The Listening Club - 9th November 2014

Hey hey hey,

Hope you're all doing fine. Amsterdam has finally entered the brr-zone, after a good few bonus warm weekends. Blessed we have been this year, I'd say, but now time to reach for the coats and scarves, and ready ourselves for the chilly times...

Over in #lc land, last week saw @mrhig flipping his selection across the Atlantic from Los Angeles in the shape of Aimee Mann's "@#%&*! Smilers" (pronounced "Fucking Smilers"), which didn't quite result in as many smilers as anticipated, but he did issue a gloom warning, so fair call there, I think. Thanks to Matt for the pick, and for sailing the frisbee across to @saucer, for his debut selection. And here they are...

"Shocked, is what I was, honestly, when I looked up from my Activia yogurt (as it's called in the U.S.) and saw @mrhig happily tossing the @listeningclub frisbee at my head. Rather than duck... I leapt like a trusting dog and caught the surprisingly fast-spinning projectile in my teeth. Ouch.

I'll spare you the wrenching details of how harrowing and daunting this first-time selection process felt (you've, most of you, done it to live another day), although I will tell you that I auditioned and rejected DIY/outsider pop, Swedish pop, computer/noise, Neokrautrock, First-wave Europsychedelia, experimental jazz, '80s synthpop, Lounge/noir, and Dada/chamber-pop before settling on this week's album.

This duo (+ borrowed drummer) hailed from (city elided) and so very well exemplified the area's musical Ortgeist (to awkwardly coin a German word for which there ought to be a German word). Oh so sly, erudite, understated, transgressive, seriously playful, playfully serious. Not easy listening at times, but so worth it.

Looking forward to hearing who you hear them referencing (always on purpose, mind you), and joining me in bemoaning the tragedy of their minuscule recorded output relative to their outsized musical genius.

Here, then, is my first try at this listening club thing. I hope you enjoy."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here and the Mixcloud (caveat emptor and all that) link is here.

See you at 8pm GMT!