Check Smokey's Faithless Knack (December 3rd - 7th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

Good evening tunesters. What's the good word? It's Friday night here, spilling into Saturday morning and I've just finished deciding what I'm going to listen to next week. This week has been a weird sort of a week in Australia. For a start, people in Perth are whining that there's too much cold and wind and rain, while people in Melbourne are convinced their car tyres will melt right off their cars. Introduction to the opposites, or what?! Anyway, music time. Let's see what will be keeping my ears company next week.

I have a little bit of Australian representation here with Urthboy and San Cisco. I'm currently reading Losering, a Story of Whiskeytown, and so I have Faithless Street as well as early Ryan Adams punk band, Patty Duke Syndrome. Disc twos for the Stones' GRRR! and Dylan's bootlegs are here, as is The Knack thanks again to Cobain's top 50. Natalie Merchant is here for mellow purposes and Radiohead bring a classic to the party. Lastly, the Beastie Boys fill a  spot I specifically left for Hip Hop.

Check it out:

• Urthboy - Smokey's Haunt
• San Cisco - San Cisco
• The Knack - Get The Knack
• Natalie Merchant - Ophelia
• Patty Duke Syndrome - Patty Duke Syndrome
• The Rolling Stones - Grrr! (Disc 2)
• Whiskeytown - Faithless Street
• Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Volume 2
• Radiohead - The Bends
• Beastie Boys - Check Your Head

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bob Dylan
2. DJ Shadow
3. The Rolling Stones
4. Soundgarden
5. Ben Folds

Song of the Week : Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Picture Window

For some reason I thought Ben Folds was over-represented in my SOTW choices, but I can't find a single instance in the last 5 years. Either way, this song is something I mostly dig for Nick Hornby's part in it - the lyrics.

Picture Window is a little vignette into the life of what seems to be a Mother with a terminally sick child in hospital bed on New Year's Eve 2008. The room overlooks Parliament Hill through the picture window and the fireworks go off at midnight. But all the Mum can think is how pathetic it is to have such a pretty view from the room where her child is dying; and how she doesn't want to let go and enjoy herself.  

It really is like a sad short story written by a novelist in Hornby. The carefully chosen, sparse details paint the most vivid picture. I don't think many actual songwriters could do the same thing as well as Hornby has. The music is a simple enough piano riff pretty much throughout and a string section that swells over it like any good melodrama. The way Ben Folds delivers the melody is angry and desperate. And in the end when the Mum gives in and lets her spirits rise, the delivery mellows and sounds sad rather than frustrated.  

It's quite a powerful song and very well delivered. A lot of Ben Folds fans seem to have slept on this collaboration, but Hornby's words are amazing on every track. It would be great if more "proper" writers made rock songs. So enjoy this little story poem with a nice soundtrack. 

Adieu

It's Saturday afternoon now (oooh, magic) and I've just come back from the Maritime Museum in Fremantle. Along with a bunch of fascinating displays on everything from deep sea diving to the spice trade, Australia II was on show. For the non-nautical, that is the winning yacht from the 1983 America's Cup. I have to say, I was quite surprised at how humbled I felt standing beneath that sporting behemoth. Here's a happy snap.

That sail is around 40 feet high and Wikipedia says the sail area is 175 square metres. It's huge; as large as it's own place in Australian folklore. I really enjoyed seeing it. Get on down if you're in Perth.

That's all for this week. Be good, kids.

Hasala Malakim.

Colossal Walkmen Machine Mix-Up (June 11th - 15th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


A short week for me this week and next as I take the Friday off to prepare and the Monday off to recover from my f-f-f-f...firty fifth birthday. I've just had the Revelation Film Festival program launch, so expect me to be talking too much about film until at least early August. The festival itself is a month away, but that won't stop me going on about the films I want to see and bugging my friends and family with schedules. You see, I'm doing it already. On to the music.


I'm still not over the loss of MCA and good instrumentals are great to work to, so there's The Mix-Up. I recently purchased a 3 disc set of Sugar Hill tracks, so I'll add those one disc at a time. So damn funky, I'm frightened of the consequences of playing it at work, The Commodores are here. When I found out my favourite Hole song was a cover, I had to get the album that has the original from Young Marble Giants. There's some new ones from The Tallest Man On Earth and The Walkmen, some oldies from Violent Femmes and The Triffids; Alexi Murdoch's album where a few songs from Away We Go came from; and finally, can you believe there's a Wilco album I haven't heard yet? There is and it's the live set from Chicago, Kicking Television.

Check it out:

• Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up
• VA - The Sugar Hill Story : To The Beat Ya'll (Disc One)
• The Commodores - Machine Gun
• Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
• The Tallest Man On Earth - There's No Leaving Now
• Wilco - Kicking Television: Live In Chicago
• The Triffids - Calenture
• Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
• The Walkmen - Heaven
• Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Consequences

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Avalanches
2. Missy Elliott
3. Elvis Presley
4. The Birthday Party
5. Leonard Cohen

Song of the Week : Young Marble Giants - Credit In The Straight World

I recently discovered that one of my favourite Hole songs is a cover. I say recently discovered, but I must have once known this and forgot. I distinctly remember pouring over the liner notes to Live Through This at the time of release searching for writing credits by Kurt Cobain. I don't think there is any, but at the time I thought he had to have had some kind of input. Hole haven't come close to that good since.


This track, Credit In The Straight World seems to be so obviously about Courtney's addiction and the way fame and fortune allowed her to continue the lifestyle without the downfall of your everyday regular junkie. It's always felt so raw and real coming from her. Knowing it's a cover doesn't change how real it feels though - I think it just makes it one hell of a well-chosen cover.


The original version by Young Marble Giants is very post punk pop with a slant toward electronic beats and keys. The voice of the lead singer is very English and quite reserved. Of course, when Courtney did it, she belted it out like a sneer. Both versions have a creepy undertone of the seedy world of drugs. Hole's just approaches it from a more aggressive perspective while Young Marble Giants sound a little more gothic and dark. I hope you enjoy it.



Ya'll Come Back Now

Thanks for stopping by. That's your lot for the week and I hope you see something you might have a listen to. If nothing else, if you're a Hole fan, check out Colossal Youth. 


I may very well be enjoying a Winter Wonderland and Dinosaurs this weekend, all going to plan. Whatever you're doing, behave - because if I have to, so do you.


Hasala malakim.

Nasty Suburban Sea Songs (May 14th - 18th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


First up, I have to say I am still smarting from the passing of MCA. This week's Song of the Week was a special tribute edition and you'll see later on that it's quite long. It isn't just the tragedy of losing a great artist either, it's awful to see a man taken from his family and friends at such a young age. I am listening to To The 5 Burroughs and Hello Nasty this week to continue to pay respect and enjoy the music.


Besides the two Beastie LPs, I've grabbed my favourite Josh Rouse; there's the latest effort from Best Coast; Neutral Milk Hotel I am checking out thanks to Parks and Recs; I bought a bonus EP copy of Hand It Over on the weekend, so that's here; Australia's own Bob Evans makes an appearance; Suzanne Vega has been sounding great in the wetter weather; U2s monumental live album is along for the ride and finally a Bloodshot Records compilation. 


Check it out:

• Josh Rouse - 1972
• U2 - Rattle and Hum
• VA - Down to the Promised Land : 5 Years of Bloodshot
• Bob Evans - Suburban Songbook
• Best Coast - The Only Place
• Beastie Boys - To The 5 Burroughs
• Dinosaur Jr - Hand It Over (w/Bonus EP)
• Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
• Suzanne Vega - Songs in Red and Grey
• Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beastie Boys
2. Sonic Youth
3. 2Pac
4. The Lemonheads
5. Nirvana

Song of the Week : Beastie Boys - Right Right Now Now

The first time I saw the Beastie Boys was the film clip to Fight For Your Right. Being 14 / 15 at the time, these three brats from NYC talking about smoking and drinking and porno were the three coolest guys on the planet. (Side Note: I don’t know if you know or remember this, but kids actually used to steal VW emblems to hang around their neck like Mike D. I never did, but I remember trawling the streets of Koongamia looking for a Beetle to gank one off).


Part one of my multimedia tribute is the video on my tumblr (www.coreyj.tumblr.com) of an unaired live performance on Chappelle’s Show. This is how they were when I found them; raucous, NYC, precocious and wild. Part of them stayed exactly like that even as they matured.


After I saw the film clip for Fight, I immediately took some money from my Kmart job and bought the 45 of the song.  On the other side was Paul Revere. It was that song that for me established MCA as the “bad ass” of the three. Ad Rock was always the whiny brat and Mike D the smooth ladies man. MCA always came across as the tough guy, and that sort of has always carried on.

That’s why I chose Right Right Now Now from The 5 Burroughs as my SOTW. I think 5 Burroughs is unfairly underrated by even big Beasties fans. I have always loved it. This song shows beautifully how MCA was the counterpoint to the old school Beastie brattiness. As Simon pointed out, they still had fun while they spoke on important topics. Have a look at some of the exchanges of lyrics across the song:


Ad Rock:  With the sound delight we rock all night / And yes we're gonna party for the right to fight
MCA: What we do now is future moulding / Columbine bowling, childhood stolen / We need a bit more gun controlling


Mike D: I'm not here to fight, or incite  / I'm like the beach in the Bahamas make you feel alright 
MCA: I'm getting kind of tired of the situation / The US attacking other nations


When I watched Awesome! I F%#^n’ Shot That last night and saw them play as a live band, instruments and all, it drove home just how far they’d evolved from the hardcore punk band who wanted to be terrible at playing, through their rap pioneering and onto being accomplished instrumentalists as well as highly respected rappers. The band, the culture and the world will never be the same without MCA. It was a sad, sad day when we lost him.


Woah, long one. Sorry about that. But I think you know how I’ve dragged the Beastie Boys around with me like a security blanket from the age of 14; a constant touchstone to that part of my personality and culture. I sure am going to miss them – because I don’t think there’ll be any more output from the other two as a group. Hopefully there’ll be some lost tapes or something with MCA as star.

Nnnnnddroooop!

TTFN brothers and sisters. May your whole week be charged with new music and old favourites. If you're going out, play safe. Happy Mothers Day if you're a Mum in Australia. 


Go Eagles! (no chance) Hasala malakim.

Shame Dirty Nashville Jack Crosby (May 7th - 11th)

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


It's been a very busy and very productive week at work. A last minute task I completed on time has received rave reviews; which is always awesome. The wet weather is making the drive to and from all that more sucky, but you get by... you get by < /Cartman >.  So here's what I need to sail me through another working week. 


First of all, a note. I've just updated my list to include two great albums from the Beastie Boys after hearing at 2am this morning that MCA had passed (more on that later). I can't guarantee that next week's list won't have two more.


I'm finally getting around to listening to Crosby, Stills & Nash; I have a straight up 90s essential from the Lemonheads; a little bit of Sonic Youth; the latest from Beach House and Jack White; a bonafide classic from The Clash; a free mixtape from the Nashville Film Festival; and finally a familiar Weepies set for reliable service. 


Check it out:

• Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
• Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
• Sonic Youth - Dirty
• Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill
• Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
• Beach House - Bloom
• VA - Nashville Film Festival Mixtape
• Jack White - Blunderbuss
• The Weepies - Happiness
• The Clash - London Calling

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Beach Fossils
2. Pixies
3. Snoop Dogg
4. Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5. Iron & Wine

Song of the Week : Spectrals - Get a Grip

Thanks to the lovely wet and cold weather, I almost went with a Bonnie "Prince" Billy song, but Spectrals have been my band of the week. After loving Beach Fossils all last week, I checked out Spectrals because Songl had them under Similar Artists. 

Turns out they are probably more like The Smiths than Beach Fossils. Very English, a bit Stone Roses, a bit Blur, a bit Smiths, detached hipster irony a-plenty. 


This song, Get A Grip is jangly and upbeat. What it shares in common with Beach Fossils is probably the echo and the layered guitars. A similar feel if not a similar sound. Check it out and see what you think.

Toodle-Ooh

Whatever you do this weekend folks, have a total ball. Eat great food, drink great (*insert your poison here*), have great laughs and listen to a ton of great tunes. I'll be here next week with some more of what I'm digging at the time.


Be good to each other. Go Eagles! Hasala malakim.


Post Script May 5th, 2012: I've just now finished writing a tumblr post on the passing of MCA of the Beastie Boys. I'm completely floored by the news. It's 2:03am Saturday morning and I'm off to bed with a very heavy heart. 

Timing like a clock when I rock the Hip Hop
Top notch is my stock on the soap box
I've got more rhymes than I've got grey hairs
And that's a lot because I've got my share

Rest in Power MCA.

Playlist : February 13th - 17th, 2012

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.


So the bad news is, I didn't get to go to the Hilltop Hoods gig. I had to sell my tickets because my cousin/old mate could barely walk, let alone stand for hours in a mosh pit. These things happen. I'll throw my Parade of the Dead DVD on, turn the lights out and mosh in my lounge instead.


To the music then. This week's list is a little bit all over the place. Don't you judge me! I've got Paul Simon's monumental Graceland; the very latest from KRS One; a bit of Pearl Jam; the soundtrack to High Fidelity, plus Three EPs by The Beta Band featured in that film (I watched it on the weekend); some My Bloody Valentine for obvious reasons; Tori Amos; Beastie Boys; The Smiths and Jason Isbell because he's supporting Ryan Adams in a couple of weeks and I've never heard him.


Check it out:

• Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
• The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
• VA - High Fidelity OST
• The Beta Band - Three EPs
• My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
• Tori Amos - Under The Pink
• Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
• Paul Simon - Graceland
• KRS One - The BDP Album
• Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit - Here We Rest

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
   
2. The Doors
3. Melissa Etheridge
4. John Coltrane
5. X

Song of the Week : Hilltop Hoods - City Of Light

I don’t know if you saw my indignant rant, but I recently read an article on how JJJ listeners were bitching about the amount of airplay AUS rap gets. That’s a matter of personal choice and I don’t have any problems with that, but the author of the article tried to say the reason was that AUS rap is no good; that it’s a pale imitation of current US rap. For starters, US rap is a pale imitation of itself these days; and secondly, AUS rap has always been it’s own phenomenon.


The writer seemed to be questioning the authenticity of Australian rappers; as if because they didn’t grow up in Compton doing drive-bys that they don’t know how to rap, or aren’t part of the culture. Why they pay people to write who have no idea of their history is beyond me. Australia, whether people like it or not, has had it’s own Hip Hop culture since the early 80s. What the best AUS rap acts are doing isn’t trying to be American, it’s telling their own stories in their own voices. Kids today seem to think that rappers should be talking about guns and bling and bitches, because they don’t know any better.


So my song (and this is also because I missed the gig) is Hilltop Hoods – City Of Light. I choose it because it’s a telling of their time growing up within Australia’s Hip Hop subculture. These are stories of Australian graffiti writers, Australian fashion trends (I bet Tupac never wore a Country Road parka), Australian open mic gigs. The Hoods helped get me back into rap after my long absence precisely because I was relating more to the lyrics and to the style. I fell off because I didn’t care for gangsta rap and I got back on because this wasn’t gangsta.

Turrah

There goes another list for another week. I'm writing this rather hurriedly at 1:30am on Friday because I've been up making Mrs coreyj a Valentine's Day present. I promise that no macaroni, glitter or PVA glue was used in the construction of said present. Plus, there will be other pleasant, more store-bought, treats.


Be excellent to each other, people. If you have a special someone and you celebrate such commercial constructions, have a happy Valentine's Day. If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with ;).


Arrivederci amanti.

Playlist : June 13th - 17th, 2011

Hey there tunesters. How's everybody doing? You comfortable? Good.

In music news for me this week, I snared a cheap Yamaha RX-550 amp at the Melville markets, along with some Hendrix and Blondie vinyl and some bargain CDs. A few of the CDs I bought have made it onto the list this week. Besides those from Beastie Boys, Ben Folds Five, Prince and the Friends soundtrack, there's the new Daisy, Kitty and Lewis for a bit of brand new old timey rock n roll, some Public Enemy because Chuck D himself now follows me on Twitter (squeeee...) and some other stuff. I added some David Bowie because I feel like my Bowie education is very poor, even though I appreciate much of what I do know.

So this week;

• VA - The Breakers '83
• Best Coast - iTunes Session EP
• Prince - The Black Album
• Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen (Reissue Edition)
• VA - Friends Soundtrack
• Beastie Boys - Solid Gold Hits
• Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Under The Covers Vol. 1
• Everclear - So Much For The Afterglow
• Public Enemy - Beats and Places
• Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Smoking In Heaven
• David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. The Herd
2. Mos Def
3. The Vines
4. Lucinda Williams
5. Dolorean

Song of the Week : REO Speedwagon - Keep On Loving You

So with my new amp, I have been spinning much vinyl. Besides the Hendrix and Blondie I bought, I have been reaching for 80s compilations that I still have from back in the day, or I got for $2 at various op shops over the years. I’ve rocked out to Duran Duran, Men Without Hats, Falco, Austen Tayshus, you name it.

But the one song that really still RAWKS for me is today’s SOTW; REO Speedwagon – Keep On Loving You. The subtle snake rattle, the grinding pick scrape, the blazing high solo and the cleanly rumbling rhythm crunch just make me want to do that thing Homer does when he throws horns and bangs his head going Yes! Yes! Yes! to Phish or someone.

This freakin’ song, for all its big hair and glam 80s pop juts kicks so much butt. Gentleman, in the words of the immortal Mr Bob Dylan “Play it fawkin loud!”

Ciao Bambinos

For now then, that's all I've got. Enjoy your working week and may Friday afternoon come with speed and precision. Don't forget to be excellent to each other. Stay kooky, kids.

Playlist May 16th - 20th, 2011

So Blogger has been a bit of a pain in the proverbial lately, huh? I haven't had a lot of time to write this post, so forgive the briefness and any typos.

Let's just get straight into the music, shall we? This week comes with a couple of new albums, some new discoveries and a bizarre collection of ukulele tracks from Mr E.Vedder.

1. Pretenders - Pretenders II
2. The Warner Brothers - Talking in Your Sleep
3. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing
4. The Pharcyde - LABCABINCALIFORNIA
5. Eddie Vedder - Ukelele Songs
6. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
7. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Pt II
8. Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
9. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
10. Pegz - Drama
    

Top Five Artists Last Week

1. Bruce Springsteen
2. Pretenders
3. Paul Kelly
4. Black
5. Don Henley

Song of the Week : Pretenders - The Wait

Last weekend, I managed to get a stack of wax for cheaps. One of the LPs I got was the Pretenders debut. I had obviously heard Brass In Pocket before, but that was about it. So when I got it home and slipped it on the turntable while playing Skate 3 with Mr Kelly architect, I was rather impressed with what I heard. They have a very listenable post punk pop rock sound. A little like X-ray Specks and a bit like The Police. I wasn't aware of that. If you haven’t heard the album, I recommend a listen. Here is one cut that rawks out a bit, The Wait. I’ve heard that main rhythm riff (duh duh duh duh duuuuh) a hundred times since I reckon. The walking bassline and the jangle just goes off. Chrissie Hynde \m/

Outro

I have a template for this blog post, and the standard title I wrote is Outro and right here the placeholder text says "This is my outro bitches". So, yeah. This is it.

Until next time.

Playlist : March 28th - April 1st, 2011

Hey there Work Tunes peeps. This week I have got a couple of new albums (Iraho and Go-Go Boots), an old favourite or two (Let Love In and Pretty In Pink OST), an album by a band I've been meaning to hear more of for a while (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and a recommendation from a trustworthy Twitter source (The Felice Brothers). What it all looks like together is something like this:

• Awesome Dre - Can't Hold Me Back
• Iraho - Iraho
• VA - Pretty in Pink OST
• Justin Townes Earle - Good Life
• The Felice Brothers - Tonight At The Arizona
• Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
• Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots
• Nick Cave - Let Love In
• Steve Tannen - Stopped at a Green Light
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

Top 5 Artists

1. De La Soul
2. Uncle Tupelo
3. Bright Eyes
4. Mr. Bungle
5. The Velvet Underground

Song of the Week : The Buggles - Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade)

I stumbled across this album last week and my first thought was “OMG they had a whole album?!” ‘They’ being The Buggles, he one-hit-wonder extraordinaires who wrote Video Killed The Radio Star.

The other tracks on the album are fairly diverse. Sometimes they sound a bit like Madness, others you think it’s The Cars, but generally nothing else sounds like Video (which I still maintain is a superb pop song).

I thought I’d make a track SOTW just so you could say you’ve heard more than one The Buggles song. I chose this one because it’s about Astroboy and he’s pretty mint.

Adios Amigos

That's it for now. I will try and narrow down the whole month's list to maybe 5 albums for a proper review later in the week. Until then, keep a good head and always carry a light bulb.

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.