The Listening Club - 29th March 2015

Hey ho,

Yep, cutting it close to the wire this week, been a huff puff couple of weekends, cleaning and decorating the new place that myself and @nessiest are moving into - only 10 mins walk from my current place for those of you that know it - yay!

So, typing this with paint splattered fingers, last week @cakehugga did the honours in style with Chilly Gonzalez's soundtrack to the film "Ivory Tower", and very nice indeed it was too. Thanks to Gemma for the pick and for flipping the frisbee across to the venerable @JimMcCauley for next week...

But now, I think one of the trickiest vortexes for a while, but one that should quite obviously follow the #sexyvortexy, yes it's the #walkofshamevortex... or is it the #walkofshamelessvortex ? We have 20 fine examples to help you figure that one out...

Direct download is here (link at the top of the page), and the Mixcloud's here (bit fucking late sorry)

Oh and we're on British Summer Time, so see you in a few minutes!

Bye :)

The Listening Club - 22nd March 2015

Hey hey, guess who's back... yep, feeling rather tanned, and reasonably well rested, which took some doing as Marrakech is a pretty hectic place... and just in time to say hey Happy Birthday Listening Club! - Yep, three years ago this little social endeavour kicked off, so big yay all round for another year of cracking music!

Speaking of which, it's that #vortex time again next week, so if you have any ideas, chip them in tonight, okay?

Last week @saucer was in the hot seat, and provided a contentious dose with Mykki Blanco presents Gay Dog Food - some bopped, some didn't, some did "theoretically", and much debate was caused, which was grand. Thanks to @saucer for the pick and for skimming the frisbee out to a slightly unsuspecting @cakehugga, who's here with the prematch...

"Hello!

I was a bit surprised to be thrown the Listening Club frisbee this week. For once I had no idea which album to choose.

This year has been pretty hectic so far, and I haven’t had time to discover much new music. So I went on a bit of a trip down memory lane and dug out some old CDs. There were a few contenders which nearly made it but they just didn’t seem right. Then I remembered this gem.

This album is a musical soundtrack to a hilarious, unexpected delight of a film.

I have used some of the instrumental tracks from the album when teaching dance classes to kids, as the music takes you on a journey of the imagination – I always get a bit lost in some of the tracks.

Other tracks have the most biting, bitter lyrics – there are some very choice turns of phrases that leave me laughing.  Then there are the joyous tracks that make me want to dance – always a good sign in my book.

Anyway I hope that you enjoy the journey as much as I do.

Gemma (@CakeHugga)."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here (link at the top of the page), and the Mixcloud's embedded below, with a direct link underneath just in case you can't see it (Nice idea, Jim).

The Listening Club - 22nd March 2015 by Madame_Holette on Mixcloud

See you at 8PM!

The Listening Club - 15 March 2015

Hola, amigos!

@JimMcCauley here again, and it'll have to be a quick one as we have friends turning up in about half an hour and I want to get this done before they arrive. In brief: it's bloody cold and I managed to stab myself in the finger with a screwdriver yesterday while putting a new number up on the house. Exciting!

Last week saw @wojsvenwoj at the decks, with Amy X Neuburg's The Secret Language of Subways causing just the right mix of confusion and delight. Thanks to Woj for the pick, and for flipping the frisbee right in @saucer's face. And so without any further ado:

"Hello! Is this thing on? 

"(Only my second time up here...  please bear with me.)

"So, this evening's pick is a bit, uh, *different*, even among the other oddities in my music collection. In fact, I'd say it straddles the line between crass novelty and the brave avant-garde...  and by "straddles the line" I mean it injured its testicles in the process. (That's right. It was not even wearing pants.)

"Now, please don't ruin your enjoyment by googling, but this apparently factual(?) bit was written about the guy who (along with various surprise guests) created tonight's album: "His father was an IT specialist before becoming a psychic. His mother was a paralegal at the North Carolina Patent and Trademark Office."

"Anyhoo, this evening you won't be hearing SO MUCH OTHER GOOD BUT RELATIVELY NORMAL music that I auditioned, all to allow you to hear this, which was, in truth, one of my favorite albums of 2014. I hope you enjoy!"

Tidy. Direct download is here (link at the top of the page), and the Mixcloud's embedded below (@saucer reports that even though he uploaded it, it's chucking some warning about not playing in his country, so give it a quick test if you're worried about it, and click on the link underneath it if you want to go to the actual page).

See you at 8PM!

Listening Club 15 March 2015 by Saucer on Mixcloud

The Listening Club - 8 March 2015

Hi there, listening chums!

With @kleptones and @nessiest away on a Moroccan jaunt, it's @jimmccauley here for a bit. After a bit of a false start for Spring yesterday – hey, I managed to get some washing out and dried for the first time this year so hooray – it's back to a grey and drizzly Bath today. On the plus side, though, I saw Underworld (minus a poorly Rick Smith) do dubnobasswithmyheadman the other night, so on the whole I'd mark this week down as excellent.

Last week @nessiest treated us to some excellently glitchy orchestral poptronica in the form of Lydia Ainsworth's debut, Right From Real, and there was much rejoicing. Big ups to her for the pick, and for the well-aimed frisbee flung at @wojsvenwoj for this week. Speaking of whom...

"I’ve been in orbit around the listening club star for a while now, drawn in originally by Twitter updates from @rougeforever and @mrhig about vortexes and gin, learning of Mr. Kleptone’s involvement and following @thelisteningclub. However, most Sunday afternoons (North American Eastern time zone denizen here), one thing or another is happening so I usually time-shift listening to the weekly offering to later in the week. Last weekend though, I was home working, saw the reminder update, downloaded, joined in…and caught the Frisbee tossed my way by @nessiest.

"Thus began a week-long debate in my head about what to select for an inaugural offering. A dear favorite? A desert island disc? A forgotten classic? An up-and-coming unknown? Something appealing? Something acerbic? As all y’all know, it’s not an easy decision. So I perused the mostly-physical collection, considering and rejecting various albums for a range of reasons, I finally settled in on something that isn’t any of the above.

"This isn’t my favorite artist. This isn’t my favorite record by this artist. This artist isn’t a complete unknown though neither is this artist very well-known. This isn’t an old chestnut that everyone’s forgotten about but neither is it something fresh off the press. Perhaps, you’ll be relieved to know that it’s not an off-putting listen. What attracted me to this record, when my gaze passed over the CD on the shelf, was that it was a refreshing listen. I hadn’t heard it in quite a while and, as I spun it in the ol’ optical drive, it dawned on me that one can (re)discover music in their own collection just as easily as one can discover music from others.

"So, thanks to @nessiest for helping me to remember this album! I hope everyone enjoys it and, if you don’t, may you enjoy your beverage!"

Scuba dooper! Direct download is here (link at the top of the page), and while Eric's away I'm experimenting with embedding the Mixcloud stream right here on this page, where it hopefully won't dick you about with track titles.

8PM! GMT! Be there!

Listening Club - 08 March 2015 by Jedburgh on Mixcloud

The Listening Club - 1st March 2015

Ello there,

Yes well, in the tradition of weather-based #lc intros, is that a tiny sniff of Spring in the air? Well of course it is you cretin, says planet earth, don't get all woo about it or I'll take it off you. Despite that, and my current over-the-top workload, (which should slow down after this week thank the gods), I'm still determined to go off on holiday with wor @nessiest (Morocco I think - tips anyone?) next week, so will be needing someone to step in and run tings here next week and most likely the Sunday after... Help a brother out? Let me know if you can toot sweet please.

Last week we all got sexy on the internet together, and it was quite a shunt-worthy #sexyvortexy indeed. Which reminds me, the tracklist is up in the comments to last week's blogpost if you need it. Thanks to all for donating your tenderest moments, very much appreciated indeed.

Back in regular #lc land, @nessiest herself is clutching the frisbee, and here she is with this week's pre-match...

"Picking an album for the Listening Club can be agonizing, as the chronically indecisive among us will know. My inaugural pick was winkled out of many listens to the shortlist of candidates and much agonizing. Luckily I spared myself that nonsense this time around, I've known this is the pick for over a week.

Today's selection turned up on a day spent listening to artists I hadn't come across before, one of those rare opportunities when there's time for the luxury of exploring the richness of creativity out there.

The opening track made me go "ooh, hello," one of the few tracks to grab my attention that day and the only album that kept me actively engaged to the end. It's not a long listen (funny that) and although reviewers classify it as pop, intriguing traces of different artists and genres can to my ears be heard. Not bad for a debut album. 

It may have me throwing a few interpretive dance moves between sips of mellow red, feel free to grab some chiffon scarves and join me."

There you go. Direct download is here (link at top of the page), Mixcloud (who put the c*nt in c*ntent recognition) stream is here.

See you at 8pm!