Playlist February 14th - 18th, 2010

Hello fellow travellers, welcome to Work Tunes.

This week’s list is a little retro (*shock*) with the 60s, 70s and 80s well represented. That probably makes it sound like a middle-of-the-road radio station, but these are quality albums, alright?! Here, have a look for yourself:

• Paul Kelly - The A to Z Recordings (Disc 5) : Here I am, half way through listening to an 8 disc box set from Australia's greatest living legend. I was impressed last week with the solo version of Jandamarra/Pigeon and with I Don't Know Anything Anymore which I'd never heard. This disc features the wise advice of Little Boy Don't Lose Your Balls and the shameful tale of Maralinga (Rainy Land).

• Belly - Star : In 1993, the track from Belly that made the inaugural JJJ Hottest 100, Feed The Tree was a huge hit. Featuring Tanya Donnely of Throwing Muses, The Breeders and now solo fame, Belly released just two albums and this was the first. Star swings between angsty grunge fuzz and gentler indie pop twang for 13 fairly good tunes. Feed The Tree really is the stand-out though.

• Wavves - King of the Beach : I only found out last week that the 'boyfriend' in Best Coast's reverb-soaked, garage pop track Boyfriend is supposedly Nathan Williams of Wavves. This is Wavves third album and recently the band made a dual EP with Best Coast called Summer is Forever. I'm really into Best Coast at the moment, so I'm giving Bethany Cosentino's 'boyfriend' a spin.

• Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers : My latest obsession with the Stones continues, but I still haven't bought any vinyl. I am hoping to fix that at the markets this Sunday morning. Sticky Fingers contains the excellent and timeless Brown Sugar and Wild Horses.

• The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Remastered) : Another Beatles remaster as recommended by a work mate. Revolver and Rubber Soul have always been my favourite Beatles albums. I don't know if it's because of the drugs they were taking, or just Bob Dylan's influence, but this music sounds less like they are writing for radio and more like art.

• VA - Billboard Top 100 of 1984 : I don't know why, but this week felt like it was missing the 80s. I've chosen a bunch of tracks I like from the Top 100 Billboard songs of 1984. In 84 I was in my last year of Primary School. In '84 I was into Breakdance. In '84 I was into Wham! and Madonna...

• Dire Straits - Making Movies : I've gotten into a new habit of playing a record every afternoon while riding for 15kms on the exercise bike. While I ride, Miss 1 watches Miss 4 play Feeding Frenzy on XBox and we all listen to the record. Miss 4 is fond of saying "I love listening to records." Brainwashing complete. Wednesday we listened to this album. The stand out track is of course Romeo and Juliet, but the whole set of serious 70s rock from 1980 sounds so damn good under a needle. I think tracks from that era were just mixed with vinyl in mind.

• Germs – G.I. : It's been a while since I played some real LA Punk Rock. This is the one and only studio album ever released by Germs, just like that other famous punk band, who were they, the Sex something...? I'm hoping to watch the Darby Crash (Germs lead singer) biopic What We Do Is Secret at some stage in the coming weeks, so this is good preparation. I might play some more LA Punk next week.

• Pegz – Burn City : I had to give this album a spin this week, because last week I won a signed copy of it from Pegz himself (along with Axis and Gully Platoon) via Twitter. A heap of Australia’s best Hip Hop artists are using Twitter now (@hilltophoods @Bias_B @whoissyntax @blissneso) and Pegz has just recently got on board as @PegzOne. I’ve been a Pegz fan since I heard one of my favourite songs of any genre, Back Then from Axis. This LP features a stack of guests from Suffa to Muph and the brilliant meditation on the important things in life, Ali Shuffle.

• Dolorean - Not Exotic : I discovered Dolorean some time ago now, via 8 Tracks I think, fell completely in love with them for a month and then promptly forgot about them. Until now. Their quite blend of indie shoe gaze type tunes are just the thing for a Monday morning before coffee.

I was hoping by this week I’d be able to sign off with talk about the upcoming fair and democratic elections in Egypt. Well it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Let’s hope the revolution has prevailed very soon.

Thanks for visiting. Please remember to take your belongings when you go. Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?

PS Happy Valentines Day for Monday to my beautiful wife who has the patience of a saint and the mercy of a biblical King to continue being my best friend and loving wife.

Post Script : As I put the finishing touches on this post, early Saturday morning February 12th, Hosni Mubarak has resigned and passed control of Egypt to the military. This is a momentous occasion and I am glad I awake to see the celebrations live. As a teenager, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 wasn't something I completely understood or paid attention to. The liberation of Egypt will have no such neglect from me.

Congratulations to the people of Egypt. Power to the people. Right on.

Playlist - February 7th - 11th, 2011

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes. What's shaking cats?

This week I've got some classic rock, a little bit of a sunshiney beach set, an alt-country favourite and a mix of songs Spin thinks were great from 2010. I've also made a mixtape of obscure old school tunes inspired by Nas.

Here's what it all looks like:

• Bright Eyes - The People's Key : I heard this latest Bright Eyes release last week via NPR. Their review of the set said it was the greatest Bright Eyes album ever. On first listen, I would have to disagree and say that I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is still the best. I thought I would give this one another listen to see if it grows on me.

• The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed : After blipping the great, rollicking track Song For Keith by Ryan Adams (who hung out and got drunk with Richards himself when they were at the same recording studio), I decided I was going to buy some Stones on vinyl. Nothing after 1979 or before 1967 though. This is from 1969 and includes the well-known Stones tracks Honky Tonk Woman and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

• VA - Spin Best of 2010 : I have a subscription to Spin magazine and Rolling Stone via Zinio on my iPad. The coolest thing about music magazines has always been the free CDs. A bit hard when you get a digital copy right? Wrong! Spin included a download code for redemption on the US iTunes store to get a bunch of tracks they considered the best of 2010. And here they are. I'm pleased with the inclusion of Boyfriend by Best Coast after their album Crazy For You was among my favourites all year.

• Josh Rouse - El Turista : After growing up on the coast all my life, I have only really now discovered a love of the beach. That might have something to do with taking my girls for a swim rather than chasing seals and going squid-jigging in rock pools around Point Peron, or walking across to Penguin Island on the Safety Bay sandbank as was the usual go when I was young. Either way, we've been going to the beach for a swim every morning on the weekends and I'm loving it. This album is a set of Spanish language/themed songs that sound like a beach in Spain.

• Ryan Adams - Gold : It's been some time since I listened to this album. It remains one of my very favourites. I am looking to get some vinyl by Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown soon and this is high on the wish list. I like the set for the quietly emotional La Cienega Just Smiled and the love letter to NYC in New York, New York. By now everyone knows that the film clip for that song is just Ryan Adams playing guitar by the river with the Twin Towers in the background and was filmed on September 7th, 2001.

• REM - Eponymous : For years I only had a cassette version of this LP that I got from Record Finder in Fremantle during a phase I went through of wanting everything REM had ever done pre-Monster. Now I have purchased the CD and this is it. Eponymous is the first Greatest Hits album for REM and was released by IRS Records in 1988 just before the band signed to Warner Brothers for Green. There are rare and previously unreleased tracks on here which make it well worth owning if you're a fan.

• Missy Elliott - This Is Not A Test : Missy Elliott tricked me, damn it. I emerged from a haze of grunge followed by a massive folk stage to rediscover rap. What was around when I emerged, besides The Marshall Mathers LP was Missy's brilliantly funky Pass That Dutch. That made me check this album out and through it get turned onto Jay-Z via the conscious and hard Wake Up. I also found Let It Bump to be deliriously groovy. So of course I went and got Missy's backlog expecting more of the same great tracks... Tricked me big time. Fake R&B bulltish. Still love this one though.

• Mixtape - Where Are They Now? : Hearing the news that Kool Herc was desperately ill and couldn't afford to pay his doctors bills, and also listening to Nas’ Where Are The Now? got me thinking about some of the old school heroes who dropped off the radar long ago. Nas’ great track says: Rap is like a ghost town, real mystic / Like these folks never existed / They the reason that rap became addictive / Play their CD or wax and get lifted. So that’s what I’m doing. I’ve made a mixtape of some of the artists Nas mentions and some he doesn't, and I've put the Nas track on the front. There are some rare and classic tracks here, and you can grab them yourself from the title link above. A full track list is included in the zip file, but some highlights include Biz Markie, The Skinny Boys, Spoonie Gee, the 12" version of Young MC's Principal's Office and C.I.A. who were the first group to feature Dr Dre and Ice Cube.

• Paul Kelly - The A - Z Recordings (Disc Four) : Compared with the first two discs from this eight disc box, I found disc three last week a let down. Not because the tracks weren't great, but because the one or two songs I didn't already know didn't amaze me. Still, the familiar songs are all fantastic, so who am I to whine. With songs as great as I Can't Believe We Were Married and Leaps and Bounds, I'm sure Disc Four will wipe that smug smirk right off my hating face :)

• Bob Dylan - Masterpieces : Last week I realised that in 1997, while I had a record player that needed a belt, I bought a Bob Dylan compilation on vinyl. I had never played it until just the other day. I was so impressed with 1997 coreyj, that I need to buy him a beer. This is the 3 Disc Masterpieces I bought on CD that first got me into his Bobness. From this set of classic Dylan, I obsessed over everything pre-Slow Train Coming and most things post. If you're a casual fan of the man - get this now.
  

Until next week, don't get hung up; stay cool.

Respect and best hopes to the people of Egypt. I wish for you the fair and democratic society you're fighting for and so richly deserve.

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr

Playlist January 31 - February 4th, 2011

Hello and welcome to another Work Tunes. I trust we've all had a HUGE Australia Day and we're ready to get back to work and do the hard yards.

To get me through my working week, I've got a list with a few Australian artists both pop and rap, a touch of folk and another 90s classic. It looks like this:

• Paul Kelly – The A – Z Recordings (Disc Three) : Three discs in now and I am really enjoying these live and sparsely instrumented cuts from the master's songbook. Highlights of the Kelly magic on Disc Three include God Told Me To, the timeless political anthem From Little Things, Big Things Grow and the greatest Australian Christmas song ever - How To Make Gravy.

• Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean : I was a little late to the Iron & Wine party. I know now that their earlier stuff was a little quieter than it is now and didn't have the instrumentation of this album. Some songs, such as Godless Brother In Love still have the sombre ebb of earlier cuts, but others have a new noise, at times even a groove. Either way, I like what I know of them and this is the latest.

• Babes in Toyland - Fontanelle : Following on from last week's 90s obsession, I have another classic grunge era set I'd like to hear. Forming in 1987 as a punk band in Minneapolis, Babes In Toyland eventually became a large part of the 'alternative' scene of the early to mid 90s. Fontanelle was their first and best selling full length album. Strange, arty and angry background vocals/voices and dirty guitar fuzz driven by a crunchy bass is what you'll get for your money.

• Edie Brickell - Edie Brickell : Dropping a self-titled album for your ninth release seems rather a strange thing to do. I suppose when you haven't had a lot of success sales-wise since your double platinum effort in 1988 (Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars), you might as well give it a shot. In 1988, 'Rubberbands' was a staple listen for me and then again a few years later at first year Uni, it became a sort of soundtrack. Apart from that, Brickell's Good Times film clip shipped with Windows 95 to show off it's awesome video capabilities (*chortle*). This CD I haven't played yet, but given 88s release is such a timeless classic, Edie's latest deserves a listen.

• VA - Dazed and Confused Soundtrack : Richard Linklater's film about high school in the 1970s took great pains to get everything right. From the clothes to the cars and the little paper cups the kids drink keg beer from, Linklater wanted to capture the vibe and the look of the 70s. One way he did that exceptionally well was the soundtrack. This collection of rock classics includes Cherrybomb by The Runaways, Kiss' Rock n Roll All Night, Black Sabbath's Paranoid and Alice Coopers' School's Out. Conspicuously missing of course is the Led Zeppelin song from which the film takes its name and the excellently used No More Mr Nice Guy by Alice Cooper.

• The National - The Virginia EP : After Bloodbuzz Ohio made #31 in a rather disappointing JJJ Hottest 100, I was speaking with my boss about what bands were at least decent in the list. The National was my first choice. I put him on to some early stuff and it made me want to hear some National too. This is an EP of demos and outakes released in conjunction with a tour documentary DVD (A Skin, A Night) after breakthrough album Boxer and before their latest effort High Violet.

• Pearl Jam - Ten : Another conversation raised by the Hottest 100 was about how in 1992 it was impossible to get Pearl Jam tickets. That led to talk about this album and how I haven't heard it in some time (preferring instead to reach for Vs or Vitalogy). I remember clearly a time when I'd play Ten over and over again all day for days.

• Bliss n Eso - Running On Air : The latest platinum selling disc from the Sydney skip hop duo. I first heard these guys via a free track on iTunes. I'm not sure what song that was, but it was off the brilliant Day of the Dog album and I've been a fan since. With guests such as Xzibit and samples as unexpected as Kasey Chambers, B&E are at their peak right now and blowing up fast.

• Muphin - More Than Music : Some more Aussie Hip Hop (thanks Australia Day), this time from one half of the Muph n Plutonic duo. Muphin always takes the laid back and chilled down verses on the M&P albums, so it's no wonder this solo effort is full of such songs.

• Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South : Conor Oberst has apparently released 5 solo albums, but of those I have only heard the self-titled release from 2008. As Bright Eyes I am a big fan of Oberst's brand of self-referencial, tongue-in-cheek morbid dirges and lo-fi techniques. The self-titled solo album is just as morbid but a little less cheeky. I am yet to hear this set with the Mystic Valley Band and I am looking forward to it.

If you hear just one of these albums, make it Paul Kelly. There are some songs on there that have been entered into the national psyche and are as much a part of our shared culture as The Man From Snowy River once was. It might only be a financial services advertisement, but now everyone knows From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

That's it from me. I'm going to get through a weekend of forecasted humidity around a bajillion percent any way I can. I hope you can too.

Peace man, right on.

Playlist January 24th - 29th, 2011

Hola punks. What’s happening in your world?

This week my playlist has a distinctly 90s nostalgia feel about it. This is due almost totally to Portlandia; the opening sequence of which made me grin from ear to ear because of the way it completely nailed my version of the 90s. Not since The Simpsons put Homer in Sadgasm has any show reflected my 90s years to me so well. There’s a little bit of Australia in here too, because after all, it’s Australia Day (or more accurately, Invasion Day) on the 26th. I wish we’d move it to Federation, it wouldn’t be hard. But there you go… Anyway… here’s my list:

• The Beatles - Let It Be (Remastered) : After a discussion with a workmate about all the old classics that have been remastered from Fleetwood Mac to Led Zeppelin, I grabbed some Beatles. The same discussion extolled the virtues of FLAC and lossless formats, so I'll be listening in Apple Lossless.

• Nirvana - Incesticide : Two things conspired to have me listen to Nirvana this week. Firstly, my Miss 4 has decided to sing Sliver all the time and secondly the opening sequence of Portlandia. Portlandia is a new sketch show set in that other famously grunge city of Portland. When one of the characters discussed the 90s in the first few minutes ('you could sleep til 11am" "people encouraged you to be weird" "everyone taled about piercings and tribal tattoos") I was hooked. I remember wanting to go to Portland after reading about it's alterna-vibe in the fiction novel Bongwater (later a film featuring Jack Black). So forgive me my 90s nostalgia. Besides, this is after all a criminally overlooked set.

• VA - Standing on the Outside - The Songs of Cold Chisel : With the death of drummer Steve Prestwich last week, I felt it fitting to include some Cold Chisel. While I've exhausted the extent of my official Chisel releases in other playlists, this is a compilation of fantastic Australian artists such as Paul Kelly, Sarah Blasko and others covering the songs of Chisel's great legacy. Well worth a listen if you get a chance. Plus, it's Australia Day this week and it deserves some homegrown tunes.

• Paul Kelly - The A - Z Recordings (Disc Two) : The second disc of the A - Z boxset contains PK classics like Dumb Things, Don't Explain and Every Fucking City. I really enjoyed Disc One last week, in particular the songs I'd never heard (Behind the Bowler's Arm and After The Show). I'm really looking forward to more unknown tracks, which in this case are Emotional and Down To My Soul.

• Das Racist - Sit Down Man : Last week's Das Racist mixtape was Shut Up, Dude. This, as promised, is the follow up. Despite not taking my beloved culture very seriously, or maybe because of it, I liked last week's set for its sense of fun. I think I actually laughed aloud when I heard the band rhyme "Twitter get" with "Internet." I'm looking forward to more from this week's selection. You can download it for free from the link.

• Cowboy Junkies - Demons : This is a preview of the very latest release from Cowboy Junkies. I found last year's Renmin Park a little hit and miss. There were some terrific tracks in there and an overall cohesive feel to the album, but I felt like some songs weren't up to scratch with their usual output. I haven't played this yet, so I'm hoping it's an improvement.

• VA - Golden Era Mixtape : A free download of collected Golden Era artists which dropped last week on the 16th. For what seemed like ages, everyone attached to the Hilltop Hoods managed label was teasing us all on Twitter with sneak peeks and previews. When it finally dropped, they just about broke the internet. I have deliberately held off listening, but I'm fairly certain it will be worth the hype. Again, you can download it for free from the Golden Era store via the title link and listen for yourself.

• L7 - Bricks Are Heavy : More 1990s nostalgia brought on by Portlandia. The track Pretend We're Dead was on heavy JJJ rotation back in the day. You know, back when Triple J was the only place to go for your music unless you wanted to listen to pap. They are not the mighty beast they once were, but the still fight the good fight. Another highlight of this set is Shitlist. Judging by the anger of the song, you don't want to end up on L7s shitlist.

• VA - Reality Bites OST : After a recent discussion with my sister about Reality Bites and its place in Gen X folklore (followed by a flood of hysterical quotes), I decided I clearly had to wacth the film again on the weekend. If you haven't seen it, it's basically a slacker monument. It's like the mainstream (but not quite) version of Slacker. Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zhane aren't the stars, but they steal the show from Wynona and Ethan. The soundtrack features Dinosaur Jr. The Indians, Crowded House and even Ethan Hawke for the Hey That's My Bike song Nuthin'. It goes perfectly with the rest of my 90s nostalgia.

• Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored: I got to the end of my playlist and there didn't seem to be enough twang. I thought I could spin two vibes with one LP and grab some Evan Dando. While Baby I'm Bored was released in the 00s, Evan Dando is pretty much a 90s icon. He was even in Reality Bites in an hilarious cameo at the end. Hard Drive and All My Life are the standouts here for me.

So For those of us who were there, I hope you enjoy my little trip down 90s lane. For those of us who weren't, feel free to point and laugh at the geezer who's reminiscing about moshpits, tongue piercings, flannel and Docs.

Be excellent to each other.

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.

Playlist : 10 Albums I Missed in 2010

Hello and welcome back to Work Tunes for 2011.

Last post last year was a collection of my favourite albums of 2010. Naturally, I wasn't the only one who wrote down my Top 10 list. For my first week back at work this year, I have decided to listen to a few albums that others chose and I hadn't heard. Mostly these are collected from music blogs and news sites, as well as from the recommendations of friends.

My 10 albums I missed in 2010 looks like this;

• We Are Jeneric - Animals Are People Too : With a sort of freak-folk sound and tracks that don't take themselves too seriously (how could they with titles like A Sister and Brother in the Kitchen Trying to Fly like Eagles by Jumping Off of Counters), this is an enjoyable set that sounds like a few friends jamming at a late night party. It is a concept album of sorts, with all the songs about animals.

• Jackie Greene - Till The Light Comes : A recommendation by @poopsiegirl of Twitterati fame. This is the first I've heard of Jackie Greene. My twitter buddy was right to assume I'd dig him; he sounds like Josh Rouse and Ray LaMontagne had a baby with John Cameron Mitchell. That is a very good thing in my mind (as disturbing as the literal image is o_O )

• Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today Ariel Pink, one-time Animal Collective collaborator and notorious eccentric has released a more cohesive and less lo-fi album under the new moniker. This is indie-as-all-hell, electronically grimy rock-pop that grooves just a little.

• Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way : I was introduced to Ms Jones through the awesome 100 Days, 100 Nights album a few years back now. Recently, at work, I heard one of our Melbourne managers was into her and was bigging her up to a visiting Perth staffer. It made me realise I had totally missed her latest effort. So here it is.

• Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks : A little bit of countrified folk and a good dose of songwriting chops made me take notice of Karen Elson on previewing this album. I don't know if this is a debut or not, but I think I'll be doing some homework based on the strength of these songs.

• Cotton Jones - Tall Hours In The Glowstream : There's something of a 50s/60s revival going on in music at the moment; have you noticed? Bands like She & Him, Best Coast and Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are tapping either a bit of a go-go inspired, or else folk-revival vein. Cotton Jones do it too. These songs sound like popular country from the late 50s. Even the album cover shows a beach scene from that era. Could all this nostalgia be the result of the Global Financial Crisis?

• The Walkmen - Lisbon : Apparently The Walkmen have been releasing albums since 2002 with Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone. News to me. Regardless of how these guys slipped under my radar, this is a decent set. Their somewhat jangly indie pop is well worth a listen. They may have a new fan.

• Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy : Everybody has always loved or hated Kanye. Not me, I have ignored him, mostly. This album was on nearly every Best of 2010 list I read. I don't understand the fuss about the man; okay, he's Kanye and we're not, but what little I have heard has not inspired me. In fact, Kanye's "George Bush hates black people" line is imho his greatest lyric ever. But I will none-the-less give this LP a spin.

• Beach House - Teen Dream : Heavy on the keys and the sentiment, Teen Dream sounds a lot like its title. Beach House have added a bit of pop to their usual whispy synth scape and it works.

• The Black Keys - Brothers : Another album that made every Top Ten list but mine. Good bluesy tunes with a little bit of crunch in the bottom end. I quite like it, but it definitely wouldn't have been one of my ten personal favourites from last year. Possibly number 11.

So that's my listening schedule for my first week back. To ease me on into a whole new working year, my employer has generously provided a lunch and pistol shooting day on Friday. We like to call it Om Nom Nom Pew Pew Pew! I'm looking forward to it.

Hang loose bro; rock n' roll \m/

Playlist : Top 10 Albums of 2010

Hello and welcome to Work Tunes.

This week, I have chosen my Top 10 of 2010. This list is not necessarily of the 10 best albums released all year, it's just my personal favourites released all year. I also have to stress, this is not in any kind of preferential order. If I had to pick the best album of 2010 from a personal point of view, I'd say Wake Up! is it.

On top of the list, I've made a mixtape of one track from each of the albums. You'll find a link at the bottom of the post.

This year for me has been a good year for discovering new artists, thanks largely to NPR and KCRW and their excellent album preview features. A few of these new artists made it to the list. And here it is:

• The Weepies - Be My Thrill : Two years on from the album that got them some well deserved mainstream attention, Hideaway, The Weepies released something a little less weepy and a lot more cheery. While Be My Thrill contains a few sad, sweet tunes, the title track and the catchy I Was Made for Sunny Days are a large slice of sunshine. ****

• John Legend & the Roots - Wake Up! : When I heard Compared To What from this set for the first time, my jaw dropped. I was stunned that so much old-fashioned funk and soul was coming off a track from an album released in 2010. The other tracks on Wake Up! are in the same mold. This is probably my album of the year. *****

• Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue : I must admit I've never read a Nick Hornby novel, but I have seen the excellent film adaptions of High Fidelity and About A Boy. It's obvious that Hornby writes good everyday type people well. Combined with Ben Folds' uniquely suburban heart and pop sensibilities, this colaborative effort makes for good listening. ****

• Best Coast - Crazy For You : Released in July, which is Winter in the Southern Hemisphere where I am, this album sounds exactly like Summer. You can almost smell the coconut oil and the sea breeze mixed with the smoke from the late night bonfire at the beach party where romances are born and hearts are broken. This is joyfully rowdy pop music for the Sun. ****

• Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise : The fourth album from raspy-voiced country/folk songwriter Ray LaMontagne was the very first one I heard. The bluesy, sweet melody of New York City's Killing me had me instantly sold on LaMontagne's style; and the rest of old-time roots record does not disappoint. ****

• Aloe Blacc - Good Things : It was I Need a Dollar that made me want this album. Like Compared To What on the John Legend and the Rootrs LP, Dollar stunned me with true 60s/70s soul and the groove behind it that really makes it bounce. 2010 saw soul music fans like me given a little taste of what was still possible with the genre. ****

• Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues : Another artist who has been around for some time whom I only discovered this year. Harlem River Blues is a collection of tunes that lend a little from everywhere; including rockabilly, bluegrass, folk, alt-country, blues and rock. It's a well-rounded album with the standout title track, One More Night in Brooklyn and the heartbroken Rogers Park. *****

• The National - High Violet : For me at least, and for a good number of music publications, 2010 was The National's year. The massive success of 2008's Boxer and a busy touring schedule meant High Violet was much anticipated. Things got even more hyped with the release of a new The National track on the $1m raising charity compilation Dark Was the Night. Something of a hit single relatively speaking, Bloodbuzz Ohio ensured High Violet got to #3 on the US charts where Boxer had peaked at #68. *****

• Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here : Released early February of this year, I'm New Here ended a 13 year absence of new material from the man some would call a proto-rapper. This is an album about redemption, about finding a way through a new and not always welcoming world. After a long life of drug problems, incarceration and hard living, Heron seems to be contemplating what lies ahead and how it all ends. Here is music from the very soul of a man with a lot of soul. *****

• She & Him - Volume Two : The very digable Zooey Deschanaul and indie songwriter M.Ward released a collection of simple pop that sounded like the 50s run through a Doris Day film filter in 2009. That was Volume One and this is Volume Two, which is more of the same. Deschanaul wrote the lyrics and her voice is well suited to the pop from another age. There were stronger tracks on Volume One, but this is by no means inferior. ****

So those are my very favourite albums from this year. Please, feel free to comment this post and tell me where you think I got it right and where you disagree totally. I'd love suggestions for better albums to listen to that I haven't caught yet.

In the meantime, here is the mixtape I promised you, made up of a track each from my Top 10. You can get hold of it here. Tracklist is as follows:

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

John Legend & the Roots - Compared To What

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar

The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Claire's Ninth

Best Coast - Bratty B

The Weepies - Be My Thrill

Justin Townes Earle - One More Night In Brooklyn

She & Him - Thieves

Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs - New York City's Killing Me

That's it for this week. I'm officially on holidays from Christmas Eve, so no Work Tunes for the next fortnight. You may find a review or two over at Make Films Not Movies.

Take care and have an outstanding break, you crazy cats. Peace man, right on.