Blonde Celebrity Kingdom Revolution (February 25th - March 1st)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Just back from a haircut to hurriedly throw this all together. Seems I have to hurry through everything at the moment with so many deadlines going around. Be that as it may, there's always time for music.

A couple of Best Ofs this week from folk rocker Tim Easton and 80s icon Pat Benatar. There's a grimy old Dinosaur Jr. and a more saccharine Cranberries debut. I found an Eminem bootleg and I'm spinning Jay-Z for a rap fix. Thanks to Clay5 I have my number 1 favourite Bob Dylan album. There's the Forrest Gump soundtrack courtesy of my Aunt who gave me all her CDs. It's been a while, so Out of Time is here; and lastly, something new from Atoms For Peace.

Check it out:

• Tim Easton - Before the Revolution
• Eminem - Trailer Park Celebrity
• Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
• Pat Benatar - The Very Best Of Pat Benatar
• The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
• Atoms For Peace - Amok
• R.E.M. - Out Of Time
• Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
  
• VA - Forrest Gump
• Jay-Z - Kingdom Come

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Hilltop Hoods
2. Eminem
3. Beach Fossils
4. Sonic Youth
5. The Whitlams

Song of the Week : The Blackbyrds - Happy Music

I'm horridly pushed for time at the moment. So I'm picking a rushed SOTW but still a good song. 

In early February, jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd died aged 83. Byrd (not that one) played with a bunch of greats like Hank Mobley, Art Blakey and even Coltrane. He was one of the pioneers of taking the jazz horn section and turning it into funk and soul.  

What I didn't know is that a bunch of the students he taught at Howard formed their own funk/fusion band The Blackbyrds in 1973. When I read that in an obit, I checked them out via a Best Of compilation.

I chose Happy Music from the best of, because of our talk last week about maudlin songs. It seems appropriate and it's a really kick-arse funky track for a Friday afternoon.

Arrivederci

Did I mention I think I saw Poh Ling Yeow down the shops? She's cute and affable, but I'm not enough of a fan to bother her for a photo. Was pretty cool to see her though. She's probably home now marveling at how she saw me and didn't want to bother me. Probably.

Peace out homes. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : May 23rd - 27th, 2011

Hello to all of you who didn't get picked for Team Rapture. Welcome to Work Tunes.

I'm writing all of this in a bit of a hurry on a Friday night. I'm not normally this rushed, but I lost a day of work on Thursday to look after Miss 4, so I've been playing catch up. That aside, I seem to be in a rush a lot lately. Instead of finding more time to review movies by paring down this blog, I have found less time even for this. WHo knows where the time goes.

On to the music anyhow. This week there's a lot of new albums I either stumbled across or had recommended to me. I'm glad I'll get to hear the new Bon Iver that everybody loves. There's also Michael Hutchence's side project Max Q from 1989, added after a conversation about how great INXS once were. I just now added Prince - Purple Rain because I have been watching the man himself carve up the stage playing the solo in a tribute rendition of Georg Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps. If you haven't seen it, check it out - Prince channels Hendrix, I swear.

• Seapony - Go With Me
• Bon Iver - Bon Iver
• Max Q - Max Q
• The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
• VA - Bob Dylan - 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
• Tim Easton - Since 1966
• Jay-Z - The Blueprint
• Prince - Purple Rain
• Anthony De Costa - Not Afraid of Nothing
  
• Nas - Nastradamus

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Warner Brothers
2. Eddie Vedder
3. The Pretenders
4. INXS
5. The Rural Alberta Advantage

Song of the Week : The Rural Alberta Advantage - Two Lovers

This morning’s song comes again from a band I only just discovered. Apparently they have two albums out. The song came on AccuRadio on the Au Naturale channel that I put on as working background sometimes.

What caught my ear with the song was mainly the mix and the melody. There is a good deal of sonic warmth in the vocal track and it sounds immediate and close. I don’t know if that will come out in the lower bitrate version I have for you guys (the 320kbps is 8mb) but hopefully it will.

Two Lovers seems to be about dangerous obsession, though it’s a sweet sung ballad. It’s obvious they are apart with lines like “If I ever hold you again” yet he’s singing about holding her ‘tight enough to crush a vein’. It’s creepy as well as sweet. Weird. I dig it.

Are We There Yet?

If you still haven't received your pass onto the Mothership, don't worry. Those of us left behind get more resources, more land and less discrimination to go around.

If you check out anything on this list besides the new Bon Iver, give The Rural Alberta Advantage a go, they're very good if you like your music to twang. Bye for now.