The Listening Club - 9th April 2017

Hey there,

Hope all is fine with you all. Yet again the weather here in Amsterdam defies expectations, currently being a glorious 20 degrees of sunball, so I think a little perch on the stoop or maybe a stroll in the park is in order once this has been tapped out. Don't forget I'm away next weekend, still looking for a volunteer to run things in my absence - if you can help, please let me know!

Last week @nessiest was in the chair, rocking out in a trippy way with her pick of "La Araña Es La Vida" by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds, which was very well received by the assembled. Many thanks to her for the pick and for sailing the frisbaton across the seas to @saucer, who has this to say by way of introduction...

"@nessiest Thank you? The frisbatonmatron is always a bit like the red pill.

But, and actually, there's very little better in my life than a reason to go exploring and shopping for music. And whatever else this planet is, if the only damn good thing that came out of it was sound art (and it's not... but even if it were), what an absolutely amazing and wondrous place.

(Just the music released in the past couple of weeks. Wow. Y'all know this. I forgot, apparently, this is how it goes, stuck head down as I've been in work and in politics-bullshit-obsession for too long.)

So, thank you @nessiest. And given that all y'all are still reading I suppose I should say a word about my pick.

I usually aim for dark corners of the musical labyrinth but this time not. This band has justly received exposure from all the usual suspects and has earned a huge/devoted following over the past five years. What I love about this recent piece is its essential musicality and its gestalt. Perfect qualities for our listening club format, I hope. To my ears, it's also their best (as in fascinating yet visceral) album.

I think it's quite funny that discogs.com classifies this as "Rock."

Volume & good stereo separation (e.g. headphones) recommended. 

Hope you like it."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream is below...



See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)