Playlist : January 17th - 21st, 2011

Hi and welcome to another week of Work Tunes.

This week's list features a couple of albums I've been meaning to get for at least 10 years, as well as some old favourites and one or two I've never heard. For me, that makes a good list, and it looks like this:

• Beastie Boys – To The 5 Boroughs : It hasn’t been that long since this album was on my playlist. I’ve put it on again because lately I’ve been hearing a lot of hate for it from people who are true Beastie Boys fans. I have always liked this album and maybe I’m not hearing whatever it is that puts people off it. I thought repeated listens might help me understand why it copped so much flack. For me, Open Letter To NYC is one of their better tracks, and the Hip Hop/New York history lessons scattered throughout the lyrics are like reassurances of our culture’s true place in the world. Sounds strange, I know, listening to an LP to see if I hate it, but I am intrigued by how little respect it’s given.

• John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Some Time In New York City : I’ve been on a little bit of a Lennon kick lately after reading the interview he did with Rolling Stone three days before his death. I’ve come to truly believe that he was the Beatles. Not only that, strange music aside, I have cemented my view that Yoko Ono is a decent and enlightened individual who had no direct part in the breakup of the Beatles. If anything, it was John’s fault and had to happen anyway. So this is Some Time In New York City; the third album Lennon made post-Beatles. Tell me anything good that McCartney ever did post-Beatles. Wings?! Pffft.

• The Decemberists - The King is Dead : The latest effort from Portland natives The Decemberists features guest appearances from Peter Buck of R.E.M. fame and Gillian Welch of Gillian Welch obscurity. Apparently the title is an homage to the Smiths classic The Queen Is Dead and you can hear a little Morrissey and Marr influence in past work by The Decemberists. Buck’s bright jangle, Conlee’s accordion and a fine dose of fiddle lends this LP a folk and country vibe.

• Das Racist - Shut Up, Dude : Released as a free download in March 2010, Das Racist’s first mixtape caught a lot of attention; mainly due to the video game created for the song Who’s That? Brooown! These guys basically use rap as a comedy vehicle, but they are at the same time very decent rappers. Fittingly, Playboy has called them a cross between “Hip Hop and Cheech & Chong”. In September, the duo released another mixtape, Sit Down, Man which I’ll play next week. Meanwhile, you can download this mixtape from the album name link.

• Ray LaMontagne - Trouble : I only recently found out about Ray LaMontagne with the excellent God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise album. Last week, a mix on 8tracks included Jolene from Trouble. It was stunning and I set about getting some back catalogue. Trouble is an impressively sparse and subdued set with some first-rate lyrics. Check it out if you liked the Pariah Dogs last year.

• Paul Kelly – The A – Z Recordings (Disc One) : I’m going to attempt to hear all of Paul Kelly’s sprawling and epic boxset one disc at a time. That will take 8 playlists to do, but I think it will be worth it. I’ve been a massive Paul Kelly fan ever since 1985’s Under the Sun which was on ultra-high rotation (in cassette form) during that summer for me. Since then I’ve bought virtually everything PK has released (including with Uncle Bill). Australia’s greatest living songwriter deserves every clichéd and exaggerated epitaph we can bestow upon him. Some highlights on the first disc are the cheeky Adelaide, the timeless Beggar on the Street of Love and the excellent Cake and the Candle which was given to Kate Cebrano to record. Tune in next week for Disc Two.

• Things of Stone and Wood - Junk Theatre : One of two albums I picked up last week after missing my chance to pick them up in the 90s, Junk Theatre is as far as i know, Things' second. Their debut, The Yearning, featured the massive hit Happy Birthday Helen and less successful but still popular Share This Wine. I was a big fan while at Uni (and the band actually played in our courtyard) of their folky brand of Melbourne song. They're somewhere between Noiseworks and the Mucky Duck Bush Band which makes it all a little dated. The only songs I know here are Wildflowers, a cautionary tale about right wing politics and Churchill's Black Dog about depression.

• Concrete Blonde - Group Therapy : My 90s obsession with Concrete Blonde pretty much ended soon after I saw Johnette Napolitano play live. That's not to say she turned me off them, she was great. I think it was probably because I discovered Eminem and got back into rap in a big way. Whatever it was, I bought everything Concrete Blonde ever did, but not Group Therapy from 2002 - which I picked up last week.

• VA - More Sounds of the New West : Another of last week's purchases, this is the sequel to one of my favourite compilations. The first Sounds of the New West is so important to me, because I bought it after discovering Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown when the whole Alt Country genre was new to me. Since then my original purchase has introduced me to the Hansom Family, Kate Campbell, Lambchop, Neal Casal, Hazeldine, Calexico and Will Oldham. So when eBay offered up the sequel in a one cent CD auction, I snapped it up. I haven't listened yet, but I hope to find a stack more artists.

• Pearl Jam - No Code : I'm still on a quest to get back into Pearl Jam. I don't understand why they lost me, I only know that No Code was when they did. This is the most recent Pearl Jam album I own. With any luck, the passage of time might make it sound a little better for me. That aside, There He Goes from this album has always been a good listen.

And there’s the whole list for this week. My best wishes go to the people of Queensland who are fighting against terrible hardship in the floods that have wreaked havoc upon their sunny state. If you want to donate, you can do so at http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html To all my people in the Q-L-D, stay safe and warm and dry.

Bye for now, but before you go, this week is your last chance to grab my Best of 2010 Mixtape. Until next time; Peace man, right on.