Playlist : November 15th - 19th, 2010

Hey, what's happening cats? Been a good week in your world? Mine has been kind of same old, same old. But, you know what they say - no news is good news.

A lot of what I'll be listening to this week is fairly laid back. Apart from some grooves from Cee Lo Green and Jamiroquai, and a little bit of obligatory Skip Hop from Pegz, everything else is easy like Year 8 maths. Check it out:

• Elvis Costello - The Best of Elvis Costello : It has been a good while since I tucked into my favourite EC album, Spike. Much of his more recent fare is a little on the middle of the road lounge jazz side - although his late night talk show features some great performances. Early on in his career, Costello was known as Punk and then among the vanguard of the Post Punk and New Wave movements. These are all still great songs.

• Melissa Etheridge - Brave And Crazy : With much less of the vitriole and psychotic obsession of her debut self-titled album, ME's second release is still very raw, if somewhat more subtle and subdued. The romantic road trip of Sleep While I Drive and the deep remorse of You Used To Love To Dance are placed easily beside the incensed outrage of No Souvenirs. This is a decent album prior to Etheridge's peak, Your Little Secret.

• Pegz - Capricorn Cat : I put a bid on Pegz vinyl recently. It was signed and online to raise money in the Heat for Huntz appeal. It wasn't this album, it was the brilliant Axis. The auction isn't over, but I'm not prepared to pay $150+ for it. I'm going to sulk and play Capricorn Cat instead. I like Pegz.

• Concrete Blonde - Free : At the request of one of my Song of the Week buddies, Sunky, I recently made a Concrete Blonde mixtape for him as he only knew Joey. I haven't listened to a lot of Blonde since the late 90s when I saw Johnette Napolitano play live, acoustic and solo. Free is my personal favourite Blonde LP, and the title track that never made the album is brilliant. It's on my mixtape though. If you drop me an email, I'll hook you up with it.

• The Lightning Seeds - Cloudcuckooland : I didn't know The Lightning Seeds when one day I saw a cassette in a hock shop for $1. Being it was the early 90s and everything that looked a little indie was of instant interest, I grabbed the tape and happily enough I dug it. Which is lucky, because I wasn't expecting such synth based pop. It's not bad though, check it out.

• Cee Lo Green - The Ladykiller : It seems like everywhere I go I'm hearing F$#^ You! That's Cee Lo's song, that's not random people screaming out in the street. Although, this one time... Anyway, I like that the Soul just keeps growing and growing. It seems to me like everyone is getting their groove on at the minute. Long may true Soul rule the airwaves.

• Jamiroquai - Rock Dust Light Star : Speaking of getting your groove on, this is the latest release from Jamiroquai, the UK funk pop outfit fronted by the often be-hatted Jay Kay. An ex-boss and friend of mine (hello Chris) introduced me to Jamiroquai and it's good music just to have on. Not really musical wallpaper, but not really deep and meaningful music either - although it quite often has a 'message' (given the 'iroquai' bit of their name comes from the Iroquois Native American tribe). Good stuff for a Friday, that's for sure.

• Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Live at Metropolis Fremantle : I was at this gig in the front row and I've only this week been handed the link to the archive. I have downloaded the files and listened to a few snippets for quality - it's good. It was a great gig too. You can download the whole thing from the link in this title. Coming up soon, the Cardinals are releasing a double album of music created around the time of the epic 2LP Cold Roses album, further illustrating how prolific Grizzly once was.I will most likely play this recording more than once this week.

• Kathleen Edwards - Back To Me : Spinning Failer a couple of weeks ago was a good decision. I had forgotten how much I liked Edwards' writing and melody and I was so surprised, I tweeted it. This week I've decided on Back To Me rather than Ask For Flowers because the latter is a little sadder and quieter and as Flav would say 'I ain't tryin' to hear that' right now. As mentioned when I blogged about Failer, the track Old Time Sake from this set is in my 'Hottest 100'.

• VA - Uncut - Love Above All: 11 Songs Compiled By Devendra Banhart : I hadn't heard much of Devendra Banhart's music before I saw a tour documentary about him (The Family Jams). He definitely has a distinctive style. This isn't his music though, it's eleven songs he chose for an Uncut magazine compilation. Uncut compilations very rarely disappoint me, so I thought I'd check this one out.

That's it for another week of tunes at work. I'm hoping my Soul Train DVDs will come soon, and if they do, expect lots of funk next week.

This week's free advice: Be all that you can be bothered being. Ciao for niao cats.