Saturday, August 4, 2012

Open My Big Cyclone Beach Home (August 6th - 10th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Guttentag meine kameraden! What's the haps yo? A comfortingly standard week for me this week just gone with a viewing of The Dark Knight Rises thrown in to shake things up. I enjoyed it, but honestly, Mr Nolan sir, EDIT just a little bit eh?

Alright then, let's get right into the tunes. What have I got this week you ask? Well, there's a compilation of songs for the road I picked up from the eBays which looks like it might have been sold at a petrol station; I thought I'd throw in som Jay-Z which made me think of Ice T and the 99 Problems line that Jay-Z stole; I've got some Kiss because, well it's Kiss; sticking with the 70s I've got the first disc of Elton John's remastered greatest hits; I also have volume 1 of Trainspotting because I'm still reading Skagboys (and I will have volume 2 next week); Neko Case is always great; there's Beach House's first album, some Babes In Toyland and finally Big Star thanks to my rediscovery of Thirteen this week.

 Check it out:

  1. Cheap Trick
  2. The Beatles
  3. Snoop Dogg
  4. Indigo Girls
  5. Divinyls

Song of the Week : Big Star - Thirteen



This week's track comes courtesy of James. In a roundabout way. When he requested the Evan Dando cover of Sam Stone, it made me add Dando's Live At The Brattle Theatre to my playlist.


One of the songs on the album is Thirteen. When I was listening to it this week, I knew I'd heard it before and it must be a cover. At first, I worked out I had heard Wilco do it, but I knew it wasn't a Wilco song. So I looked on the iPod and sure enough Wilco - Thirteen appears on Big Star Small World a tribute LP to Big Star.


I have a copy of Big Star's 3rd, but had never heard #1. So this is Thirteen from that album. I like it for its subtlety. It's a teen rebellion song with a protagonist who sounds like he'd rather sleep than run riot. I like that if you take away the "school" references, there isn't any line that couldn't relate to most people with a generational conflict. So it is the title and the inclusion of school that gives it a great deal of its meaning. Subtle and understated. Not enough of that these days.

Toodle Pip

Thanks for stopping by. Last minute preparation and supplementary gift buying this weekend as Miss 5 becomes Miss 6 on Thursday. She's been given permission to choose the meal for her birthday dinner and she's gone with pizza. I can't argue with that. She didn't say beer, but I'm sure she was thinking it, so I'll just have one to honour her wishes. 


Derby day today. It would be typical of my Eagles to lose this one if everything else goes right for them, like Hawthorn losing already has, so I won't get my hopes up. May the best team (not wearing purple) win.


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Friday, July 27, 2012

Cheap Soul / Happy Boss (July 30th - August 3rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Well work was teh crazyies this week. Had the fiddly but fun task of making everyone custom magnetic name tags for a task board. People's choice of avatar said a lot about them. 


Does my choice of music say a lot about me? I don't know. Sometimes. This week, it says "I really have no idea what I want to listen to, so I'll pick some compilations and any albums that come up in conversation."

So that leaves us with the Sessions at West 54th Street and Spunk Sampler compilations; I have The Essential Cheap Trick because I'm still singing Surrender weeks after it was SOTW; I have albums from the diametrically opposed Snoop Dogg and Indigo Girls that I've not heard; my buddy Jamie mentioned Evan Dando's live set so that is here; checking out Gillian Welch's set lists of late has booked Dave Rawlings a spot; there's a Divinyls best of, an Ab-Soul album I read a review on and finally a true classic from the Fab Four.

 Check it out:
  1. Stevie Nicks
  2. Nas
  3. The Gaslight Anthem
  4. Angus Stone
  5. Passion Pit

Song of the Week : Stevie Nicks - Sometimes It's A Bitch




Recently on random shuffle this song popped up and I hadn’t heard it for ages. It’s Stevie Nicks – Sometimes It’s A Bitch. If I remember right it’s written by Meatloaf collaborator Jim Steinman (hence the sort of cliché title he’s so fond of). The song always brings a good friend of mine to mind who is a massive Stevie Nicks fan, so it’s always an enjoyable listen.


As a lyric I like the structure of good and bad, struggle and triumph. There isn’t a great deal of virtuoso musicianship in it. Not like Fleetwood Mac with Lindsay Buckingham behind it. Never the less I like the song like I love Will Ferrel movies – just a bit of harmless bubble gum. 

Goodbye

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Perth, get out in this glorious weather and enjoy it while it lasts - I hear it's going to rain soon (which is also cool, but not so much for going out). 

Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Friday, July 20, 2012

Good Handwritten Passion Anthems (July 23rd - 27th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


Not a lot to report this week. It was a big week at work with important presentations to be made and what have you. Oh and performance reviews (dun dun DUN!) Last weekend was the end of Rev and I managed to see Surviving Progress and finish it up with the locally produced Buff (congrats to Director, Gavin Bond on a really funny little documentary). That's about the whole week, so i suppose it's on with the music.


It's mostly new stuff this week. There's the solo effort from Angus Stone thanks to a workmate who hooked me up; I have some new rap from Nas and Public Enemy; American Songwriter put out a sampler for July and that is here; the latest from Passion Pit, Gaslight Anthem and Anaïs Mitchell are here; an old favourite from Josh Rouse; and finally there's the second disc of Neil Young - Decade and the best of Stevie Nicks.

Check it out:

  1. Augie March
  2. Neil Young
  3. Ben Lee
  4. Split Enz
  5. JEFF the Brotherhood

Song of the Week :Wilco - Impossible Germany



This week's song is Impossible Germany from Wilco. I know, another Wilco track Corey, how novel. But this is one of those weeks where it couldn't have been anything else. 


Yesterday I finally managed to watch the DVD that came with my copy of Sky Blue Sky. Before a live in a lounge room performance of the song, Tweedy explained what it was about. It's about where you think you might be on the day you wake up out of denial and decide you have to fix what's wrong. For Tweedy of course, that was drugs. 


What I like most about this song is the extended instrumental break that closes it. In particular I like the solo which starts off so sweet and mellow and degenerates into metallic noise. Given the stated subject matter of the song, you could see the ending as representative of the journey of drug addiction; with the initial bliss of the drug at the beginning which takes a dive into nightmare by the end. 


Some comedian who I can never remember once said of Wilco something like 'Tweedy has deep and sensitive emotions that he tries to express through soft and gentle songs, but it's no good because someone always comes along and plays a solo with a chainsaw'. I think maybe they were listening to Impossible Germany when they wrote that. 


Bye Bye 


There's your tunes for another working week. Hopefully something sparks your interest and sets you on a new musical journey. Or not. Be excellent to each other. Peace be with you and all that good stuff.


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Saturday, July 14, 2012

Remember the Blue Brotherhood Decade (July 16th - 20th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


More great times for me at work this week with a bunch of important projects finishing up and a few more beginning. I managed to catch a few films at Rev on the weekend just gone, including The George Méliès Project which I am really glad I got to see. Didn't catch any during the week though, but that's okay because it meant more time at home with the wife and children. I am getting out there this weekend to at least two and maybe more before it closes. For now, let's talk about music, not film.


There's a healthy dose of Australian tunes this week with Augie March, early Ben Lee and Deborah Conway. Plus there's Split Enz who are one of those New Zealand acts who are so good we claimed them for Australia. I've added the latest from JEFF the Brotherhood and one of Lou Reed's best. For my weekly dose of rap I've picked some Jay-Z and the soundtrack to the movie Colors. A compilation of covers from KCRW and the first disc of the Neil Young retrospective round it all out nicely.


Check it out:

  1. 50 Cent
  2. Rickie Lee Jones
  3. Ryan Adams
  4. Cypress Hill
  5. Bright Eyes

Song of the Week : The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime



I chose this song at the beginning of the week, because I have really enjoyed the tendency lately to find out songs were covers when I hadn't heard the original. This is Everybody's Got To Learn Sometimes by The Korgis, which was covered by Beck for the soundtrack of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.


This original version is one of those 80s ballads that is now kind of hard to take seriously. You know the kind, the ones with a clawing over-earnestness about them. The underlying strings sustain a sort of dull whine and it reminds me a bit of The Cars - Drive but a tad more saccharine.  


Beck's version on the other hand is bleak and stark like the Montauk winter scapes it plays over. I don't know if you all have seen the film, but you should if you haven't. I'm guessing you have. So Beck's version to me is far better - even if I believed until very recently that the song was his. 

Au revoir

I just finished watching 2 Days In New York (Julie Delpy directed), so I'm feeling a little bit French. Fun little film; a bit like its director - smart and cute. 


Thanks for stopping by. Here's hoping your weekend is full of all the joys of life - you know the ones; pizza, beer, music, love, laughter, pretzels, all that good stuff. 


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Saturday, July 7, 2012

Journey of the Dumb Naked Kings (July 9th - 13th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


It was another enjoyably busy week at work, with a Thursday off to see Miss 5 get her very first honour certificate. It was for writing, because writing and illustrating stories is what she likes to do in her spare time away from school. A tad proud? Yes. She also has a great appetite for reading which she is learning at a rate of knots. I learned a little too late in life that the best way to get smarter is read everything*. *Except the comments.


Revelation started Thursday night and I missed Opening Night for the first time in a while. I will be catching a stack of films this weekend and next though, including The Georges Méliès Project for which I can not wait.


As far as the music goes, I felt like I leaned a little hard on the noisy side last week, so I have deliberately toned it down. So, that's how I ended up with some Tracy Chapman, Rickie Lee Jones, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Gillian Welch and Ryan Adams all in the same list. Talk about a folk backlash. A folklash. To balance the folk, I have some funk from James Brown, some Soul from Alabama Shakes (on recommendation from @sunky) and some rock from the first Japandroids album. Got to have some hip hop too, so say hello to the third volume of Culture of Kings. Finally, I found out that one of my favourite Beck songs was a cover of The Korgis, so I have their album here. 

Check it out:

  1. 50 Cent
  2. Queen
  3. Japandroids
  4. Cypress Hill
  5. James Brown

Song of the Week : Cheap Trick - Surrender



This has been another week almost completely smothered in work. Except I took yesterday off to go see Miss 5 get her first honour certificate (yay!). She got it for being an 'independent writer' because she is always writing and illustrating stories in her own time. So it was great to do the selfish thing and see her collect the award and try and see who was prouder, her or me.


So this song Surrender, which featured on the soundtrack to a cheesy 70s teen melodrama I saw on the weekend (Over The Edge. Matt Dillon looked about 13!), is a tribute to doing the selfish thing. To surrendering yourself to the work you have to do, but never forgetting the things that are truly important. 


It's a decent song in its own right, but unfortunately I think it might be forever associated with this campy film for me now. Not a completely bad thing, but not Cheap Trick's intention, I'm sure.


Toodle Pip, What What!

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Perth, try and get out to Revelation and catch a film or two. You won't get a better chance to see some of these terrific movies, unless they happen to be one of those that ends up popular and showing in the multiplexes. Who needs Hoyts though when you can get to The Astor and bask in all of its art deco glory.


Stay safe, warm and dry kids. Go Eagles, even if I can't watch the game because I'll be at the movies. Hasala malakim.


Post Script: Eagles won after clawing their way back from a 35 point deficit. It was kind of ironic today since I saw two films at Revelation where people fought against the odds, except the heroes lost. I came home and watched the second half of the West Coast match that I had recorded. The good guys prevailed. Suck it, haters. 
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Friday, June 29, 2012

Sunday Public Asylum Massacre (July 2nd - 6th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


A week of all work and no play make Corey J something something. Go crazy? Not quite, but it was touch and go there for a while. All enjoyable stress of course, but it does take its toll. Skagboys is going well. One good thing about being tired from work is getting to bed earlier and getting to read every night. Renton and Co. have just had a couple of tastes of Heroin and the book is mainly concerned at this stage with the rampant unemployment of Thatcher's Britain in the 80s. That's not a book report, that's just me making conversation. Okay, okay shut up monkey boy and make with the music. 


In this week's bag of treats, I have the kick-ass soundtrack to a cheesy 70s teen melodrama I just watched, Over The Edge; there's the Sonic Youth and Public Image Limited albums I bought courtesy of a carton of Becks; your funky education continues with disc 3 of Star Time; I threw in some 50 Cent and Cypress Hill coz I is well gangsta innit?; do you remember Soul Asylum? Dave Pirner dated Winona Ryder. You don't remember Winona Ryder? Me either. Queen are good though eh? For new sounds I have some old sounds by Silver Jews and the latest from Japandroids that some well-respected Twitter critics have raved about. I haven't heard them since Post-Nothing and I wasn't overly fussed on that album. I do trust my Twitter critics though, so we'll see.

Check it out:

  1. James Brown
  2. The Cure
  3. Eminem
  4. Circle Jerks
  5. The Police

Song of the Week : Wax Audio - Disturbing Practices (Overboard)

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Initially I was going to pick a vitriolic Elvis Costello song about Thatcher just to highlight how great some songs can be when they're so nasty. Then I remembered a song far more closely related to our own mess and just as nasty - only this time, the politicians' own words are used to hang them out to dry.


This is Disturbing Practices by Wax Audio, a remix of political propoganda from the time of the Children Overboard fiasco. The fact that people forgot Howard and Costello's lies and voted them back in, just illustrates how too many Australians have the derp derp deyturkarejarbs! mentality.


Problem is, the majority of voters seem to still be conveniently forgetting that people have died as a result of this veiled White Australia Policy, this attempt to rile up rednecks and make them feel 'secure' from those nasty desperate people. I'm disgusted in The Ranga for still playing the games with people's lives that got Howard elected. I can say with pride that I voted Greens and kept offshore processing out of the Senate.


I'm 5000

Thanks for stopping by. It is my nephew's first birthday bash this weekend. It's a pirate themed party. So I thoroughly intend to burn copies of all my sister and brother in law's DVDs. Yaaaar! 


Be good to one another. Don't worry about a thing, because damn it, if you're reading this it means you have an internet enabled device and a connection. That's already put you in the richest 30 or so percent of people in the world. Share the wealth a little hey? 


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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Friday, June 22, 2012

Sugar Sweet Fables of Sea Police (June 25th - 29th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


What a busy week it's been at work. I've been busy on several projects at once and have barely had time to think about anything else. Which makes deciding what to listen to a bit trickier than usual. But never fear, because music inspiration is all around and eventually there's a list to be made. 


This particular list began with a bit of The Cure, because I've been reading Skagboys and obsessing over 80s music. The Police made it for the same reasons. I finally updated my cassette copy of REM Fables, so that's here. I'm continuing on with the Sugar Hill and James Brown compilations. I'm not over my hardcore trip yet, so I added the Circle Jerks. How long has it been since you heard My Name Is?! Slim Shady is here. For some new tunes, I've got the Bon Iver iTunes session and something from Daughn Gibson. Lastly, there's an old faithful compilation in Sweet Relief II.

 Check it out:

  1. Meat Puppets
  2. Bad Brains
  3. Beck
  4. A Tribe Called Quest
  5. Get Smart!

Song of the Week : The Cure - Let's Go To Bed



This week I started reading Skagboys, Irvine Welsh's prequel to Trainspotting. It's set in the early to mid 80s where Renton has passed his punk phase and is tiring of his Northern Soul phase. There is a lot of music explicitly referred to in the book and it's mostly new wave. People like John Swan the drug dealer listen to 60s stuff like The Doors. Even before I started reading the book and found out how musical it was, I started doing this really nerdy thing where I make 80s genius lists to be the soundtrack to my reading.


So this week's song is one that turned up on one of those. I remember really loving this song, on this 80s compilation, as an 11 year old with no idea who The Cure were. While I was hip enough to dig on Grandmaster Flash, my music tastes were hardly refined back then, with me listening to the Top 40 on 6pm AM radio. All the kids in my class were into the 80s pop of the time (Wham!, Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls etc). So we all had these compilations and on this one, Let's Go To Bed was my favourite song. I didn't even understand it, I don't think. It just sounds great. 


When I read Skagboys, this UK 80s gothic sound is the overwhelming tone in my head. Even if the jukeboxes are playing songs like Too Shy and The Message.


Bye Bye

Thanks for stopping by. My birthday was fantastic, thanks for asking. It was good to see the fam and get some good nosh in together. My sister and brother in law were kind enough to slip me Mad Max 2 and Blow on Bluray along with the latest Best Coast. Saved me buying them. I also got some butterscotch schnapps, but the less said about that, the better.


That's it for another week. Where does the time go?! Be good to each other, kids.


Go Eagles. Hasala malakim.
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