Playlist May 16th - 20th, 2011

So Blogger has been a bit of a pain in the proverbial lately, huh? I haven't had a lot of time to write this post, so forgive the briefness and any typos.

Let's just get straight into the music, shall we? This week comes with a couple of new albums, some new discoveries and a bizarre collection of ukulele tracks from Mr E.Vedder.

1. Pretenders - Pretenders II
2. The Warner Brothers - Talking in Your Sleep
3. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
4. The Pharcyde - LABCABINCALIFORNIA
5. Eddie Vedder - Ukelele Songs
6. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
7. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Pt II
8. Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
9. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
10. Pegz - Drama
    

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Springsteen
2. Pretenders
3. Paul Kelly
4. Black
5. Don Henley

Song of the Week : Pretenders - The Wait

Last weekend, I managed to get a stack of wax for cheaps. One of the LPs I got was the Pretenders debut. I had obviously heard Brass In Pocket before, but that was about it. So when I got it home and slipped it on the turntable while playing Skate 3 with Mr Kelly architect, I was rather impressed with what I heard. They have a very listenable post punk pop rock sound. A little like X-ray Specks and a bit like The Police. I wasn't aware of that. If you haven’t heard the album, I recommend a listen. Here is one cut that rawks out a bit, The Wait. I’ve heard that main rhythm riff (duh duh duh duh duuuuh) a hundred times since I reckon. The walking bassline and the jangle just goes off. Chrissie Hynde \m/

Outro

I have a template for this blog post, and the standard title I wrote is Outro and right here the placeholder text says "This is my outro bitches". So, yeah. This is it.

Until next time.

Playlist : May 9th - 13th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This week's list is devoted to a recent haul of cheap second hand vinyl I scored at Melville Markets. I've become a tad addicted to buying wax, so it helped the wallet (and my marriage) a lot that these were such bargains. I managed to pick up a couple of LPs on my Amazon wish list as well as some albums I'd never heard but only cost $2. At least one of which was well worth it.

Here's most of what I bought. I left off The Man From Snowy River soundtrack because it wasn't for me. I also left off Joni Mitchell - Blue because it was on a recent list.

• The Pretenders - Pretenders
• Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge of Town
• Black - Wonderful Life
• Don Henley - Building The Perfect Beast
• The Pretenders - Get Close
• Paul Kelly - Under the Sun
• U2 - Rattle and Hum
• The Jacksons - Destiny
• Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA
• Little Heroes - Play By Numbers
• Rod Stewart - Greatest Hits
• Sly & the Family Stone - Greatest Hits

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. 50 Cent
2. Blondie
3. Drapht
4. John Mellencamp
5. Bingethinkers

Song of the Week : JEFF the Brotherhood - Mellow Out

For this week’s song, I’ve gone with a band I just discovered. JEFF the Brotherhood are a little punky, a lot of grungey and a little bit pop. Their album, We Are The Champions, is a bit of fuzzy fun. This track, Mellow Out has more than a pinch of Weezer in it. I chose it for the Weezer sound, but also to remind myself I need to mellow out this weekend and wash the week off me. Out, out damned spot! I hope you like this little punk pop ditty.

See You Real Soon

Happy Mother's Day to all the Australian Mums and their Mums and even theirs. Until next week, may we not misquote MLK, but instead apply the rule of law in all contexts, to all.

Playlist May 2nd - 6th, 2011

Well hello there tunesters. It's been a massive break for me over Easter. After the first weekend was spent working day and night, I tried to make the most of every day I had left. It was an excellent break.

And so on to the music. This week's list contains a number of new ones, from The Waifs, Okkervil River and Drapht. Plus I'm trying to hear some classics I haven't heard in a while (Blondie) or at all (50 Cent). Here's what I've got:

• Blondie - Parallel Lines
• Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
• Drapht - The Life of Riley
• John Mayer - Battle Studies
• The Strokes - Is This It
• JEFF the Brotherhood - We Are The Champions
• 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
• John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
• The Waifs - Temptation
• VA - Spin Magazine April 2011
  

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Tori Amos
2. Beastie Boys
3. Ryan Adams
4. Bob Dylan
5. Neko Case

Song of the Week : Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink

One of the things I managed to squeeze into my holidays was a 20 minute visit to a record fair in Vic Park. We were running late with everything we had to do that day, so I only just got there in time. I managed to pick up three great records for a total of less than $20. Madonna’s debut, Van Morrison – Moondance and the Pretty In Pink soundtrack.

I think I’ve mentioned before that Pretty In Pink was the first soundtrack (besides Grease) that I remember everybody my age (about 14 at the time I think) having. I wasn’t even really a fan of the film, beyond Molly Ringwald, but the soundtrack is superb. It has a pretty obvious euro vibe with New Order and The Smiths and OMD. Even Suzanne Vega sounds more English than American. Probably because she’s Canadian (I think, eh?).

I chose the Psychedelic Furs title track to the film, which inspired the film itself. I can’t tell you how 80s geeked out I was when I got this pristine condition vinyl ($9 thanks!) home and put it on the turntable. I had it on cassette back in the day, because I had my own ‘boombox’, but hearing it on wax was transporting. I played it twice in a row that day and I’ve spun it twice since. This is what the 80s sounded like. Enjoy.

Until May

I was going to resurrect the old style Work Tunes for May, but I got so busy on the holidays that I've changed my mind.

Until next week, may your mornings always be hot buttered toast with cartoons and your nights forever be cocktails and moonlight.

Playlist April 11th - 15th, 2011

What's shaking this week Hep Cats? This is my last week of work before I get some holidays for Easter, so no Work Tunes for a while.

What I'll be listening to at work next week sounds a little bit country, a little bit hip hop, a little bit Australian and a bit of everything else; just like me.

• Outkast - Stankonia
• Common - One Day It Will All Make Sense
• Tracy Chapman - Crossroads
• Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I See a Darkness
• Jebediah - Jebediah
• Golden Smog - Down By The Old Mainstream
• Counting Crows - Hard Candy
• Bjork - Debut
• Ben Lee - Ripe
• VA - Batman Forever Soundtrack
  

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Digable Planets
2. Radiohead
3. Josh Rouse
4. Fleet Foxes
5. Jenny Lewis

Song of the Week : Digable Planets - Nickle Bags

I haven’t had a lot of time to think about SOTW. Nevertheless, I have chosen a track that I’ve been into all week. I recently took delivery of a Digable Planets record for which I paid far too much money due to a nasty eBay bidding war that I didn’t want to lose. Well worth it though, because darn this sounds eleventy billion kinds of funky on wax. The funky grooves of the record as a whole are why I chose this track. Nickle Bags is smooth as butter and funkier than I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter left in the sun. This album isn’t the one I bought, it’s basically a Best Of Digable Planets with a couple of new tracks, but the track itself is on my record along with half this compilation. Here’s a jam to kick your Friday into a smooth mellow good vibration kind of feel. Enjoy!

Until May

It's going to be a strange month because I'll be on holidays and there'll be no work for almost a fortnight. So after a two week break, I'll resurrect the old style just for May. Make sense? Too bad, that's what I'm doing.

Until May, don't let the Man get you down. Power to the people. Right on.

Reviews - March 2011

Hello Peeps, what's shaking?

What we have here for you is the albums I enjoyed the most during the month of March; one from each list each week. You might be surprised by at least one I chose. I was supposed to be saving myself time by doing it this way, but I found that once I started reviewing an album I liked, I wrote way too much. What you see below, believe it or not, is the edited versions of these reviews.

Gillian Welch - Revival

I have been a fan of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings since I caught their KCRW Live at West 54th Street set on late night television in 1997. I used to record every episode of Sessions and for the longest time, I had to make do with a cassette tape of the set that I made from the VHS. I just couldn't find any CDs.

What initially blew me away about the pair was Gillian's fabulous voice and incredible guitar work and Rawlings complimentary harmonies and even more incredible guitar work. I was oblivious to Alt Country at the time and obsessed by early Dylan. I was amazed that I was hearing old time folk in a new day and it sounded contemporary and relevant.

Revival contains much of the music Welch played the first time I saw her. Tear My Stillhouse Down, Orphan Girl and Paper Wings still sound like the KCRW performance in my head when I think of them. What wasn't played and is among the best songs on the LP is One More Dollar, a tale of a transient fruit picking worker looking to get home to his family after the next crop brings enough money. The imagery of the Depression and Welch's pining and soaring melody, is heartbreaking. More heartbreaking still, the lonely Orphan Girl is autobiographical, with Welch adopted out at birth.

I can't say enough good things about Gillian Welch. My major gripe with her would have to be no new albums since 2003's solid Soul Journey. Her masterpiece though is the impossibly superb Time (The Revelator) from 2001. Go, get it now.

Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound

I hadn't heard of Blind Pilot when I stumbled across them via Accuradio. Their folky hipster melancholy put me in mind of some of my favourite bands, such as Bright Eyes, Vetiver and Dolorean. So I thought I would look further.

What I have since discovered about the band is that they hail from Portland and that 3 Rounds and a Sound is their only full length album, released in 2008. There was an iTunes EP that I don't have and a tour anounced in 2010. But basically, this is it from the Oregon cycling enthusiasts.

The tracks on the album all have the same acoustic folk feel with varying tempos and overall moodiness. The dirge like Poor Boy waltzes along with depressing resignation, while Go On, Say It skips along like a drunken sing-along.

3 Rounds and a Sound is well worth a listen. Paint or Pollen features a little ukelele and a nifty xylophone break, Two Towns From Me sounds like a Scottish folk love song and Things I Cannot Recall is a sweet reminiscence of a life together past. Grab a copy, if you like your indie folk.

Television - Marquee Moon

This now widely acclaimed ahead-of-its-time classic sits somewhere confidently between the worlds of punk and new wave. It has been listed on virtually every All Time list somewhere near the top. The reason being that this is music with incredible foresight.

The raw and edgy sounds of the other bands on the CBGBs scene at the time (Ramones, Misfits et al) is what became known as Punk. Television's sound has more of a progressive 80s pop / rock feel about it. The guitar work is legendary and quite diametrically opposed musically to the general punk style of thrashing out whatever works.

The jangling, atmospheric riffs of Elevation; the driving crunchy bass on the opener See No Evil; and the sprawling, more than 10 minute long title track are just the start of Marquee Moon's brilliance. On the whole, this LP has not aged a day. If you haven't heard it, get on that right now.

Various Artists - Pretty In Pink OST

Regardless of whether, at the time, they liked the movie, everybody seemed to have this soundtrack. My first big soundtrack, and the first record I owned, was Grease, but I don't remember there being any in between that had an impact until this one and Stand By Me. There was The Big Chill for the oldies, but for teens, Pretty In Pink was the biggest.

The album has a bit of a UK feel and a pop vibe with tracks by Suzanne Vega, New Order, OMD, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Psychadelic Furs and The Smiths among others.

The New Order track, Shell-Shock and OMD's massive hit If You Leave were the most popular, but the enduring classics are The Smiths' Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want and The Psychadelic Furs' theme for the film Pretty in Pink.

Pretty In Pink, both the film and the soundtrack is a perfect piece of sweet pop bubble gum from the dizzyingly self-absorbed peak of the 80s.

Bye For Now

Thanks for stopping by to see what was going down in March. I'll see you in May for April's run down. Have a great Easter.

Ciao for now!

Playlist : April 4th - 8th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

My playlist for this week features an artist I've only just discovered, the new LP from Snoop Dogg, an eclectic mix from Spin Magazine and Jenny Lewis among others. See here:

1. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
2. David Dondero - Simple Love
3. Digable Planets - Beyond The Spectrum : The Creamy Spy Chronicles
4. Josh Rouse - Under Cold Blue Stars
5. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
6. VA - Spin Magazine, April 2011
7. VA - Uncut : Hard Drive
8. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
9. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
10. Snoop Dogg - Doggumentary

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. De La Soul
2. Nas
3. Drive-By Truckers
4. Best Coast
5. Steve Tannen

Song of the Week : Drive-By Truckers - Used to Be a Cop

This week’s track is from the latest Drive-By Truckers album, Go-Go Boots. It’s about a police officer whose life has gone to hell. Thrown off the force for a bad temper and nerves, he’s a one time abused child, unemployed divorced alcoholic stalking his ex-wife.

Feel good track of the year!

There’s a driving bass line and drum track with the scream of some nice lead guitars under some raw vocals. It’s great storytelling and a great performance. Hope you like it. The album as a whole is really interesting. The vocal duties are shared by at least three members of the band, including a female, so it has an eclectic feel while being roughly cohesive. Check it out.

Outro

That's me for the week people. Shouts to my homegirl @Hay2theley who has asked me to impart my knowledge of the old school to her. I knew there was a reason I read all those books/watched all those movies/bought all those albums/painted all those pieces/did all those turtles.

Respect. Peace out. In the name of Herc, Bam and Flash, yes ya'll.

Playlist : March 28th - April 1st, 2011

Hey there Work Tunes peeps. This week I have got a couple of new albums (Iraho and Go-Go Boots), an old favourite or two (Let Love In and Pretty In Pink OST), an album by a band I've been meaning to hear more of for a while (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and a recommendation from a trustworthy Twitter source (The Felice Brothers). What it all looks like together is something like this:

• Awesome Dre - Can't Hold Me Back
• Iraho - Iraho
• VA - Pretty in Pink OST
• Justin Townes Earle - Good Life
• The Felice Brothers - Tonight At The Arizona
• Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
• Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
• Nick Cave - Let Love In
• Steve Tannen - Stopped at a Green Light
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

Top 5 Artists

1. De La Soul
2. Uncle Tupelo
3. Bright Eyes
4. Mr. Bungle
5. The Velvet Underground

Song of the Week : The Buggles - Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade)

I stumbled across this album last week and my first thought was “OMG they had a whole album?!” ‘They’ being The Buggles, he one-hit-wonder extraordinaires who wrote Video Killed The Radio Star.

The other tracks on the album are fairly diverse. Sometimes they sound a bit like Madness, others you think it’s The Cars, but generally nothing else sounds like Video (which I still maintain is a superb pop song).

I thought I’d make a track SOTW just so you could say you’ve heard more than one The Buggles song. I chose this one because it’s about Astroboy and he’s pretty mint.

Adios Amigos

That's it for now. I will try and narrow down the whole month's list to maybe 5 albums for a proper review later in the week. Until then, keep a good head and always carry a light bulb.