Listening Club - 29th July

Hi there,

Another week zooms by and here I am again. London, as I'm sure you're very much aware, has now been completely taken over by the Olympics, the opening ceremony causing more discussion, argument and polarised opinion than anything seen on these shores for many a year, which is quite a welcome achievement.

I'm generally not much of a patriot, but do feel rather proud to be part of any country that pretends to parachute their 86 year-old head of state out of a helicopter in front of a global TV audience. And managing to do it without plastering sponsors names all over your eyes. As for the rest of the games, well...

So, our global image safely re-affirmed, we cast our minds back to last Sunday, when @jonnydapigg rattled an equivalent number of braincells and earholes with The Deftones "Adrenaline". Okay, maybe not quite the equivalent number, but the effect was pretty much the same. Thanks to him for the pick, and for plucking @thejayarr out of the moshpit for this week's choice. Over to him...

"I mentioned on twitter immediately after last week’s session that there was one album that came to mind for my choice, as there was a pretty much direct autobiographical link to @jonnydapigg’s Deftones selection. Well, this is not that album. Ultimately, that incredibly obscure Australian sort-of-comedy-metal record seemed a little too ‘out there’ and I'm not brave enough to force it on everybody. There was another very strong contender, but I’ll probably hold that for another time.

Instead I’ve gone for a pretty straightforward choice - one of my favourite records by one of my favourite bands. I try not to think about music in those kinds of absolute terms because tastes change all the time, but it’s just one of those albums I can always listen to. Actually, I could have happily picked anything they’ve released but this is the one I listened to first; it’s the one that made want to seek out everything else they’ve recorded, and it’s the one I recommend to people whenever I get half a chance.

There’s no great story behind how I found this record – it was recommended to me by someone whose opinions I generally agree with and I loved it after the first listen. I certainly have a couple of bittersweet stories that relate to this album, but well… we don’t need to go into that.

Oh, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if elements of the Listening Club knew this one, it’s not exactly some long-overlooked secret gem. But it is really good. Enjoy!"

Download is here (mediafire link), or you can stream via Mixcloud here.

Start time, as always, is 8pm BST (GMT+1). Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin.