The Listening Club - 14th July 2013

Hi to you all,

Rather tardy this week, for which I must apologise... yesterday's fun-packed day of oddball festivals and gig-going has left me nursing a rather biblical hangover. It was worth it though for sure. And now uploading this week's selection seems to be going at a snail's pace... But gently on with the show we go...

Time first to announce the next #vortex, which will take place in two weeks time, on the 28th July. Theme this time is favourite music videos, simple as! I'm guessing the best method is to supply a youtube link (best quality you can find will help) and the very kind @akx has volunteered a script to stitch them all together into one mix for playback. Might take a while to sort and upload, so please get your suggestions in to me sooner rather than later, thanks.

Last week @rougeforever took her debut catch of the frisbee, sending us all spiraling into the murky concepts of The Decemberists "The Hazards Of Love". A real love-or-hate album, and it definitely generated a bit of both on the night. Big thanks to her for the selection and for a short throw of the frisbee across to Wales, where @holette is waiting with the intro...

"As befits the heatwave we are bemused to find ourselves basking in here in Wales, it’s a well laid back choice this week. So go ahead and fix yourself a long cocktail. Maybe pop in a little parasol. I only caught up with this album earlier this year otherwise track 7 would certainly have been tossed into the best of 2012 festive vortex. I guess it’s not the sort of genre I normally find anything interesting about but I loved this from the first listen. Some tracks just lodge themselves in your brain. The guy is so damn talented he just seems to knock out these massively commercial tunes. And what a voice he has. But the super slick production is shot through with sounds, images, tempos to make you prick up your ears. And it’s just so…musical, clever, cheeky and genuinely emotional. Turns out it’s a timely choice as this artist is playing gigs in the UK right now. There’s a lot of tracks listed but many are just fragments so it won’t play as long as you might think. Anyway, hope you enjoy the music."

There you go! Direct download is here, Mixcloud stream (which may well reveal the track titles, you have been warned!) is here!

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

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)!