Showing posts with label the cancel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the cancel. Show all posts

Friday, November 1, 2013

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:

  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.
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Friday, October 25, 2013

Rockin' Lost Daybreak Dreams (October 28th - November 1st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Lovely day for it. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, bees are trying to have sex with them - as is my understanding of these things. No matter what else, I'm still making pointless Simpsons references, so everything is normal. And so, to the music.

 There's mostly older stuff this week. I finished Just Kill Me, my punk history book and I've grabbed some X-Ray Spex. Some old favourites in a Lost Highway records compilation and Ben Folds' Rockin' The Suburbs are getting a spin. Even more old favourites this week are Reckoning from REM and Beyond from Dinosaur Jr. There's albums from Veruca Salt and 50 Cent that I haven't heard, plus Go-Go Boots from the Drive-By Truckers that hasn't had a play in a while. I have a Hip Hop album from The Cancel and I'll be bringing it's follow up in next week. Finally, because I'm still in awe of her most recent song for the Real to Reel compilation, I've got a Stevie Nicks album to give it a go.

 Check it out:

  1. Nirvana
  2. Brother Ali
  3. Jason Isbell
  4. Bill Withers
  5. Sonic Youth

 Song of the Week : Best Coast - Fear Of My Identity


I had a hard time picking a song this week, and then I chose this one in a sort of protest. I don’t want to rant, but you've all probably seen that JJJ took over the digital radio station ABC Digg in an attempt to recapture the 30+ demographic that is being lost to JJJ. The gist of their press release was that 30+ year olds have left JJJ because they don’t follow new music anymore. The freakin’ nerve right?  I have a bunch of 2013 releases in my possession and not just from established rock acts like Bowie. I’ve jumped on releases from California X, Teenanger, Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils, Iceage, Telekinesis, Surfer Blood etcetera etcetera this year. So I kind of took exception to the implication that us “oldies” don’t listen to JJJ because of new music. I just don’t think they play very good new music. At least not when I last listened a few years ago. 

 So when reaching for a SOTW I just picked one off of the newest set I brought to work this week – Best Coast’s new EP, Fade Away. I picked this particular track Fear of My Identity because I have dug it all week and also because it is sort of relevant with the “You taught me that my heart would grow old’ refrain. Best Coast are a relatively new band with their debut LP released in 2010 and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Having said that, there is a lot of the aesthetic of 90s rock about them and that is the “sound” that the JJJ run Digg seems to think we all want after a certain age. I have to say they are probably right about that. When I first checked out the new Digg, they were playing Cherub Rock and it felt good, man. So maybe these bands I’ve discovered the last few years are just tapping into that 90s sound. 

 Nostalgia may feel comforting, but there is always room for new sounds, or new artists who reinterpret those old sounds (I’m thinking of how ‘old’ Fitz and the Tantrums or She & Him sound). I mean, wouldn’t we all kill for the next Nevermind to come out and take music in a whole new direction? I think if the new Digg is going to play a good mix of those old JJJ staples and the most innovative of the newest artists (and not mainstream synth pop songs) it could be a terrific thing to have around, plugged from my TV into my hifi (I don’t have any other digital radio source!). 


Toodle-Ooh

 I just bought a $4.95 DVD copy of Running On Empty. No, not the River Phoenix film, this one! Australia, bogans, 1980s, muscle cars, Deborah Conway acting. How fun is that?! Last time I watched it would have been 1986 on VHS. Funnily enough, I watched Rock n Roll High School last night. Must be a nostalgic week ahead, what with the old films and the old favourite sounds I selected. Plus, don't forget JJJ has retooled ABC Dig to sucker in old folks like me who miss the days when JJJ knew about good music.   

 C'est la vie. Hasala malakim.
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