Playlist : December 12th - 16th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Not a great deal to report this week. Still wishing I was on holiday down south with the wife. I could easily have stayed there, bought the record store and started a new life on the beach away from the city. But then there were tourists to consider. They ruin everything. I should know, being one and all.

This week's list features the next installment of the Tracks box, another set from The Deep Dark Woods, The Roots' fantastic new album, some old favourites and two compilations - including Australian Hip Hop Supports Canteen, MC Hunter's final project before he left us. RIP brother.

Check it out:

• Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
• Bruce Springsteen - Tracks (Disc Three)
• I Heart Sharks - Summer
• Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
• The Roots - Undun
• VA - Australian Hip Hop Supports Canteen
• VA - The Best of American Songwriter Sessions
• The Decemberists - Her Majesty - The Decemberists
• Aerosmith - The Essential Aerosmith
• The Deep Dark Woods - Place I Left Behind

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. New York Dolls
2. Honeyhoney
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. The Black Keys
5. Terra Firma

Song of the Week : The Roots - Undun

On the music, I feel I ripped off The Roots last week (as good as that HH track is), because all I really listened to was Undun. I finally found a track I could send you and this is it.

What I like about The Roots in general is their musical ability and their melodic hooks. As you probably know, they are the house band on Jimmy Fallon’s show. That musicality shows through on things like the ridiculously juicy bass rolls in this track Make My. Then you have a vocal crooning chorus that goes with the deep smooth bass of the verse rap.

This album is thematic and it all holds together nicely as an expression of both inner-city violence for subject matter and a blueprint of more melodic, mature and important hip hop music. I don’t know how much you guys hear of people like Drake or Odd Future, but there’s no substance to it all and it sounds plastic and manufactured to go with the misogyny and homophobia. The Roots is how it should be done.

Ciao Bambinos

Tah tah for now kids. Have a terrific weekend and remember not to get hung up; be cool.

Hasala malakim.

Playlist : November 21st - 25th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Let's get right into the music after a pretty uneventful week. My next playlist has a rarity from Prince, the soundtrack to Boogie Nights as well as the new Muppet movie, some Billy Bragg because I haven't picked up Fight Songs yet and a tribute to The Velvet Underground and Nico from Beck and some friends.

I've also got a band I only just discovered, The Deep Dark Woods, the KRS One and Marley Marl collaboration, some new Kathleen Edwards and an old Rickie Lee Jones and, because it's been so long, The Doors.

Check it out:

• VA - Boogie Nights OST
• Billy Bragg - William Bloke
• Rickie Lee Jones - Flying Cowboys
• Prince - Camille
• VA - Muppets OST
• Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur
• The Doors - The Very Best of the Doors
• The Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours
• KRS One & Marley Marl - Hip Hop Lives
• Beck's Record Club - The Velvet Underground & Nico 2

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. People Under the Stairs
   
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Billy Bragg
4. Dinosaur Jr
5. Lou Reed

Song of the Week : Billy Bragg - Never Buy The Sun

My choice cut for today is Billy Bragg – Never Buy The Sun. I’ve been playing this song constantly all week. I’ve been a fan of Billy Bragg for decades now, because as you know I’m a hard-line lefty and I love a good fighter who takes the rage to the system.

This song is in response to the News Of The World phone hacking scandal. The voice mail of a (it turned out later) murdered girl was hacked by reporters while she was missing. The same reporters paid off cops to get hold of sensitive information. And this was only one instance of hacking in a mass of violations which saw the closure of the paper, owned by our evil ex-citizen Rupert Murdoch.

The chorus line “Scousers never buy The Sun” is a reference to how the people of Liverpool long ago boycotted The Sun newspaper (also one of Rupert’s) because of the way in which they reported the Hillsborough disaster (which if you don’t recall was the human crush inside a soccer stadium where a number of Liverpool supporters died).

I am hoping to soon grab a copy of Fight Songs, Billy Bragg’s latest release from which this track comes. Unfortunately, it’s not selling on his site in download format and I can order the CD and wait for it much cheaper than I can get it on iTunes. So, in the meantime, I’ve been playing this over and over because I really believe something must be done about the state of journalism in Australia, let alone the UK. I won’t get on my high horse here, but really it probably needs nuking from space.

Enjoy. Fight the power!

Toodle-oo

That's it for the week. Play nice out there kids. Take care of each other and maybe do something nice for someone, eh?

May your weekend be awash with perfect moments. Hasala malakim.