Between Bigger Billboard Freaks (October 7th - 11th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Something amazing happened today. I went grocery shopping and not a single person filled me with murderous rage. Not one. I think the key was spending a little time this morning before shopping at the library. Also, running into an old friend of the family's at Woolworths helped a bit. It's incredible what a difference a good run at the shops can make to your stress levels. I feel relaxed and refreshed. Highly unusual. 

Speaking of relaxed, this week's list was starting to look a little too crunchy so I threw Janis Ian and We Are Jeneric in to clear the palette  For a serve of bubblegum, there's a Billboard compilation for 1980; plus the classic Huey Lewis and the News album, Sports. Two crunchy albums from, can you believe it, 1987 that I didn't know about previously are from The Lemonheads and Pulp. Also here is the soundtrack to Before Sunrise/Before Sunset which I happily drove all the way back to Guildford to get after leaving it behind two weeks earlier. For more funky and soulful flavours there's LL Cool J and Slackwax. Lastly, for a little more crunch, I'm revisiting Last Splash from The Breeders.

Check it out:

• VA - Billboard Year End Hits 1980
• We Are Jeneric - Animals Are People Too
• LL Cool J - Bigger & Deffer
• The Lemonheads - Hate Your Friends
• Slackwax - Night Out
• VA - Before Sunrise / Before Sunset OST
• The Breeders - Last Splash
• Janis Ian - Between The Lines
• Pulp - Freaks
• Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bob Dylan
2. Elvis Costello
3. Counting Crows
4. Arctic Monkeys
5. Mazzy Star

Song of the Week : Yuck - Out Of Time

I was going to give you an Elvis Costello song from Spike, but then remembered he got the gig last week. So I've gone with something new instead. The band is Yuck, a UK outfit that released its self-titled first album in 2011. If you haven’t heard them, they’re kind of Pavement-y and a little grungy. They don’t sound English to me. 

This song Out Of Time is off their second album released last week, Glow & Behold. It’s best features are the jangling rhythm guitars, the lead guitar which follows the melody of the vocal and the slightly off-key vocals themselves. When it gets noisy is when it calls up the 90s. That grinding fuzz over melodic structure just puts the grunge in the tail.  It’s short and sweet and a bit gloriously sloppy, a really good soundtrack to a Friday in the office. 

До побачення

The big game last week turned out to be somewhat of a fizzer. While the lesser of two evils won (Hawthorn), the game itself was a mess and neither team really did anything inspiring. Since then though, football news has gone beserk with Lance Franklin leaving for Sydney for massive amounts of spoondoolah and, for Eagles fans at least, the new coach controversy with Adam Simpson chosen over favourite son and leading club goal kicker Peter Sumich. I'm personally happy to have Simpson on board, but do not have fond memories of the last time West Coast poached a Hawthorn person as coach. I'm not even going to say his name, lest it waken the spirits of curses past.

If you are at all interested in Australian Hip Hop, check out Hunter: For The Record. I chipped in to fund it via Pozible and recently watched my downloaded copy that was a reward for backers. Even if you're not into Hip Hop, actually, it's still a very raw and real look at a man going through the terrible torture of terminal illness. 

Rest in Power, MC Hunter. Hasala malakim.

Playlist : 10 Albums I Missed in 2010

Hello and welcome back to Work Tunes for 2011.

Last post last year was a collection of my favourite albums of 2010. Naturally, I wasn't the only one who wrote down my Top 10 list. For my first week back at work this year, I have decided to listen to a few albums that others chose and I hadn't heard. Mostly these are collected from music blogs and news sites, as well as from the recommendations of friends.

My 10 albums I missed in 2010 looks like this;

• We Are Jeneric - Animals Are People Too : With a sort of freak-folk sound and tracks that don't take themselves too seriously (how could they with titles like A Sister and Brother in the Kitchen Trying to Fly like Eagles by Jumping Off of Counters), this is an enjoyable set that sounds like a few friends jamming at a late night party. It is a concept album of sorts, with all the songs about animals.

• Jackie Greene - Till The Light Comes : A recommendation by @poopsiegirl of Twitterati fame. This is the first I've heard of Jackie Greene. My twitter buddy was right to assume I'd dig him; he sounds like Josh Rouse and Ray LaMontagne had a baby with John Cameron Mitchell. That is a very good thing in my mind (as disturbing as the literal image is o_O )

• Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today Ariel Pink, one-time Animal Collective collaborator and notorious eccentric has released a more cohesive and less lo-fi album under the new moniker. This is indie-as-all-hell, electronically grimy rock-pop that grooves just a little.

• Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way : I was introduced to Ms Jones through the awesome 100 Days, 100 Nights album a few years back now. Recently, at work, I heard one of our Melbourne managers was into her and was bigging her up to a visiting Perth staffer. It made me realise I had totally missed her latest effort. So here it is.

• Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks : A little bit of countrified folk and a good dose of songwriting chops made me take notice of Karen Elson on previewing this album. I don't know if this is a debut or not, but I think I'll be doing some homework based on the strength of these songs.

• Cotton Jones - Tall Hours In The Glowstream : There's something of a 50s/60s revival going on in music at the moment; have you noticed? Bands like She & Him, Best Coast and Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are tapping either a bit of a go-go inspired, or else folk-revival vein. Cotton Jones do it too. These songs sound like popular country from the late 50s. Even the album cover shows a beach scene from that era. Could all this nostalgia be the result of the Global Financial Crisis?

• The Walkmen - Lisbon : Apparently The Walkmen have been releasing albums since 2002 with Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone. News to me. Regardless of how these guys slipped under my radar, this is a decent set. Their somewhat jangly indie pop is well worth a listen. They may have a new fan.

• Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy : Everybody has always loved or hated Kanye. Not me, I have ignored him, mostly. This album was on nearly every Best of 2010 list I read. I don't understand the fuss about the man; okay, he's Kanye and we're not, but what little I have heard has not inspired me. In fact, Kanye's "George Bush hates black people" line is imho his greatest lyric ever. But I will none-the-less give this LP a spin.

• Beach House - Teen Dream : Heavy on the keys and the sentiment, Teen Dream sounds a lot like its title. Beach House have added a bit of pop to their usual whispy synth scape and it works.

• The Black Keys - Brothers : Another album that made every Top Ten list but mine. Good bluesy tunes with a little bit of crunch in the bottom end. I quite like it, but it definitely wouldn't have been one of my ten personal favourites from last year. Possibly number 11.

So that's my listening schedule for my first week back. To ease me on into a whole new working year, my employer has generously provided a lunch and pistol shooting day on Friday. We like to call it Om Nom Nom Pew Pew Pew! I'm looking forward to it.

Hang loose bro; rock n' roll \m/