Saturday, August 17, 2013

Platinum Radio Wax Renaissance (August 19th - 23rd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

 It's late Saturday night and I am just sitting down to write. It's been another long day. I got all negative test results today, so that's positive... ha ha. The doctor asked me today if I had any compulsive behaviours; alcohol, food, biting my nails etc. I told him about the only thing I was addicted to was making playlists on my iPod. And here's another one for you.

 Because I dug on In The Street for SOTW last week, there's Big Star. I've been meaning to play some Stevie Wonder, so one of his best is here. Kiss add another 70s dose to my list, Bob Dylan reps the 60s and Hank Williams takes us back into the 50s. For relatively new stuff there's the soulful R&B of Valerie June and something else from Joshua Radin. My weekly serve of Hip Hop comes from 50 Cent and Q-Tip. Last of all I have the soundtrack from one of my favourite films, Waking Life, which is a sort of classical requiem for a dream.

Check it out:
  1. Orgone
  2. Bob Dylan
  3. Prince
  4. The Handsome Family
  5. Blind Pilot

 Song of the Week : Big Star - In The Street


My song this week comes from the soundtrack to a documentary about Big Star. You’ll be familiar with the song if you ever watched an episode of That 70s Show; they use it in a modified version for their theme song. 

In The Street is rock song about bored kids. It has that feel of bored, lost and nihilist teens. That’s an odd thing, given its from 1972 and (in Australia at least) the post-60s hangover was still around. I don’t tend to equate slacking with the 60s kids, who seem over earnest and naïve as opposed to cynical and bored – if the way Hollywood portrays them is to be believed. The attitude on show in In the Street seems like it belongs a good 5 years later in ’77 with the punks. It’s a feeling I knew as a teen in the 80s, a uni student in the 90s and sometimes a cynical old man in the Two-Tens! 

Musically, there is a lovely bit of cow bell in there to go with a few killer guitar licks and a whole lot of noise. Alex Chilton sings in a whine like a brat and it all makes sense. I think it was gold that the used it for That 70s Show, but I noticed they changed the line about the joint to “We’re All Alright!” Much like the show tiptoes around its drug use. 

I chose the documentary mix just so you’d get a different version of it. The difference seems to just be in the polish. I can imagine this mix would sound better in a theatre than the original because the original is a bit more abrasive in the high end. 


Goodnight

 It's time for me to watch the latest Futurama and then go to bed with Brett Easton Ellis. Fun times planned tomorrow. A fuse blew in our FM transmitter though, so I may be forced to make a mix CD for the car tomorrow. It's like living in a developing nation in a way. 

 Hasala malakim.
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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Handsome Blind Horrowshow Mystery (August 12th - 16th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

 After a solid day of blood tests, grocery shopping, birthday party preparation, swimming lessons and korma making, I'm drafting this post at midnight while casually watching an episode of Drunk History. The good news is I had the list thrown together earlier in the week.

 Besides the second disc of Biograph, there's an old favourite from Blind Pilot, the new Civil Wars and Ariel Pink's Before Today. From the grimiest depths of the 90s comes Mystery Machine and Prince's Diamonds & Pearls. Too much Orgone has been not nearly enough lately, so I've got Killion Floor from 2007. I read some interesting things about Kip Moore recently, so I thought I'd check him out. Two more new albums round out this week's list, from AUS rapper Horrorshow and alt country veterans The Handsome Family.

 Check it out:

  1. Laura Marling
  2. Bob Dylan
  3. Red Hot Chili Peppers
  4. Sex Pistols
  5. Charles Bradley

 Song of the Week : Beth Orton - Concrete Sky



From Beth Orton’s Daybreaker album this track Concrete Sky was written by Johnny Marr and features backing vocals by the one and only Ryan “Sean Hannity Hates Me” Adams. 

 I think the fact that Marr wrote it is well on display. The sparkling melody and the brittle jangle of acoustic picking is signature. Ryan and Orton were an item when this was recorded (I think, or shortly after) and she is of course the “Tall drink of water” in English Girls. 

 As far as the lyrics go, I like the image of a ‘concrete sky falling from the trees’. It’s one that paints a picture of heavy burden and pressure. Yet the melody completely betrays the ‘heaviness’ of the subject because it’s so sweet and catchy.  The harmony between the voices is not quite perfect and that makes it beyond brilliant. There’s weariness and heaviness in them. 

Five Thousand

 If you know why Five Thousand means goodbye, you and I are tight, son. And that being the case, you should definitely check out Orgone, because everybody deserves a proper funking.

 Hasala malakim.
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Friday, August 2, 2013

Written Anti Eagle Pistols (August 5th - 9th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

It's another glorious "Winter" Saturday in Perth today and I've so far been stuck at a doctor's surgery, at shopping and soon at an indoor swimming pool. There's not much chance of making the most of today's sunshine, so tomorrow had better be just as nice - and what do you know, it is forecast to be. There are some positives about this city, it can't be denied. 

 So what have I got for my listening pleasure next week? It was so good to hear the My Girl soundtrack last week, that I've got The Big Chill this time. Another compilation comes from Noisetrade and Anti Records. Some neglected albums again make the list; namely the first of 3 discs from Dylan's Biograph, the Sex Pistols' one and only Bollocks and Californication from the Chili Peppers. Sliding in nicely next to the Soul of The Big Chill is the first Charles Bradley album, because last week's listen of Victim Of Love just wasn't enough. I'm checking out Laura Marling after Rolling Stone called her the new Joni Mitchell; and Tori Amos' bonus LP from the Under The Pink tour should compliment Marling nicely. For my Rap fix, there's Nas. Lastly, I've included the new Ben Lee album, which I actually donated to Kickstart for. It's a weird kind of ambient thing and I wanted to give it another chance; because frankly it creeped me out the first time.  

 Check it out:
  1. Nirvana
  2. Orgone
  3. Mazzy Star
  4. Pearl Jam
  5. R.E.M.

 Song of the Week : Orgone - Strike (feat. Niki Crawfod)


This week has been hard to pick a SOTW because I’ve been a bit down due to being sick and sore. And when I get like that, I tend to cling to tunes I know and love that make me feel good. Which is all well and good, but doesn't make for an interesting SOTW. So I am deliberately choosing a new song (even if it sounds old). 

 A little while ago I found a band called Orgone. They are a funk and r&b band who do a lot of instrumentals. The first album I heard from them, Fuzzed Up, sounds like the soundtrack to a Troy McLure 70s car chase film! Recently they released a new album called New You.  This time it’s not all instrumentals. There’s a bunch of guest female singers. What that sounds like added to 70s car chase music is a 70s Blaxploitation disco action flick. Something like Car Wash or Superfly TNT or Fioxy Brown. 

 This song is Strike (feat. Niki Crawford) and it is jam packed with funky horns and a badassssss bassline for some wah wah to play around on. Ms Crawford sounds like Beyonce took lessons from Anita Baker and Mavis Staples. I can see this being the montage song from a film about workers who take over a factory in protest at conditions in 1970s Detroit. I hope you dig it, brothers and sisters.

Ciao
Well it's time for swimming soon and then I've got to race back to watch what might be the last West Coast win for Season 2013. I say we forget this year happened at all and next year the Eagles who turned up in 2011 and most of 2012 can get on the park again. Sound good? Cool. 

 Hasala malakim.
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Friday, July 26, 2013

Green Worker's American Swim (July 29th - August 2nd)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

 If you can believe it, I'm running ahead of time with my list this week. I've had it chosen since early in the week, to avoid rushing it. A few albums that I just haven't heard in a while managed to pop up.

 One of those albums that has slipped the Work Tunes net forever is REM's excellent Green. @sunky mentioned another Mazzy Star LP last week and it made me think of Among My Swan. Jay-Z has been all up in everyone's grill lately, so I had to grab Vol. 3. A Billy Bragg album I'm yet to hear makes the cut this week, as does the My Girl soundtrack thanks to @BreeMateljan's SOTW. The very latest pack of funky tracks from Orgone is here and the Italian horror rock of Goblin. Incesticide is another neglected LP that made my list this week. What's left is some jangly folk pop from The Whispertown 2000 and some darker alt country infused folk from A.A. Bondy.  

 Check it out:
  1. Bruce Springsteen
  2. Alice In Chains
  3. Nick Drake
  4. Van Morrison
  5. The Replacements

 Song of the Week : Alice In Chains - Angry Chair



 It has been some time since I listened to Dirt. It's a lot heavier than I remember it. When I look back on it though, a lot of grunge was fairly heavy - Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Tad, Dinosaur Jr. It was just Nirvana and Pearl Jam who brought that pop sensibility to it that crossed it into the mainstream. In any other circumstances, that would be called "selling out", but I'm really glad they did. Because let's face it, in 1991 in Perth, there is no way we'd have heard starving indie rock bands from Seattle if they hadn't sold out. 

 I chose Angry Chair because it was one of the releases from this album and because it is quite stereotypically "grungy". The apathetically depressed lyrics, the wall of deep fuzz and the pounding drums are all on the heavy side of the sound that I once knew and loved so well. Nostalgia may not be what it used to be, but some days a familiar tune can be a good warm hug. Enjoy.

Hooroo
I'm just finishing this all up on a Saturday afternoon. The wife and children are at swimming lessons and I am left here tasked with domestic duties because we haven't been home all day. We're unbelievably short on time today. A good thing I had this list planned early, wasn't it?

 Hasala malakim.
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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Daft Dirt River Replacements (22nd - 26th July)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

I've been laid up with afflictions all of these last few days, so I have again rushed my list. But it's still pretty good.

 I decided to continue my second chances for late-period Pearl Jam - I'll see if Binaural stands up now like it didn't before for me. To compliment Pearl Jam , I grabbed Alice In Chains. After Newsroom used Into the Mystic in the closing credits, I reached right for Moondance. I've got some Replacements here and the soundtrack to a doco on Big Star. Those two CDs seem complimentary. Another soundtrack is from The Wackness starring Ben Kingsley. After enjoying the production of Daft Punk's latest, I've gone back in time a bit with them. Back in time also with De La Soul and way back with Nick Drake's dream-like folky Pink Moon. All that leaves is Bruce Springsteen's classic double album from 1980, The River. 

 Check it out:
  1. Foghat
  2. Bob Marley
  3. Why?
  4. Josh Pyke
  5. Dinosaur Jr.

 Song of the Week : Chic  - Le Freak


After a few different discussions over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about disco and about Daft Punk's new album and how it is a) very disco and b) massively overhyped. But overhype aside, it's a decent listen if you like a bit of 70s disco. What I like about it, besides the pastiche of retro sounds is the engineering on it. It reminds me of 70s engineering too, because every layer seems to be painstakingly balanced and nuanced just right. Not every band bothers with all that trouble these days and a lot of pop music sounds like mud.

 But no, my SOTW isn't Daft Punk, it's Chic - Le Freak. I hadn't heard this song in ages until my Daft Punk wonderings got me thinking about disco. There is a bit of this song in a lot of the tracks on Random Access Memories, in particular that funky little guitar chord riff so synonymous with disco. This will get your boogie shoes on.

Interesting aside if you haven't heard the tale, but Nile Rodgers says the song was initially titled "Fuck Off!" because they couldn't get in Studio 54 one night. Off home they went, wrote a funky ass bassline and chanted "Fuck Off!" instead of Freak Out! which is what they decided on to appease record companies. 

TTFN
If there is anything on my hurried list that sounds like it might suit you, go and have a listen. Spotify or Songl or Rdio that tish all you like. Life is too short for bad music. 

 Hasala malakim.
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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Chic Blue Foghat Legend (July 15th - 19th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

 There's not a second to spare tonight. I simply must get away and watch SHARKNADO! A movie about a tornado full of sharks - what's not to like?! Let's ride! 

 I recently started watching Freaks and Geeks and one mention of Foghat and here we are. More 70s style from Chic and for a more serious 70s sound, there is Patti Smith's brilliant Horses. Also brilliant but world's apart is a Digable Planets favourite. Another favourite is from Dinosaur Jr. I've picked a tribute to Nick Drake that I've been meaning to hear for a while and will probably add Drake's Pink Moon on next week's list. Also a tribute of sorts, a new suite of remixes for Bob Marley's Legend LP. I chose Alopecia from Why? because I haven't played it for a while. The latest from Josh Pyke is here so I can give it a listen and lastly, also new, Jay-Z. 

 Check it out:
  1. Josh Rouse
  2. The Lemonheads
  3. Son Volt
  4. David Bowie
  5. Chelsea Light Moving

 Song of the Week : The Easybeats - Good Times


Back in, I guess, '87? when this song Good Times was released by INXS featuring Jimmy Barnes, I was a huge fan of both artists. I also had no idea that it was a cover. I later found that out, but had never heard the Easybeats original until this week.

 Listening to it now it is obvious why Jimmy Barnes would choose to cover it. That even sounds like him on backing. Did he pinch his scotch soaked scream from The Easybeats all along? Is he even older than he appears and that is him?! Who knows? 

 As for the song, that 60s rock n roll sound is immense. The main riff like the standard E A A E (e.g. "Mama took those batteries E A A E She took em away E A A E") blues refrain played after every line in the verse. The percussion all symbol and snare with the rolling bass drum. The little handclaps and Yeahs! It's so 60s and a little bit Aussie. In short, the perfect song for INXS and Jimmy Barnes to cover in the late 80s.   

Adeus 

 That's Portuguese for goodbye, or so Babelfish tells me. I'm a fan of the Portuguese people; they gave us Nandos and one of my best friends from primary school. Shout outs to Steve B! 

 Boa noite, amigos. Hasala malakim.
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Friday, July 5, 2013

Dig Your Motherland Circus (July 8th - 12th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

 It seems like every week I am having to rush through picking a playlist these days. I've just returned from the usual shopping expedition and have forgotten a bunch of stuff, so I'll be off out again soon. While I am at home though, let's see what we have.

 Before Portlandia and Wild Flag, the lovely Carrie Brownstein was in Sleater-Kinney, so check them out. Thanks to my SOTW this week, Raw Power gets a gig. Thanks to Jamie's SOTW from a couple of weeks ago, so does Dave Brubeck's immortal jazz classic Time Out. For a helping of newness, there's Editors and Bliss n Eso. Representing classic Australian rock, I've got the Easybeats only disc of Easy Fever, a tribute album. On old favourite from two or three years ago from Beach Fossils is here. From Hip Hop DJ Steinski, there's a retrospective. Natalie Merchant steps up with an album I haven't heard yet. Finally, what playlist would be complete without a good 80s compilation?

 Check it out:
  1. Josh Rouse
  2. The Lemonheads
  3. Son Volt
  4. David Bowie
  5. Chelsea Light Moving

 Song of the Week : Iggy & the Stooges - Gimme Danger



 Last night I went to Opening Night at Rev and watched Burn; a documentary about the Detroit Fire Department. There are something like 80,000 vacant homes in Detroit and parts of it look just like a war zone a la downtown NY in the 70s. There are also a lot of arson attacks in Detroit, on vacant and occupied homes.

My SOTW is a tune the doco makers used in the opening scenes of Burn, to great effect - Gimme Danger by Iggy & The Stooges. Its abrasive fuzziness and the dark bass undertone really went well with footage of firemen standing inside burning buildings, shooting water OUT! These guys love a good fire and the starting salary is just 30k! I wouldn't push trolleys for 30k let alone put my life on the line. And there are dangers I didn't even think of - such as second story floors burning through, dropping giant bathtubs and air conditioners on their heads, or being trapped under collapsed facades.  

 I'm sorry I only have a low bitrate version on my iPod of the track off Raw Power as the CD is at home. The only other version I have is from the Iggy Pop Nude & Rude compilation and that's a whole other mix. Somebody polished all the edges up so it sounds hollow. This original version has all the crunch and attack of a five alarm fire. Turn it up!

 Paalam

 It's almost time to head off out again. If you're in Perth this week, don't forget that Revelation Film Festival is on. There's a bunch of great films, including music documentaries like the one on Big Star and one on Muscle Shoals. Get down and support independent filmmakers, indie cinemas and film nerds like myself. 

Hasala malakim.
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