The Listening Club - 5th January 2025

Greetings folks,

Happy new year I guess? Even though my sum total of the year so far has been dealing with the nasty cold that emerged in my body just before NYE and thence managing to pass it on to unlucky @nessiest, who is now looking paler by the minute, poor dear. Still, at least I have a low baseline to improve on as the year evolves, eh? Sigh.

Last Sunday though, I was in finer fettle, and enjoying the 2024 #FestiveVortex with you all, a journey that took in europop, black metal, Brazilian jazz and a whole crapton of other genres. I say it every year but the range of tunes seems to get more extreme than ever, and even though I curse that range as I try and thread it into a listenable mix, I'm still glad it's as wide as it is, so big thanks to you all for making it so. Long may our breadth of musical enjoyment continue! *raises glass and drinks*

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming, we find @akx with the frisb, and this to say to kick of the #LC 2025 season...

"Happy new year! Double feature today because these people pack a punch, please look out for the cassette noises to know when we're switching from side A to side B (i.e. the 2023 album to the 2024 album). Because I don't really know what else to say here, I'll just paraphrase the act's Wikipedia page:

> All of their music is produced and recorded mainly in  ████’s childhood Pokémon themed bedroom. [...] The song was compared to the music of the ███████  ████ [...] The music video for the song was entirely filmed on a Nintendo DSi.

#drinkingclub: these albums are maybe the worst pick for dry January, right after Flogging Molly, I guess."

Right then. Download's here (right click save-as!) and the stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 29th December 2024

Seasons greetings to you all,

Hope you're all doing okay and that the holiday season has allowed you a decent measure of the things you like to indulge in. Amsterdam remains grey and wet, but the streets of twinking lights keep it looking very fine indeed, and present many cafe windows through which to watch the hordes of tourists and bargain-chasers as they charge around the city in search of their ultimate prize... "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" indeed.

Last Sunday we had @SimonLandmine in the chair, delivering the last "standard-issue" #LC of 2024 with his pick of Therapy?'s 1994 classic "Troublegum", which certainly got the assembled grinning and moshing. Thanks to Simon for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @akx who has until next year to ponder their pick because...

...because because because indeed, le #FestiveVortex 2024 est ici. 33 slices of this year's music that tickled the earbuds of you all in some way or another, wrestled into submission by @kleptones and now available to hear. Thanks to everyone who chipped in a track or two, this year saw a few more longer tracks than usual (a couple got edited down, apologies if that offends), which has pushed the playtime out to a new record, I think, but as a reflection of the collective tastes, as always, it is what it is, and we give thanks and praise accordingly!

Download is here, stream is below:

Hope to see you at 20:00 GMT for playback and plenty of Glühwein!

The Listening Club - 22nd December 2024

Salutations and holiday greetings,

Well, it's that time of the year - slinging up lights everywhere that will support them, family members hanging ornaments everywhere else, a spicy drink and a seasonal snack, and some low-offense festive music - non-denominational holiday season greetings to you all.

As is customary around these parts, next Sunday will be our annual #FestiveVortex, for which we require one or two of your favourite new releases of 2024. You can pop them in the dropbox here, and @kleptones will fry them up into a fine bubble'n'squeak for playback next Sunday.

Looking back, last Sunday saw @JimMcCauley take time out from critical panto rehearsals to deliver Underworld's latest waxing, "Strawberry Hotel" which got the assembled grooving and spacing out in equal measures, I'd say. Thanks to Jim for the pick and for sailing the frisb across England to @SimonLandmine, who's got this to say by way of introduction to the last #LC pick of 2024...

"I briefly thought about picking something festive for tonight, almost exactly six months after my last pick ... but nah. This album is one that's been on my increasingly-misnamed 'short list' for quite some time. Earlier this year I was reminded that it's actually a round number anniversary for it, so this might as well be the year in which I post it. Some of you are likely to recognise it from the off, but I'll be interested to know how many, especially of our non-UK contingent. This was admittedly, their big break album and included what might be considered their breakout single, so may have travelled further than other works. Hopefully those who haven't encountered it before appreciate it.

Warning, contains some swearing (from pretty much out of the gate), if you're playing this in a public space (or have small folk nearby). Also contains some complex percussion rhythms (as, it seems, do quite a few of my picks).

Drinking club:

Either some warm lager in a flimsy plastic cup that'll be jostled out of your hand the moment the band starts up, or a whole bottle of vodka, which was something one of the members was going through every day early in the band's career."

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 15th December 2024

Greetings folks,

Well then, judging by the number of fairy lights popping up around the immediate neigbourhood (including our own abode), holidays-are-a-most definitely coming. Good for me that my back is recovering for sure. Looking at the calendar there doesn't seem to be any need to take a #LC break over xmas, as a (slim) majority of you expressed a preference for the annual #festivevortex to be held for once during the actual vortex (i.e. the period between xmas and new years when not much happens), so, as always at this point in the year, it's time for me to ask you to consider the past 12 months and pick one or two newly released tunes that had you smiling - a dropbox will appear in a few days to gather them up, then it will be me myself stitching everything together for a fine party on Sunday 29th December. (If you don't have any new tunes to contribute that's totally okay, but if so, we hope you'll still join us for the playback!)

Looking back to last Sunday we found @holette in the chair, captivating the assembled with her pick of Anna Erhard's "Botanical Garden", which seemed to go down very well indeed, it seems. Thanks to Sarah for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @JimMcCauley, who zoomed past with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"Banging this out fast (ish) because I need to sort myself out for a full panto run-through complete with costumes and makeup, plus sort some lunch before heading out. Hopefully I'll be home in time for the playback!

So then: love this band but honestly, it's been a long time since they've delivered anything to match their early run of albums. Not saying this latest release quite manages that, but it's definitely their first album in a long time that I've had on regular rotation, so I figure they're doing something right.

Got to run; enjoy, and hope to catch you later!"

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 8th December 2024

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Grotty week weather-wise here in Amsterdam, and most of Northern Europe it seems, as everyone gets a dose of stormy weather. I am less bothered than usual as I managed to put my back out lugging boxes around, therefore I'm sitting inside feeling a bit grumpy and sorry for myself. So let's get on, shall we?

Last Sunday @Saucer was in the chair, getting emotional in a very modern way with his pick of Alan Sparhawk's "White Roses, My God", which certainly brought forth some discussion, and gained some new fans in the process. Thanks to Mr S for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @Holette, who brings us this by way of introduction to tonight's pick:

"Greetings from the Wild West of Wales where we've just survived an intense storm with the highest red alert warning. Hearing the siren sound of a Government Emergency Alert on my phone for the first time was suitably dystopian, coming hot on the heels of our apocalypse vortex.

But as the festive season approaches, here's a pre-Christmas cracker of a record for you.

This young artist makes witty, wordy and slightly warped pop. I like their attitude, wonky synths and slacker guitar sounds. 

Fun, and only 30 minutes long, it's an ideal musical stocking filler. 

Aspirational Drinking club: a Snowball"

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 1st December 2024

Greetings folks,

Pinch and a punch and a happy advent calendar opening day to you all, if that's your sort of thing. December already, sigh. A peaceful week here in Amsterdam, grey and rainy sure, but quiet, at least till my desktop decided to start randomly freezing (but the mouse still working). Ugh ugh ugh. So let's get this done before it happens again, eh?

Last Sunday, appropriately it was the #Apocalypse2ThisTimeWeMeanItVortex, which truly hit the spot in a variety of ways. Many thanks to everyone for chipping in tunes, and to @saucer for the mighty effort of assembly. That very same @saucer also finds themselves in the regularly scheduled programming picking chair, so let's go back over to him for tonight's intro...

"Remember discovering new music in physical record stores? Physically browsing shelves? Deciphering handwritten reviews on index cards? Speaking face-to-face with the music lovers who wrote those reviews? Instant access to everything is great but we lost a lot when instant access to music and reviews won. 

So it was especially pleasing to discover tonight's album in a record store. Granted, it was a record store in an airport. So that's weird. When traveling through that airport I schedule time to hang out in the store. And this fall there was this surprising album on display (granted, surprising 'cause I don't keep up with music news), with this artist's vivid portrait on the cover.

I didn't buy the vinyl. Back on home WiFi I took a listen, courtesy of instant access to everything. 

In the slice of the year's new music visible to me so far, this album is iconic. And there I'll stop the story so, if you somehow haven't heard it by now, you get to experience it as I did, without expectations or back story."

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 24th November 2024

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing as good as can be expected. Another fallout week it seems, as yet more folks finally quit the birdsite and go shuffling around the other social networks - taking no pride in being seemingly ahead of the pack on that one (it's a steady flow, tbh, but that's not much of a story for the media, is it?), though I'm kinda disappointed to find that despite both Bluesky & Threads claiming to be "Federated", for the most part we can't follow or interact with their users like we can with folks on other Mastodon servers, which seems to me to be the whole point of federation, really. Another case of "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"? Time will tell, but until then, this little gathering will stay on Mastodon, looking forward to federating with everyone, eventually...

Last Sunday saw @vinomadic in the chair, delivering sharp words and guitars from a previous time in the shape of XTC's "English Settlement", which went down pretty well with most folks. Thanks to Mr V for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @saucer who has an extra week to ponder because...

...he's got his #vortex hat on, hip hip hip hooray. Or not, as may be the case as it's an #ApocalypseIIThisTimeWeMeanItVortex, for which the aforementioned @saucer has been gathering up your submissions and here is the mighty result. Download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT tonight for playback, and may the gods have mercy on your souls.