Donnas Exposed Monster Beats (September 2nd - 6th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

After a terrible rookie mistake, I am spending my late Saturday afternoon recovering deleted TV shows from an external disc. There's a reason we invented confirmation prompts and unfortunately I didn't take the time to really consider my response. Do you really want to permanently delete your TV shows Corey? Do you really? So now, one folder at a time, I'm running a recovery program on it. HandyRecovery - I can't recommend it enough, obviously. But never mind all that now, to the music.

It has been so long since I heard Monster that I'd forgotten the track list. I recently bought an Alt Country double compilation, so disc one is here; and I dragged Gillian Welch along for the ride to compliment it. I can't ever get enough Tribe and I think it was Harry Allen who recommended Talib Kweli & Hi Tek's LP. Just the one new album this week, but what a new one, from the gorgeous Neko Case. More ol friends on the bill come from Dinosaur Jr, The Donnas and Paul Kelly. Finally, because I couldn't stop humming Feel Like Makin' Love complete with air guitar riffing (I think that's a complex part of my current 70s muscle car fascination), I have the best of Bad Company.

Check it out:

• R.E.M. - Monster
• VA - Exposed Roots - Best of Alt Country (Disc 1)
• Gillian Welch - Revival
• Talib Kweli & Hi Tek - Reflection Eternal
• Paul Kelly - Deeper Water
• A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes and Life
• The Donnas - Spend the Night
• Bad Company - 10 from 6 (Greatest Hits)
• Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
• Neko Case - The Worse Things Get...

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Giorgio Moroder
2. Björk
3. The Cranberries
4. Savages
5. Steve Earle & The Dukes (And Duchesses)

Song of the Week : Pond  - Hobo Rocket

I've never paid much attention to Tame Impala, so when I found Pond on NPR, I wasn't aware of the connection or that Pond had already had albums out. All I knew was there was a Perth band getting noticed in the US even if it was by public radio. 

The album Hobo Rocket is an enjoyable listen and I picked the title track because it's a bit of fun. The vocals are done by some guy named Cowboy John who is meant to be a Perth fixture (I'm sure one of you will be able to fill in the uninitiated?!) 

His singing sounds like Eddy Vedder pretending to be a bum. The song is a psychedelic freak out of a jam session with a sort of homeless grunge rap. 

अलविदा

A Happy Father's Day for us breeders in Australia for tomorrow. I hope there's some quality family time and some vinyl involved - well for me at least. 

Hasala malakim.

Playlist August 8th - 12th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

In this week's list, I have a repeat performance from two bands I really enjoyed last week - The Donnas and Elbow. I threw in some classic Prince because a borrowed Weather Report LP had me feeling funky. I also threw in that Weather Report LP. The most recent episode of True Blood featured a great track from Neko Case, so it made me add that album too. The No Boundaries compilation was picked up in an Op Shop for $1, pretty sweet huh? And there's other stuff too. Check it out.

• VA - No Boundaries: A Benefit For The Kosovar Refugees
• Weather Report - Black Market
• Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
• The Donnas - Bitchin'
• Q Tip - The Renaissance
• Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
• Prince - Prince
• Neko Case - Blacklisted
• Jay Farrar - Sebastapol
• Sound Providers - An Evening With The Sound Providers

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Civil Wars
2. The Donnas
3. Eminem
4. Grateful Dead
5. Elbow

Song of the Week : Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

This week’s song I almost had to post the YouTube to, because I didn’t have it, but then I realised I’d emailed it to someone and booya! Sent folder baby. That being said, the clip is really cool, so you might want to watch it anyway : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY

This is the newest song from Gotye. I don’t know much about him, I only have Like Drawing Blood and wouldn’t call myself a proper fan. But this track in duet with Kimbra is amazing. Not just for the terrific film clip but for the good old-fashioned melody and rock-ballad-esque intensity. Something about it puts me in mind of 70s Sherbert or Peter Gabriel. Listen when he sings “you didn’t have to stoop so low” or “I guess that I don't need that though”, its very Gabriel. Looking forward to hearing the album. The YouTube clip says its Making Mirrors and out on August 19.

До свидания

That's it for another week. My the time does fly. Thanks for stopping by. This weekend I'll be celebrating Miss 4's graduation to Miss 5 with the adding of sizzle to sausages and trying not to freak out about how fast it has all gone o_O

Asalaam alikum brothers and sisters.

Playlist : August 1st - 5th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes. Let's get straight to the music.

Two big losses to the world of music this week in the form of British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse and Dan Peek of America fame. I had an America compilation on rotation a while back, but I've slotted Winehouse's Back to Black into this week.

Everywhere I go lately, everyone is talking about Elbow, so I've chosen their 2001 debut LP, Asleep In The Back. I might play their most recent effort next week.

Inspired by a question posed online by Harry Allen ("Hip Hop activist and media assassin") about whether Eminem would be considered as great if he were black, I've got Em's breakthrough Slim Shady LP and the whiteboy frat party stylings of Asher Roth, another once-much-vaunted whiteboy rapper.

Finally, amongst other selections, I have one more LP inspired by Revelation - The Best of The Grateful Dead, which I chose thanks to the secret screening on Sunday past - Magic Trip (2011).

But that's not all, so check it out:

• Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
• The Grateful Dead - The Very Best Of The Grateful Dead
• The Donnas - Spend the Night
• Eminem - Slim Shady LP
• Asher Roth - Asleep In The Bread Aisle
• Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
• Deep Purple - Machinehead
• Black Rose Noise - The Manifesto
• REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity
• Elbow - Asleep In The Back

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beck
2. Pentagram
3. Guns N' Roses
4. Midlake
5. INXS

Song of the Week : Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band - Stay Away

Spin Magazine put out a free tribute to Nevermind, since this year is the 20th anniversary of its release. Twenty years! Think about that. I clearly remember the first time I held a copy of Nevermind and I distinctly recall my first listen. I’d only heard Teen Spirit at the time and I thought it was great, but I had no inkling of what the whole LP would come to mean to us all.

The Spin tribute features a stack of bands, but most of them do covers that, while very different to Nirvana, still have the same indie rock ethic. I chose this Menahan Street Band cut, because it’s the one track that completely removes the song from its indie hole and turns it into something else entirely. And the coolest thing about this version of Stay Away, is it sounds just like it’s always been a Soul song. Nothing about the lyrics betray the Soul sensibility the way Charles Bradley sings it. I hope you enjoy it. You can DL the whole tribute LP if you haven’t already, here.

Adeus

In the immortal words of the Beastie Boys; that's it, that's all, that's all there is. I have a date with my wife on Saturday morning to go and see Morgan Spurlock's The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and an outing planned for some second hand vinyl and other bric a brac on Sunday.

I hope your collective weekends are copacetic. As always, asalaam alikum.