Written Anti Eagle Pistols (August 5th - 9th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's another glorious "Winter" Saturday in Perth today and I've so far been stuck at a doctor's surgery, at shopping and soon at an indoor swimming pool. There's not much chance of making the most of today's sunshine, so tomorrow had better be just as nice - and what do you know, it is forecast to be. There are some positives about this city, it can't be denied. 

So what have I got for my listening pleasure next week? It was so good to hear the My Girl soundtrack last week, that I've got The Big Chill this time. Another compilation comes from Noisetrade and Anti Records. Some neglected albums again make the list; namely the first of 3 discs from Dylan's Biograph, the Sex Pistols' one and only Bollocks and Californication from the Chili Peppers. Sliding in nicely next to the Soul of The Big Chill is the first Charles Bradley album, because last week's listen of Victim Of Love just wasn't enough. I'm checking out Laura Marling after Rolling Stone called her the new Joni Mitchell; and Tori Amos' bonus LP from the Under The Pink tour should compliment Marling nicely. For my Rap fix, there's Nas. Lastly, I've included the new Ben Lee album, which I actually donated to Kickstart for. It's a weird kind of ambient thing and I wanted to give it another chance; because frankly it creeped me out the first time.  

Check it out:

• Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks... Here's The Sex Pistols
• Bob Dylan - Biograph (Disc 1)
• Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
• VA - Noisetrade: Anti Records Summer Sampler
• Charles Bradley - No Time For Dreaming
• VA - Big Chill OST
• Ben Lee - Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work
• Tori Amos - More Pink
• Nas - It Was Written

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Nirvana
2. Orgone
3. Mazzy Star
4. Pearl Jam
5. R.E.M.

Song of the Week : Orgone - Strike (feat. Niki Crawfod)

This week has been hard to pick a SOTW because I’ve been a bit down due to being sick and sore. And when I get like that, I tend to cling to tunes I know and love that make me feel good. Which is all well and good, but doesn't make for an interesting SOTW. So I am deliberately choosing a new song (even if it sounds old). 

A little while ago I found a band called Orgone. They are a funk and r&b band who do a lot of instrumentals. The first album I heard from them, Fuzzed Up, sounds like the soundtrack to a Troy McLure 70s car chase film! Recently they released a new album called New You.  This time it’s not all instrumentals. There’s a bunch of guest female singers. What that sounds like added to 70s car chase music is a 70s Blaxploitation disco action flick. Something like Car Wash or Superfly TNT or Fioxy Brown. 

This song is Strike (feat. Niki Crawford) and it is jam packed with funky horns and a badassssss bassline for some wah wah to play around on. Ms Crawford sounds like Beyonce took lessons from Anita Baker and Mavis Staples. I can see this being the montage song from a film about workers who take over a factory in protest at conditions in 1970s Detroit. I hope you dig it, brothers and sisters.

Ciao
Well it's time for swimming soon and then I've got to race back to watch what might be the last West Coast win for Season 2013. I say we forget this year happened at all and next year the Eagles who turned up in 2011 and most of 2012 can get on the park again. Sound good? Cool. 

Hasala malakim.

Twisted Suburban Detroit Skin (August 27th - 31st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

A stock standard busy-as-you-like week at work this week. I got some projects finished, had some finished product delivered and started a couple of new ones. Plus, I'm beginning a restructure of the whole company website, so that is going to be a ton of writing and 'html-ing'. Really looking forward to seeing the fruits of that project up and running. In the meantime, I'll be working away with a bunch of albums on the go.

To start with, there's two soundtracks - one from the Sex Pistiols film and the other from a great rock/road film about Kiss fans. Speaking of rock, I've grabbed a little Sabbath compilation for some good old-fashioned vitamin RAWK. To calm things down, and for the first time in a while, I have Nizlopi and Bob Evans; I've added Celebrity Skin because I watched Hit So Hard last week. There's the self-titled Pretty & Twisted LP from Concrete Blonde's leading lady Johnette Napolitano; I've got some LA rap from Ice-T and some from Melbourne rhymes via Pegz. Topping it all off is some more downtempo beats from SineRider after I enjoyed LEURE last week.

Check it out:

• VA - Detroit Rock City
• Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll
• Bob Evans - Suburban Kid
• Sex Pistols - The Great Rock n Roll Swindle
• Nizlopi - Half These Songs Are About You
• Ice-T - VI Return of the Real
• Pegz - Axis
• Hole - Celebrity Skin
• Pretty & Twisted - Pretty & Twisted
• SineRider - The Watching Channel

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Billy Bragg
2. Ryan Adams
3. The Bamboos
4. The National
5. The Vaccines

Song of the Week : The Vaccines - Teenage Icon

I'm going with Teenage Icon by The Vaccines because of it's uber catchy chorus. I could have taken any track off of The Bamboos because I have really enjoyed it, but since J gave us one last week, I pick this. 

I don't know much about The Vaccines. They only seem a couple of years old and this is their second lp I think. Besides the catchy chorus, this track has that pop punk sound that was popular late 90s, early 2000s with bands like Living End.

See what you think.

Hooroo

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something you might want to listen to. If you check out The Vaccines song from last week, don't say you weren't warned about the catchy chorus. I'm still singing it.

I was going to go to the boat harbour in Hillarys this weekend for some lunch in the sun, but I found out City To Surf is on and there's a heap of road closures. So instead I'll probably stay local and head down to the wharf in Fremantle like I should have in the first place (6.5kms vs 39kms). Still, a change is as good as a holiday and all that. We'll see. 

Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Playlist July 12th - 16th, 2010

Exciting week ahead for me. Apart from taking Miss 3 to her first film on Friday, the Perth Revelation Film Festival began in earnest this week with the Chris Rock narrated documentary Good Hair. I'm armed with a mini-pass of 6 tickets over the course of the festival which runs until Sunday July 18th. I'm hoping to review each film I see over at Make Films Not Movies.

But for now, there's the music. A little heavy on the twang this week. Must be the cold.

• Wilco - A.M. : It's no secret I'm a Wilco fan from way back. My Wilco fix usually comes in the form of Being There or Summerteeth. AM has some great tracks on it too. Passenger Side is not only good, it's funny. It's Just That Simple features Jay Farrar on vocals and is another stand out.

• AM - Soul Variations : Yes Wilco AM made me think of Am the band. This is another often overlooked album I have. AM are nicely alt country with a generous slice of indie pop.
  

• Beth Orton - Trailer Park : This is the album that introduced me to Beth Orton. Sadly, it's been missing from my iPod ever since I had to restore it. I've only just gotten to the T titled albums because I've been spending the time to get everything tagged, rated and art worked properly before putting it back on. Beth is a 'tall drink of water' with a sweet knowing voice.

• Randy Newman - Harps & Angels : Earlier last week, a song from this album came up on shuffle. I was floored by how good it was and I realized I obviously hadn't listened to the album properly. The track was so good, in fact, I'd like to use it to make a video postcard for my wife. Shhhh don't tell her...

• Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted : My favourite Pavement cut is probably Wowee Zowee. But get this, I heard such a great story about this one that I had to hear it. This guy right, he has his car broken into and the jerks who did it got away with nothing except the CD case to this album. This just happened to be an absolute favourite of his lovely wife, who treasured the album; its liner notes and artwork included. SO this guy, he takes a long lunch break, goes into the city and buys Slanted & Enchanted from Da Das... on Vinyl! That's when liner notes and artwork really meant something. Two really fantastic people and one pretty decent band.

• Freddie Hubbard - A Soul Experiment : Bebop trumpeter Freddie Hubbard has played with everyone from Coltrane to Herbie Hancock and has lead several bands himself. This funky late 60s vinyl rip is a recommendation from a Jazz blog I follow; and who am I to argue?

• Sex Pistols - The Spunk & Spedding Demos : I picked up a special edition of Nevermind the Bollocks... last weekend and it was packaged with a bonus disc of demos. I've put just the bonus on my playlist because I played Bollocks a few weeks back.

• Wax Audio - WMD and Other Distractions / Mediacracy : These two mashup discs contain sound bytes from the War on Terror and the shameful Tampa episode of Australia's political history set to some tight electronic beats. If you haven't heard George Bush Jnr. singing Imagine, or Allan Jones swearing like a wharfie with a broken toe, you need to check this out.

• Prince - Musicology : After declaring the Internet was 'dead', Prince has suddenly popped up into the public psyche again not long before a new LP release. He might be strange, but he's not stupid. Besides, when Prince says the Internet is dead, what he really means is 'I'm too freakin' cool for the Internet'. Regardless what stupid comments he makes, this man is a funk god. Listen to Musicology and get a lesson - coz he's bloody Prince and you're not. Alright?!

• Pegz - Axis : Melbourne Skip Hop legend and Obese Crew member Pegz is a knockabout bloke with a love for Hip Hop (rap and graffiti in particular) as well as VB and cars. Back Then is in my list of 100 favourites and it's track by a man who knows the culture. Every rhyme is true to Hip Hop in Australia. This is a great album full stop.

And there you have it; my listening menu for next week. Have a great time out there and stay safe, cats.