Playlist : November 1st - 5th, 2010

I've gone a bit heavier than usual on the compilations this week. There's also an 80s vibe as well as some classic Beatles and the usual Skip Hop.

The soundtrack of my life for the next week will be;

• VA - KCRW Summer Mix : Another excellent and free compilation from the outstanding San Franciscan radio station that gave us Rare On Air and Sessions at West 54th Street. This mix features Eels, Moby, Iron & Wine, Sonic Youth and a stack of lesser known indie artists.

• VA - Hitwave '81 : Whatever happened to the kind of awesome compilation tapes we had in the 80s? The most recent compilation I can recall was sponsored by Mentos or something, Not to mention the featured artists were not a patch on Adam & the Ants, Visage, Split Enz, Elton John and Men At Work. Plus, this has Loverboy - Turn Me Loose \m/

• Ryan Adams - 29 : The last of Grizzly's 2005 output and the one he didn't put the Cardinals on. I remember on first listen of this, @sunky and I, who'd both been awaiting it's release impatiently, were convinced Ryan Adams was going to be a suicide within the year. With lines like "Can you still have any famous last words if you're somebody nobody knows" and the cover art showing Death approaching what looks a little like the house on Ryan's Freightwhaler Sessions bootleg, can you blame us?

• The Beatles - Rubber Soul : I bought this album on vinyl at the Melville markets last weekend for $10. Ten dollars. Bargain. There are some classic tracks on Rubber Soul, one of the LPs considered part of The Beatles' psychedelic output. As well a Drive My Car, there's Michelle, Norwegian Wood and Nowhere Man. All good to have on vinyl.

• VA - Soundtrack - Singles : I have been away from the brilliance that was the early to mid 90s lately. When they were new, this soundtrack and the movie were frequent places to visit for me. If you haven't seen the film, you're not missing too much, but its well worth it to see Eddy Vedder acting along side Matt Dillon.

• Flowers - Icehouse : Yes, that's the right way around. Iva Davies' band Icehouse was originally called Flowers and they changed their name based on the name of this LP. Two Icehouse tracks everyone knows appear on this album; We Can Get Together and Can't Help Myself.

• The Herd - An Elefant Never Forgets : A bit disillusioned with the more xenophobic elements of our online community lately, I have listened to the brilliant 77% a lot in the car. While the rest of this album doesn't come close to the vitriol that Ozi Batla spits in that track, it's overall a decent listen. "Wake up! This country needs a fuckin' shake up."

• Jurassic 5 - Quality Control : I've had this album for quite some time now and probably only heard it twice in total. Given I'm usually hearing the Jurassic's as part of the Dino 5 children's compilation I bought Miss 4, its only right that I give their main work a fair go.

• Kathleen Edwards - Failer : The very first time I heard Kathleen Edwards was an Uncut magazine compilation. That was a song called 12 Bellevue which appears on this album. I'm grateful to Uncut for the introduction, because other songs on this album are even better (Hockey Skates and One More Song The Radio Won't Like). Plus, Old Time Sake from the Back To Me LP is in coreyj's Hottest 100.

• VA - Uncut - Only Love Can Break Your Heart : And here is that Uncut compilation that introduced me to Kathleen Edwards, as well as Jesse Malin and Tim Easton. Malin's fantastic tale of hipster ennui, Brooklyn, is another of my 100 favourite songs. Tim Easton's Watching the Lightning was once a Song of the Week and I am convinced it is about Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. Find a copy and let me know what you think.

That's another list done and dusted. I'm looking forward to bunkering down inside my headphones with a ton of editing and review to do next week.

Stay golden, Ponyboy.

Playlist : October 25 - 29, 2010

A new artist (for me), some old favourites and a couple of classics make up this week's list. It's probably just a tad funkier than usual with the compilation and some roots rap on board.

Here's what will be playing in my ears;

• A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders : A little bit of Native Tongues always goes down a treat. A friend told me she'd been hearing a bit of rap lately and it was full of the F and N words. Groups like Tribe and De La Soul were always and still are against that sort of garbage. Long live true Hip Hop.

• The Roots - Phrenology : More positivity to go with Tribe. It was great to hear The Roots as a full on Funk and Soul band on the recent John Legend collaboration. I'm going back to The Roots (haw haw) to keep up my fix, otherwise I'd just keep playing Wake Up! (the Legend collaboration) over and over.

• VA - 70s Funk n Soul Classics : A really great compilation which dishes up exactly what it promises - classics from the 70s. Some of the best tracks include The O'Jays - Love Train; Curtis Mayfield - Superfly; Kool & The Gang - Jungle Boogie and The Staple Singers - Respect Yourself. Get yo funk on.

• Something For Kate - The Official Fiction : It's been quite some time since I heard this album. It was the first I had heard of SFK. It's a solid set with stand outs like Deja Vu and Light at the End of the Tunnel. They probably should have done an Australian Classic Albums doco on it. I think it's in that lofty company, anyway.

• Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights : I've decided to play each of 2005's Radams releases. Last week I played the brilliant double that kicked off the year in Cold Roses. JCN is a lot more traditional country than Cold Roses. It's got a lot of pedal steel and it sounds more like a drunken moan in some bar.

• S.O.U.L. - Can You Feel It : With the rise of new Soul this year, I have been wanting to relisten to all the old stuff I have. SOUL are a sort of jazzy half instrumental collective heavy on the flute and the sprawling solos with some honey smooth vocals and a bit of politics for good measure.

• Paul Kelly - Live May 1992 : PK is the man. Since I'm not going to see him when he plays here soon, I'm going to listen to and enjoy this double LP live set from 92. This is the album I used to get my wife into Paul Kelly. We played it at our wedding. It came with a VHS of the concert that I still have somewhere at home. I really enjoy it, every listen. If you're Australian and you haven't heard it, be like Molly and 'do yourself a favour'.

• Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde : As the final chapter in the holy trinity, I had to give Blonde a spin this week. Last week's Highway 61 Revisited was a blast. Blonde features what I consider one of the best, lyrically, songs ever in Visions of Johanna, as well as the tracks everybody knows Just Like a Woman and Rainy Day Women Nos 12 & 53 (even if a lot of people call it Everybody Must get Stoned after the refrain).

• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call : This album was a last minute inclusion on this list because a clever twitter friend (*waves fondly at @a_musedly) quoted (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For? this morning - reminding me of one of the main reasons this is my favourite Nick Cave release.

• Fyfe Dangerfield - Fly Yellow Moon : The first I had heard of Fyfe Dangerfield was this week when I came across the Billy Joel cover (Always a Woman). I quite liked that, so I went looking for the album. The cover is not on this set, but it's all I could find. Fairly dreamy indie pop.

I hope something there turns you on to a new musical journey. As always, be excellent to each other and remember the words of Edward Furlong's Danny in American History X : "Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time."

Peace man, right on.

Playlist : October 18th - 22nd, 2010

Welcome back to our regularly secheduled program.This week's list seems to have a little funk in the trunk, along with a touch of country twang.

Check it out.

• Mavis Staples - You Are Not Alone : Produced by and guest starring Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, this is the latest offering from the always brilliantly voiced Mavis Staples. Just another in the collection of great Soul records being released this year.

• Concrete Blonde - Still In Hollywood : I admit it; I'm a hopeless Concrete Blonde fan. Everything up to and including Mexican Moon, at least. This album of rare songs and b-sides has been missing from my iPod for a long while. Worth it for the covers and for Probably Will.

• VA - Soundtrack - Semi-Pro : For the life of me, I couldn't tell you why I find Will Ferrel so hysterical. By all logic, a self-confessed film snob like me should look down on him. But you can't beat Semi-Pro, Taladega Nights, Step Brothers and even his bit part in Starsky & Hutch for good laughs. Plus, this is one funky soundtrack.

• Queen Latifah - All Hail The Queen : Back in the day, Latifah was a strong, independent female rapper with a militant eye on feminist and racial politics. Now, she's just a strong independent female. Damn you Hollywood. Damn you all to HELL!

• Black Star - Black Star : This has probably been on a couple of playlists by now, but I don't care. It reamins in the upper eschelons of my favourite Hip Hop albums. Jazz sensibilities and Mos Def & Talib Kweli with a positive message and butter smooth rhyme flow always sounds good to me.

• VA - Can't Stop It - Australian Post Punk : I missed it, I'm afraid, but it seems Australia was the place to be for young post-punk bands in the 70s and 80s. High unemployment and prevelant drugs meant there were a lot of bands around. After hearing a great JJJ podcast on the topic, I hunted this album down.

• Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cold Roses : Much as I've been neglecting Whiskeytown of late, I have all but forgotten Radams and Co. Cold Roses is just one of the man's all solid 2005 efforts - and a double album at that. Hard to believe he released this brilliant set, Jacksonville City Nights and 29 all in the same year.

• Kasey Chambers - Little Bird : True story, Kasey Chambers wrote my wife and I a wedding card. We had a mutual acquaintance. Namely, her then partner Corey. I was a big fan of her first three LPs but she fell off for me for a while there. This new set seems to have recaptured some of the fire.

• Menahan Street Band - Make the Road By Walking : An album of funky intrumentals that I fdound out about via a free KCRW iTunes mix. This is like a nice smooth groove of jazz with a funky edge.

• Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited : For some reason, I was surprised by how good Bringing It All Back Home sounded last week. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream became the song of the week because I really enjoyed the rollicking blues rock of 'side one'. I just had to slip this one in as part two of the Holy Trinity.
  

There you have it cats. Stay golden, don't get hung up, peace man, right on, keep it real and all that good stuff.

Playlist : October 11 - 15, 2010

You might have noticed there was no playlist last week. Yours truly was struck down with a scorching case of tonsillitis and spent all week off work. Friday I wasn't all that sick, but it seemed silly to go in for one day - plus I had to look for a new car to replace my hail-damaged bucket - so I took annual leave. I managed to get out with my wife and see Inception too, so that was a good end to a lousy week. So, anyway, I rolled last week's playlist into the week just gone and here we are.

As for this week's list, it has made me realise that the best thing about keeping this blog is that it gives me a simple way to see what I'm listening to and by default, what I'm not. It helps me choose something different each week that I may not have heard for a while, as well as keeps me on the lookout for new music. This week, the forgotten nuggets are by Things of Stone and Wood and by The Lemonheads.

It looks like this:

• Grinderman - Grinderman 2 : The first Grinderman album was a bunch of musicians who won't grow up having a wow of a time and making a ruckus in the process. I hope this is more of the same.

• Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue : A collaboration between Ben Folds, who's always liked to tell a story, and writer Nick Hornby. The result is a wealth of majestic piano melody, Ben Folds intense sincerity and a nice dose of the words.

• Bob Dylan - Bringing it All Back Home : The LP that started the holy trinity. I chose it right after a discussion I had with @sunky about the new You Am I album which has been described as Dylanesque. I recalled how damn good Blonde on Blonde is. But since it got a play not long ago, I go back to where the trilogy began. What followed this first listen on wax of an electric Dylan were two of the greatest rock records ever released - Highway 61 Revisited and then Blonde on Blonde.

• The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray : Fingers crossed I'm hoping to catch The Lemonheads at the Rosemount Hotel in December. That gig will be the band playing this album in its entirety. I haven't heard it in a good long while, so I'm hoping to refamiliarise myself with it.

• John Lennon - The John Lennon Collection : The same discussion with @sunky that brought up You Am I and Dylan took a sidestep to discuss Lennon solo vs The Beatles (and the class of Ms Yoko Ono). Which is why I enjoy talking music with @sunky. I chose the compilation because it gives me a broad spectrum of solo work that I can listen to in order to reinforce what I already believe - some solo Lennon is better than some The Beatles tracks and better than anything the others did solo.

• Surreal & the Sound Providers - True Indeed : Just a little bit of jazzy hip hop groove to wind down the working week. I may be working away from the office on Friday though, so it could be getting a play earlier on - which isnt when I normally like the laid back tunes.

• Oasis - Definitely Maybe : Noisy, brash, grinding and difficult to listen to at times - and that's just the Gallagher brothers. ZING! I like this album. It's Oasis when they thought they ruled Rock n Roll but before they actually did for a time.

• Things of Stone and Wood - The Yearning : This album got such a playing from me at Uni. The band even played my Uni one lunchtime. Right up until I swapped CDs for an iPod, the CD was on high rotation. It's Australian violin and mandolin soaked folk music with a taste of Melbourne. I realised just a week or so ago that it wasn't on my iPod for some reason and I don't know how long it's been since I heard it.

• Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry : Listening to a KCRW podcast of Billy Bragg live at Newport Folk Festival a couple of weeks back, I remembered what I've always liked about him. He has something to say that he cares about - and too many performers these days don't. What Billy Bragg says in an 'ugly' way (with a jangling guitar that doesn't always sound tuned and a voice like a drunken yob at the pub) is easier to listen to than all the meaningless pop sung by pretty girls and boys with 5 octave ranges.

• Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise : I don't know if this has anything at all to do with Spike Lee's follow up to When The Levees Broke (called If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise) but it sounds pretty good.
  

If anything strikes your fancy, remember : See something, play something. Take care cats and remember to keep a good head and always carry a lightbulb.

Playlist : September 28th - October 1st, 2010

Welcome to my surprise long weekend. I didn't have any idea until Wednesday that we had a day off this Monday. So every minute of Monday is a bonus and hopefully I'll be out at the Zoo with the girls for Miss 1's first ever trip.

For a short week but not a short list :

• Kasey Chambers - The Captain : I hadn't heard Kasey Chambers in a good long while until recently our travel playlist randomly chose Cry Like A Baby. Funny enough, she released her first new album in a while that same week. This is a little hardcore country for me these days, but a lot of these songs still sound pretty good.

• Brand Nubian - Everything is Everything : A little bit of Jazz Hop never hurt anyone and Brand Nubian is as good an exponent as anyone.

• Calexico - Garden Ruin : I recently heard a podcast of Calexico playing live and it reminded me how much I like their Tex-Mex crunchy sound.

• James Brown - In The Jungle Groove : My mate Mr Kelly hooked me up with a heap of JB last weekend and I've always wanted to hear this album in full because of Funky Drummer. Anything I can say about the magic of James Brown wouldn't be enough.

• Ice T - O.G. (Original Gangster) : After quoting a Pegz line ("Who remembers Ice T was king?") on Twitter recently, one of my followers and I got into a chat about how cool Ice was and still is. This album was pride of place in my collection as a tape, then a CD. I'm going to rediscover it as MP3 now.

• Whiskeytown - Faithless Street : I try to avoid adding Whiskeytown or Ryan Adams to my playlists because I always listen to them and I like a little variety. But it has gotten to the point where I've put off adding certain albums that long that these two have lost their standing as my number 1 and 2 artists on last.fm. That 'honour' goes to Josh Rouse now with Radams at 2, Hilltop Hoods at 3 and Whiskeytown a paltry 4th. Time to remedy that.

• Aloe Blacc - Good Things : There seems to be a renewed popularity going on for Soul music at the moment. Those of us who never stopped loving it won't be surprised. The latest offerings from Mavis Staples and John Legend and The Roots have been given a lot of positive attention. Aloe Blacc's new LP is another worthy example of how real Soul is back, baby.

• The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band : On a vinyl expedition on the weekend, I managed to get a good condition, original AU pressing of Sergeant Pepper for $4 of your Earth dollars. Yep, just four. Talk about a bargain. Sounds really good too. These are the mp3s from CD though.

• Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman : On the strength of Fast Car and Talkin' About a Revolution, when this album came out it was capital M massive. So much so that I spent my not-very-hard-earned Kmart Autos casual wage to buy it on vinyl. If i recall right, I bought vinyl because it was cheaper than cassette. I'm really glad I was a cheapskate, because I'm stoked I've got the vinyl now.

• Ryan Bingham - Junky Star : The first I heard of Ryan Bingham was the Crazy Heart soundtrack, from which I really liked Fallin'& Flyin' and The Weary Kind. I thought it might be a good idea to check out some more Bingham. This is the latest offering from the band.

So there you have it. My advice to you is get some Soul if you want to be hip and happening (and polka dots - I've seen them on some stylin new sneakers and a few indie kids lately). And as always, don't get hung up man; stay cool.

Playlist : September 20th - 24th, 2010

This is our weekend and it's ending, one second at a time. But not to worry, sit back and relax. Play some tunes. Dig yourself, man.

These are the songs that I'll be taking with me on my working week next week :

• Shonen Knife - Rock Animals : Looking at a list a bit full of alt-country, I went looking for something with some crunch. Shonen Knife rock my socks off. They are a Japanese all-girl punk rock band I first heard on the fantastic If I Were A Carpenter compilation, doing a superior cover of Top Of The World. On Rock Animals, the almost maddeningly catchy Catnip Dream is a gem.

• VA - Culture of Kings : An early skip hop compilation for hardcore Diggaz like me. Featuring Aussie hip hop luminaries like Koolism, Matty B, Suffa of Hilltop fame and the Hoods themselves. Mass MC's popular track The BBQ Song also features.

• Gram Parsons - Greivous Angel : After being moved by Gillian Welch's lyric from I Dream a Highway last week ("Now you be Emmylou and I'll be Gram") I felt like some Gram Parsons magic. Emmylou of course is Emmylou Harris, Gram's long-time friend and singing partner whose sweet harmonies make this great record even better.

• Eric B & Rakim - Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em : Usually when I reach for Eric B & Rakim, I go straight for Paid In Full - 1987's seminal golden age album. This time, I made a conscious effort to choose something I don't normally play. It's been a while, but I know this album to be a little jazzier than Paid and just as lyrically inventive.

• A.A. Bondy - When The Devil's Loose : Last week at work was kind of a drag and when things get a little low, alt-country always sounds it's best. A.A. Bondy are folkier and lonlier than a lot of the stuff I listen to, but this album is good for a spin.

• John Legend and The Roots - Wake Up! : I heard this album last week on stream from NPR. It's a really solid set of old Soul covers with a political bent. It sounds like music from a greater time with a modern day traveler on the mic. It also taught me that The Roots are a tight Funk band with some really tasty bass grooves. Going to get this album on vinyl as soon as I can find it.

• The Police - The Best of the Police : I felt like a little bit of classic rock and I haven't heard The Police in quite a while. I have this album on vinyl and few songs in my record collection benefit from the sound of wax quite like Roxanne. With The Police and me, the rule seems to be the earlier the better.

• VA - Music from the Motion Picture Crooklyn Volume II : One of my all time favourite Spike Lee joints, Crooklyn is a partly autobiographical tale of living in Brooklyn in a large family in the 70s. The soundtrack is packed full of some of the coolest Soul tunes ever made. Spike is brilliant, Crooklyn is fantastic and the soundtrack is killer.

• John Cale - Paris 1919 : I don't know a lot about this album, but I've always wanted to hear it. Ever since a 1997 issue of Uncut magazine published a list of the most depressing albums of all time, I have been slowly acquiring them all. John Cale was a member of Velvet Underground until 1968 when he went solo. Paris 1919 is his most famous album and Uncut said if you listen close you can hear Cale weeping at the mixing desk in the middle of a breakdown. Good times.

• Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz : Having only discovered Ornette Coleman tunes last week, I have quickly found out that Free Jazz is widely renowned as wholly original and as fine a jazz album as you'll find outside of Trane. Sounds good to me.
  

It would be great if you found something new in amongst all of that. Get the John Legend album if you dig Soul, because it is totally ace. I'm off to Beat Route tomorrow for a little vinyl and turntable shopping. Hopefully I'll have something I can add to next week's list.

That's it from me. Go safe my anonymous friends. Don't forget how blessed you are.

Playlist : September 13th - 17th, 2010

Happy Saturday to you, cats. May your weekend be filled with perfect moments and dazzling insights. Otherwise, at the very least a beer or two and some pizza.

Here’s what I’ll be listening to at work next week:

• Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator): After reading something recently that said Ms Welch was working on a new album, it struck me that I hadn't heard Time for quite a while. On further investigation, it turned out that was because it hadn't made it back onto my iPod yet since I had to restore it a year ago. This bum deserves all the critical praise it gets.

• The Weepies - Be My Thrill : As mentioned last week, I was hoping to get my new The Weepies CD in time for this week's list. Lucky for me, it showed up Friday afternoon at work. I've listened to it via stream recently and I'm looking forward to giving it another spin.

• Justin Towns Earle - Harlem River Blues: Having just discovered the old time folk bluegrass of JTE, and having played 2009's Midnight at the Movies last week, it seemed a good idea to play the new album. This is another set I've heard via stream, except I've been back t it several times since. Keeps getting better.

• Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tapes : This is the album that was meant to be the brilliant and timeless Blood on the Tracks. The story goes that Dylan came to the studio and poured out the brutally autobiographical songs quickly with a personally collated session band. Later, right before the album was due for release, he rearranged the mix, changed words around to obscure their meaning and dropped some tracks. It is believed he modified the album to hide the naked pain of these fantastic songs. This bootleg is widely available so you can judge for yourself.

• Tori Amos - Boys For Pele : Since 1992's Little Earthquake until probably Scarlett's Walk in 2004, I was a big Tori Amos fan. She has lost me a little with her changing incarnations, but Iyou can't help respect her piano paying and her live performances. Maybe what has changed is her honesty - she doesn't feel open and truthful anymore. I guess you can't keep the scars open forever. Little Earthquakes was a gaping wound and Boys For Pele bleeds.

• Josh Rouse - Dressed Up Like Nebraska : Like The National for me, too much Josh Rouse is never enough. 1972 is usually my addiction of choice, but Nebraska has whole bunch of great songs including the title track and the tuning Late Night Conversation. It also contains Suburban Sweetheart, which is the first I ever heard of Josh Rouse and a few alt-country artists in fact on the Uncut compilation Sounds of the New West.

• Dinosaur Jr - Without a Sound : The first Dinosaur Jr album I ever bought. J Mascis and co have been rewarding me ever since as I plowed through their back catalogue at a rate of knots. Stand out tracks the JJJ hit Feel The Pain and the subdued dark-hearted beauty of Outta Hand. Mix in the sarcastic Yeah Right and the slightly psychedelic Mind Glow and you have a fine batch of tracks worthy of a listen,

• De La Soul - Stakes Is High : After adding a little rap as an afterthought last week, I figured I'd make up for it with some hip hop gems. De La Soul's jazzy, acclaimed, widely plundered Stakes Is High ought to be a good start. A guest appearance by Common and the popular Itsoweezee are highlights.

• The Fugees - The Score : Most people who know me know I fell off hip hop for a while when I went grunge and then folk. During that time, Tupac happened, B.I.G. happened, Snoop happened and the Fugees happened I know this album is well regarded. I know it was an important milestone in the 'big ass story' that is Hip Hop, but I have never heard it. I figure it was time to remedy that.

• Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill : See my comments on The Fugees. All I know about this album is a) it sold a squillion copies and b) the name comes from Carter G Woodson's 1933 book The Mis-Education of the Negro. I haven't ever heard it. I m unsure that I'll like it, given it is most likely going to be neo-soul/ fake R&B, but it deserves a listen.

I hope you discover something in there amongst the sounds that will be my working week. Some of it is new to me too.

Have an ace week. Right on. Oh didn't I tell you? I'm bringing the word 'ace' back. Tell all your friends. It's ace.