The Listening Club - 29th September 2013

Greetings one and all,

Hope you're all good - a little frayed at the edges here, on account of being up till sunrise enjoying Amsterdam's Nuite Blanche, a rather haphazard journey through the centre of the city (including the Red Light District) taking in pop-up galleries, exhibitions, clubs and a lunatic selection of performance art and audience-participation stuff. Amongst other things, I now know what a hammer banging in a nail tastes like, and have been ordained as a Priest. Not bad for an evenings work, must say.

Last week, as you may recall, @mutster101 stepped up for his debut selection and delivered lunacy of the highest order with Martyn Bennett's "Grit", a truly singular and much missed talent indeed. Thanks to him for the pick and for frisbeeing across to @akx for the next selection...

But we have to interrupt that selection to bring you this month's #vortex! Behold, the #floorfillersvortex - 68 minutes, 18 tracks and... well, blimey. Get your disco boots on, crack open a Babycham and get a load of this lot... It's all rather speedily mixed together by yours truly... apologies if I've snipped off your favourite bit of a tune, but as @samsmitter said when I suggested a different mix of his selection, that's the "DJ's Prerogative"!

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)!

The Listening Club - 22nd September 2013

Greetings, hope you're all doing well.

Enjoying some fragments of an Indian Summer here in A-dam, which is most pleasant indeed, I must say. Still enough stormy showers to make me start reaching for the winter cookbook, so now that there's a hearty stew bubbling away on the stove, off we go...

...To a bit of indecision, unfortunately - I'd be announcing next week's #vortex around now, but we seem to be stuck in a bit of nonplussedness - Three suggestions for a vortex have popped up from your good selves: Floor-Fillers, Kryptonite tunes (i.e. most hated) and Guilty Pleasures, but none seem to have taken root within the consensus and I'm reluctant to force one through, so hoping that a decision can be reached during this week's session, otherwise it might be worth letting it lie until a good idea comes along? Comments, suggestions welcome as always...

Anyhoo, last week @morecheerful stepped up to the plate for her debut, and delivered unto you all the soulful twang of Valerie June's "Pushin' Against A Stone" which definitely satisfied a good number of you. Big thanks to @morecheerful for the pick, and for nominating another debutant, @mutster101 for this week. And here he is with the intro...

"The prospect of choosing an album was a terrifying one at first, but not long after last weekend's listen I had three albums going around my head as potential choices. And then it turned out there was a very obvious choice that was none of them.

To describe this album in the most pretentious way possible, let's say that it's a musical Large Hadron Collider that takes two seemingly disparate genres and smashes them together so that we can study the results. The results will almost certainly be controversial, and I'll be amazed if you like every single one. That said, there are a variety of results to choose from and I'm hopeful that there is something for everyone.  So let's don our white coats and safety goggles and scrutinise what has been created for us."

Reet! Direct download is here (right click save as, it's one long mp3), 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)!

The Listening Club - 15th September 2013

Greetings to you all,

Hope you've had an agreeable week - Summer is fading here in The Dam, slowly being replaced by The Big Grey, although the sun is out this morning, so I shall be taking advantage of that - I have a visiting parent, so for a change the weekend is filled with looking at olde worlde interior and exterior architecture as part of Heritage Weekend (think it's the same across Europe), so apologies in advance if this pops out a little late in the day...

Last week, @eastvanhalen hit home with what is probably the most well known #lc selection to date, although as she herself observed, one that probably few of us have ever listened from start to finish; Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life". Truly a masterpiece and a half. Thanks to her for the pick, and for flipping the frisbee back across the Atlantic to @morecheerful for her debut pick. And here she is with the intro...

"I had two very definite ideas for this week's album, having been idly wondering what I'd choose if the frisbee came my way. So naturally I've not chosen either.

This is an album that I've been listening to steadily all summer. It's a new album, but traditional in style, I think. I'm not sure how people will react to it, as when I saw the artist play earlier in the year half the audience had left by the third or fourth number. I think that the album is more mellow than the performance I saw but I'll be interested to know whether that's because I'm coming to it knowing what I'm getting. Happy listening!"

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)!

The Listening Club - 8th September 2013

Howdy folks,

Hope all is going good! I'm on rather a hectic zoomy weekend, plans being foiled and changed all over the place - all good though, a big weekend of gigs has emerged... Eleanor Friedberger on Friday, Chic and Blondes last night, so I'm a happy bunny, but soon off on another mission, so on with the show...

Last week, @mrhig took us to melodrama central with his pick of "Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel", familiar to some, surprising to others - no complaints from this quarter that's for sure - big thanks to him for the pick, and for zipping the frisbee across to Vancouver and @eastvanhalen...

"Hello, all you lovely people. I've been driving myself dizzy considering the half dozen albums that have vied for contention this week; I'd have been thrilled to play any of them, but as is often my wont I decided to go with the strong sentimental choice. I will admit to being anxious about my selection.

What makes this selection feel so risky is that it is so safe. Every one of you will have heard of this record. Every one of you will have heard songs from this record. It's near-universally regarded as one of the greatest albums of American music. Volumes have been written about it (of which I've resolutely read not a word before composing this). It's also a double album (and EP!), so if you're not impressed you'll have a lot of listening to be unimpressed with.

But before this summer I had never actually sat down and listened to this record beginning to end, and I suspect that might be true of some of you, especially the younger members of the cohort. When I did hear it I was smitten. I've been listening to it all summer, and it's made me happy, and so I want to listen to it with all of you at summer's end.

This record is a very personal chronicle of the turmoil of the artist's world -- pain writ politically through social injustice, especially racism and poverty, and personally through misunderstanding and heartbreak -- but what makes it eternally beautiful is his belief, shining throughout, of the redemptive power of love.

And so with that in mind, I dedicate my selection this week to our beloved @cakehugga, in memory of her beautiful @jayesofine, and to D., my one and only love."

Excellent! 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)!

The Listening Club - 1st September 2013

Howdy folks,

Hope all is well and good with you all. Here in Amsterdam the summer is still performing well above par, even if the evenings are drawing in a little too soon, dammit. Plenty of stuff keeping me occupied as usual, this weekend being Uitmarkt, the supposed start of the "cultural season" - must say, I didn't notice the last one finish - but a good opportunity for me to nose about in some of the slightly more refined areas of Amsterdam life, enjoying bits and pieces of theatre, dance, classical music, even a bit of opera. Not bad at all, I must say...

Last week, back over yonder, it was the "covers you think are better than the originals" vortex and my word, I don't think we've ever had such a diverse array of shizzle to present. Hard tunes done mellow, serious songs done stupid, crap tunes done better, really something for everyone and anyone. Thanks to all contributors for chipping in, was a lot of fun! Suggestions for next month's vortex please?

Back to the week previous to the week previous, @mrhig emerged clutching the frisbee for his debut selection, so over to him for the intro...

"I decided to take advantage of last week's cover versions vortex and continue the theme with an entire album of covers! In the grand tradition of Listening Club (as with the first entry I could find on this blog), my first ever Listening Club choice is a compilation, in this case gathered from three or four albums by one artist. 

The songs you will find here were originally in a different language. It's well worth tracking down the original artist if you hadn't heard of them before; the brilliance of their music shines through even if (like me) you can't understand most of the words. Here, however, we are dealing with English translations; regardless, I think the original charm is quite intact.

Both of the artists (the writer and singer of the original songs, and the artist covering them) have been particularly influential to a certain breed of musicians - the theatrical, the dark, the flamboyant, those that don't fit the standard mould. Get ready for a few waltzes, maybe the odd tango - don't forget a pretentious drink, maybe some absinthe - and prepare yourself for an odyssey of carousing, intoxication, a preoccupation with death and perhaps an STI or two!"

Fantastische!... 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)!