Pop Party Tribe Tantrums (October 29th - November 2nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's almost bedtime on Friday night / Saturday morning again. I'm just ripping a few CDs for my list. Have to be up early tomorrow otherwise I won't have any time to get out and do something before the Paul Kelly film/gig at Astor. So keeping that in mind, I best be quick about this.

I had all but forgotten this album existed, so I am listening to Pop. I can't go anywhere online without hearing about Kendrick Lamar, so that is here. For some reason I thought about Vetiver last week and I chose Tight Knit. There's a good clutch of 80s albums here from Joe Jackson, 10,000 Maniacs and Break Machine (Yes! Break Machine!). The brand new Evil Eddie release is here, with that great Golden Age track on it. All that's left then is the funk of Fitz & the Tantrums and Syl Johnson and a free compilation from Reddit.  

Check it out:

• U2 - Pop
• Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
• Evil Eddie - Welcome To Flavour Country
• Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black?
• Fitz and the Tantrums - Pickin' Up The Pieces
• Joe Jackson - Night and Day
• VA - The Best of Radio Reddit
• 10,000 Maniacs - In Our Tribe
• Break Machine - Breakdance Party
• Vetiver - Tight Knit

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Sonic Youth
2. Guns n' Roses
3. Hall & Oates
4. Evil Eddie
5. Son Volt

Song of the Week : that dog - Grunge Couple

This week's SOTW is from the compilation Geffen rarities Vol.1 (was there ever a volume 2?!) Remember that one? I think mine came free with a copy of Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies. 

When it came out, I was at uni and I was totes grunge, along with my totes grunge girlfriend of the time (that sounds casual, but we were together for 5 years). We loved this song Grunge Couple. The irony is, it's a total piss-take, but we completely ignored that because we liked being a "grunge couple".

As for the track itself, as mentioned it's definitely satire. It has not just lyrical but instrumental grunge clichés thrown in; like the distorted vocals, the screaming, the phased bass line. Then there's lyrics about chokers and flannel and boots. 

So picture, if you dare, a young and ultimately more idealistic Me decked out in denim and flannel with a nice chunky pair of Docs on, cruising around in his purple Mk II Cortina (column shift), girlfriend beside him in her floral dress and equally chunky Docs, that dog blaring through the tape deck from a dubbed copy of Geffen Rarities. What an idiot :)

Tah Tah

Thanks for stopping by. Perthies, get out in the 33+ sunshine this weekend, but stay away from our shark friends who are circling Mullaloo Beach. And sharks, "Perthies are friends. Not food". *Jaws Theme*

Hasala malakim.

Post Script

I didn't post this last night because I was a bit tired-eyed and wanted to be sure I didn't type anything bizarre purple monkey dishwasher. I have to go and tizzy myself up for Paul Kelly now. Play safe kids.

Playlist : February 6th - 10th, 2012

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well, I must say, Hugo was spectacular. Scorsese used the 3D tech to bring the characters to life, more so than the action; and to add magical touches like snow in the theatre. If you're a film obsessive like me, you'll love details like seeing the iconic Moon scene from Le voyage dans la lune in 3D and you'll love Scorsese's complete affection for the art of movie-making. But enough Hugo plugging, let's talk about Sets baby. 


The Golden Era Mixtape for 2012 dropped this week, for free, so that's here and you can grab a copy. For the quiet moments during the long week at work, I've got some jazz from Coltrane and the sweet indie pop of the Away We Go soundtrack; more Bonnie 'Prince' Billy; another mixtape, this time from Rhymesayers' I Self Divine; some X, The Doors and Vetiver; as well as Dan Mangan who I only just discovered and The New Pornographers' 2003 effort Mass Romantic.


Check it out:

• VA - Golden Era Mixtape 2012
• John Coltrane - The Gentle Side of John Coltrane
• Bonnie Prince Billy - Ease Down the Road
• Dan Mangan - Oh Fortune
• I Self Divine - LA Mixtape
• X - Wild Gift
• The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
• VA - Away We Go OST
• The Doors - LA Woman (Remastered)
• Vetiver - Vetiver

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Public Enemy
   
2. Hilltop Hoods
3. The Felice Brothers
4. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
5. James Taylor

Song of the Week : The Felice Brothers - Frankie's Gun!

This week I’ve got a track from The Felice Brothers’ self-titled LP from 2008. Frankie’s Gun! is a dirty country rock song which seems to be about a guy working as a bagman for criminals who is either shot by Frankie or is pretending that he was to justify a missing $30 meant for a girl named Lucille. The song is sung to Lucille explaining how Frankie shot the narrator.


What I love about the track besides its rollicking fun time jig is the rhyming scheme in the lyrics. Some lines almost make me laugh at the rhymes and the way the words get packed in – “My car goes / To Chicago / Every weekend to pick up some cargo” and “I saw a man hit my Mom one time, really / I hurt him so damn bad I had to hide in Jersey”. It’s just a lot of fun with a timeless vibe like it’s about the bootlegging era but could just as easily be about today.


I hope you dig it.

Ciao For Niao

So there you have it. If anything takes your fancy, go and check it out. Drop me a comment if you know anything you think I might want to hear. 


Be good to each other kids; we're all we've got. 


Hasala malakim.

Playlist : June 27th - July 1st, 2011

Hey there Tunesters, nice to see you. How's things?

My whole household has the dreaded lurgee and so we haven't even been able to go and meet my newborn nephew in person. I had Monday off work and have been popping tablets like an early 90s raver while Mrs coreyj spent the day at home sick today (Friday).

Hopefully when Monday rolls around, I'll be fighting fit and able to tuck into this week's list. Good for what ails me this week is the new (and apparently last) Bias B, new ones from Gillian Welch and Vetiver, another free album from Noisetrade, a Digable Planets MC's solo effort and some T Rex and Marilyn Manson (after I realised the similarities between them). All that and more, see:

• Bias B - Biaslife
• Graham Colton - Pacific Coast Eyes
• Vetiver - The Errant Charm
• Boho Fau & Elevated Soul - Coffee House Swinger
• Ladybug Mecca - Trip The Light Fantastic
• VA - Rave On Buddy Holly
• Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest
• Marilyn Manson - Lest We Forget
• Marc Bolan & T Rex - Essential Collection
• Pretty & Twisted - Pretty & Twisted

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Josh Rouse
2. Bob Seger
3. Edie Brickell and New Bohemians
4. Bias B
5. David Bowie

Song of the Week : Hole - Plump

I plugged an old DVD player into the Yamaha to serve as a CD player and decided to hear a CD instead of my usual LP for a change. Just by chance of browsing the CD shelves, I picked Hole – Live Through This. After hearing it on CD through the amp, I had to re-rip it in Apple Lossless for the iPod. Putting it into iTunes and rating everything again made me twig that this is very likely my favourite album of all time. There isn't a track on there that I dislike and over half of it is pure gold. I soon commenced to rave about how incredibly good it is and @sunky and others joined in.

Live Through This is seriously a masterpiece of the 90s and imho will hold up for a very long time to come.To look at it, the first 7 tracks on a 12 track LP are the same outstanding quality. She Walks On Me is not as good, then comes I Think That I Would Die and Gutless both superb ending with Rockstar that isn’t as good but better than She Walks. I can not think of another album that I can say that about. Given Hole never touched close to it again, Kurt had to have written at least some of it, surely. Or else Courtney lost all her mojo when he died. I don’t want to believe that last bit, because that makes their story so much sadder and gives me empathy for her. Crazy bitch.

Sayonara

Thanks for visiting. I'll be back next week with another list. Unless I win lotto. In which case, it won't be work tunes, it will just be tunes. You know, on some other blog. ...one powerball.

Playlist : March 14th - 18th, 2011

Hello and welcome to another pared down version of Work Tunes.

This week there's a couple of new artists for me in Blind Pilot and Jack Johnson. Yes, I have honestly heard no Jack Johnson (well apart from that song he did where Ben Stiller was in the film clip). I'm also looking forward to the remix version of Gil Scott-Heron's 2010 release I'm New Here - done by Jamie XX and called We're New Here.

This is what it all looks like.

• Jack Johnson - To The Sea
• Beach Fossils – What A Pleasure
• Hilltop Hoods - A Matter Of Time
• Train of Thought - Moving Heads
• J Mascis - Several Shades of Why
• REM - Collapse Into Now
• The Murmurs - Pristine Smut
• Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
• Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX - We're New Here
• Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound

Top 5 Artists Last Week

1. Dolorean
2. Snoop Doggy Dog
3. Tori Amos
4. Sonic Youth
5. Mellow Drum Addict

Song of the Week : Dolorean - Country Clutter

I know a couple weeks back in a daze of being newly smitten with Dolorean I picked one of their songs. It was a good song, but probably not a good representation of them. The other day, my copy of their latest album The Unfazed arrived. This track, Country Clutter is more true to why I really like them. It’s interesting how it shuffles along in a bit of a death march as well as building at points like it’s about to kick the distortion pedal on. Lyrically, it’s honest and angry and a little bit bitter, which I always like. Enjoy!

Postscript

Most of this post was cobbled together prior to today. I saved this draft before hearing about the earthquake in Japan. I debated whether to just post it without acknowledging that tragedy, but I just couldn't do it.

The footage I've seen tonight is impossible to ignore. The thick slow sludge of the ocean around Sendai swallowing the farm lands and the vast tracts of sheds; sweeping houses and vehicles and fences along, like some cheesy black blob from a 1950s sci-fi film. I'm not one for prayer, but I do hope with every ounce of my own being that no more lives are lost. The last I heard, more than 200 bodies had washed up on the beach. It's terrifying and horrid and all too big to fathom. 200 lives or 200,000+ as on Boxing Day, 2002, it makes no difference; one is too many.

起死回生 kishi kaisei :

Wake from death and return to life.