The Listening Club - 26th October 2025

Greetings folks, 

Hope you're all doing good. A seriously wet and windy week here in Amsterdam, which has certainly caused this year's ADE (Huge dance music industry event, if you didn't know) to go with quite a soggy squelch, as thousands of unprepared folks from afar scurry from cover to cover, frantically buying raincoats, hats and brollies as they go. A fair chunk of the ADE schedule is not really to my taste, but they do cover a wide range of stuff, and the variable weather means that enterprising locals can pick up cheap last minute tickets if they're lucky, which allowed us to get blown across town by Storm Benjamin to see Asko|Schönberg perform Steve Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" on Thursday, and mighty fine it was too, yay.

(PSA - Reminder I'm away on Sunday 9th November, still looking for a helping hand to run #LC, let me know if you can help, pls thx.)

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Last Sunday saw us paying tribute the best way we know how to our fallen comrade @FaberFedor with a splendidly emotional #GroupHugForFaberVortex. Huge thanks to everyone who chipped in a tune or two, and everyone who congregated to listen and share reminiscences of a fine chap. 

I've been asked by Faber's executors to share his obiutuary, which you can find here, and also let everyone know that there will be an online memorial on Sunday 16th November at 12noon ET (which I think is 4pm GMT, 5pm CET). The memorial will be held on Zoom, details here.

Back in the land of regularly-scheduled programming, we find @EmmaPrice holding the frisb, with this to say by way of introduction to her pick...

"Greetings my Listening Club Friends. 

It's been a while since I've been around regularly for Listening Club. I spent the summer in the fields on the festival circuit raising money for Oxfam enjoying the sun on my face with the shared joy of communal music and meeting folks from all walks of life.

Last week's #grouphugforFaber experience hit me pretty hard and I'm not embarrassed to say I wept like a baby thinking of our friend and the memories and connections we've all made via music. If any of you are ever visiting London please let me know and it'd be a pleasure to meet and raise a glass to this fantastic group of people. Thank you for all the moments we've shared and those that are yet to come.

Onto my pick for this week. First things first, I know nothing about the artist behind this album and while I'm writing this intro I'm listening to it for the second time. I bought this album, on vinyl no less, for one reason. The cover.  As I'm listening to it again I'm really glad this has randomly made it into my music collection. I'll explain the story of how I acquired this vinyl during the playback to avoid spoilering up front.

Drinking club: Is it too early for a mulled wine?"

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

See you 20:00 GMT - Yes, the clocks have changed over here!

The Listening Club - 19th October 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're doing okay. Another mild week here in Amsterdam, as autumn continues to take hold and the piles of leaves begin to mount up, I'm kinda hoping for a little rain soon to wash the streets down. That said, hoping the temperature stays mild for a little longer, as it's coming close to Le Guess Who? time of year, which of course also means I'm in need of someone to run things here whilst we're away, so if you can help out on Sunday 9th November, please let me know, thanks!

Last Sunday saw @iamwahl in the chair, sending the assembled into a gentle reverie with his pick of Lloyd Cole & The Commotions 1987 album "Mainstream". Thanks extended to him for the pick, and also for sailing the frisb across to @EmmaPrice who has an extra week to ponder...

...as we find ourselves in an unexpected mode, paying tribute to @FaberFedor, a fine friend and long time #LC comrade, who has departed the earth way too soon after many fights with cancer. In the time honoured words of The Warriors DJ, "I guess the only thing we can do is play you a song", So here's a #GroupHugForFaberVortex, sad that he wasn't able to stick around to hear it. Thanks to everyone for chipping in tunes and @kleptones for the mix assembly. Adios, Senor Fedor, your sharp wit and gentle wisdom will be much missed.

Download's here, stream's below (yes, back on Mixcloud, as HearThis now has a free limit of 90 mins, merr):

Hope to see you at 20:00 BST (GMT+1) for playback.

The Listening Club - 12th October 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good. Amsterdam is settling further into Autumn as expected, tho it's still pretty mild and dry, which is always welcome. 

Unfortunately, I have some bad news to break to you all regarding our good friend and long time #LC contributor @FaberFedor. Some of you will be aware that he has been fighting a serious illness for a long while, and despite much treatment, he is now receiving hospice / palliative care. 

Many of you have met Faber over the years, including at our momentous Amsterdam get together back in 2014, so will have first hand experience of what a fine chap he is, but I'm sure for everyone reading, this is deeply sad news. At this stage, it's not known how long he'll be in care, but he will hopefully be able to listen tonight, and I therefore propose that next Sunday we postpone our regular scheduled program and instead put together a #GroupHugForFaberVortex, for which we invite you to contribute tunes, as happy, sad or ridiculous as you like, that you think he would get a kick out of hearing - multiple tunes are welcome too, the more the merrier - long time #LC folks will have a good idea of his tastes, but if you need a reminder you can see his album picks going back to 2012 on the list here. 

Of course, you're welcome to contribute even if you don't really feel you know Mr. F but would like to add an appropriate tune as a gesture of kindness. Given the circumstances, the sooner you can get your picks in the better, just in case we have to expidite the delivery, so to speak, although I truly hope that's not necessary. I'll add a link for the dropbox here as soon as we have one, and also post it on Mastodon. (Update - Dropbox link)

Back in the land of regular programming, last Sunday it was m'self, @kleptones, dosing the assembled with the heady blend of Asha Bhosle & The Kronos Quartet's "You've Stolen My Heart - Sounds from R.D. Burman's Bollywood", which I was delighted to find going down very well indeed (phew). All that remained was for me to flip the frisb across to @iamwahl, who is here with today's intro...

"Ah, what excitement. Please join me as the tumbling, twisting turns of what to present to the Listening Club again finds me stumbling into a more fulsome review and dive into some neglected corners of my music acquisitions.

After hearing last week’s surprising, entertaining, and compelling selection from Kleptones I thought I knew exactly what album I would present this week. Upon listening to that album I started to think the time isn’t quite right to offer that initial choice. Still, I was intending to hold steady on the track of (or at least lean towards) the more disparate world of musical styles and influences to be found in my collection but, while wandering through a goodly number of options from locales more remote (both physically and metaphorically) than my more frequent musical travels, I was suddenly, and surprisingly, reminded of an artist that doesn’t fit that mould at all. Listening to a couple albums by that musician then made me think of yet another performer, whom I was surprised to discover had not been the subject of a previous Listening Club session. For some reason the first recording I ever heard from them has always felt like autumn to me (perhaps because it was released in a previous October?). This, then, is what was my introduction to this artist, albeit being the last studio album from this particular incarnation of their musical face (again I’m late to a party). Perhaps it will also be an introduction to them for some of the club; although I suspect more than a few will immediately recognize, if not the album, the uniquely identifiable voice. Either way I hope this brings you as much pleasure as it has me…

For #DrinkingClub, a sipping whisky, neat (or other cool weather favourite)…"

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

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

The Listening Club - 5th October 2025

Howdy folks,

Hope you're doing okay. Autumn seems to have grabbed Amsterdam by the metaphoricals most definitely - it's been a blustery wet week and a half, so sitting in with a cup of something warming and occasionally darting outside for a social activity, like scoffing an eye-watering tableful of Sichuan goodness or catching ESG's last European show ever (so I believe), which was as suitably joyful and boisterous as one would hope. More of that to follow, I predict!

Last Sunday, as was end-of-month, meant a #vortex, and this time we fired the gun on a #GamesDayVortex, which saw an impressively huge range of styles lining up for the race. Many thanks to everyone who chipped in a tune, and to @akx for the fine mixwork. Looking back to regularly-scheduled programming, we see, er, me, @kleptones, in the mirror, waving the frisb at myself, so...

"...let's get italic. Have to admit I've had this pick ready for a while, when another picker was rather late with their submission, so I decided to get a backup together just in case. Fortunately I didn't need it then, so here 'tis!

I noted a conversation on Mastodon a while back about the tendency for #LC denizens to mostly pick "western" "rock-derived" albums, which is to be expected, for the most part, as that's pretty much where and what we're from, but as I get older I definitely consider a larger and larger part of my listening to be outside of those areas, as my ears always remain thankfully curious, so here's something, possibly unexpected coming from me, that doesn't fall into either of the aforementioned categories.

This is a collaborative album by two legendary artists, one of whom has been radically widening the scope of their proscribed "style" over the last 50 years, whilst the other has spent their even-longer career finessing one style to absolute perfection. What happens when such disparate artists meet, readers? It's time to find out.

(PS I'd say the first tune is possibly one of the best-known, so if you know them, you'll recognise it immediately)

#drinkingclub = mango lassi."

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

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

The Listening Club - 28th September 2025

Salutations, folks.

Hope you're all doing okay. A still, warm day here in Amsterdam, which has been very welcome, making afternoon shopping and garderning chores way more pleasurable, and pleasing hype cat by allowing us to sit outside with him whilst sipping an iced drink or two on the stoop (which, of course, is the only reason we do it, for sure).

Last Sunday we had @ogili in the chair, dosing the assembled with 2 EPs by Getdown Services, "Primordial Slot Machine" and "Your Medal's In The Post". Thanks to Oli for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @kleptones, who has an extra week to ponder because...

..yep, end-of-month means #vortex, and this time the consensus was for a #GamesDayVortex, although what kind of games is, as always, left open to interpretation. @akx has gathered up the submitted tunes and merged them together into a fine blend, direct download here (right-click save-as), or streaming below:

See you on the hashtag at 20:00 BST (GMT+1) for playback.

The Listening Club - 21st September 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing OK. Back from my travels with thanks extended to @corin_ja for holding the fort last week, very much appreciated. Returning to a very blowy and rainy Amsterdam, which is a bit of a shame, but par for the course given the time of year. So it goes...

And not just time of year, but time of month, which is nearing the end (already!) therefore we'll be needing a #vortex theme - suggestions welcome in the chat if you have them, thx!

Last Sunday, that very same @corin_ja was pulling double duty, not just hosting, but also treating the assembled to "Fire Escape In The Sky: The Godlike Genius Of Scott Walker", which, as I wasn't around, I'm hoping went down pretty good with the assembled. Thanks again to Corin for the tunes, and for sailing the frisb across South London to @ogili, who is here with tonight's intro...

"Well, it’s going a bit pearshaped in Britain I fear, so some ‘“Post-Brexit apocalypse disco” from a duo putting Minehead on the map feels appropriate.  

Imagine a pinch of artists like T-Rex, Chaz and Dave, MC Pitman, Goldie Looking Chain, LCD Sound System, The Fall, Happy Mondays, Denim, low rider era War, mixed with British bravado/ennui, and then stirred into an ill-advised couple of pints of take out lager, which has been left out of the fridge while everyone’s been playing Mario Kart in the living room. 

The irony of this pick, for me, was that there was no dithering about which artist this time.  But a HUGE amount of dithering about what to pick by them. Do I go for the first album with its opener which sounds a little like LCD Soundsystem featuring MC Pitman, or the more recent and more introspective stuff?

So I tossed a coin, and went for this."

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

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

The Listening Club - 14th September 2025

Hello, everybody.

It's @corin_ja here, sitting in once more for our usual host @kleptones, who is off on travels today. How's everyone doing?

Been a mixed week here in London, UK. Some rain and wind, some lovely early autumn blue skies and a hint of crispness in the morning air that's leading to me digging out some long-sleeved cycling tops. Minimal cultural appreciation at the moment, at least music-wise. At the cinema I've enjoyed Weapons recently and off to see the new Conjuring movie today, I think. Also took in the Leigh Bowery retrospective at Tate Modern which is worth a visit if you're in the area.

As for #ListeningClub, last week we had @akx in the chair of the selector, regaling us with a fine slice of electronic psydub in the form of Nature Never Did Betray The Heart That Loved Her by Dub Trees, which seemed to get the assembled chilling and skanking in equal measure.

After some fumbled catches the frisbaton has been recovered from the next-door-neighbour's-garden-of-missed-frisbatons by none other than yours truly. Here's what I have to say about it:

"This choice is based on a book I read recently by the singer of a big pop group that had recently got back together to put out a new record after many years hiatus. In the book, the front man described how much they had been influenced by the artist behind tonight's selection, an artist who had sunk into obscurity for a long time. The description of how much this artist meant to the singer moved me, and I sought out the record they had singled-out as being particularly influential to them. So here it is, I present it to you. Some of you will have guessed from this tortuous description who I am talking about, but I will reveal all at the end anyhow. Sorry if this is a real Marmite pick. I had to listen to this stuff a few times before it really grabbed me. Don't let that put you off though, I'm usually a late developer. #DrinkingClub probably a Scotch'n'soda or something."

OK, then. The download is here (right click, save-as) and the stream is below:

Hope to see you all later, 8pm BST (GMT +1)