Platinum Radio Wax Renaissance (August 19th - 23rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's late Saturday night and I am just sitting down to write. It's been another long day. I got all negative test results today, so that's positive... ha ha. The doctor asked me today if I had any compulsive behaviours; alcohol, food, biting my nails etc. I told him about the only thing I was addicted to was making playlists on my iPod. And here's another one for you.

Because I dug on In The Street for SOTW last week, there's Big Star. I've been meaning to play some Stevie Wonder, so one of his best is here. Kiss add another 70s dose to my list, Bob Dylan reps the 60s and Hank Williams takes us back into the 50s. For relatively new stuff there's the soulful R&B of Valerie June and something else from Joshua Radin. My weekly serve of Hip Hop comes from 50 Cent and Q-Tip. Last of all I have the soundtrack from one of my favourite films, Waking Life, which is a sort of classical requiem for a dream.

Check it out:

• Big Star - Radio City
• Hank Williams - Best Of Hank Williams
• Bob Dylan - Biograph (Disc 3)
• VA - Waking Life OST
• Joshua Radin - Wax WIngs
• Kiss - Double Platinum
• Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
• Q-Tip - The Renaissance
• 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
• Valerie June – Pushin’ Against A Stone

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Orgone
2. Bob Dylan
3. Prince
4. The Handsome Family
5. Blind Pilot

Song of the Week : Big Star - In The Street

My song this week comes from the soundtrack to a documentary about Big Star. You’ll be familiar with the song if you ever watched an episode of That 70s Show; they use it in a modified version for their theme song. 

In The Street is rock song about bored kids. It has that feel of bored, lost and nihilist teens. That’s an odd thing, given its from 1972 and (in Australia at least) the post-60s hangover was still around. I don’t tend to equate slacking with the 60s kids, who seem over earnest and naïve as opposed to cynical and bored – if the way Hollywood portrays them is to be believed. The attitude on show in In the Street seems like it belongs a good 5 years later in ’77 with the punks. It’s a feeling I knew as a teen in the 80s, a uni student in the 90s and sometimes a cynical old man in the Two-Tens! 

Musically, there is a lovely bit of cow bell in there to go with a few killer guitar licks and a whole lot of noise. Alex Chilton sings in a whine like a brat and it all makes sense. I think it was gold that the used it for That 70s Show, but I noticed they changed the line about the joint to “We’re All Alright!” Much like the show tiptoes around its drug use. 

I chose the documentary mix just so you’d get a different version of it. The difference seems to just be in the polish. I can imagine this mix would sound better in a theatre than the original because the original is a bit more abrasive in the high end. 

Goodnight

It's time for me to watch the latest Futurama and then go to bed with Brett Easton Ellis. Fun times planned tomorrow. A fuse blew in our FM transmitter though, so I may be forced to make a mix CD for the car tomorrow. It's like living in a developing nation in a way. 

Hasala malakim.

Revolutionary Spanish Destruction Rocks

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Happy Straya Day. If you're out and about celebrating, by all means be thankful you had the good fortune to be born into a beautiful natural landscape with a whole heap of privileges you can take for granted, but don't be a dick about it hey? Don't forget that the actual date represents an invasion of one nation over another and the subsequent oppression of the traditional owners. Owners who didn't even have a right to be counted in a census until as late as 1967. Maybe have a sensible discussion about moving it to the date on which we acknowledged the humanity of the people who lived and loved this land for over 40,000 years - the 27th of May; when we became one Australia and not when we were invaded by Britain. 

And so to the music. First up, I guess I know what it says about my state of mind at the minute, I have some hardcore stick-it-to-the-man music from Gil Scott Heron and a revolutionary jazz compilation. Both of those are multiple disc sets, so they'll be back next week. To fill the 'old favourites' spots, I have Ray LaMontagne, Tori Amos and Jesse Malin. Representing Hip Hop you'll find Q-Tip and Pharoahe Monch. Another compilation from Uncut, this time all new music, plus She's Spanish, I'm American thanks to last week's SOTW leaves only a new release from California X. 

Check it out:

• Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Begins (Disc 1)
• VA - Freedom Rhythm & Sound Revolutionary Jazz 1963-82 (Disc 1)
• Ray LaMontagne - God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise
• Q-Tip - Amplified
• Jesse Malin - The Fine Art of Self Destruction
• Pharoahe Monch - W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)
• Tori Amos - Boys For Pele
• California X - California X
• VA - Uncut Rocks Off
  
• She's Spanish, I'm American - She's Spanish I'm American EP

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Hilltop Hoods
2. Bruce Hornsby
3. The Autumn Defense
4. Datarock
5. JEFF the Brotherhood

Song of the Week : The Jam - Pretty Green

I am going with a The Jam song today. I had Sound Affects on this week's list and at the same time watched a two part BBC thing on Growing Up Poor. This song Pretty Green seems like it was made for a documentary like that - with talk about money and power and music and the whole English accent thing. 

I've never closely followed the catalogue of The Jam, beyond the odd track on a compilation, plus That's Entertainment has always been a favourite. But the Mojo book I was reading recently really talked up this album, so I thought it was worth a shot. It was.

Catch Ya Later, Mate

Have a great day wherever you are, but especially here in Australia. Just don't use it as an excuse to wave a flag at people who don't look like you, or believe in the same God as you. Use it as a day to be 'Australian' which is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and hopefully forward thinking. We used to be the 'clever country', remember?

Hoo roo. 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 August 8th - 12th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

In this week's list, I have a repeat performance from two bands I really enjoyed last week - The Donnas and Elbow. I threw in some classic Prince because a borrowed Weather Report LP had me feeling funky. I also threw in that Weather Report LP. The most recent episode of True Blood featured a great track from Neko Case, so it made me add that album too. The No Boundaries compilation was picked up in an Op Shop for $1, pretty sweet huh? And there's other stuff too. Check it out.

• VA - No Boundaries: A Benefit For The Kosovar Refugees
• Weather Report - Black Market
• Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
• The Donnas - Bitchin'
• Q Tip - The Renaissance
• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
• Prince - Prince
• Neko Case - Blacklisted
• Jay Farrar - Sebastapol
• Sound Providers - An Evening With The Sound Providers

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Civil Wars
2. The Donnas
3. Eminem
4. Grateful Dead
5. Elbow

Song of the Week : Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

This week’s song I almost had to post the YouTube to, because I didn’t have it, but then I realised I’d emailed it to someone and booya! Sent folder baby. That being said, the clip is really cool, so you might want to watch it anyway : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY

This is the newest song from Gotye. I don’t know much about him, I only have Like Drawing Blood and wouldn’t call myself a proper fan. But this track in duet with Kimbra is amazing. Not just for the terrific film clip but for the good old-fashioned melody and rock-ballad-esque intensity. Something about it puts me in mind of 70s Sherbert or Peter Gabriel. Listen when he sings “you didn’t have to stoop so low” or “I guess that I don't need that though”, its very Gabriel. Looking forward to hearing the album. The YouTube clip says its Making Mirrors and out on August 19.

До свидания

That's it for another week. My the time does fly. Thanks for stopping by. This weekend I'll be celebrating Miss 4's graduation to Miss 5 with the adding of sizzle to sausages and trying not to freak out about how fast it has all gone o_O

Asalaam alikum brothers and sisters.