Sunday Public Asylum Massacre (July 2nd - 6th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


A week of all work and no play make Corey J something something. Go crazy? Not quite, but it was touch and go there for a while. All enjoyable stress of course, but it does take its toll. Skagboys is going well. One good thing about being tired from work is getting to bed earlier and getting to read every night. Renton and Co. have just had a couple of tastes of Heroin and the book is mainly concerned at this stage with the rampant unemployment of Thatcher's Britain in the 80s. That's not a book report, that's just me making conversation. Okay, okay shut up monkey boy and make with the music. 


In this week's bag of treats, I have the kick-ass soundtrack to a cheesy 70s teen melodrama I just watched, Over The Edge; there's the Sonic Youth and Public Image Limited albums I bought courtesy of a carton of Becks; your funky education continues with disc 3 of Star Time; I threw in some 50 Cent and Cypress Hill coz I is well gangsta innit?; do you remember Soul Asylum? Dave Pirner dated Winona Ryder. You don't remember Winona Ryder? Me either. Queen are good though eh? For new sounds I have some old sounds by Silver Jews and the latest from Japandroids that some well-respected Twitter critics have raved about. I haven't heard them since Post-Nothing and I wasn't overly fussed on that album. I do trust my Twitter critics though, so we'll see.

Check it out:

• Japandroids - Celebration Rock
• VA - Over The Edge Soundtrack
• 50 Cent - The Massacre
• Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
• James Brown - Star Time Disc 3
• Public Image Limited - Public Image Ltd
• Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
• Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union
• Queen - Queen's Greatest Hits
• Silver Jews - Early Times

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. James Brown
2. The Cure
3. Eminem
4. Circle Jerks
5. The Police

Song of the Week : Wax Audio - Disturbing Practices (Overboard)

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Initially I was going to pick a vitriolic Elvis Costello song about Thatcher just to highlight how great some songs can be when they're so nasty. Then I remembered a song far more closely related to our own mess and just as nasty - only this time, the politicians' own words are used to hang them out to dry.


This is Disturbing Practices by Wax Audio, a remix of political propoganda from the time of the Children Overboard fiasco. The fact that people forgot Howard and Costello's lies and voted them back in, just illustrates how too many Australians have the derp derp deyturkarejarbs! mentality.


Problem is, the majority of voters seem to still be conveniently forgetting that people have died as a result of this veiled White Australia Policy, this attempt to rile up rednecks and make them feel 'secure' from those nasty desperate people. I'm disgusted in The Ranga for still playing the games with people's lives that got Howard elected. I can say with pride that I voted Greens and kept offshore processing out of the Senate.

I'm 5000

Thanks for stopping by. It is my nephew's first birthday bash this weekend. It's a pirate themed party. So I thoroughly intend to burn copies of all my sister and brother in law's DVDs. Yaaaar! 


Be good to one another. Don't worry about a thing, because damn it, if you're reading this it means you have an internet enabled device and a connection. That's already put you in the richest 30 or so percent of people in the world. Share the wealth a little hey? 


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : December 6th - 10th, 2010

Hey hey kids! What's shaking?

Thanks largely to a viewing of The Runaways, this week's list is a little bit heavy on the rock, with an emphasis on classic. Hopefully there's something here that's as good to your ears as it is mine.

• The Runaways - The Runaways : After watching the recent movie based on the early history of The Runaways, I had to check them out. Like most people my age and younger, I only knew about Joan Jett when she formed the Blackhearts and had the smash hit I Love Rock n Roll. The movie was halfway decent fun, the music is interesting.

• Bruce Springsteen - The Promise The 2 CD (plus a third of the original release) of outakes from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. The Boss was obviously in a period of abundant creativity at the time and these 'cast offs' are a damn sight better than most of the music that gets released these days.

• James Brown - Get on the Good Foot : Anything by James Brown will put some spring in my step, a little bit of joy in my 'Hot Pants', some funk in the place. I chose this album for the fact that it was released in 1972 (the best year ever) and because of JBs bitchin afro on the cover art.

• Silver Jews - American Water : The Silver Jews were an indie band with a country feel featuring Stephen Malkamus and Bob Nastanovich from Pavement. They have since split up, but before they did, they released six albums including this one. Released in 1998, American Water contains kitschy tracks like Honk If You're Lonely and Buckingham Rabbit along with junked out forlorn Lou Reed style dirges like Like Like The The The Death. It's a good listen.

• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Vol. 2 : After spinning, and enjoying, Vol.1 of the Bootleg Series last week, I have included Vol. 2 as promised. On this disc, there are electric tracks which were largely missing from Vol. 1. This is where Dylan is experimenting with his 'thin, wild mercury sound' on tracks from If You Gotta Go, Go Now to She's Your Lover Now. The inclusion of an early demo of Like A Rolling Stone is well worth a listen.

• You Am I - Dress Me Slowly : The best thing about this particular You Am I album (and they never disappoint) is the bonus Temperance Union disc. Where Dress Me Slowly rocks out a lot, the more mellow and personal Temperance tracks tell some really detailed, rawly emotional stories. Standouts are Paragon Cafe, The Lonliest Folk in the World, Get Drunk, Ring Your Friends and the road trip rock n roll tale of The Smokin' Popes.

• Hilltop Hoods - State of the Art : The Hoods don't get nearly enough playlist love from me, for all the listening I do. This latest release I tend to listen to a number of tracks while driving home. It has been probably since its release that I have listened to the whole thing in order. If you get a chance to see it, the Parade of the Dead DVD based on this LP is not just good Hilltop Hoods live performances, but a funny and enjoyable Zombie flick as well.

• Jay-Z - The Black Album : Given the imminent arrival of 'Mr Z' in Perth, I have chosen my favourite (and far superior to all but The Blueprint) Jay-Z album. This was supposed to be Jay-Z's farewell to releasing albums in favour of CEO duties at Def Jam. If this had been the last album he made, it would have been a great way to end it.

• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV The Runaways made me feel like some good old fashioned rawk. Though much of what inspired the band was punk and glam, I have chosen some calssic rock with Led Zep IV. There are still very few songs that rock quite like Rock and Roll, Black Dog and When The Levee Breaks.

• Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been : More rawk for the week. This Dinosaur Jr album contains the JJJ hit Get Me which was my introduction to J Mascis and the band. It's a little noisier and less melodic than the next LP, Without A Sound. A few of the tracks on this album found themselves inside J Mascis' acoustic guitar on the criminally ignored Martin and Me live album. Over there they found more melody.

It was a good end to the week for me. I bought a turntable and a copy of my favourite Golden Age of Hip Hop album, Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full on vinyl. They are Christmas presents though, so no spinning until Dec 25 :( (Sad Panda). Until next week, some words of wisdom:

Keep a good head and always carry a lightbulb - Bob Dylan