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Cold Chisel are an Australian band who split in 1983, but have been reforming for shows together in recent years. They're a rock band, considered passe by some, but great by others. I'm in the latter camp... as you're about to discover...

I first heard Black Lab's song Wash It Away on Triple J while driving to work, perhaps in early 1998. At first I thought Australian singer James Reyne had done something really interesting - the vocals were of a similar style to his. After hearing it a few times, I put "Wash It Away" into Google (or similar) and found that the band was called Black Lab. Some number of months later I was walking through a local CD store, scanning the bargain table.

Cowboy Junkies' latest album One Soul Now is one of the first I bought, and certainly the first I listened to. This album absolutely kills me.

Damien Rice is one of those artists I heard by chance in a CD store. Based on the one song I heard, I decided to by his album O. I'm glad I did. This album is wonderful. In many ways, including the interesting use of open arrangements that leave a lot of empty space, it reminds me a lot of Rice's compatriot Van Morrison's Astral Weeks - now that's got to be quite a compliment!

OK, I bought Zitilites by Kashmir on the weekend. I've listened to it once while concentrating on some work so I wasn't actively listening. It didn't make me take off my headphones and throw them across the room, and a parts of a few songs caught my attention. OK, let's try that again...

Prince and the Revolution's Purple Rain still sounds as good today as it did in the mid-1980s. The songs are still great and the performances still sound huge (unlike, for example, Springsteen's Born in the USA, which sounded huge then but could really use some real drums... or perhaps just a re-mix).

Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska is a different kettle of fish to most other singer/songwriter albums. This album is recored using a TASCAM 4-track tape recorder. It features a solo Springsteen on vocals, guitar, harmonica, backing vocals and an occasional tambourine. It sounds like it was recorded in a small, dark room - a sense of claustrophobia, partly due to the dark lyrics, pervades the whole album.

Kashmir are a Danish band, and this album, called The Good Life, which looks to be their third album, was sent to me not long after its 1999 release by a Danish friend. More recently, I think I've seen a newer album by this band in Australian CD stores.

Hmmm.... Paul Kelly's Post. I like this album, but I don't love it. I think the opening track, From St. Kilda To King's Cross bugs me a little too much - after that I think I settle into it. Kelly released this album independently, and sold it by mail order - hence the name - after not being able to get a satisfactory recording contract. After it gained popularity it was released by a major label. The songs are good, but it is the performances that leave me a bit cold.

I saw Cowboy Junkies Lay It Down at Amoeba Music in August 2004, a couple of weeks after I'd seen the band in Austin, and decided that sooner or later I would probably own all of their albums, so I might as well make one of our suitcases just a little bit heavier.