Hurry Sing Trouble Pilgrim (June 10th - 14th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

I'm just back from the Program Launch of the 2013 Perth Revelation Film Festival after checking out The Deep. Quite an enjoyable film, shot tremendously well. Check it out if you like Icelandic films based on the true life events of a fishing boat tragedy at sea. I think I'd have structured it differently; but what would I know? I'll just get on with the music, shall I?
  
Again this week I've got a couple of artists I've never heard before in Laura Mvula and City and Colour. The other new album this time around is from The National. There's some old, old releases from Pixies and Sonic Youth, as well as a late career release from Concrete Blonde.Two compilations will be on rotation, a Tour Of Duty soundtrack and one of my favourites from KCRW, Rare On Air. Repping Hip Hop for the week, there's two legends in Mos Def (now Yasim Bey) and Brother Ali. 

Check it out:

• Laura Mvula – Sing To The Moon
• Concrete Blonde - Mexican Moon
• VA - The Best of Tour of Duty
• Mos Def - The New Danger
• Brother Ali - The Truth Is Here
• Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
• Sonic Youth - Sonic Youth
• City and Colour - The Hurry and the Harm
• VA - KCRW: Rare On Air Vol. 1
• The National - Trouble Will Find Me

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Boards of Canada
2. The Church
3. Pink Floyd
4. Blondie
5. Bob Evans

Song of the Week : J Geils Band - Freeze Frame

My song this week is just a bit of fun that was conjured up by my roller skating trip on Sunday. As a bit of background, from the time I was about 9 to the time I was 14 and got serious about skateboarding, I was a roller skater. I took actual lessons in figure skating when I was about 11 - 12 down at Kwinana’s then number 1 teen hang out – Astroskate. After each lesson at Astroskate, there’d be a free skate session on a Saturday afternoon. When I’d moved into speedskating, Sunday at 2pm was the session to be at (where a young lad could meet and snowball with lots of likely lasses).

Throughout my time as a roller skater, a few songs were absolute mainstays to certain parts of the session – such as J Geils Band – Freeze Frame  and The Angels – Take a Long Line for speed skate. Imagine my surprise down in Cockburn on Sunday when this song from the was the song of choice for the speed skate session. I know that roller skating is kind of the sport that time forgot, but I was really surprised that the people who control the music were playing Beiber and Psy and all that garbage but still holding onto their staples (Ne Order – Blue Monday in particular).

The only other song by J Geils Band that I know is Centrefold and that got flogged to death at Astroskate too. I’m not sure what this one is really about, other than a model(?!) but I never considered it either while whizzing around the blue concrete wearing my Adidas footy boots with shiny blue trucks and some wheels that were the business back then but who’s name I can’t even recall now. Enjoy!

Ciao 

That's it for this week. If you're a movie person, run on over to the Revelation site and check out the program. Even if you're a music person, there's a bunch of great music docs playing this year; including the Big Star documentary and the one on the late Oz Hip Hop legend, Hunter.

Hasala malakim.

Vanishing Feedback Farm Magazine (April 29th - May 3rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

You might have noticed (though probably not) that there was no Work Tunes last week. That's because I didn't take any music to work as ANZAC Day and a day of annual leave left me with just three days. So instead i streamed all the First Listens on NPR and a played a couple of 8Tracks mixes and shuffled my iPhone. With the extra time off, you'd think I'd had plenty of chance to collate a carefully calculated playlist. You'd be wrong; but nice try. None-the-less, I'm happy with what I've chosen. 

To set my Jazz Funk senses tingling, I've grabbed Herbie Hancock's classic Headhunters. To compliment it nicely, I've chosen two fairly jazzy Hip Hop albums from Jurassic 5 and Mos Def. Always mindful of not neglecting to slow it down, I've got some Justin Townes Earle and A.A. Bondy for a twang fix. Can't slow it down for too long though, so I have two new albums from alt-rock legends Mudhoney and Meat Puppets. With my recent subscription to Paste Magazine comes a 7 track sampler of new music per week; and I have the first two weeks worth here. The other compilation is Songs in the Key of X, which is music from and inspired by The X Files. Lastly, a soundtrack of sorts from John Lennon, with the music from the documentary Imagine. 

Check it out:

• Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies
• Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
• VA - Songs in the Key of X
• John Lennon - Imagine OST
• A.A. Bondy - When The Devil's Loose
• VA - Paste Magazine April Pt. 1
• Mudhoney - Vanishing Point
• Meat Puppets - Rat Farm
• Jurassic 5 - Feedback
• Mos Def - The Ecstatic

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Best Coast
2. A Tribe Called Quest
3. Patti Smith
4. Josh Rouse
5. Bruce Springsteen

Song of the Week : Charles Bradley - Strictly Reserved For You

I have some Soul for your soul. The April NPR sampler had a track from Charles Bradley who I’ve heard before playing with The Menahan Street Band. You know what a sucker I am for Soul music; and to get something that sounds this classic being released in 2013 is blowing my mind.

Bradley’s voice on Strictly Reserved For You is somewhere between James Brown and Otis Redding. The big horns and the crooning backup vocals are like the JBs playing with The Temptations. Did I die and go to 60s Soul heaven? I don’t know anymore. But there is no bad mood that doesn’t disappear when I play tracks like this. 

They don’t write ‘em like they used to – or DO THEY?! See for yourself.

Peace Out

There will be another week off at Work Tunes after this week, when I am on annual leave to take care of Mrs Corey J while she recovers from surgery (in my head I just heard Homer's critique of Ned Flanders' chilli in my favourite Simpsons episode - "a bland, timid entry, suitable perhaps for patients recovering from surgery"). I'll be back the week after though, with the second part of the Paste sampler and a bunch of other albums I haven't selected yet.

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 : June 7th - 10th, 2011

Welcome to a long weekend. It's Labour Day in Western Australia - whatever that means. Seems like we're having a day off to celebrate work. Very Australian.

So it's a short week, but I've got a bunch of songs anyway. I had a blast listening to a 1980s compilation the other day and it reminded me of another, so that's here. I also have the new one from The Vines and the first one from my band of the moment, Dolorean.

And the soundtrack to my next working week looks like this:

• Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
• VA - 20 Years of Lollapalooza
• Dolorean - Sudden Oak
• The Herd - Summerland
• Sarah Nixey - Brave Tin Soldiers
• VA - '85 Heaps Of Hits
• The Vines - Future Primitive
• Mos Def - Mos Definite
• Curtis Mayfield - Give, Get, Take and Have

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. U2
2. Morrissey
3. Eminem
4. R.E.M.
5. Black Box Recorder

Song of the Week : Chaka Khan - I Feel For You

On the weekend, late at night and three Stellas down, I decided to write another post for my Hip Hop blog. It was 1985 Comes Alive. I wrote it from start to end without any planning or re-editing beyond spelling. And things came out that I had forgotten about.

Besides the personal stuff, I remembered how much I had played, scratched, danced to and played again Chaka Khan - I Feel For You. I had the Heaps Of Hits double LP and we were living in the flat in Orelia. One of my uncles, who would have been early 20s then, had given my Mum his stereo and bought himself a new (awesome!) Mirantz kit. The one he gave us was the only thing we had for entertainment for a while until we scored a B&W TV. It was one of those all-in-one things that had a huge speaker at the side and a lid on top that you lifted to get at the turntable. Not ideal for DJ magic, but I scratched Melle Mel’s voice up like (I thought) a demon. Also scratched that record up. I still have it and its hysterical to see all the perfect condition tracks around it and a scratch on that one. I think I barely played anything else on the record.

So here is that track, unscratched, for you. When you play it, picture a 13 year old, still light blonde Corey J poppin’ and lockin’ in a dingey Homeswest flat on the second floor of Hell Block C.

Adios

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Perth like me, you're going to want to have a great long weekend, so please do. Until next week, asalaam alikum.