Those Drive-By Reality Seeds (December 9th - 13th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Just back from the terror that is holiday season retail. Went to get my sister a present. I knew what I wanted. I knew where it was. I wanted to get in and get out. They of course had run out. I came home with something else for her, plus a bunch of stuff I didn't intend to buy. Seriously, how hard is it, with modern stock control programs, to make sure you have enough stock to cover Christmas for an obviously popular present. Grrr.

Besides finishing the Paul Kelly/Neil Finn and Michael Jackson sets off, I'm grabbing a DBT album I haven't heard. Then there's new stuff from Those Darlins and a live KCRW session from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. A compilation from Inertia called Critics' Choice gets a gig along with a remix of Midnight Marauders. Snoopzilla (*eye roll*) and Dam Funk bring 7 Days of Funk and lastly the soundtrack from probably my favourite film ever is going to ease me through my last full week of work for 2013. 

Check it out:

• Michael Jackson - This Is It (Disc 2)
• Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
• Those Darlins - Blur The Line
• Dam Funk & Snoopzilla - 7 Days of Funk
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Live from KCRW
• VA - Critics Choice
• A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders Revisited
• Neil Finn and Paul Kelly - Goin' Your Way (Disc 2)
• VA - Reality Bites

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Adam Ant
2. Jason Isbell
3. Michael Jackson
4. Graham Reynolds
5. Neil Finn & Paul Kelly

Song of the Week : Artists Against Apartheid - Sun City

A Facebook post about The Specials and music teaching you things is the impetus behind my SOTW. 

As a teenager, it was Rap that taught me about things like the Civil Rights marches, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X. We didn't learn any of that in school. Same as we didn't learn about Apartheid and Nelson Mandella. All I knew of South Africa then was a bunch of Australian cricketers got kicked out of the team for going over there to play. It wasn't until U2 and Silver and Gold from Rattle and Hum that I really heard the word Apartheid. Then this song came out and was getting airplay on the Hip Hop show I listened to on Saturday nights - Scratch FM.

I bought the 12" vinyl of this, but the only digital copy I have comes from an 80s compilation. This is Artists Against Apartheid and features Lou Reed, Little Steven, Kool Dj Herc, Run DMC, Melle Mel (hence the Scratch FM airplay), Dylan, Gil-Scott Heron, John Oates, even Miles Davis, Pete Townshend and Herbie Hancock. It's basically the We Are The World of anti-Apartheid songs. 

With the death of Mandella and the Specials post, I thought it was a good time to celebrate the way we learn so much from the music we love - especially the good stuff (not much to be learned from Beiber I don't think). 

Au Revoir
That's all there is to it this week. I'm still dirty about not getting that present I was after. I'm certain the replacement will be well liked too, but that's hardly the point. Never mind. Onward and upwards. 

Vale Mandella. Hasala malakim.

Quiet Midnight Mellow FUNK (December 2nd - 6th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Today's Work Tunes is coming to you from the comfort of my loungeroom on my laptop. It's been a typically busy late November Saturday today and I've only just had time to sort some tunes out. I'm in the lounge watching The Living Room (a pretty crappy lifestyle program from Channel 10) just to see Ben Stiller and the Walter Mitty preview. It looks good. 

The Greek scented soundtrack of my favourite film for 2013 is here. I've decided to give the newest Adam Ant album a listen, as well as something from Keller Williams evocatively titled FUNK. A bit of a sidetrack through power ballads this week has led to a Chicago best of and Guns n Roses Lies. Thanks to Clay 5, there's an early INXS classic. Paul Kelly and Neil Finn together have a new album and the first disc is playing this week. For some rap, there's a Band Camp freebie from Mellow and an MTV compilation of old school stuff. Last up this week I've got the first disc of MJ's This Is It. 

Check it out:

• VA - Before Midnight OST
• Keller Williams - FUNK
• Adam Ant - Adam Ant Is the BlueBlack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter
• Michael Jackson - This Is It (Disc 1)
• Mellow - The Quiet Ones
• Chicago - Greatest Hits
• INXS - Underneath The Colours
• VA - Hip Hop Back In The Day
• Neil Finn and Paul Kelly - Goin' Your Way (Disc 1)
• Guns n' Roses - Lies

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. U2
2. Keb' Mo'
3. Illy
4. John Lennon
5. Counting Crows

Song of the Week : Def Leppard - Love Bites

On the weekend, in the car, Def Leppard's Love Bites played from a shuffled playlist and Mrs CoreyJ and I had the following conversation (pretty much):

Her: I love this song! I like those songs that... what do you call it when...
Me: Wuss Rock?
Her: Yeah! Wuss Rock. I love it when they really sound like they mean it.
Me: That's a power ballad. You like power ballads.

So I made her a CD for the car of a few power ballad pearls. You can see the list on Spotify at spotify:user:1231117449:playlist:2FNd0XYnESXAJWoOFq1iFV

What I like about this kind of tune, and I think what Mrs CoreyJ was thinking, is how they're so cheesy and so cliché and meaningless, but you'd never know it by the treatment they get. The impassioned singing, the swelling growl of big heavy guitar chords, epic orchestration, the works. If you didn't speak English and you heard one, you would swear the lyrics were great works of literature - or else why would they sound so epic?! 

I do remember when this song was released when I was in high school. It was one of those songs that the 'chicks' and the 'dudes' liked. And if you had a girlfriend/boyfriend at the time, it meant this song was like, really deep you know? Like it really spoke to you and that? Yeah. Good times :)

Rock out with your socks out folks.

Adieu

With my list finished, it's almost time to take the kids to swimming lessons. No rest for the wicked, hey?

Hasala malakim.

Lovin' Fanfare Saturday Aftershock (November 18th - 22nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

No list last week because I was off work for two out of five days and I just shuffled my phone and streamed some album previews. I haven't had much of a chance to put this one together, but I'm squeezing it in before swimming.

Thanks to some recommendations, I'm checking out the latest from Of Montreal and some very old Tom Waits. I got hold of the 94 East album featuring Prince and thought I'd give that a spin. The recently released Marshall Maters LP II and a new one from Young Dro are my rap selections. There's a little bit of heavy grind with new albums from Motorhead and Fuzz. I realised the other day that I have no Offspring, so I remedied that with the Greatest Hits. I read good stuff about Johnathon Wilson so I'm giving Fanfare a listen. Lastly, I stumbled across the soundtrack to the very brilliant This Is England (the film, not the equally brilliant This Is England '86 and '88 TV series).

Check it out:

• Jonathan Wilson - Fanfare
• Motorhead - Aftershock
• Of Montreal - Lousy With Sylvianbriar
• Young Dro - High Times
• Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP II
• 94 East - Lovin' Cup
• VA - This Is England OST
• Fuzz - Fuzz
• Tom Waits - The Heart Of Saturday Night
• The Offspring - Greatest Hits

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Dolorean
2. Indigo Girls
3. Pearl Jam
4. Ryan Adams
5. Pink Floyd

Song of the Week : Evil Eddie - Hungover Again

I didn't have a song picked out because I wasn't paying attention for the three days I was at work, just shuffling my phone all day. I am going with what I woke up with in my head. 

Last night being Thursday, I wouldn't normally drink, but as I'm off until Monday, I figured why the hell not. It's not like I had too much, but I woke up with Hungover Again by Evil Eddie in my head and it won't go away. I wasn't hungover, but I was probably a bit guilty with myself for putting 3 beers down on a school night :)

The song is about a much bigger binge than that. I was never much of a drinker even in my late teens, but I have had a few hangovers in the distant past, so I know the feelings being spoken about. The song itself is pretty melodic as far as raps go. The music behind it too is not the usual beats and samples, but more like a band with a guitar, bass and drum brushes.  The lines that haven't left me alone all day are after the 'apology song' line:

But I can't even write myself a rap
Like this line is crap
Doesn't even rhyme...
And that.

There is no film clip for Hungover on YouTube, so here's a Spotify link:

Bye

There you have it, short and sweet again. I really get a lot of use out of the recommendations of friends, so I hope there's something here that can get your musical groove moving. 

Hasala malakim.

Almost New Hell Night (November 4th - 8th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This is one of those lists I prepared early in anticipation of being too busy and/or exhausted to get it done this weekend. So it's Friday lunch time and I've just finished it off.

Paul MacCartney and Elvis Costello are here because I've read about these albums this week. Following on from X-Ray Spex last week, I've got The Undertones for a bit of a punk fix. I'm getting my Hip Hop fix from The Cancel again as well as The Roots. For some dinosaur rock and soul, there's Sting and the second volume of tracks from The Big Chill. Something a little experimental from James Ferraro is here, as is the latest from prog rockers Hawkwind. Finally, an old favourite from Son Volt gets a nod. 

Check it out:

• Elvis Costello - Almost Blue
• The Cancel - Night Light
• The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
• Paul MacCartney - New
• Sting - Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting
• VA - The Big Chill : More Songs From the Original Soundtrack
• The Roots - Things Fall Apart
• James Ferraro - NYC Hell 3:00 AM
• Son Volt - Straightaways
• Hawkwind - Spacehawks

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Missy Elliott
2. X-Ray Spex
3. Drive-By Truckers
4. Dinosaur Jr.
5. R.E.M.

Song of the Week : Ylvis - What Does the Fox Say?

Let me preface my SOTW by saying I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry…

Having said that, I’m a big believer in ‘Truth in SOTW’ at all costs. I could have chosen a Lou Reed/Velvets song, because it was awful to lose another great musician. I could have picked a Breeders track because I should have gone to see them last night. I’ve also been digging on Veruca Salt this week. But this one song has been all-pervasive, all week, night and day. 

I am not proud of my song, but I can’t deny it is THE song of my week. I heard it for the first time last week and then made the mistake of showing the kids the film clip on the weekend. Since then the whole family has been singing it all the time, with and without alternate lyrics. 

I don’t own a copy of the song (small mercies) but the film clip is worth a look – though I bet you’ve all seen it. Okay, I have to admit what it is now, yeah?

Ylvis – What Does the Fox Say?

If you haven’t seen it, I’m even more sorry. It’s way too catchy and it’s like a non-New Zealand Flight of the Conchords song. The silliest bit is, I am completely aware of how a fox sounds (they yap and sometimes howl fyi) from plenty of exposure to them in Ejanding. But that didn’t stop me watching this clip for the first time, mouth agape, brain screaming WTH IS THIS?! Before laughing and contracting a permanent earworm.  

So, feel free to not listen if you know it, or even if I’ve scared you off, but this has got to be my truthful SOTW.

Ciao for Niao

It's now Saturday afternoon and I've endured a photo-shoot in Hyde Park (not the fancy pants London one, the nice and friendly Mount Lawley one). If you know me at all, you know that a photo-shoot is a huge deal. I hated every second of it, but it was a gift to my wife, so you know. The things we do, hey?

That's all for now. Keep sticking it to The Man. Thanks for stopping by.

Hasala malakim.

Between Bigger Billboard Freaks (October 7th - 11th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Something amazing happened today. I went grocery shopping and not a single person filled me with murderous rage. Not one. I think the key was spending a little time this morning before shopping at the library. Also, running into an old friend of the family's at Woolworths helped a bit. It's incredible what a difference a good run at the shops can make to your stress levels. I feel relaxed and refreshed. Highly unusual. 

Speaking of relaxed, this week's list was starting to look a little too crunchy so I threw Janis Ian and We Are Jeneric in to clear the palette  For a serve of bubblegum, there's a Billboard compilation for 1980; plus the classic Huey Lewis and the News album, Sports. Two crunchy albums from, can you believe it, 1987 that I didn't know about previously are from The Lemonheads and Pulp. Also here is the soundtrack to Before Sunrise/Before Sunset which I happily drove all the way back to Guildford to get after leaving it behind two weeks earlier. For more funky and soulful flavours there's LL Cool J and Slackwax. Lastly, for a little more crunch, I'm revisiting Last Splash from The Breeders.

Check it out:

• VA - Billboard Year End Hits 1980
• We Are Jeneric - Animals Are People Too
• LL Cool J - Bigger & Deffer
• The Lemonheads - Hate Your Friends
• Slackwax - Night Out
• VA - Before Sunrise / Before Sunset OST
• The Breeders - Last Splash
• Janis Ian - Between The Lines
• Pulp - Freaks
• Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bob Dylan
2. Elvis Costello
3. Counting Crows
4. Arctic Monkeys
5. Mazzy Star

Song of the Week : Yuck - Out Of Time

I was going to give you an Elvis Costello song from Spike, but then remembered he got the gig last week. So I've gone with something new instead. The band is Yuck, a UK outfit that released its self-titled first album in 2011. If you haven’t heard them, they’re kind of Pavement-y and a little grungy. They don’t sound English to me. 

This song Out Of Time is off their second album released last week, Glow & Behold. It’s best features are the jangling rhythm guitars, the lead guitar which follows the melody of the vocal and the slightly off-key vocals themselves. When it gets noisy is when it calls up the 90s. That grinding fuzz over melodic structure just puts the grunge in the tail.  It’s short and sweet and a bit gloriously sloppy, a really good soundtrack to a Friday in the office. 

До побачення

The big game last week turned out to be somewhat of a fizzer. While the lesser of two evils won (Hawthorn), the game itself was a mess and neither team really did anything inspiring. Since then though, football news has gone beserk with Lance Franklin leaving for Sydney for massive amounts of spoondoolah and, for Eagles fans at least, the new coach controversy with Adam Simpson chosen over favourite son and leading club goal kicker Peter Sumich. I'm personally happy to have Simpson on board, but do not have fond memories of the last time West Coast poached a Hawthorn person as coach. I'm not even going to say his name, lest it waken the spirits of curses past.

If you are at all interested in Australian Hip Hop, check out Hunter: For The Record. I chipped in to fund it via Pozible and recently watched my downloaded copy that was a reward for backers. Even if you're not into Hip Hop, actually, it's still a very raw and real look at a man going through the terrible torture of terminal illness. 

Rest in Power, MC Hunter. Hasala malakim.

Another Wise Street Club (September 23rd - 27th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Almost didn't make this list today because it's been non stop since this morning. A doctor's visit followed by shopping and swimming lessons and then more shopping. It's about 5 minutes to beer o'clock right now and I'm just getting down to it.

First cab off the rank next week is the excellent new collaboration between Elvis Costello and The Roots. Another great album I've already streamed is the first disc of Bob Dylan's sort of 'apology' for Self Portrait in Bootleg Series 10. Believe it or not, I haven't heard Led Zeppelin Presence in 25 years.s, so that's here. Also here is the soundtrack to the brilliant Beavis and Butthead Do America, plus *more* Van Halen because who can get enough?! From a few years back now, I've got (Please) Don't Blame Mexico and from even further back, the greatest Talking Heads album ever. Finally, in Hip Hop's corner, there's Nas' 'comeback' album, Stillmatic and the all-important Street Sounds Hip Hop compilation - this one, volume 18 is from a couple of years after I found rap; 16 and 17 were my jam.

Check it out:

• Elvis Costello & The Roots - Wise Up Ghost
• Bob Dylan - Another Self Portrait (Bootleg Series 10) (Disc 1)
• Led Zeppelin - Presence
• VA - Beavis and Butthead Do America OST
• (Please) Don't Blame Mexico - Concorde
• Van Halen - OU812
• VA - Street Sounds Hip Hop 18
• Talking Heads - Remain In Light
• Sheryl Crow - Tuesday Night Music Club
• Nas - Stillmatic

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Motörhead
2. D12
3. Real Estate
4. Things Of Stone and Wood
5. Body/Head

Song of the Week : Sebadoh - Beat

I've picked a track from the new Sebadoh album for this week’s SOTW. Sebadoh you probably know is Dinosaur Jr bassist Lou Barlow’s band. The album Defend Yr Self is an enjoyable listen, even if it doesn't really do anything new for music. That is probably what I’m enjoying about it though – the nostalgia of that grimy 90s fuzz sound that Dinosaur Jr do so well. 

The song I picked is Beat, because a) it’s fuzzy and grimey and I dig it and b) it’s one of the only ones with a YouTube clip and I want to embed one on my blog. It’s a bit sloppy and stuttered and it feels like a busted cassette copy at times, but that’s what gives it a nicely authentic grunge sound. It’s also heavy on the bass levels and that’s what happens when the bass player is in charge I guess. 

Toodle Oooo

Look, there is a lot of purple in my neighborhood right now, so obviously something is going on with the mob down the road. Not for me to say, but apparently they have been a well-disciplined football side all year and they probably deserve a grand final berth. 

Damn if that didn't hurt like hell.

Hasala malakim.

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.

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.

Green Worker's American Swim (July 29th - August 2nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

If you can believe it, I'm running ahead of time with my list this week. I've had it chosen since early in the week, to avoid rushing it. A few albums that I just haven't heard in a while managed to pop up.

One of those albums that has slipped the Work Tunes net forever is REM's excellent Green. @sunky mentioned another Mazzy Star LP last week and it made me think of Among My Swan. Jay-Z has been all up in everyone's grill lately, so I had to grab Vol. 3. A Billy Bragg album I'm yet to hear makes the cut this week, as does the My Girl soundtrack thanks to @BreeMateljan's SOTW. The very latest pack of funky tracks from Orgone is here and the Italian horror rock of Goblin. Incesticide is another neglected LP that made my list this week. What's left is some jangly folk pop from The Whispertown 2000 and some darker alt country infused folk from A.A. Bondy.  

Check it out:

• R.E.M. - Green
• Mazzy Star - Among My Swan
• Nirvana - Incesticide
• A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
• The Whispertown 2000 - Swim
• Orgone - New You
• Goblin - Susperia
• Billy Bragg - Worker's Playtime
• VA - My Girl OST
• Jay-Z - The Life and Times of Sean Carter Vol. 3

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Springsteen
2. Alice In Chains
3. Nick Drake
4. Van Morrison
5. The Replacements

Song of the Week : Alice In Chains - Angry Chair

It has been some time since I listened to Dirt. It's a lot heavier than I remember it. When I look back on it though, a lot of grunge was fairly heavy - Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Tad, Dinosaur Jr. It was just Nirvana and Pearl Jam who brought that pop sensibility to it that crossed it into the mainstream. In any other circumstances, that would be called "selling out", but I'm really glad they did. Because let's face it, in 1991 in Perth, there is no way we'd have heard starving indie rock bands from Seattle if they hadn't sold out. 

I chose Angry Chair because it was one of the releases from this album and because it is quite stereotypically "grungy". The apathetically depressed lyrics, the wall of deep fuzz and the pounding drums are all on the heavy side of the sound that I once knew and loved so well. Nostalgia may not be what it used to be, but some days a familiar tune can be a good warm hug. Enjoy.

Hooroo
I'm just finishing this all up on a Saturday afternoon. The wife and children are at swimming lessons and I am left here tasked with domestic duties because we haven't been home all day. We're unbelievably short on time today. A good thing I had this list planned early, wasn't it?

Hasala malakim.

Daft Dirt River Replacements (22nd - 26th July)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

I've been laid up with afflictions all of these last few days, so I have again rushed my list. But it's still pretty good.

I decided to continue my second chances for late-period Pearl Jam - I'll see if Binaural stands up now like it didn't before for me. To compliment Pearl Jam , I grabbed Alice In Chains. After Newsroom used Into the Mystic in the closing credits, I reached right for Moondance. I've got some Replacements here and the soundtrack to a doco on Big Star. Those two CDs seem complimentary. Another soundtrack is from The Wackness starring Ben Kingsley. After enjoying the production of Daft Punk's latest, I've gone back in time a bit with them. Back in time also with De La Soul and way back with Nick Drake's dream-like folky Pink Moon. All that leaves is Bruce Springsteen's classic double album from 1980, The River. 

Check it out:

• Pearl Jam - Binaural
• The Replacements - Tim
• Van Morrison - Moondance
• Bruce Springsteen - The River
• Alice In Chains - Dirt
• VA - The Wackness OST
• Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me
• Daft Punk - Homework
• De La Soul - Stakes Is High
• Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Foghat
2. Bob Marley
3. Why?
4. Josh Pyke
5. Dinosaur Jr.

Song of the Week : Chic  - Le Freak

After a few different discussions over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about disco and about Daft Punk's new album and how it is a) very disco and b) massively overhyped. But overhype aside, it's a decent listen if you like a bit of 70s disco. What I like about it, besides the pastiche of retro sounds is the engineering on it. It reminds me of 70s engineering too, because every layer seems to be painstakingly balanced and nuanced just right. Not every band bothers with all that trouble these days and a lot of pop music sounds like mud.

But no, my SOTW isn't Daft Punk, it's Chic - Le Freak. I hadn't heard this song in ages until my Daft Punk wonderings got me thinking about disco. There is a bit of this song in a lot of the tracks on Random Access Memories, in particular that funky little guitar chord riff so synonymous with disco. This will get your boogie shoes on.

Interesting aside if you haven't heard the tale, but Nile Rodgers says the song was initially titled "Fuck Off!" because they couldn't get in Studio 54 one night. Off home they went, wrote a funky ass bassline and chanted "Fuck Off!" instead of Freak Out! which is what they decided on to appease record companies. 

TTFN
If there is anything on my hurried list that sounds like it might suit you, go and have a listen. Spotify or Songl or Rdio that tish all you like. Life is too short for bad music. 

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.

Same Jazzmatic Rock Anthology (April 8th - 12th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

My list and the subsequent blog post are a bit of a rush this week. I've spent my Saturday running around trying to fix a problem with shoddy merchandise and terrible customer service. There's a losing battle in Perth if ever there were one.  

Given the rush, I probably leaned too heavy on old favourites, but strangely enough, two of my desert island discs have never made a Work Tunes list - August and Everything After and Paid In Full. Another couple of favourites that made the cut are Ryan Adams' Rock n Roll and U2's Zooropa (which I've not listened to in forever). I also grabbed a few CDs I only recently bought in the Divinyls, Cowboy Junkies and Shrek soundtrack. I am playing disc 2 of the Gram Parsons Anthology and, also in the Country vein, an artist I just discovered, Kacey Musgraves. The final selection comes from Funky DL and it is a free download from Bandcamp featuring Jazz remixes of Nas tracks. 

Check it out:

• Counting Crows - August and Everything After (Deluxe Edition)
• VA - Shrek OST
• Divinyls - Divinyls
• Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer Different Park
• Cowboy Junkies - Lay It Down
• Funky DL - Jazzmatic (Nas Remixes)
• Gram Parsons - Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 2)
• U2 - Zooropa
• Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full
• Ryan Adams - Rock n' Roll

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Counting Crows
2. Gillian Welch
3. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
4. Aphex Twin
5. Joni Mitchell

Song of the Week : Telekinesis - Lean On Me

To the music and it’s one of those times where I picked my song last minute after having some other idea all week.

If I had an Album of the Week, it would have been Wavves- Afraid of Heights. As a whole, it sounds like a Nirvana and Weezer supergeroup fronted by Nathan of Wavves. I was going to pick a song to illustrate that, but when I went to choose, nothing sounded like song of the week. I think because I'm in too good a mood for Wavves whiny grunge soup today.

Instead, from the new Telekinesis album, Dormarion, I've picked the upbeat, Friday friendly and spiritually uplifting Lean On Me. Jangly guitar and that dream pop Telekinesis sound with a fun little melody make this a great song to keep my good mood going all day. I will probably slip it on later this afternoon again just to recharge. 

If it elevates or sustains your moods, it will have done it's job. Enjoy!

Au Revoir

I just finished watching Before Sunset in anticipation of Before Midnight coming soon, so I'm feeling all French and stuff. 

Looking forward to a trip to AQWA in the morning for Miss 4's birthday outing. It will hopefully make her forget about not getting a working bouncy castle today to replace the faulty one we were given when we bought it. Oh geez, don't get me started on that this close to bedtime. 

Hasala malakim.