Playlist : May 17th - 21st, 2010

Busy weekend this week, so I'm posting my list early. I seem to have gone with mostly somber or smooth tunes that match the weather. So I deliberately added some ruckus at the last minute.

This weeks list looks like this:

• Son Volt - The Search - After I realised the chorus chords to one of my favourite ever songs, Methamphetamine, were DEADEADEAD (spooky) I tweeted it and promptly picked up a new follower who said "I started following you based solely on your mention of Son Volt." So I figured I'd spin the album.

• Gil Scott-Heron - Spirits - I really enjoyed playing Glory last week. Also, the documentary I watched on Heron was excellent. I felt like more of old Gil <~ see what I did there? This album was the first released after the man served time for possessing cocaine. He was released in 1994, same as this album.

• The National - Alligator - As I said last week, too much of The National is not enough right now. Their second to latest release, Alligator was a critical hit and the first real commercial success for the boys from Brooklyn.

• Beck - Sea Change - An old favourite and one that always seems to make an appearance when it gets a little chilly. When it gets really, really cold, watch for Nick Cave.

• Jackson Browne - The Very Best Of... - While listening to a 70s internet radio station last week, I heard a non-single Browne track and it felt right. I am going to look into the man whom I am told writes a mean song beyond those old chestnuts we're used to on 94.5 et al.

• VA - What It Is! Vol. 3 - The third installment in the funky series. I'm loving these grooves of a Friday.

• Eels - End Times - My boss today told me Mr E. likes to write and record in a closet. But this album sounds like it's recorded in the back row of a funeral. Haunted and cracked and fit for a stormy day. Even the guy on the cover looks like he's freezing.

• Hole - Live Through This - Checking... nope, still not dated. This will always be one of my most treasured albums. Listening to the new Hole just reminded me how good this was. Polished and determined and hardcore rawk. Courtney Love : Had it, lost it.

• Nirvana - Singles - The perfect compliment to Live Through This, I chose this increasingly hard to get box set in case the guys at my work wanted a listen and hadn't heard some of the B Sides here. Also, I wanted a nice 90s hug to slip into with Hole and Nirvana. Interestingly, that Amazon link is to a US$146.99 unopened copy. Not that I'd ever sell my open one.

That's it then. It's almost 2am, time for bed. Off out to lunch with @2ompkins for Japanese tomorrow and out with my lovely wife @boobalee_ann to the movies Sunday. You crazy kids take care.