The Listening Club - 25th May 2025

Howdy folks,

Hope you're doing okay. Seems like the weather gods heard my comments about dryness last week, as it's been a very soggy weekend indeed - not complaining though, the neighbourhood needed a good rinse, and now everything looks and smells a whole lot better. So you can turn off the tap now, okay? Hello?

Last Sunday, whilst I was awol watching the Mekons rip it up at the Paradiso, we had @wbwolf in the chair, delivering Cree Summer's 1999 album "Street Faërie" which had the assembled guessing and pontificating in equal measures, so it seems. Thanks to Wilford for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @AccordionBruce, who has an extra week to ponder, because...

Yes, end-of-month means #vortex time, and this time the assembled agreed that we require a bit of a magical mystery tour, and have decided on a #DayTripToVortexOnSea. So pack your trunks, knot your hankies and let's get going... @Saucer is at the wheel, armed with a fine selection for the journey.

Download's here, stream's below:

Hope to see you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) tonight! 

The Listening Club - 18th May 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. A decent week here in Amsterdam, weather pleasant (if still a bit too dry, it's been the driest spring for 50-odd years apparently) and plenty going on, caught the mighty fine Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on Tuesday at the Paradiso, and we're back there tonight for the perennially excellent Mekons, which means I'll be absent from this shindig later on, so I'd better get it tapped out for you all nice and early, eh?

Also worth mentioning that it's #vortex time next week, so we need a theme, as always. @Saucer will be mixing the resultant picks, I believe, and as mentioned above, I won't be around tonight, so I'm hoping that y'all will agree on something in my absence with the aforementioned gentleman's assistance.

Last Sunday in regular #LC-land, @vinomadic was in the chair, sending out a slice of soul-searching blues and beyond with his pick of Fleetwood Mac's "Then Play On" from 1969. Many thanks extended for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @wbwolf, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"I have a love of animation, and by extension, an appreciation of voice actors. Many voice actors have a musical background, and I have several such examples in my collection. This singer's first role was in an adaptation of Hello Kitty, but she would go onto much greater things.    While she is most known for her voice work, with several notable roles to the present day, she met the producer of this album while he was married to the star of an American sitcom she was in. He even makes a vocal appearance on the album. She was also in a short lived band, and one song carried over to this project. Sadly, this is the only solo album she released, though her singing talents have shown up in many animation related projects over the years."

Right then, download's here, stream is below:

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) tonight.

The Listening Club - 11th May 2025

Salut people,

Hope you're doing good. Sunny and warm here in Amsterdam, which i'm sure by now you realise makes me a happy chappy. Yesterday in our random wanderings we managed a pretty fine array of culture, taking in some (new to me) Rembrandts, some Louis Wains, other related artworks, a posh burger, a Mahler Symphony (No.2 if you're interested, not massively my sort of thing, but they played the hell out of it and I see where John Williams pinched a lot of his ideas from now) and most probably too much wine, but what the hell. Summer has come to Springville and I'm cheered. Hoorah. 

Last Sunday we had @eastvanhalen in the chair, who delivered Brian Jackson's 2000 album "Gotta Play", which soulfully did what it said on the tin for sure. Thanks to Steph for the pick, and for sailing the frisb way down south to @vinomadic, who has this to say by way of intro to tonight's pick...

"OUR STORY THUS FAR:

Introducing my last musical choice, I mentioned '...a selection evidencing the sound of things falling apart & providing some minimal guide in addressing loss...'

Not sure about that 'guide in addressing loss' part, but I've again postponed sharing a certain record from 1967 to skip a mere couple years ahead and share the reconstruction of, arguably, one of the richest musical train wrecks recorded...

The original lineup for this band, peculiarly enough, includes three songwriting guitar players like the Canadian-American Buffalo Springfield. But whilst the Springfield members were at root folkies, these three served their musical apprenticeship, as not a few budding 60's British rock  icons, as dyed-in-the-wool bluesmen-- something still very much at play here.

This act went through an often painful evolution into arena-filling pop, any detailing of which would too easily give their identity away...

A bit of insight leads me to believe I picked this over that 1967 record waiting in the digital wings of expectation because it seems to draw a rich arc with its fractured mood swings...?

DO hope you find a place for it in your own emotional palette!"

Right then, download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 4th May 2025

Greetings, folks, may the fourth etc.

Hope you're doing good. Been a lovely warm week here in Amsterdam, which made for a very enjoyable Kings Day and aftermath. Still surrounded by a lot of that aftermath too, really is time to put all the things back in their right place until next year, heh.

Last Sunday was #vortex time, and that was decreed a #ForeignLandsVortex, which saw tunes from far and wide, selected by folks from far and wide, mixed with finesse by @akx, and a mighty fine trip is was too. Thanks to everyone for chipping in tunes! Looking back we find @eastvanhalen holding the frisb with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"For some reason I got it into my head that today’s LC selection should come from the radio. I had listened to the WFMU fundraising marathon pretty much morning to night, two weeks of stellar and fascinating music and a lot of fun - DJs pairing up with DJs, Yo La Tengo doing their annual requests-for-pledges gig, the whole thing ending with a bunch of exhausted, drunk DJs making a live karaoke band in the studio. There’s a lively comments board for each show with a live playlist, and you can star tracks for your favourites list. So I dug through those, listening to albums, figuring out what I wanted to play.

So this afternoon I was listening to more radio and I heard a song and said WHAT IS THIS. THIS IS AMAZING. THIS IS MY SUMMER GROOVE. And I sensibly threw everything out the window in favour of an album by that artist, because this is the Listening Club Way. 

The new song isn’t being released with an album - it’s a single being released in three mixes. I’ve chosen the extended one, natch. It’s the last song you’ll hear in this set. Preceding it is a 2000 release that was this artist’s first solo album after decades of legendary work with Gil Scott-Heron (sorry if that gives it away) and as a session musician. Roy Ayers, latterly of these precincts, shows up on a track here too. I’ve had the new track on repeat today and I love all of this.

(Tangent: the first DJ slot after the WFMU marathon started with 12 or so minutes of this weird ambient noise, which everyone comfortably leaned in to, until the DJ started getting confused by the comments on the comments board and the comments board started getting confused by the live playlist…and everyone eventually realized that the DJ had been playing tunes, but we were all listening to weird noise because the station had bollixed switching the feed from the karaoke thing to the studio. The songs we didn’t hear disappeared from the playlist, replaced by "'Technical Difficulties' by Noise Wall Special,” which everyone promptly added to their favourites list. And this, in a nutshell, is why freeform radio is the best goddamned thing in the universe.)

Right then, download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1).

The Listening Club - 27th April 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. It's the day after Kings Day here in the Netherlands, therefore as usual I have a high-grade hangover and a variety of aches across my body. Worth it though. So let's get on with this before my remaining energy expires, eh?

Last Sunday we had @nessiest in the chair, delivering a fine slice of kiwi vibes in the form of "Blame It On The Weather" by Mā, which went doen pretty damn well, I'd say. Thanks to Ness for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @EastVanHalen who has an extra week to ponder because...

... Yes indeed, end-of-month means #vortex, and this time an #ForeignLandsVortex has been decided, showcasing otherworldy songs and sounds in unfamiliar languages. @akx has gathered up your selections and the resulting mix can be downloaded here, or streamed below:

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) for playback.

The Listening Club - 20th April 2025

Salutations folks,

Hope you're all doing good. Amsterdam's keeping on with the dry and sunny although personally, I could do with a few extra degrees warms, which I'm sure I say every year around this time. Looking good for Kings Day, too, even though the coats will be staying on, I think. Ah well. Plenty of home entertainment to be had also, flipping between live feeds of moose migration in Sweden and Semana Santa processions in Seville. Slow TV FTW, for sure.

Next Sunday is last-of-the-month, so, as is customary, we're looking for #vortex themes, so we're looking for suggestions - dig 'em out and flip 'em up later for discussion, ok?

Last Sunday saw @room2skank, (via @EmmaPrice) in the chair, dealing out Pom Poko's 2019 debut album "Birthday", which went down pretty damn well, I'd say. Thanks to Emma & Si for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @nessiest, who's here with tonight's intro...

"My initial pick for tonight was excellent shitkicking punk from my home country but unrelentingly heavy. Let me spare your collective eardrums, it didn't fit this weekend. After rummaging in my list of possibles, changing my mind again last minute for reasons, I remembered this artist. I’ve been following their career for a while, this album is new. I have not listened to it yet. Track two I know, plus a live cover of another artist who guests on this. I’ll be stunned if any of you know this. Taking a risk but delighted to find out what it’s like with all of you."

Right then, download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) tonight.

The Listening Club - 13th April 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Spring is bouncing around Amsterdam quite happily now, leading to some decent "no jacket required" weather (finally) on Saturday and even a spot of al fresco dining, hoorah. The flowers around the house haven't seemed too bothered by the cool temps, and have been racing each other to bloom, so everything looks lovely, must say - hope it holds out for Kings Day!

Last Sunday saw @zbender deliver a smooth and soulful selection in the shape of Hollie Smith's 2007 album "Long Player", which hit the spot for many folks. Thanks to Ben for the pick, and for leaving it up to me to fling the frisb, which landed at @EmmaPrice's feet...

"Greetings my fellow Listening Clubbers. I hope the sun is shining on your corner of the world. Here, I'm in the midst of festival season planning and lineup playthroughs (yes there's a colour coded Glastonbury spreadsheet) My partner Si and I have somewhat differing music backgrounds and there's a whole wave of bands & genres that are fundamental to his love of music that are all new to me. Which is ace and kinda part of the ethos of Listening Club. So I dropped the frisbaton into his willing lap and here he is with the intro.

Over to you Si:

Sometimes these algorithms that seemingly funnel media to us comes up with a winner.  And that is what happened to me with this band.  Conveying a feeling of being hit in the head with a mallet dipped in candyfloss, it grabbed me from the first track and it's stayed a favourite album ever since.  A wonderful, vivid wild ride of an album.

BTW Si's shiny new Mastodon account is https://mastodon.social/@room2skank"

Right then. Download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) tonight.