Playlist : September 6th - 10th, 2010

I'm blogging this later than usual and I only just finished a very enjoyable conversation on Twitter about musical genius and the icons of our age. It made me reorganise the list and add some more albums.

• The National - High Violet : One of those albums that came out a little while back, I bought and listened to once or twice thanks to my obsession with The National, but haven't listened to since. The band's self-titled debut and Boxer are usually on rotation, so this needs more attention.

• Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies : I just discovered Justin Townes Earle (son of Steve Earle) last week while streaming his new LP Harlem River Blues on NPR. That album isn't out yet, so I bought the title track on iTunes to make it Song of the Week last week and am listneing to this now. Its old time blues/folk with a wry New York hipster smile.
  

• Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come : Having watched a few episodes of Ken Burns' fantastic documentary Jazz on the weekend, I rediscovered some artists other than Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane who usually take up all my jazz spots. The brilliance of Coleman's riffs and BillEvan's bass are why I chose Ornette.
  

• Jimi Hendrix - Experience Hendrix : What Jimi did with a guitar was as close as anyone has come to what Charlie Parker did with a saxophone. Hendrix's chops were every bit as sprawling and difficult and fast as Parker's flurry of notes. We always lose the really good ones before their time, somehow.

• Jay Bennet - Kicking at the Perfumed Air : The last album the late, great Jay Bennet of Wilco fame ever made. It was released for free by the Jay Bennet Foundation website and you can still get it here.
  

• Ramones - End of the Century : Because she knows what a vinyl tragic I've become, and because she wouldn't know where to start choosing a record for me, my lovely wife let me select a Fathers Day 'side' from Planet Video Mt Lawley. I chose End of the Century because it has Do You Remember Rock n Roll Radio? on it; which Miss 4 and Miss 1 like to dance to using coreography Miss 4 made up. And my wife says I'm brainwashing their musical taste...
  

• Jenny and Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now : God bless NPR for their fantastic First Listen feature. Last week I found Best Coast, Justin Townes Earle and Jenny and Johnny. Jenny I knew - she's Jenny Lewis - but the pairing is different. Good stuff.

• The Weepies - Hideaway - The new The Weepies album Be My Thrill has been ordered and is on its way. Last week I spun Say I Am You so this week it's Hideaway. Hopefully the new CD will arrive in time for next week.

• Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde : After @DylanLyrics quoted Visions of Johanna last week, it reminded me how great that song is and how long it's been since I listened to this particular entry in the holy trilogy. Captured here is a piece of art spun from the finest threads of what Bob called 'that thin, that wild mercury sound'.

• Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here : It hasn't been that long since I heard this album, but when someone on twitter asked who GSH was, it made me wantto hear it again. The difference between Heron's 70s work and this is almost a lifetime of hard living later and a ravaged voice - but has lost none of its potent militance and defiance.

• Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock : The rap albums in the mix were added late after twitter discussion led me to the realisation that rap and Hip Hop already had their legendary icons the way Jazz did. Hip Hop's legends are people like Herc, Bambaataa and Flash. Bam was a pioneer in DJing and in turning gang members into b-boys with the Zulu Nation.

• Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - On The Strength : Flash was the kid who one day thought 'doesn't it sound cool when you slide the needle back and forth on the record and 'scratch' it in time to the beat?' It doesn't get any more pioneering to any musical genre than Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash.Herc brought the very first kernel of Hip Hop to the US from Jamaica and people like Bam and Flash took it and ran with it.
  

Until next week, don't get hung up, stay cool and definitely don't bug out daddy-o. And in closing, my favourite Hip Hop prayer ;

In the name of Herc, Bam and Flash. Yes ya'll.