Listening Club - 27th January 2013

Good day to you, my little stroopwafels...

Bidding you a slightly warmer welcome to Listeningclub than last week - here the temperature has jumped up to the happy side of freezing overnight and rain now descends, speedily removing many layers of icy white and revealing a motley army of surreptitiously flicked roach-ends on the flat roof below my Amsterdam hotel room. Par for the course, I guess...

Meanwhile back in the twitter-pipes, last week found us all gathered round the 21st-century radiogram as @thejayarr sailed forth with a slice of Oklahoman insanity from Colourmusic named "My _____ Is Pink", which sat resolutely on the brain-scrambling side of the fence, flicking 'V' signs at normality. Thanks to him for the pick, and for flipping the LC frisbee back across that fence to @MonkeyTypes. Over to him for... ah, you know:


'It's strange how things work out sometimes. The last time I was in the hot seat I was frantically packing up my troubles in my old rucksack and about to fly out to Düsseldorf. This week I'm in the process of unpacking all my worldly possessions as I finally move into my own apartment. I'll spare you the horror stories of what Germans mean by unfurnished and I won't mention how much the rumours of German efficiency are overstated. However, tonight's Listening Club will be candlelit, with warm beer and reliance on my phone for an internet connection, while the neighbours peer through my curtain-less windows. That's living alright.

So onto tonight's choice and another case of 'strange how things work out'.

While enjoying the many bars that Düsseldorf has to offer, I've managed to find the time to see a couple of bands. Both were previous Listening Club selections and both extremely good nights out. I particularly enjoyed one of the support acts and at the end of the night bought the CD. I was unsure how good it would be, given that a lot of the charm was in the performance and presentation. However, after listening to it, I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed. It's what I consider a typical Listening Club choice, quirky, humorous and a little confused exactly which genre it belongs to. The fact it was discovered while seeing a previously LC discovery is merely a bonus. It's a bit of a slow burner but there will be smiles and maybe the odd chance to have a dance. 

So, as ever, turn it up, dim the lights, pour a glass of your favourite beverage and enjoy. Hopefully I'll be joining you, no doubt very hungover from my birthday celebrations the night before. 

You guys really do know the best times to fling the frisbee my way.

Beste Grüße,

MonkeyTypes'


Aroogah. Download is here (Dropbox link), or the Mixcloud stream is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin!

Hope to see you at 8pm GMT!

Listening Club - 20th January 2013

Groeten aan jullie allemaal uit Amsterdam! Ik ben hier pas een week, maar het is verbazingwekkend hoe snel je pick-up van de taal!

No, really it is. Rest assured it's as frosty here as it apparently is in the UK, and probably most other places you folks are tuning in from. Kinda felt sorry for the catwalk models who gave an open air runway show in the park yesterday as part of Amsterdam Fashion Week, but having watched that, I can say with a degree of certainty that platforms, mini-skirts, goosebumps, frostbite and gritted teeth are all very much in vogue this season. At least in the Netherlands anyways.

So, casting our minds back to last week, we had @faberfedor throwing a curve ball in the shape of the soundtrack to Ken Burns' documentary on Mark Twain, providing us with a quality slice of olde time acoustic finger-picked Sunday gentling. Many thanks to him for the selection, and for flipping the ice-edged LC frisbee across to @thejayarr for this week. Over to him for the intro....


I only ever had one album in mind for this week, which is strange considering it’s one that didn't exactly grab me by the lapels on first listen. In fact I think I’d probably had it sitting on my computer for about a year before I listened to it in its entirety.

I originally heard a song they put out on an earlier EP but didn't catch their name, and I couldn't find anything by googling the lyrics, so I spent months hoping that I'd come across them again somewhere. Eventually I got lucky and that happened, only to find that the track I'd liked so much wasn't really representative of the album (although that track is at the end of the record, seemingly included as an afterthought – to me, it feels a little incongruous when it eventually comes up), so it didn't really click for me straight away. I've learned to like it since then, though, and I hope others do as well. It’s kinda loud and fuzzy, and while not every track is perfect, I think there are more than enough impressive moments here to enjoy. Track 5 in particular is the one that made me give the whole thing another chance. 


Righty-ho! Download is here (Dropbox link) or speedy mirror from @akx here, or the Mixcloud stream is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin!

Hope to see you at 8pm GMT!

Listening Club - 13th January 2013

Hello all,

OK, now we're firmly ensconsed in to the new year, eh? The leftover port has been finished and the threat of sub-zero temperatures and frosty times loom. Hoorah for Listening Club, then, providing a weekly light for the end of your tunnel. Or something almost as impressive sounding.

A zoomy post today, as I have a case to pack and a plane to catch, so hopefully will be joining you from a different country later on if all goes according to plan!

Last week @akx took the new year well and truly in his grasp and hit us with the full force of The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation's "Succubus", which certainly blew away any remaining festive cobwebs. Many thanks to @akx for the pick, and for choosing @faberfedor to step up to the plate next. And here he is...

"After catching the LC frisbee from @akx, I started pondering which of the LC's (nonexistent) rules I could break this time.  Then Uncle E. tweeted me saying he needed my entry sooner rather than later because he's a very busy man. So I'll break some rules next time.

This time, we will be listening to a very nice album; all instrumental with a few spoke word tracks scattered about. There won't be any dancing across the floor in your slippers (sorry @Cakehugga) and there won't be any moshing (sorry @eastvanhalen) or any of that. This is going to be a mellow session. Not a "man, this weed is good" kind of mellow, more of a "It's a nice Sunday afternoon in the park" kind of mellow.

So, without further ado, I give you 2013's second LC event! Enjoy!"

So there you go! Download is here (Dropbox link), or the Mixcloud stream is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin!

See you at 8pm, I hope!

Listening Club - 6th January 2013

Hello and Happy New Year to you all!

I trust you all managed to have an enjoyable calendar transition, and are adapting well to the descent back to normality. Feeling chipper here, for personal reasons that will soon become apparent, but I'm bolstered in no small part by the awesome explosion of tunefulness that was last week's Festive Vortex playlist!

And how! A seriously enjoyable couple of hours or what? Many, many thanks to everyone who chipped in a couple of tracks, and everyone else who showed up on the eve clutching a bottle of finest virtual sherry. Best Listening Club ever? Many of you seemed to think so, so lets's have a think and maybe do another group playlist a little sooner than next vortex? Maybe quarterly? and How to choose a theme? More discussion tonight I think...

Anyhoo, back to the business at hand, so cast your minds back to pre-Vortex times, when @akx was plucked from the crowd for his debut LC selection, which turned up so quickly in the LC inbox you'd suspect that this was "one prepared earlier". Not quite, as it turns out, so over to him for the first pre-match of 2013:


"Well. It took me less than ten seconds after reading @eastvanhalen's tweet nominating me to carry the Listening Club baton forth to realize what I wanted to share with the magnificent people of the Club. 

This album, or artwork, or however you want to call it, has been the catalyst to quite some memories for me.
I think it's a sublime, excellent piece of art, even though it might take a time or two to grow on you. Having said that, though, it did captivate me from the very first moment I heard it.

To an excellent new year,

- Aarni / @akx"

There you go. Download is here (direct Dropbox link), mirror here, or the Mixcloud stream is now up here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin!

See you at 8pm!