Cheap Soul / Happy Boss (July 30th - August 3rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well work was teh crazyies this week. Had the fiddly but fun task of making everyone custom magnetic name tags for a task board. People's choice of avatar said a lot about them. 


Does my choice of music say a lot about me? I don't know. Sometimes. This week, it says "I really have no idea what I want to listen to, so I'll pick some compilations and any albums that come up in conversation."

So that leaves us with the Sessions at West 54th Street and Spunk Sampler compilations; I have The Essential Cheap Trick because I'm still singing Surrender weeks after it was SOTW; I have albums from the diametrically opposed Snoop Dogg and Indigo Girls that I've not heard; my buddy Jamie mentioned Evan Dando's live set so that is here; checking out Gillian Welch's set lists of late has booked Dave Rawlings a spot; there's a Divinyls best of, an Ab-Soul album I read a review on and finally a true classic from the Fab Four.

Check it out:

• Cheap Trick - Essential Cheap Trick
• The Beatles - The White Album
• Snoop Dogg - Paid Tha Cost to be Tha Boss
• Ab-Soul - Control System
• Indigo Girls - Become You
• Evan Dando - Live At the Brattle Theatre / Griffith Sunset
• VA - The Best of Sessions at West 54th Street
• Dave Rawlings Machine - Friend of a Friend
• VA - We/Know/Where/The/Winter/Goes
• Divinyls - Make You Happy 

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Stevie Nicks
2. Nas
3. The Gaslight Anthem
4. Angus Stone
5. Passion Pit

Song of the Week : Stevie Nicks - Sometimes It's A Bitch

Recently on random shuffle this song popped up and I hadn’t heard it for ages. It’s Stevie Nicks – Sometimes It’s A Bitch. If I remember right it’s written by Meatloaf collaborator Jim Steinman (hence the sort of cliché title he’s so fond of). The song always brings a good friend of mine to mind who is a massive Stevie Nicks fan, so it’s always an enjoyable listen.


As a lyric I like the structure of good and bad, struggle and triumph. There isn’t a great deal of virtuoso musicianship in it. Not like Fleetwood Mac with Lindsay Buckingham behind it. Never the less I like the song like I love Will Ferrel movies – just a bit of harmless bubble gum. 

Goodbye

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Perth, get out in this glorious weather and enjoy it while it lasts - I hear it's going to rain soon (which is also cool, but not so much for going out). 

Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Leave Magical Elbow Wheels Forever (April 2nd - 6th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Massive couple of weeks coming up, with Mrs coreyj's birthday, followed by Miss 2 becoming Miss 3 and then it's Easter. Not too long after that I will have been married for 10 years! I'm looking forward to spoiling both my wife and the little one with super dope presents (even if I lost one of them for a day...). Nevermind all that now, onto the music.


To get me through what seems like the eleventy billionth short week this year, I've got (I know, can you believe it) Grayson Hugh because Talk It Over came on the radio at Big W and I had forgotten I used to love that song. I have some Elbow; a Beatles remaster; the latest from Margo & the Nuclear So and So's; a B.I.G. album I didn't know existed (yes, I was late to 90s rap. I'm old school, yo!); Lucinda Williams' acclaimed Car Wheels..; more from Jason Isbell; a Soul band I found on bandcamp, The Revelations; Love's highly-rated Forever Changes and a U2 album that I haven't heard in at least 5 years.


Check it out:

• Grayson Hugh - Blind To Reason
• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
• Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
• U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
• The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death
• The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
• The Revelations feat. Tre Williams - An Introduction to The Revelations
• Margot & the Nuclear So and So's - Rot Gut Domestic
• Love - Forever Changes

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Uncle Tupelo
2. Creedence Clearwater Revival
3. Natalie Merchant
4. Hoodoo Gurus
5. MC Shan

Song of the Week : The Shins - Fall of '82

Today's tune is The Shins - Fall of '82. There's no real reason this is my song this week, except that I like the whole of The Shins new record and this track is uptempo, brassy and nostalgic.


For what it's worth, the 'Fall' of '82 was the year I turned 10. Always a big important time in a kid's life. I don't know that this song has captured any part of my tenth year, but there you go. 


Enjoy!

Ciao for Now

That's all folks! Shout out to the mighty West Coast for the start of the AFL season. Go you good things! 




Whatever you do, have fun and be safe.  Hasala malakim.

Playlist : January 9th - 13th, 2012

Hello and welcome to a new year of Work Tunes.

So the world ends this year apparently. At least if you're an ancient Mayan it does. Did anyone ever think maybe some Mayan calendar maker just got jack of adding year after year after year? 

"Hey Bob, I got to December 2012 and I can't be stuffed!"

"Yeah, I don't blame you. Just finish there, no big deal. Who's going to care?"

Regardless, this year we're going to party like it's 1999... again.  And to start my working year right, I've got a few choice cuts. 


Listening to an 8 tracks mix the other night, I first heard the title song from I And Love And You, so I checked it out. I've also got the final release from The Beatles; the latest R.E.M. retrospective; new albums from Common, Weinland and The Do; a Smiths tribute;  the soundtrack to Downtown 81 (a film released in 2000 but shot in 1981 starring Jean-Michel Basquiat); Spin's 2011 mix and finally, some Australian Hip Hop from Vents. 


Check it out:

• The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
• The Beatles - Abbey Road
• R.E.M. - Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982 - 2011
• VA - Spin Magazine Best of 2011
• Vents - Marked For Death
• Common - The Dreamer / The Believer
• The Do - Both Ways Open Jaws
• VA - Downtown 81 OST
• Weinland - Breaks In The Sun
• VA - Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to the Smiths

Tah Tah

That's it for now. No song of the week until next week, and no Top 5 Artists because I haven't been scrobbling. I can tell you I've been listening to a lot of Camera Obscura as well as a bit of the Beach Boys and other surf themed tunes thanks to the weather and some timely trips to the beach. 


Hopefully your holidays were a great big bunch of fun and your new year is the best one yet. Be good to each other. Hasala malakim.


PS Support Hunter the Documentary and help get a film about Hunter made.

Playlist February 14th - 18th, 2010

Hello fellow travellers, welcome to Work Tunes.

This week’s list is a little retro (*shock*) with the 60s, 70s and 80s well represented. That probably makes it sound like a middle-of-the-road radio station, but these are quality albums, alright?! Here, have a look for yourself:

• Paul Kelly - The A to Z Recordings (Disc 5) : Here I am, half way through listening to an 8 disc box set from Australia's greatest living legend. I was impressed last week with the solo version of Jandamarra/Pigeon and with I Don't Know Anything Anymore which I'd never heard. This disc features the wise advice of Little Boy Don't Lose Your Balls and the shameful tale of Maralinga (Rainy Land).

• Belly - Star : In 1993, the track from Belly that made the inaugural JJJ Hottest 100, Feed The Tree was a huge hit. Featuring Tanya Donnely of Throwing Muses, The Breeders and now solo fame, Belly released just two albums and this was the first. Star swings between angsty grunge fuzz and gentler indie pop twang for 13 fairly good tunes. Feed The Tree really is the stand-out though.

• Wavves - King of the Beach : I only found out last week that the 'boyfriend' in Best Coast's reverb-soaked, garage pop track Boyfriend is supposedly Nathan Williams of Wavves. This is Wavves third album and recently the band made a dual EP with Best Coast called Summer is Forever. I'm really into Best Coast at the moment, so I'm giving Bethany Cosentino's 'boyfriend' a spin.

• Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers : My latest obsession with the Stones continues, but I still haven't bought any vinyl. I am hoping to fix that at the markets this Sunday morning. Sticky Fingers contains the excellent and timeless Brown Sugar and Wild Horses.

• The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Remastered) : Another Beatles remaster as recommended by a work mate. Revolver and Rubber Soul have always been my favourite Beatles albums. I don't know if it's because of the drugs they were taking, or just Bob Dylan's influence, but this music sounds less like they are writing for radio and more like art.

• VA - Billboard Top 100 of 1984 : I don't know why, but this week felt like it was missing the 80s. I've chosen a bunch of tracks I like from the Top 100 Billboard songs of 1984. In 84 I was in my last year of Primary School. In '84 I was into Breakdance. In '84 I was into Wham! and Madonna...

• Dire Straits - Making Movies : I've gotten into a new habit of playing a record every afternoon while riding for 15kms on the exercise bike. While I ride, Miss 1 watches Miss 4 play Feeding Frenzy on XBox and we all listen to the record. Miss 4 is fond of saying "I love listening to records." Brainwashing complete. Wednesday we listened to this album. The stand out track is of course Romeo and Juliet, but the whole set of serious 70s rock from 1980 sounds so damn good under a needle. I think tracks from that era were just mixed with vinyl in mind.

• Germs – G.I. : It's been a while since I played some real LA Punk Rock. This is the one and only studio album ever released by Germs, just like that other famous punk band, who were they, the Sex something...? I'm hoping to watch the Darby Crash (Germs lead singer) biopic What We Do Is Secret at some stage in the coming weeks, so this is good preparation. I might play some more LA Punk next week.

• Pegz – Burn City : I had to give this album a spin this week, because last week I won a signed copy of it from Pegz himself (along with Axis and Gully Platoon) via Twitter. A heap of Australia’s best Hip Hop artists are using Twitter now (@hilltophoods @Bias_B @whoissyntax @blissneso) and Pegz has just recently got on board as @PegzOne. I’ve been a Pegz fan since I heard one of my favourite songs of any genre, Back Then from Axis. This LP features a stack of guests from Suffa to Muph and the brilliant meditation on the important things in life, Ali Shuffle.

• Dolorean - Not Exotic : I discovered Dolorean some time ago now, via 8 Tracks I think, fell completely in love with them for a month and then promptly forgot about them. Until now. Their quite blend of indie shoe gaze type tunes are just the thing for a Monday morning before coffee.

I was hoping by this week I’d be able to sign off with talk about the upcoming fair and democratic elections in Egypt. Well it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Let’s hope the revolution has prevailed very soon.

Thanks for visiting. Please remember to take your belongings when you go. Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?

PS Happy Valentines Day for Monday to my beautiful wife who has the patience of a saint and the mercy of a biblical King to continue being my best friend and loving wife.

Post Script : As I put the finishing touches on this post, early Saturday morning February 12th, Hosni Mubarak has resigned and passed control of Egypt to the military. This is a momentous occasion and I am glad I awake to see the celebrations live. As a teenager, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 wasn't something I completely understood or paid attention to. The liberation of Egypt will have no such neglect from me.

Congratulations to the people of Egypt. Power to the people. Right on.

Playlist January 24th - 29th, 2011

Hola punks. What’s happening in your world?

This week my playlist has a distinctly 90s nostalgia feel about it. This is due almost totally to Portlandia; the opening sequence of which made me grin from ear to ear because of the way it completely nailed my version of the 90s. Not since The Simpsons put Homer in Sadgasm has any show reflected my 90s years to me so well. There’s a little bit of Australia in here too, because after all, it’s Australia Day (or more accurately, Invasion Day) on the 26th. I wish we’d move it to Federation, it wouldn’t be hard. But there you go… Anyway… here’s my list:

• The Beatles - Let It Be (Remastered) : After a discussion with a workmate about all the old classics that have been remastered from Fleetwood Mac to Led Zeppelin, I grabbed some Beatles. The same discussion extolled the virtues of FLAC and lossless formats, so I'll be listening in Apple Lossless.

• Nirvana - Incesticide : Two things conspired to have me listen to Nirvana this week. Firstly, my Miss 4 has decided to sing Sliver all the time and secondly the opening sequence of Portlandia. Portlandia is a new sketch show set in that other famously grunge city of Portland. When one of the characters discussed the 90s in the first few minutes ('you could sleep til 11am" "people encouraged you to be weird" "everyone taled about piercings and tribal tattoos") I was hooked. I remember wanting to go to Portland after reading about it's alterna-vibe in the fiction novel Bongwater (later a film featuring Jack Black). So forgive me my 90s nostalgia. Besides, this is after all a criminally overlooked set.

• VA - Standing on the Outside - The Songs of Cold Chisel : With the death of drummer Steve Prestwich last week, I felt it fitting to include some Cold Chisel. While I've exhausted the extent of my official Chisel releases in other playlists, this is a compilation of fantastic Australian artists such as Paul Kelly, Sarah Blasko and others covering the songs of Chisel's great legacy. Well worth a listen if you get a chance. Plus, it's Australia Day this week and it deserves some homegrown tunes.

• Paul Kelly - The A - Z Recordings (Disc Two) : The second disc of the A - Z boxset contains PK classics like Dumb Things, Don't Explain and Every Fucking City. I really enjoyed Disc One last week, in particular the songs I'd never heard (Behind the Bowler's Arm and After The Show). I'm really looking forward to more unknown tracks, which in this case are Emotional and Down To My Soul.

• Das Racist - Sit Down Man : Last week's Das Racist mixtape was Shut Up, Dude. This, as promised, is the follow up. Despite not taking my beloved culture very seriously, or maybe because of it, I liked last week's set for its sense of fun. I think I actually laughed aloud when I heard the band rhyme "Twitter get" with "Internet." I'm looking forward to more from this week's selection. You can download it for free from the link.

• Cowboy Junkies - Demons : This is a preview of the very latest release from Cowboy Junkies. I found last year's Renmin Park a little hit and miss. There were some terrific tracks in there and an overall cohesive feel to the album, but I felt like some songs weren't up to scratch with their usual output. I haven't played this yet, so I'm hoping it's an improvement.

• VA - Golden Era Mixtape : A free download of collected Golden Era artists which dropped last week on the 16th. For what seemed like ages, everyone attached to the Hilltop Hoods managed label was teasing us all on Twitter with sneak peeks and previews. When it finally dropped, they just about broke the internet. I have deliberately held off listening, but I'm fairly certain it will be worth the hype. Again, you can download it for free from the Golden Era store via the title link and listen for yourself.

• L7 - Bricks Are Heavy : More 1990s nostalgia brought on by Portlandia. The track Pretend We're Dead was on heavy JJJ rotation back in the day. You know, back when Triple J was the only place to go for your music unless you wanted to listen to pap. They are not the mighty beast they once were, but the still fight the good fight. Another highlight of this set is Shitlist. Judging by the anger of the song, you don't want to end up on L7s shitlist.

• VA - Reality Bites OST : After a recent discussion with my sister about Reality Bites and its place in Gen X folklore (followed by a flood of hysterical quotes), I decided I clearly had to wacth the film again on the weekend. If you haven't seen it, it's basically a slacker monument. It's like the mainstream (but not quite) version of Slacker. Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zhane aren't the stars, but they steal the show from Wynona and Ethan. The soundtrack features Dinosaur Jr. The Indians, Crowded House and even Ethan Hawke for the Hey That's My Bike song Nuthin'. It goes perfectly with the rest of my 90s nostalgia.

• Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored: I got to the end of my playlist and there didn't seem to be enough twang. I thought I could spin two vibes with one LP and grab some Evan Dando. While Baby I'm Bored was released in the 00s, Evan Dando is pretty much a 90s icon. He was even in Reality Bites in an hilarious cameo at the end. Hard Drive and All My Life are the standouts here for me.

So For those of us who were there, I hope you enjoy my little trip down 90s lane. For those of us who weren't, feel free to point and laugh at the geezer who's reminiscing about moshpits, tongue piercings, flannel and Docs.

Be excellent to each other.

Playlist : November 1st - 5th, 2010

I've gone a bit heavier than usual on the compilations this week. There's also an 80s vibe as well as some classic Beatles and the usual Skip Hop.

The soundtrack of my life for the next week will be;

• VA - KCRW Summer Mix : Another excellent and free compilation from the outstanding San Franciscan radio station that gave us Rare On Air and Sessions at West 54th Street. This mix features Eels, Moby, Iron & Wine, Sonic Youth and a stack of lesser known indie artists.

• VA - Hitwave '81 : Whatever happened to the kind of awesome compilation tapes we had in the 80s? The most recent compilation I can recall was sponsored by Mentos or something, Not to mention the featured artists were not a patch on Adam & the Ants, Visage, Split Enz, Elton John and Men At Work. Plus, this has Loverboy - Turn Me Loose \m/

• Ryan Adams - 29 : The last of Grizzly's 2005 output and the one he didn't put the Cardinals on. I remember on first listen of this, @sunky and I, who'd both been awaiting it's release impatiently, were convinced Ryan Adams was going to be a suicide within the year. With lines like "Can you still have any famous last words if you're somebody nobody knows" and the cover art showing Death approaching what looks a little like the house on Ryan's Freightwhaler Sessions bootleg, can you blame us?

• The Beatles - Rubber Soul : I bought this album on vinyl at the Melville markets last weekend for $10. Ten dollars. Bargain. There are some classic tracks on Rubber Soul, one of the LPs considered part of The Beatles' psychedelic output. As well a Drive My Car, there's Michelle, Norwegian Wood and Nowhere Man. All good to have on vinyl.

• VA - Soundtrack - Singles : I have been away from the brilliance that was the early to mid 90s lately. When they were new, this soundtrack and the movie were frequent places to visit for me. If you haven't seen the film, you're not missing too much, but its well worth it to see Eddy Vedder acting along side Matt Dillon.

• Flowers - Icehouse : Yes, that's the right way around. Iva Davies' band Icehouse was originally called Flowers and they changed their name based on the name of this LP. Two Icehouse tracks everyone knows appear on this album; We Can Get Together and Can't Help Myself.

• The Herd - An Elefant Never Forgets : A bit disillusioned with the more xenophobic elements of our online community lately, I have listened to the brilliant 77% a lot in the car. While the rest of this album doesn't come close to the vitriol that Ozi Batla spits in that track, it's overall a decent listen. "Wake up! This country needs a fuckin' shake up."

• Jurassic 5 - Quality Control : I've had this album for quite some time now and probably only heard it twice in total. Given I'm usually hearing the Jurassic's as part of the Dino 5 children's compilation I bought Miss 4, its only right that I give their main work a fair go.

• Kathleen Edwards - Failer : The very first time I heard Kathleen Edwards was an Uncut magazine compilation. That was a song called 12 Bellevue which appears on this album. I'm grateful to Uncut for the introduction, because other songs on this album are even better (Hockey Skates and One More Song The Radio Won't Like). Plus, Old Time Sake from the Back To Me LP is in coreyj's Hottest 100.

• VA - Uncut - Only Love Can Break Your Heart : And here is that Uncut compilation that introduced me to Kathleen Edwards, as well as Jesse Malin and Tim Easton. Malin's fantastic tale of hipster ennui, Brooklyn, is another of my 100 favourite songs. Tim Easton's Watching the Lightning was once a Song of the Week and I am convinced it is about Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. Find a copy and let me know what you think.

That's another list done and dusted. I'm looking forward to bunkering down inside my headphones with a ton of editing and review to do next week.

Stay golden, Ponyboy.