Top 10 Favourite Albums of 2013

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Like I did last year, I chose to not post in my last week of work and use my top 10 list as my playlist.  

It seems like every year, I think there's been no monumental album releases until I reflect back and try and choose a top 10. This year saw the best Jason Isbell album yet, probably the best She & Him volume so far, a new David Bowie LP and a bunch of other releases that made my 20. 

Like lists past, these aren't necessarily the *best* albums of 2013, but certainly my personal favourites. A mixtape of one track from each of the top ten is again available for download.

Check it out:

10. Iggy and the Stooges - Ready To Die

Surprisingly just the 5th Stooges album, Ready To Die is just as raucously anarchic as anything they've made before with an added sly wink at the process of aging. The hilariously knowing title Ready To Dies says it all. There's Iggy on the front strapped in explosives with a cross-hairs on his heart. But hey, says the album, he's just a bloke who plays rock and roll for a living - and according to Job, "it doesn't pay shit!" Preoccupied with the same things as they were as teenagers - sex, death, money and drugs; this album has a great deal of energy for a bunch of old geezers.  

9. Camera Obscura - Desire Lines

Ever since I discovered Camera Obscura some time ago, I've been an avowed fan of Tracyanne Campbell's lyrics and voice and the band's melodies. 2009's My Maudlin Career is still on high rotation. This album was produced in Portland with Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Neko Case, My Morning Jacket) and you can hear the difference in the sound. There is much more of an Americana gloss to the songs than we usually get from the Scottish group - even if Tracyanne's vocals still drip heavy with her Glasgow accent. The subjects of every song are familiarly grounded though: I Missed Your Party is an account of what the subject was up to instead of going to someone's party; New Year's Resolution is a kind of apology for a thawing relationship. The title track is a sorrowful lament to a lost lover met in California. This isn't my favourite Camera Obscura LP so far, but it's cracker.     

8. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

I am a long-time, unashamed fan of The National. Their previous release, High Violet made my 2010 list. Trouble Will Find Me is a bit more subdued, but mostly more of the same. And more of the same is exactly what I wanted from The National. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Not that their sound hasn't changed at all, but Matt Berninger's voice and lyrical themes are so recognisably The National that they could never pretend to be anything else. For some highlights, Graceless kicks around with a swag of chaos interspersed with the odd fragile-sounding key riff, Pink Rabbits seems to threaten to be out of time but never quite is and Fireproof is an atmospheric and sweetly sad melody.   

7. Josh Rouse - The Happiness Waltz

Another year, another great Josh Rouse release (two actually, when you count the soundtrack to Spanish film LA GRAN FAMILIA ESPAÑOLA). The Happiness Waltz is the like an anti Blood On The Tracks. It's sweet sounds and sweeter words about the joy of living, loving and being. Julie (Come Out Of The Rain) is a romantic musing on the beginning of a relationship. It's Good To Have You is about living with the love of your life and forgetting all else. Start A Family is a pretty shuffle about, you guessed it, starting a family. What Rouse has done is make an album about all that grown up stuff and each song celebrates the joy of it all. This is a theme far removed from the lost, lonely, uncertain alcoholics and depressed people of his 1972 or Nashville LPs.  

6. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

This album was obviously massive this year and, in terms of global popularity, will probably make number 1 on a lot of lists. It is an enjoyable listen, particularly for those of us who still dig funky disco riffs. I personally don't feel it lives up to the critical acclaim it received  simply because it's just a nice bit of fun nostalgia and nothing at all new is going on here. No denying that it is a great listen though and deserves recognition for blowing up so large. Give Life Back To Music is a funky riff filled celebration. The massive hit Get Lucky is Nile Rodgers at his disco best with a groove and tons of repetition. Lose Yourself To Dance features Pharrell Williams' falsetto over the disco-est break since 1978.  

5. Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt

I've been waiting for a post No Code release from Pearl Jam to really grab me and none of them have. Lightning Bolt is the first release since the 90s that has made me consider myself a Pearl Jam fan. As soon as the opening track Getaway kicked in, PJ had my attention. Mind Your Manners kicked it up another notch again. It's got an energy that wouldn't be out of place on Vs, as does much of the album. Yet they're not afraid to end it with a slower, more contemplative track, Future Days. I hope Pearl Jam can keep this kind of quality coming for many years yet.

4. David Bowie - The Next Day

I have to admit that I didn't expect another album from David Bowie this year, let alone one so good. Another set of songs from an old timer which have a hardened edge (with a world-weary energy) - I'm looking at you Stooges and Pearl Jam. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) is a definite highlight and would have been so even without the brilliantly creepy film clip starring Bowie and Tilda Swinton (quite fittingly "stars" out and about in the suburbs). The Next Day is loud and cranky like much of the album. The softer Where Are We Now? sounds like a mash-up of old and new Bowie tracks. I was highly surprised by the depth of this album. Obviously taking so long to get it out was worth it.  

3. She & Him - Volume Three

There is something old world about She & Him. The good old world of class and sophistication and manners, not the bad old world of institutionalised racism, sexism and homophobia. Volume Three is probably the best of the Volumes so far. It's better because Deschanel and M. Ward's songwriting is evolving, maturing even; with more substance to the catchy 50s pop tunes. Never Wanted Your Love is a smart and wry attack on the cult of celebrity and the ever present tall poppy syndrome - something I think Deschanel knows all too well. I've Got Your Number Son is a bouncy warning not to try any bullshit on the narrator. Somebody Sweet To Talk To is a pretty little gem which is like whispered proclamations with a swinging chorus. The cover of Blondie's Sunday Girl is some great icing on a fantastic cake. 

2. Charles Bradley - Victim Of Love

The first time I heard Strictly Reserved For You, I was blown away. Blown away by the authentic soul of the song and by Charles Bradley's voice. I went right out and got all the Bradley I could - which turned out to be two albums and a documentary. Charles Bradley was a James Brown impersonator who was virtually homeless until the release of his solo debut in 2011. This year's release Victim Of Love contains the aforementioned Strictly Reserved For You, the pleading Victim Of Love, the very funky Hurricane and the instrumental Dusty Blue featuring members of the Dap Kings. The whole LP is right at home at Daptone Records who have a host of other Funk and Soul acts such as Sharon Jones, the Menahan Street Band and The Sugarman 3. This is music for what ails you.

1. Jason Isbell - Southeastern

Southeastern could have made my number 1 spot on the strength of Elephant alone. That track is the most raw and immediate window into the final stages of terminal illness that I have ever heard sung to a guitar. Every other song on the album is just as honest and real. Jason Isbell is becoming one of the great all-time songwriters in a genre known for songs that aren't throwaway. Songs That She Sang In the Shower tells the tale of lost love and the way that music becomes inextricably entwined with people and situations. Relatively Easy is a cautionary tale about being grateful for our first world privilege. New South Wales takes a stab at the kind of things travelling musicians hate on the road (the price of cocaine and the bad tequila) in the Australian state, but pays homage to the landscape as the best place ever to 'sit and think'. Every song is a story of pure poetry and Jason Isbell's finest hour in a career full of fantastic songs from Outfit to Cigarettes and Wine.

Filling out my Top 20 were:

• Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight,
  The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
• Paul McCartney - New 
• Beach Fossils - Clash The Truth 
• Local Natives - Hummingbird
• Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
• Nick Cave - Push the Sky Away
• Elvis Costello & The Roots  Wise Up Ghosts
• Justin Rutledge - Valleyheart
• Telekinesis - Dormarion
• Mavis Staples - One True Vine

2013 Mixtape Track List  

Charles Bradley - Strictly Reserved For You
Josh Rouse - A Lot Like Magic

Pearl Jam - Mind Your Manners
Iggy & the Stooges - Job
David Bowie - The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
The National - Pink Rabbits
Daft Punk - Give Life Back To Music
Camera Obscura - I Missed Your Party
She & Him - I've Got Your Number Son
Jason Isbell - New South Wales

Get the Mixtape

Buon Natale. ¡Feliz Navidad. Frohe Weihnachten. С Рождеством. Merīkurisumasu. Maligayang Pasko. Joyeux Noël, Vrolijk kerstfeest

Be excellent to each other on the holidays. As always and forever: hasala malakim brothers and sisters. 

Hurry Sing Trouble Pilgrim (June 10th - 14th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

I'm just back from the Program Launch of the 2013 Perth Revelation Film Festival after checking out The Deep. Quite an enjoyable film, shot tremendously well. Check it out if you like Icelandic films based on the true life events of a fishing boat tragedy at sea. I think I'd have structured it differently; but what would I know? I'll just get on with the music, shall I?
  
Again this week I've got a couple of artists I've never heard before in Laura Mvula and City and Colour. The other new album this time around is from The National. There's some old, old releases from Pixies and Sonic Youth, as well as a late career release from Concrete Blonde.Two compilations will be on rotation, a Tour Of Duty soundtrack and one of my favourites from KCRW, Rare On Air. Repping Hip Hop for the week, there's two legends in Mos Def (now Yasim Bey) and Brother Ali. 

Check it out:

• Laura Mvula – Sing To The Moon
• Concrete Blonde - Mexican Moon
• VA - The Best of Tour of Duty
• Mos Def - The New Danger
• Brother Ali - The Truth Is Here
• Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
• Sonic Youth - Sonic Youth
• City and Colour - The Hurry and the Harm
• VA - KCRW: Rare On Air Vol. 1
• The National - Trouble Will Find Me

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Boards of Canada
2. The Church
3. Pink Floyd
4. Blondie
5. Bob Evans

Song of the Week : J Geils Band - Freeze Frame

My song this week is just a bit of fun that was conjured up by my roller skating trip on Sunday. As a bit of background, from the time I was about 9 to the time I was 14 and got serious about skateboarding, I was a roller skater. I took actual lessons in figure skating when I was about 11 - 12 down at Kwinana’s then number 1 teen hang out – Astroskate. After each lesson at Astroskate, there’d be a free skate session on a Saturday afternoon. When I’d moved into speedskating, Sunday at 2pm was the session to be at (where a young lad could meet and snowball with lots of likely lasses).

Throughout my time as a roller skater, a few songs were absolute mainstays to certain parts of the session – such as J Geils Band – Freeze Frame  and The Angels – Take a Long Line for speed skate. Imagine my surprise down in Cockburn on Sunday when this song from the was the song of choice for the speed skate session. I know that roller skating is kind of the sport that time forgot, but I was really surprised that the people who control the music were playing Beiber and Psy and all that garbage but still holding onto their staples (Ne Order – Blue Monday in particular).

The only other song by J Geils Band that I know is Centrefold and that got flogged to death at Astroskate too. I’m not sure what this one is really about, other than a model(?!) but I never considered it either while whizzing around the blue concrete wearing my Adidas footy boots with shiny blue trucks and some wheels that were the business back then but who’s name I can’t even recall now. Enjoy!

Ciao 

That's it for this week. If you're a movie person, run on over to the Revelation site and check out the program. Even if you're a music person, there's a bunch of great music docs playing this year; including the Big Star documentary and the one on the late Oz Hip Hop legend, Hunter.

Hasala malakim.

Cold Elephant Alligator Illusion (March 18th - 22nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well, not having learned my lesson from doing my knee to One Direction on the Kinect last week, I have just returned from town where I bought the Michael Jackson Experience. Obviously I am already an expert moonwalker, but I am looking forward to learning the entire Thriller routine. Look for me in flash mobs near you soon (as long as you live in 2010). 

Anyway... This week I have reached for a couple of old favourites. First there's The National with the one album of theirs I haven't flogged to death. Then we have Green Day's Dookie - a staple for any 90s Discman. Then there's The White Stripes - a Noughties iPod staple. After seeing the excellent Searching For Sugar Man documentary recently, Rodriguez is here. Another selection thanks to @Clay5 is the first volume of Use Your Illusion. Volume 2 will get a go next week. I finally got hold of The Raincoats, so that is here along with Black Prairie and Jurassic 5. Two compilations this week; one the soundtrack to Dave Grohl's Sound City doco and the other a sampler of a larger box set called Say It Loud! Black Music in America.

Check it out:

• The National - Alligator
• VA - Sound City : Real to Reel
• Guns n' Roses - Use Your Illusion 1
• Jurassic 5 - Power In Numbers
• Rodriguez - Cold Fact
• The White Stripes - Elephant
• The Raincoats - The Raincoats
• Black Prairie - A Tear in the Eye Is a Wound In The Heart
• Green Day - Dookie
  
• VA - Say It Loud! Black Music In America

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Josh Rouse
2. The Lemonheads
3. Son Volt
4. David Bowie
5. Chelsea Light Moving

Song of the Week : Chelsea Light Moving - Groovy & Linda

In the past, I think I've made my pro-Sonic Youth agenda pretty clear. The band is on hiatus (for retooling?) at the moment, but Thurston has a new side project - Chelsea Light Moving. 

Something to love or loathe about Thurston Moore in equal measure is that he has never grown up. He's really a bit of a brat when you take the music into account. This album is no different. While I could have chosen the song Lip which is just a tantrum with the refrain "too fucking bad!" to illustrate my point, I've gone with Groovy & Linda because it's a better song. 

I like the album and it’s good to have what is basically just new Sonic Youth material missing Kim and adding instead an edge of old Metallica style metal bass and rhythm guitar. This song is exactly like that. 

Adieu

See anything you don't know this week? Check it out and maybe it will lead to something else and something else and something else and soon you'll become as roped into buying music all the time as I am. MWOOOHAHAHAHA! 

Ahem. Hasala malakim.

Long National Underground Nightmare (October 15th - 19th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

I'll be lucky if I get all the required albums tagged and rated in time for work this weekend. I have to set up a new PC and we all know what a hassle that is. I'm in that annoying half way stage of having to find spots for a bunch of data and make some tough decisions on what to ditch. I'll be happier when SSDs come in 2Tb size without having to take a second mortgage. 

What I'll try and get together is a couple of rap classics from Big Daddy Kane and Brand Nubian. Somebody mentioned Teen Spirit online yesterday and I threw on Nevermind; loved it, so I have Bleach. A Jacksons album I may not have heard (though probably have) is here, as is a Velvet Underground set I definitely have. It seems like I am always choosing The National's debut, but it has been 2 years since it made a list. A record I keep meaning to play for the first time since I scored it, Brothers In Arms is here along with Suzanne Vega's debut which I also have in vinyl form. I have disc one from Triple J Hottest 100 vol. 13 here for compilation purposes. Last but definitely not least, I played Alice Cooper's Trash last week on songl, so I'm giving his bona fide classic Welcome To My Nightmare a spin this week. 

Check it out:

• Big Daddy Kane - Long Live The Kane
• Nirvana - Bleach
• The Jacksons - Triumph
• Velvet Underground - VU
• Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare
• VA - Triple J's Hottest 100 13 (Disc One)
• Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
• The National - The National
• Brand Nubian - Foundation
• Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Drive-By Truckers
2. Dr. Dre
3. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
4. You Am I
5. The Hummingbirds

Song of the Week : Elvis Costello - Good Year For The Roses

My SOTW is Elvis Costello - Good Year For The Roses. I've been mulling over it all week. On Monday driving in, it came on a random playlist and I got enthralled with the lyrics. It's such a simple song, really. A couple of very short verses and a chorus. But I found the more I analysed the lyrics, the more it said. In actual fact, it paints an entire story full of history and sadness with just a handful of well-chosen words. 

When you think about what it says, you can gather that the narrator is an almost obsessive gardener who is not much chop at expressing his feelings and who had a wife who picked up after him who has now left him. She wears lipstick, smokes and has clearly had enough of his crap, as she doesn't even speak. Their marriage has been a war of words for 3 years and has now ground to a silent halt. I would hazard a guess too that she has left the baby and he can't even get up to take care of it when it cries. 

Listen to the little clues like "you haven't made the bed" and "there's so little left to say we haven't said" And meanwhile, marriage over, this guy is in shock or numb to it so much that he can only think of the roses in his precious garden. This is, I think, one of those timeless songs which will always be part of the collective musical conscious. I hadn't really thought so hard about the words until this week.  

Dosvedanya, Comrades

I'm trying to plea bargain with the Universe to give me a fine weekend, even if the forecast says rain. I'd be okay with rain at night and sunshine during the day so I can take my girls out riding. Fingers, toes and any other spare appendages crossed.

Hasala malakim.

National Development of Moon Vaccines (August 20th - 24th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


No news to report this week. I finished Skagboys and I've decided to read Trainspotting and then Porno again, so it will be like an Irvine Welsh shindig for a while around here


Lots of new stuff this week music-wise though, starting with albums from The Vaccines and The Bamboos on recommendation from friends; another recommendation, also new, from The Thousands blog was Leure, which is downtempo beats I was surprised I liked the sound of; for a rap fix there's more new stuff from Arrested Development and I Self Devine; there's old stuff too from Pink Floyd, The National and Billy Bragg; a new Fleetwood Mac tribute and one of fifteen live sets from Ryan Adams' Live After Deaf box top it all off. 


Check it out:

• The Vaccines - Come Of Age
• The Bamboos - Medicine Man
• Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
• VA - Just Tell Me That You Want Me - Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
• The National - The National
• Ryan Adams - Live After Deaf (Copenhagen)
• Arrested Development - Standing At The Crossroads
• I Self Divine - The Sound of Low Class Amerika
• Billy Bragg - Back To Basics
• Leure - Holland Sky

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Brand Nubian
2. Elton John
3. Concrete Blonde
4. Ice-T
5. De La Soul

Song of the Week : Elton John  - This Train Don't Stop There Anymore

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had each disk of an Elton John Best Of in my playlists. I have been a fan of Elton since I was a kid, but we all know that sometime in the late 80s, he kind of started sucking and he never fully recovered. Except, in my humble opinion, for the Songs From The West Coast album, from which this song This Train Don't Stop There Anymore, comes.

Do you know what gave Mr John (not his real name) his inspiration to make a decent album? He heard a little record called Heartbreaker by one Mr Ryan Adams. I've heard Elton interviewed about it and he says he heard Heartbreaker and he was embarrassed. He said he was hearing honesty and a real love of songwriting in Adams that he had lost himself.

So this song is all about the loss of inspiration, the dying spark inside Elton to write real soSengs - which ironically is one of the best songs he's ever put out for mine.

"I used to be the Mid Express / All steam and whistles heading West / Picking up my pain from door to door / Riding on the storyline, furnace burning overtime / But this train don't stop there anymore." 

Bon Voyage

Thanks for stopping by. If you like a bit of electronica; which, it has to be said, I don't usually, check out Leure via the link and throw a tenner down on it. The Arrested Development album is free via the link, so grab that if you're a fan. 


That's all from me this week. I'll be back next week with another set of tunes to get me through the working week, and hopefully turn you onto something you haven't heard. 

And speaking of what you haven't heard, if you don't know about #Clay5 and you're on Twitter, you're missing out. Check it out via the blog over at clay5.blogspot.com.au or just follow @Clay5. 

Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.

Futuristic Violet Model Pleasures (May 21st - 25th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well, I got my first take down notice from the DMCA. For The Spectrals - Get A Grip of all things. Not very punk rock guys. Still, who am I to take perceived income away from starving multinational corporations. So I dutifully took it down and I will henceforth quit posting a streaming link to Song of the Week. You'll just have to watch the YouTube video and go buy the single without hearing it properly. But of course, if you'd heard it in good quality streaming, you'd have been more likely to buy it, right? Isn't the Internet the new radio station? I wish corporations really were people, so we could punch them in the face. But I digress...


For my listening pleasure this week I'm holding Steve Tannen's Big Senorita, a CD I just got delivered from The Weepies' site. I have what must be the only BDP album I haven't heard; plus an album from Digable Planets' own Doodlebug. Reaching for some classics I have Elvis Costello and Joy Division; Melissa Etheridge is here because I just bought the vinyl; The 3rd disc of the Mermaid Avenue sessions is here; Pump Up The Volume thanks to a recent #Clay5 on Twitter; Jimmy Smith - Root Down because of the Beastie Boys sample; and finally High Violet because it has been quite some time. 


Check it out:

• Doodlebug feat. D.O.R. - Futuristic Sci-Fi
• Steve Tannen - Big Senorita
• Boogie Down Productions - Edutainment
• Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
• Jimmy Smith - Root Down
• Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions (Disc 3)
• Melissa Etheridge - Never Enough
• VA - Pump Up The Volume OST
• Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
• The National - High Violet

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. U2
3. The Clash
4. Dinosaur Jr.
5. Suzanne Vega

Song of the Week : Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost

This week's song comes courtesy of a TV show; the very great Parks and Recreation. I was a late comer to Parks n Recs, only getting into it after Season 3 was complete, but I've since caught up. I'm pretty sure you all watch it, but sometime in Season 3, April Ludgate mentioned Neutral Milk Hotel as her favourite band. The name didn't ring a bell at the time, so I decided to check them out .


As soon as I heard this song, Ghost, I knew I had heard them many times before. I even knew the words to it. I think I've stumbled across them on sites like themixtapeclub and 8tracks etc because they are obviously quite a popular act. They sound a bit like The Decemberists to my ears with a smattering of Arcade Fire. 


I dig this song in particular for its folky hipster vibe and the catchy melodies of "dee dee dee dee dee dee" and the line that I instantly recognised “She was born in a bottle rocket, 1929" I'm almost positive you know it, so I hope you like it.


Byeeee

Peace out homeys. Be safe, go well and don't let the Man bring you down. Go Eagles!


Hasala malakim.

Kamaal the Sad Television Companion (April 16 - 20)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


I can't begin to tell you how busy my week has been, so I won't try. Suffice to say I shall be busy at work from now until, roughly... the END OF TIME! To get through this overwhelming metric ton of work for the foreseeable future, I'm going to need plenty of tunes. 


Which is why I have some smooth Hip Hop grooves from Q-Tip and Mos Def's Black on Both Sides; some anarchic and cathartic punk from Black Flag;  self-titled LPs from both The Far West and Television; The National's mostly overlooked second LP;  the latest from Counting Crows and M. Ward; the first album in the first Holy Trinity from Bob Dylan and a solid compilation from KCRW.


Check it out:

• Q-Tip - Kamaal The Abstract
• Black Flag - Damaged
• Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
• The Far West - The Far West
• Television - Television
• The National - Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
• Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine
• M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion
• Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
• VA - KCRW Sounds Eclectic 3

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Prince
2. Drive-By Truckers
3. Uncle Tupelo
4. A Tribe Called Quest
5. U2

Song of the Week : Prince - Nothing Compares 2 U

So now to my song for the week. I was bitterly disappointed (though not at all surprised) that Prince isn't coming to Perth. I could probably wrangle a work flight to Melbourne and see him there, but I don’t want to stay away from home to catch him. Besides, what was touted as “keeping with current tour prices” (which was as low as $25) has become, I’ve seen, as much as $850 a ticket. Ridiculous.


So I’m definitely not going to see Prince. But I can pick my favourite live Prince track for SOTW. This is the original and best version of Nothing Compares 2 U. A world away from Sinead O’Connor’s forlorn pop ballad version, this is heart wrenching Soul from the purple one and Rosie Gaines. Gaines’ voice is amazing and you can hear Prince smiling as he coaxes responses from her within the song lyric. 


Besides missing a moment like the legendary George Harrison tribute, I think what I upsets me most about missing the Prince tour is the chance to hear some of Pop music’s greatest songs done live by a living legend. C'est la vie. Enjoy.

Hoo-roo

Until next time, may your weekend be filled with music and the good kind of mayhem. If you find something new to listen to, don't be a selfish hipster and hide it away for yourself - hook a brother up.


And speaking of shared knowledge, I just got back from The Record Finder in Fremantle. I go there every chance I get, which is a lot, but now something is bugging me. The range is huge, no doubt; but the prices on new LPs are out of whack and the used vinyl is sealed up so you can't check it. I think why it suddenly bothers me is that Mills Record Bar up the road have beefed up their selection and cut the prices to very reasonable levels. The range may not be the same, but they do stock some of the best records ever made - from Bob Dylan to The National. So my advice if you're hunting vinyl in town is only check Record Finder for more left-field used vinyl and be prepared to ask to see it. 


Vinyl tragics unite! Hasala malakim.

Playlist : October 3rd - 7th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well it was a big week in music for me last week; not so much in football. While the Eagles hardly showed up against the Cats, music gave me a screening of Nirvana Live at Paramount and the streaming of the brand new Ryan Adams release Ashes & Fire to make it quite an exceptional week.

This list contains both the Adams LP and the deluxe release of Nevermind which includes the Paramount concert. I've also got some new Feist and the Seu George Life Aquatic LP I've been meaning to hear since I saw the film. I also grabbed the only The National album I don't tend to play alot, Boxer and some Hip Hop for spiritual well-being.

Check it out:

• Seu George - The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions
• Nirvana - Nevermind (Super Deluxe)
• Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
• Counting Crows - August and Everything After: Live At Town Hall
• The National - Boxer
• The Whitlams - Undeniably Whitlams
• Violent Femmes - Viva Wisconsin
• Superstar Quamallah & Deqawn – Talkin’ All That Jazz
  
• Feist - Metals
• Boogie Down Productions - Ghetto Music : The Blueprint of Hip Hop

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Ryan Adams
2. R.E.M.
3. Sly & The Family Stone
4. Tori Amos
5. Ice-T

Song of the Week : Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire

I wasn’t going to go with my first choice for Song of the Week because it’ too obvious. But song of the week is supposed to be about the song that’s been huge in your week right? And this is the track I have been digging on all week, over and over.

This title track to the new release from young Grizzly Adams is an amazing song with the dual keys sound of Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde. There’s a honkytonk vibe and a bit of a country rollick about it. I’ve heard a solo acoustic version of the song and as you’d imagine, it sounds very different. I usually like a stripped down bare bones track, but I really dig the instrumentation on this one.

TTFN

Tah tah for now brothers and sisters. If you're watching the AFL Grand Final, I hope your team wins and you quaff alot of beers and party food. That's a pretty decent Saturday afternoon to my mind.

Adios muchahos. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : August 15th - 19th, 2011

Good day to you Tunesters.

It's been a sunny if uneventful week here in sleepy Perth. My only news is that Miss 4, my eldest child, is now officially Miss 5. The Michael Jackson - Thriller 25th Anniversary picture disc vinyl I bought her went down a treat. We haven't played it yet, but those zombies are going to look pretty awesome at 33rpm.

So, on to the music. This week I'm spinning Gotye's Like Drawing Blood album just because I really love the new single and can't wait for the new Gotye album. Speaking of new albums, I have the hot new collaboration between Jay-Z and Kanye, a new one from the 'Gurge and Juliana Hatfield's most recent release. Also in there is Joan Jett & the Blackhearts because I've been looking for some 'girl' bands to get my daughters into. Finally, along with some other stuff, the 1992 AUS tour EP from Nirvana, Hormoaning. I probably should have bought this when I had the chance all those moons ago in Record Finder, Fremantle; it would have been a lot cheaper than it is now.

Check it out.

• Juliana Hatfield - There's Always Another Girl
• Regurgitator - Superhappyfuntimesfriends
• Gotye - Like Drawing Blood
• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - I Love Rock n Roll
• Nirvana - Hormoaning
• Jay Z & Kanye - Watch the Throne
• Wheat – White Ink, Black Ink
• Jungle Brothers – Straight Out The Jungle
• The National - Boxer
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Donnas
2. Sound Providers
3. Jay Farrar
4. Neko Case
5. Led Zeppelin

Song of the Week : Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

This week I reaffirmed what of course everybody already knows. Zeppelin rules! I put Led Zep II on my playlist and it made sweet sweet love to my ears. Yesterday after a really hard day, I slipped into the office at home, hopped on the bike and pressed play on Remasters on CD. And then I cranked it. Me, the bike, the Xbox and Led Zep were all tucked in my man cave and everything outside wasn’t there anymore and I didn’t feel quite so stressed. I almost fell in love with rock all over again.

This song, Immigrant Song, I realised is just about the heaviest god damn piece of rock on the planet. Now I’m not one for your Swedish Death Metal bands and the like, and I know there are bands that are like rotting corpses as far as black metal goes, but damn it if this Zep tracks doesn't make you feel Satan’s cold cloven hand on your soul as he pulls it out of your throat and it makes that Aaaaahhaaaahhhhhuuuuh sound that Plant sings.

I also picked it for the title because I’ve been a little pissed off at online douchebags blaming immigration for the London riots. Bigots! Turn this up loud boys and salute the dark master of rock n roll \m/

Adieu

So there we have it. So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu (sorry if that made you sing the song...).

Until next week, asalaam alikum.

Playlist January 31 - February 4th, 2011

Hello and welcome to another Work Tunes. I trust we've all had a HUGE Australia Day and we're ready to get back to work and do the hard yards.

To get me through my working week, I've got a list with a few Australian artists both pop and rap, a touch of folk and another 90s classic. It looks like this:

• Paul Kelly – The A – Z Recordings (Disc Three) : Three discs in now and I am really enjoying these live and sparsely instrumented cuts from the master's songbook. Highlights of the Kelly magic on Disc Three include God Told Me To, the timeless political anthem From Little Things, Big Things Grow and the greatest Australian Christmas song ever - How To Make Gravy.

• Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean : I was a little late to the Iron & Wine party. I know now that their earlier stuff was a little quieter than it is now and didn't have the instrumentation of this album. Some songs, such as Godless Brother In Love still have the sombre ebb of earlier cuts, but others have a new noise, at times even a groove. Either way, I like what I know of them and this is the latest.

• Babes in Toyland - Fontanelle : Following on from last week's 90s obsession, I have another classic grunge era set I'd like to hear. Forming in 1987 as a punk band in Minneapolis, Babes In Toyland eventually became a large part of the 'alternative' scene of the early to mid 90s. Fontanelle was their first and best selling full length album. Strange, arty and angry background vocals/voices and dirty guitar fuzz driven by a crunchy bass is what you'll get for your money.

• Edie Brickell - Edie Brickell : Dropping a self-titled album for your ninth release seems rather a strange thing to do. I suppose when you haven't had a lot of success sales-wise since your double platinum effort in 1988 (Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars), you might as well give it a shot. In 1988, 'Rubberbands' was a staple listen for me and then again a few years later at first year Uni, it became a sort of soundtrack. Apart from that, Brickell's Good Times film clip shipped with Windows 95 to show off it's awesome video capabilities (*chortle*). This CD I haven't played yet, but given 88s release is such a timeless classic, Edie's latest deserves a listen.

• VA - Dazed and Confused Soundtrack : Richard Linklater's film about high school in the 1970s took great pains to get everything right. From the clothes to the cars and the little paper cups the kids drink keg beer from, Linklater wanted to capture the vibe and the look of the 70s. One way he did that exceptionally well was the soundtrack. This collection of rock classics includes Cherrybomb by The Runaways, Kiss' Rock n Roll All Night, Black Sabbath's Paranoid and Alice Coopers' School's Out. Conspicuously missing of course is the Led Zeppelin song from which the film takes its name and the excellently used No More Mr Nice Guy by Alice Cooper.

• The National - The Virginia EP : After Bloodbuzz Ohio made #31 in a rather disappointing JJJ Hottest 100, I was speaking with my boss about what bands were at least decent in the list. The National was my first choice. I put him on to some early stuff and it made me want to hear some National too. This is an EP of demos and outakes released in conjunction with a tour documentary DVD (A Skin, A Night) after breakthrough album Boxer and before their latest effort High Violet.

• Pearl Jam - Ten : Another conversation raised by the Hottest 100 was about how in 1992 it was impossible to get Pearl Jam tickets. That led to talk about this album and how I haven't heard it in some time (preferring instead to reach for Vs or Vitalogy). I remember clearly a time when I'd play Ten over and over again all day for days.

• Bliss n Eso - Running On Air : The latest platinum selling disc from the Sydney skip hop duo. I first heard these guys via a free track on iTunes. I'm not sure what song that was, but it was off the brilliant Day of the Dog album and I've been a fan since. With guests such as Xzibit and samples as unexpected as Kasey Chambers, B&E are at their peak right now and blowing up fast.

• Muphin - More Than Music : Some more Aussie Hip Hop (thanks Australia Day), this time from one half of the Muph n Plutonic duo. Muphin always takes the laid back and chilled down verses on the M&P albums, so it's no wonder this solo effort is full of such songs.

• Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South : Conor Oberst has apparently released 5 solo albums, but of those I have only heard the self-titled release from 2008. As Bright Eyes I am a big fan of Oberst's brand of self-referencial, tongue-in-cheek morbid dirges and lo-fi techniques. The self-titled solo album is just as morbid but a little less cheeky. I am yet to hear this set with the Mystic Valley Band and I am looking forward to it.

If you hear just one of these albums, make it Paul Kelly. There are some songs on there that have been entered into the national psyche and are as much a part of our shared culture as The Man From Snowy River once was. It might only be a financial services advertisement, but now everyone knows From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

That's it from me. I'm going to get through a weekend of forecasted humidity around a bajillion percent any way I can. I hope you can too.

Peace man, right on.