Another Wise Street Club (September 23rd - 27th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Almost didn't make this list today because it's been non stop since this morning. A doctor's visit followed by shopping and swimming lessons and then more shopping. It's about 5 minutes to beer o'clock right now and I'm just getting down to it.

First cab off the rank next week is the excellent new collaboration between Elvis Costello and The Roots. Another great album I've already streamed is the first disc of Bob Dylan's sort of 'apology' for Self Portrait in Bootleg Series 10. Believe it or not, I haven't heard Led Zeppelin Presence in 25 years.s, so that's here. Also here is the soundtrack to the brilliant Beavis and Butthead Do America, plus *more* Van Halen because who can get enough?! From a few years back now, I've got (Please) Don't Blame Mexico and from even further back, the greatest Talking Heads album ever. Finally, in Hip Hop's corner, there's Nas' 'comeback' album, Stillmatic and the all-important Street Sounds Hip Hop compilation - this one, volume 18 is from a couple of years after I found rap; 16 and 17 were my jam.

Check it out:

• Elvis Costello & The Roots - Wise Up Ghost
• Bob Dylan - Another Self Portrait (Bootleg Series 10) (Disc 1)
• Led Zeppelin - Presence
• VA - Beavis and Butthead Do America OST
• (Please) Don't Blame Mexico - Concorde
• Van Halen - OU812
• VA - Street Sounds Hip Hop 18
• Talking Heads - Remain In Light
• Sheryl Crow - Tuesday Night Music Club
• Nas - Stillmatic

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Motörhead
2. D12
3. Real Estate
4. Things Of Stone and Wood
5. Body/Head

Song of the Week : Sebadoh - Beat

I've picked a track from the new Sebadoh album for this week’s SOTW. Sebadoh you probably know is Dinosaur Jr bassist Lou Barlow’s band. The album Defend Yr Self is an enjoyable listen, even if it doesn't really do anything new for music. That is probably what I’m enjoying about it though – the nostalgia of that grimy 90s fuzz sound that Dinosaur Jr do so well. 

The song I picked is Beat, because a) it’s fuzzy and grimey and I dig it and b) it’s one of the only ones with a YouTube clip and I want to embed one on my blog. It’s a bit sloppy and stuttered and it feels like a busted cassette copy at times, but that’s what gives it a nicely authentic grunge sound. It’s also heavy on the bass levels and that’s what happens when the bass player is in charge I guess. 

Toodle Oooo

Look, there is a lot of purple in my neighborhood right now, so obviously something is going on with the mob down the road. Not for me to say, but apparently they have been a well-disciplined football side all year and they probably deserve a grand final berth. 

Damn if that didn't hurt like hell.

Hasala malakim.

The Devil's Loaded Eye (September 9th - 13th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Well, as I stated on Twitter; I went. I voted. I sausaged. It is a sad day for Australian politics on the Left, when only The Greens have true left values, Labor are trying hard to be right-wing and everyone else is a greedy or xenophobic conservative. It is clear now that the LNP will govern Australia for the next 3 years; no doubt blaming the ALP for any failings long enough to get a second term. They come to power on a ticket that says Labor is incompetent; conveniently brushing aside the lowest cost of living increase in 25 years, record low unemployment and uninterrupted growth, not to mention superb management through the GFC all thanks to Labor. In the end, in any democracy, you get the government you deserve. So, what can you do. Rant over.

The music looks like this: I've added the second disc of last week's Alt Country compilation. I am checking out the new Nine Inch Nails and the new Belle and Sebastian. Some old Van Halen gets a gig and so does some even older Velvet Underground. There's Arrested Development's one big album and D12's most successful. I have two EPs from Dolorean squished together to make an album and Tracy Chapman's debut classic. Lastly there's some jazz from Ornette Coleman whose The Shape Of Jazz To Come LP I *almost* bought last weekend. 

Check it out:

• Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
• VA - Exposed Roots - Best of Alt Country (Disc 2)
• Belle And Sebastian – The Third Eye Centre
• Dolorean - No Offense/Bloodknot EPs
• Van Halen - Diver Down
• Ornette Coleman - New York Is Now
• Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
• Velvet Underground - Loaded
• Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of...
• D12 - Devil's Night

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Gillian Welch
2. Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek
3. A Tribe Called Quest
4. Van Halen
5. The Donnas

Song of the Week : Bad Company - Feel Like Makin' Love

I've recently developed a healthy obsession with 1970s US muscle cars and the whole big dumb decadent summer vibe that goes with them. For some reason, I associate this song with that same vibe. I must have seen it in a road movie or something, because it's inextricable.  But having searched IMDB I cannot find proof of this association.* 

It has been stuck in my head for weeks while I've read muscle car mags and watched Death Proof (with Vanishing Point and maybe Cannonball due this weekend). Yesterday at work, listening to it, I could barely stop myself from stomping my feet. In fact, I didn't stop myself at all. I stomped. 

An air guitar classic for sure, I think the genius of Feel Like Makin' Love is the tiny silence between "feel like makin' " and that tasty guitar riff. It all seems like a harmless wuss rock ballad until that guitar and then it begins to rawk \m/ So I hope you all enjoy a good old fashioned rock out.

*(Postscript: I just found out it was in the Simpsons episode where the school is snowed in. It plays on the radio and Homer claims to have written it. For Lady Di!).

Vaarwel 

Lefties, let us bow our heads in solemn (non-secular) prayer that there is some semblance of sanity in the Senate to ensure we can't all get shipped off to toil in Jabba Rinehart's underground salt mines to pay for the tax cuts to the wealthy and fund our own, gutted public services. 

Hasala malakim.

Yo! Familiar Desire Funk (June 3rd - 7th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's a long weekend where I am, for Western Australia Day (formerly Foundation Day), so I'm looking forward to a Monday without any solid purpose. Right now I'm fighting a cold as well as a %#^^&$^&$# wisdom toothache, so forgive me if you know me irl and I'm a bit cranky.
  
A few new ones and some bands I just discovered this week. There's new releases from Camera Obscura and Bob Evans, plus Mona and Maria who I've only just found. Boards of Canada are another band I've been meaning to check out for a good 5 years or more. There's some rock classics from Blondie and Van Halen (on a huge Blondie kick still). A compilation packed full of funk and one with old school Hip Hop get a gig. The best of the Church is here too and lastly Pearl Jam's Backspacer.

Check it out:

• VA - Yo! MTV Raps
• Bob Evans - Familiar Stranger
• Blondie - Blondie
• Camera Obscura - Desire Lines
• Mona and Maria - My Sun
• Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children
• Pearl Jam - Backspacer
• Van Halen - Van Halen II
• VA - Funk Soul Brothers
• The Church - The Best of the Radio Songs

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Al Green
2. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell
3. Suzanne Vega
4. Oblivians
5. The Sonics

Song of the Week : Kraftwerk - Electric Cafe

Because Daft Punk's new one was flavour of the month last week, I gave it a spin. I have to say I really enjoyed it. The production is great and it sounds terrific, inside headphones especially. It is nicely intricate and it plays around with that retro sounding electronica. 

And there's the thing. Everyone was falling over themselves to declare it a masterpiece and raving on and on and on about how great it was, but forgetting that it borrows pretty heavily from a number of sources that they wouldn't afford the same rave reviews.

So with that in mind, I span another album this week by Kraftwerk. The title track off Electric Cafe is, from this album at least, probably the best example of where some of the sound of Random Access Memories comes from. I'm not knocking Daft Punk for pastiching and blending the way they did. As Simon said, there are elements of ELO on RAM too. It’s great, but people should acknowledge the debts it owes when fawning over it.

Kommen sie bitte und listen to Kraftwerk

Toodle Oooh

Happy weekend bliss wherever you are, but especially in Perth with the long one. Be excellent to each other and drive safe if you're on the roads - especially around one particular big black Jeep with a cranky, sniffly old hipster dufus in it.

Hasala malakim.

Darkness Never Moving Toto (January 14th - 18th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

The first working week of the year is done and dusted and it wasn't half bad. The usual administrative start led smoothly into the massive workload and busy bee of a the end of the week. Through it all of course was the music, just like next week.

For next week, I have a few musical equivalents of a warm cup of cocoa with 80s radio-friendly sets from Toto, Van Halen and The B-52s. I've got a Skip Hop contingent from a compilation and an album from The Herd; as well as more Australian music from the one and only Paul Kelly. I'm trying to rediscover the Ryan Adams & the Cardinals outtakes from III/IV and I bought a Sonic Youth album I haven't heard. Lastly, for a little bit of groove, I am including Jamiroquai. 

Check it out:

• Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving
• Toto - IV
• Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - III/IV
• Van Halen - 5150
• VA - Official: The Best of Australian Hip Hop Vol. 1
• Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge
• The B-52s - The B-52s
• Paul Kelly - Words and Music
• The Herd - The Sun Never Sets
• Sonic Youth - Murray Street

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Hornsby
2. The Autumn Defense
3. JEFF the Brotherhood
4. Datarock
5. Cotton Jones

Song of the Week : Joe "Bean" Esposito - You're The Best

Speaking of holidays, mine was great, thanks for asking and it inspired this week’s SOTW. It’s actually more like Song of the Month because we've hummed and sung and played it all holidays. 

As you probably know from Twitter, I got my girls a skateboard each for Christmas. I haven’t had a chance to take Miss 3 out because we kept her in the day care routine as best we could, but I taught Miss 6 the basics and she is doing well. She can now stand up and push and coast in a mostly straight line. I have taught her to lean turn but she can’t turn in a big arc yet. Still, a lot better than me at 6 when I used to basically sit on my plastic board and roll down our steep driveway. 

Because it was like a training montage of trying and failing, I happened to sing (for Mrs Coreyj's benefit) the Joe Esposito track from Karate Kid – You’re The Best. Big chuckles ensued of course. But the song hasn't gone away. It’s been stuck in all our heads for weeks. So now I’m giving it to you! The interesting thing about the track is how cheesy and comically-sincere it is, but at the time, it was completely serious. It’s a “hard rock” track with keys in the mode of a Journey or even a Toto, but with small and aborted attempts at Ian Gillan style vocal acrobatics. 

So, try to ignore the fact that this track is from the GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE and just judge it on its own merits. 

Adieu

Thanks for stopping by. As always, happy musical trails to you all. Hasala malakim.

10 Nebraska Gemini Killers (November 19th - 23rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's Friday night and I'm getting this all done now before a big weekend visiting the In Laws. They have a lovely 5 acre patch of bushland but hardly any 3G coverage. I'm hoping to get in a bit of kayaking on the lake while I'm there, so that should keep me distracted from the Internet. Keeping me from getting distracted at work next week, I've got some sweet, sweet tunes.

I have the vast dichotomy of a collection of Ice Cube songs and Springsteen's homemade classic, Nebraska. A classic also from The Lemonheads. Because @sunky got me thinking about Wild Nothing, I'm playing Gemini; Los Angeles from LA punks X is here; you can thank Metal Evolution again for Van Halen. The final disc from The Motown Years is here, as is an Us3 album I only recently found. Patterson Hood, Drive-By Trucker is here with a solo effort. And last of all, as a tribute to the band's announcement that they've played their last show (some would say, thankfully) I have the 25th anniversary edition of INXS - Kick.

Check it out.

• Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
• The Lemonheads - Come On Feel The Lemonheads
• X - Los Angeles
• INXS - Kick 25th Anniversary
• Van Halen - Van Halen
• Us3 - Questions
• Michael Jackson - The Motown Years (Disc 3)
• Patterson Hood - Killers and Stars
• Wild Nothing - Gemini
• Ice Cube - 10 Great Songs

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Cody ChesnuTT
2. Mumford & Sons
3. Paul Kelly
4. Alice Cooper
5. Wild Nothing

Song of the Week : Cody ChesnuTT - 'Til I Met Thee

If you haven't already heard it, check out the new Cody ChesnuTT album, Landing On A Hundred. It's packed full of some really funky soul. 

The only other ChesnuTT track I knew before this was Look Good In Leather, which is funky as hell, but not very serious and soulful. The tunes on this album seem to borrow from all over the Soul spectrum, grabbing Stevie Wonder style rhythms here and there, Sam Cooke crooning and on my SOTW, Marvin Gaye's horns.

The song is 'Til I Met Thee and I am sure you will hear the Marvin Gaye all over it. There's the horn section and the doo wop backing as well as the smooth bass and the layer on layer of instrumentation. I guess ChesnuTT picked it up too, because he seems to be trying to channel Marvin through his voice as well. 

Adios

Thanks for stopping by. May this weekend be the one you have that epiphany you've been waiting for; and may you get as much of a lie in as you need.

Hasala malakim.

NY Teenanger Ambulance Jets (Apr 23 - 27)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


It's been another busy week at work and I was glad to have some good music to get me through. Next week is going to be just as busy and the ANZAC Day public holiday is smack bang in the middle. I have an Australian LP in the mix to honour the Diggers, but as a general rule, the records I chose are mostly older, either electronic, punk or rock with a slice of gangsta thrown in. 


I've got disc 1 of Tupac's Greatest Hits because the Coachella "hologram" (not a hologram) was so bizarre; which of course led me to pick a Snoop release; I've got a Mojo compilation of NY punk thanks largely to a doco I just watched on the New York Dolls; Van Halen's 1984 \m/, a compilation of civil rights inspired soul; some Brian Eno who I've only recently started paying attention to as an artist rather than a producer; Kraftwerk because they seem to be following me around at the moment; a new LP from Teenanger, punk band; Ambulance LTD thanks to @BreeMateljan and finally the aforementioned AUS LP from Tim Rogers' "side project" The Temperance Union.    


Check it out:

• Teenanger - Frights
• Ambulance LTD - Ambulance LTD
• VA - Mojo Presents I HEART NY Punk
• Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
• Van Halen - 1984
• Kraftwerk - The Man Machine
• VA - Change Is Gonna Come: The Voice of Black America 1963 - 1973 
• Snoop Dogg - Tha Doggfather
• Tupac - Greatest Hits (CD 1)
• The Temperance Union - The Temperance Union

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Prince
2. Sonic Youth
3. Black Flag
4. Mos Def
5. The Far West

Song of the Week : New York Dolls - Jet Boy

Recently I watched a documentary called New York Doll on Arthur "Killer" Kane, bass player for the New York Dolls. Coincidentally, I watched a collection of Old Grey Whistle Test videos on DVD, one of which was the New York Dolls doing Jet Boy. You can watch the video on YouTube here.


Only the lead vocals are live apparently, which was the style at the time ;) What's at the end of the video is the presenter of The Old Grey Whistle Test snorting derisively at the end of the performance and scoffing " Ha. Mock rock". He is completely taking the piss and obviously thought they were too.


Clearly, what he didn't realise is he was witnessing a very early middle finger stuck up at the Rock establishment from the kids who'd come to be known Punks. I wouldn't call this my favourite song of theirs, but the incident live at the BBC was quite fascinating to watch. 


Listen to the song if you like, but for a bit more fun, try and check out the video and imagine you don't know about Glam Rock or the Sex Pistols or the Ramones or even the Stooges (who were around but wouldn't have been exposed to a British audience yet). And then watch the presenter’s reaction, because it’s priceless. And it’s not like The Old Grey Whistle Test was a stuffy old show – they were quite contemporary for the time. It’s just they were of the present and the Dolls were from years in the future.

Bye For Now

Thanks for stopping by. It's my 10th wedding anniversary on Saturday 21st, so I'll be pampering my lovely wife with diamond jewellery and a night out. If you're a couple, I hope your weekend is as romantic as I hope to make mine. Pity the WCE v HAW game is on the same night. DOH! (Go Eagles!).


If you're Australian, have a great and reverent day off on Wednesday. Being a left wing hippy socialist, I don't believe that war is the answer, but I am grateful to the men and women who go out and put their lives on the line for our country. I just curse the politicians who make it necessary. 

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
While the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.

Lest we forget. Hasala malakim.