Get down to the countdown

G’day Rolls,

What was that? ‘Long live the list!’ Hells yeah! And what better way to keep the list alive than by bunging up the week’s top 5 tunes. I’ll be honest, there’s every chance they won’t be the freshest sounds doing the rounds, just grouseness that gets my foot kicking the shagpile.

The plan is to refresh the list every week, that way, you’re guaranteed a countdown at least once every seven days. Shimmy!

5. Natural’s Not In It – Gang of Four
   (A Brief History of the 20th Century)

4. The Under Dog – Tommy Guerrero
   (From the Soil to the Soul)

3. Going Steady – Death From Above 1979
   (You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine)

2. Rock-N-Rol’e – Brant Bjork
   (Keep Your Cool)

1. Mongoose – Fu Manchu
   (California Crossing)

You’ll feel this one, Rolls, old son.

No regular John

G'day Rolls,

You can't possibly have a credible blog about loose tunes without paying tribute to the voice of desert rock, John Garcia. I fondly recall a childhood spent rolling around on my skateboard, sippin' Slurpees and smashing bootlegged Kyuss cassettes on the ol' walkman.  Thems certainly were the days.

So, in the spirit of long necks and sticky index fingers, I thought I'd list my ten favourite Johnny G moments, spanning a few of the deadly rad bands he's lent his chops to. Here goes:

10. Our Desert Home - Hermano

9.  Fatso Forgotso - Kyuss 

8.  Un Sandpiper - Kyuss

7.  The Prizefighter - Slo Burn

6.  Exam Room - Hermano

5.  If Only Two - Unida

4.  Conan Troutman - Kyuss

3.  Cain - Unida

2.  Freedom Run - Kyuss

And number one:

Billy on the boil

G'day Rolls,

You and me are similar in many ways. We love tunes. We love chicks. We love chicks who play tunes. We love chicks who play tunes raw.

Well, Bill Withers isn't a chick, but he does dig 'em. He also likes his tunes raw, as you'll witness in this performance of 'Use Me'. It's got heart. It's got soul. It's got a dude playing drums in his pyjamas. That's raw.

The other thing that makes this a ripper of a performance is Billy's orange skivvy. You see, any normal dude clad in the same get-up would have keeled over from heat stroke half way through a song like this. But not Billy. His bionic self-cooling system lets him belt out soul-drenched classics, while shedding only a few beads of sweat. Smooth as.