Playlist : May 31st - June 4th, 2010

It's 2am Friday (kinda) night at the moment and I thought I'd make an early start. So here goes:

• Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate : A morbid and deeply depressing LP, I know, but such lyrics and such folk guitar trickery and such a voice. Without Leonard, there'd be no Nick Cave, there'd be no 50,000 cover versions of Hallelujah. Only one of those things I would miss...

• Alice In Chains - Dirt : Thanks to DR Adams for the record of the Week last week. I used to listen to this album all the time, but it's been ages. Let's see how it holds up.
  

• Dave Rawlings Machine - Friend of a Friend : After hearing these guys play a cover of To Be Young and a few tracks of this album, I had to check it out. As a vocalist, Rawlings makes a great guitarist for his sweetheart Gillian Welch, but these songs are well written.

• Gillian Welch - Soul Journey : And what is Dave Rawlings without Gillian? Wayside/Back In Time and Wrecking Ball are 5 star songs on my iPod. All my fingers are crossed that the Machine visits Perth and brings Ms Welch along.
  

• Soundgarden - A-Sides : Matches with Alice In Chains like red wine and cheese. Soundgarden were the first bit of 'grunge' I heard. I remember telling my metal-loving mates that I loved metal now after hearing Jesus Christ Pose. Metal was the only reference I had for Cornell screaming at the top of his lungs over grinding guitars - until Nirvana came along later.

• The Whispertown 2000 - Swim : And just to make this week's playlist completely Acony Records friendly, Rawlings and Welch's labelmates the WT2K - crazy indie freak-folk country kids with a bit of The Muffs about them.
  

• Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones : Still sore about not getting organised and going to the Octagon show last week, I am playing this in tribute. There's something about Chuck E's In Love that still makes me feel really good. It may be I remember fondly sitting on the loungeroom floor as a 7yr old immersed in the film clip every Sunday on Countdown for all those weeks it was #1 But I have sinced come to love this album just as much for the beatnik tales and pure jazz of songs like Night Train and Young Blood.
  

• De La Soul - Stakes Is High : I fell off De La after 3 Feet High and Rising; so I missed this album when it was new. I've since discovered it is brilliant. De La Soul at their absolute peak for mine.

• Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs : Looking for some more Hip Hop/Rap to add to the list and feeling in an NY mood after choosing RLJ, I went with this underrated and unappreciated solid Beasties set from 2004.

• Paul Kelly - Ways & Means : Great double album of folky old time stories from the master of Australian songwriting.
  

Well, that ought to tide me over for a busy week and take us right into the long weekend. Enjoy your weeks peeps. Right on.