Playlist : September 28th - October 1st, 2010

Welcome to my surprise long weekend. I didn't have any idea until Wednesday that we had a day off this Monday. So every minute of Monday is a bonus and hopefully I'll be out at the Zoo with the girls for Miss 1's first ever trip.

For a short week but not a short list :

• Kasey Chambers - The Captain : I hadn't heard Kasey Chambers in a good long while until recently our travel playlist randomly chose Cry Like A Baby. Funny enough, she released her first new album in a while that same week. This is a little hardcore country for me these days, but a lot of these songs still sound pretty good.

• Brand Nubian - Everything is Everything : A little bit of Jazz Hop never hurt anyone and Brand Nubian is as good an exponent as anyone.

• Calexico - Garden Ruin : I recently heard a podcast of Calexico playing live and it reminded me how much I like their Tex-Mex crunchy sound.

• James Brown - In The Jungle Groove : My mate Mr Kelly hooked me up with a heap of JB last weekend and I've always wanted to hear this album in full because of Funky Drummer. Anything I can say about the magic of James Brown wouldn't be enough.

• Ice T - O.G. (Original Gangster) : After quoting a Pegz line ("Who remembers Ice T was king?") on Twitter recently, one of my followers and I got into a chat about how cool Ice was and still is. This album was pride of place in my collection as a tape, then a CD. I'm going to rediscover it as MP3 now.

• Whiskeytown - Faithless Street : I try to avoid adding Whiskeytown or Ryan Adams to my playlists because I always listen to them and I like a little variety. But it has gotten to the point where I've put off adding certain albums that long that these two have lost their standing as my number 1 and 2 artists on last.fm. That 'honour' goes to Josh Rouse now with Radams at 2, Hilltop Hoods at 3 and Whiskeytown a paltry 4th. Time to remedy that.

• Aloe Blacc - Good Things : There seems to be a renewed popularity going on for Soul music at the moment. Those of us who never stopped loving it won't be surprised. The latest offerings from Mavis Staples and John Legend and The Roots have been given a lot of positive attention. Aloe Blacc's new LP is another worthy example of how real Soul is back, baby.

• The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band : On a vinyl expedition on the weekend, I managed to get a good condition, original AU pressing of Sergeant Pepper for $4 of your Earth dollars. Yep, just four. Talk about a bargain. Sounds really good too. These are the mp3s from CD though.

• Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman : On the strength of Fast Car and Talkin' About a Revolution, when this album came out it was capital M massive. So much so that I spent my not-very-hard-earned Kmart Autos casual wage to buy it on vinyl. If i recall right, I bought vinyl because it was cheaper than cassette. I'm really glad I was a cheapskate, because I'm stoked I've got the vinyl now.

• Ryan Bingham - Junky Star : The first I heard of Ryan Bingham was the Crazy Heart soundtrack, from which I really liked Fallin'& Flyin' and The Weary Kind. I thought it might be a good idea to check out some more Bingham. This is the latest offering from the band.

So there you have it. My advice to you is get some Soul if you want to be hip and happening (and polka dots - I've seen them on some stylin new sneakers and a few indie kids lately). And as always, don't get hung up man; stay cool.