set of Spanish language/themed songs that sound like a beach in Spain.

• Ryan Adams - Gold : It's been some time since I listened to this album. It remains one of my very favourites. I am looking to get some vinyl by Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown soon and this is high on the wish list. I like the set for the quietly emotional La Cienega Just Smiled and the love letter to NYC in New York, New York. By now everyone knows that the film clip for that song is just Ryan Adams playing guitar by the river with the Twin Towers in the background and was filmed on September 7th, 2001.

• REM - Eponymous : For years I only had a cassette version of this LP that I got from Record Finder in Fremantle during a phase I went through of wanting everything REM had ever done pre-Monster. Now I have purchased the CD and this is it. Eponymous is the first Greatest Hits album for REM and was released by IRS Records in 1988 just before the band signed to Warner Brothers for Green. There are rare and previously unreleased tracks on here which make it well worth owning if you're a fan.

• Missy Elliott - This Is Not A Test : Missy Elliott tricked me, damn it. I emerged from a haze of grunge followed by a massive folk stage to rediscover rap. What was around when I emerged, besides The Marshall Mathers LP was Missy's brilliantly funky Pass That Dutch. That made me check this album out and through it get turned onto Jay-Z via the conscious and hard Wake Up. I also found Let It Bump to be deliriously groovy. So of course I went and got Missy's backlog expecting more of the same great tracks... Tricked me big time. Fake R&B bulltish. Still love this one though.

• Mixtape - Where Are They Now? : Hearing the news that Kool Herc was desperately ill and couldn't afford to pay his doctors bills, and also listening to Nas’ Where Are The Now? got me thinking about some of the old school heroes who dropped off the radar long ago. Nas’ great track says: Rap is like a ghost town, real mystic / Like these folks never existed / They the reason that rap became addictive / Play their CD or wax and get lifted. So that’s what I’m doing. I’ve made a mixtape of some of the artists Nas mentions and some he doesn't, and I've put the Nas track on the front. There are some rare and classic tracks here, and you can grab them yourself from the title link above. A full track list is included in the zip file, but some highlights include Biz Markie, The Skinny Boys, Spoonie Gee, the 12" version of Young MC's Principal's Office and C.I.A. who were the first group to feature Dr Dre and Ice Cube.

• Paul Kelly - The A - Z Recordings (Disc Four) : Compared with the first two discs from this eight disc box, I found disc three last week a let down. Not because the tracks weren't great, but because the one or two songs I didn't already know didn't amaze me. Still, the familiar songs are all fantastic, so who am I to whine. With songs as great as I Can't Believe We Were Married and Leaps and Bounds, I'm sure Disc Four will wipe that smug smirk right off my hating face :)

• Bob Dylan - Masterpieces : Last week I realised that in 1997, while I had a record player that needed a belt, I bought a Bob Dylan compilation on vinyl. I had never played it until just the other day. I was so impressed with 1997 coreyj, that I need to buy him a beer. This is the 3 Disc Masterpieces I bought on CD that first got me into his Bobness. From this set of classic Dylan, I obsessed over everything pre-Slow Train Coming and most things post. If you're a casual fan of the man - get this now.
  

Until next week, don't get hung up; stay cool.

Respect and best hopes to the people of Egypt. I wish for you the fair and democratic society you're fighting for and so richly deserve.

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr

Playlist : Top 10 Albums of 2010

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This week, I have chosen my Top 10 of 2010. This list is not necessarily of the 10 best albums released all year, it's just my personal favourites released all year. I also have to stress, this is not in any kind of preferential order. If I had to pick the best album of 2010 from a personal point of view, I'd say Wake Up! is it.

On top of the list, I've made a mixtape of one track from each of the albums. You'll find a link at the bottom of the post.

This year for me has been a good year for discovering new artists, thanks largely to NPR and KCRW and their excellent album preview features. A few of these new artists made it to the list. And here it is:

• The Weepies - Be My Thrill : Two years on from the album that got them some well deserved mainstream attention, Hideaway, The Weepies released something a little less weepy and a lot more cheery. While Be My Thrill contains a few sad, sweet tunes, the title track and the catchy I Was Made for Sunny Days are a large slice of sunshine. ****

• John Legend & the Roots - Wake Up! : When I heard Compared To What from this set for the first time, my jaw dropped. I was stunned that so much old-fashioned funk and soul was coming off a track from an album released in 2010. The other tracks on Wake Up! are in the same mold. This is probably my album of the year. *****

• Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue : I must admit I've never read a Nick Hornby novel, but I have seen the excellent film adaptions of High Fidelity and About A Boy. It's obvious that Hornby writes good everyday type people well. Combined with Ben Folds' uniquely suburban heart and pop sensibilities, this colaborative effort makes for good listening. ****

• Best Coast - Crazy For You : Released in July, which is Winter in the Southern Hemisphere where I am, this album sounds exactly like Summer. You can almost smell the coconut oil and the sea breeze mixed with the smoke from the late night bonfire at the beach party where romances are born and hearts are broken. This is joyfully rowdy pop music for the Sun. ****

• Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise : The fourth album from raspy-voiced country/folk songwriter Ray LaMontagne was the very first one I heard. The bluesy, sweet melody of New York City's Killing me had me instantly sold on LaMontagne's style; and the rest of old-time roots record does not disappoint. ****

• Aloe Blacc - Good Things : It was I Need a Dollar that made me want this album. Like Compared To What on the John Legend and the Rootrs LP, Dollar stunned me with true 60s/70s soul and the groove behind it that really makes it bounce. 2010 saw soul music fans like me given a little taste of what was still possible with the genre. ****

• Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues : Another artist who has been around for some time whom I only discovered this year. Harlem River Blues is a collection of tunes that lend a little from everywhere; including rockabilly, bluegrass, folk, alt-country, blues and rock. It's a well-rounded album with the standout title track, One More Night in Brooklyn and the heartbroken Rogers Park. *****

• The National - High Violet : For me at least, and for a good number of music publications, 2010 was The National's year. The massive success of 2008's Boxer and a busy touring schedule meant High Violet was much anticipated. Things got even more hyped with the release of a new The National track on the $1m raising charity compilation Dark Was the Night. Something of a hit single relatively speaking, Bloodbuzz Ohio ensured High Violet got to #3 on the US charts where Boxer had peaked at #68. *****

• Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here : Released early February of this year, I'm New Here ended a 13 year absence of new material from the man some would call a proto-rapper. This is an album about redemption, about finding a way through a new and not always welcoming world. After a long life of drug problems, incarceration and hard living, Heron seems to be contemplating what lies ahead and how it all ends. Here is music from the very soul of a man with a lot of soul. *****

• She & Him - Volume Two : The very digable Zooey Deschanaul and indie songwriter M.Ward released a collection of simple pop that sounded like the 50s run through a Doris Day film filter in 2009. That was Volume One and this is Volume Two, which is more of the same. Deschanaul wrote the lyrics and her voice is well suited to the pop from another age. There were stronger tracks on Volume One, but this is by no means inferior. ****

So those are my very favourite albums from this year. Please, feel free to comment this post and tell me where you think I got it right and where you disagree totally. I'd love suggestions for better albums to listen to that I haven't caught yet.

In the meantime, here is the mixtape I promised you, made up of a track each from my Top 10. You can get hold of it here. Tracklist is as follows:

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

John Legend & the Roots - Compared To What

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar

The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Claire's Ninth

Best Coast - Bratty B

The Weepies - Be My Thrill

Justin Townes Earle - One More Night In Brooklyn

She & Him - Thieves

Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs - New York City's Killing Me

That's it for this week. I'm officially on holidays from Christmas Eve, so no Work Tunes for the next fortnight. You may find a review or two over at Make Films Not Movies.

Take care and have an outstanding break, you crazy cats. Peace man, right on.