Playlist : November 29th - December 3rd, 2010

Well, what a week it’s been in the world of tunes.

I got a crush on Wilco all over again last week. I also confirmed my love for Best Coast. Both bands helped bring something to the plate this week. With Wilco, it was twang and lyrical songs with real emotion and complex narrative. Best Coast made a little bit of noise a good thing. What came out of that jumbled mix looks like this:

• The National - Alligator : The official full length third album from The National was released in 2005. They had a solid following before that with their debut self-titled, but it wasn't until 2007s Boxer that they 'blew up'. I'm a big fan of the debut, but Alligator is a quality set including the superb Daughters of the Soho Riots and Mr November - the latter used as an informal Barack Obama theme song.

• The Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Vol. 1 : With the recent release of the Witmark Demos (Bootleg Series Vol. 9), Dylan's bootlegs are becoming like the Police Academy franchise - except awesome. This the first disc in a three disc set and contains mostly early finger-picked folk songs written when Robert Zimmerman first came to New York City. Disc 2 next week.

• Cold Chisel - Breakfast at Sweethearts : Chisel! amirite? Growing up with a love of all things 'bogan', I was exposed to Chisel very early on. However, for the most part, everybody got their Chisel fix from Radio Songs, the Best Of compilation (and later Gold). It was the only Chisel CD I owned until recently. The title track of this LP is one of their best.

• The Slits - Cut : The Slits were a punk band out of the UK who formed in the genre's heyday of 1976 (before it officially broke). Their sound is like a perfect segue between the raw distortion of Punk, the yet to be popular Ska pop and the much later New Wave. The lead singer of The Slits, Ari Up, died last month. Cancer. Fuck Cancer.

• Indigo Girls - Despite Our Differences : When I decided to put this on my list, I tweeted that I was going to sing a song from Cougar Town - Comfortable With My Sexuality. Yes the Indigo Girls are best known as lesbian singer songwriters, but something they really do well is lyrics and acoustic guitar. I like both of those. With songs on this disc like Dirt and Dead Ends about a neighbor with an illicit methamphetamine lab and the road trip themed Three County Highway, I enjoy the stories these ladies tell. So there.

• Prince - Dirty Mind : A recent formspring.me question I got asked who the most underrated musician was. My answer was unequivocally Prince. People tend to see the Purple one as just this guy who changed his name to a squiggle and wears feminine clothes (or had a rib removed in order to perform autofellatio, if you're into urban myths). Most of them have no idea that he is a multi-instrumentalist who carves pure gold out of guitar strings and quite possibly channels the ghost of the late great Jimi Hendrix. Plus, he is a funky mutha-ucka.

• The Muffs - The Muffs : The Muffs are an all girl alterna-grunge type band formed in 1991 in SoCal. This is their 1993 self-titled debut. Probably their most famous track is their cover of Kids In America which appears on the Clueless soundtrack. This LP is just a collection of noisy indie pop bubbles.

• Run DMC - Raising Hell : My friends are probably sick of this story, but back in 1985, between Primary School and High School, my then best friend came home from Bali with a tape for me. He told me it was 'Breakdance' music (we had been b-boys in 1984). Breakdance was already played out, so I scoffed. When he went home, I threw that tape on. It was Raising Hell. And within months, Walk This Way and by association, Rap was the biggest thing on the planet. This album watered my Hip Hop seed; planted with breakdance in 1983.

• VA - Thunder Road - Songs Inspired by the Boss : I'm hoping to get hold of The Promise for next week, Springsteen's outtakes from the acclaimed Darkness On The Edge Of Town. In the meantime, this is another great Uncut magazine compilation, this time full of Springsteen covers by a variety of artists from country to art rock. Stand outs are my favourites the Cowboy Junkies and Mary Lou Lord's subdued rendition of Thunder Road.

• The New Pornographers - Together : It wasn't until my mate Sunky went to The New Pornographers gig recently that I knew the always brilliant Neko Case was fronting the band. This is their latest release and is a nice showcase of Neko's voice and Carl Newman's songwriting. Also interesting is an appearance by the horn section of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.

About the wisest thing I’ve heard this week was from Miss 4, who said (and is fond of saying) ‘Can’t we all just get up with each other?’ which is her take on getting along. So, answer that, Koreas? Can’t we all just get up with each other? Of course we can.

Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?