The Listening Club - 25th October 2015

Hey everyone,

Hope all is fine with y'all. A hum-ho week here, grey skies and small spots of illness here and there, punctuated happily by Sleaford Mods distributing their usual brand of damage on Friday night. Plenty of time for film-watching, tune noodling and planning excursions, so no complaints from me...

Speaking of which, last week it was, hey!, me @kleptones in the chair, in that alternate reality I spoke of, with the soundtrack to a gig that never happened, aka The KLF's "Live From The Lost Continent". No idea who did the work involved in mixing that one, but I'm sure they're feeling rather pleased with themselves. Kudos to @DaveW too, who grabbed the frisbee and will be here next week with his debut pick...

But now, yea verily it's vortex time, and a #surrealvortex has been decided. But what does that mean? Well, here's 22 mighty different ways of slicing that particular conceptual cake....

Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream is....



Clocks have gone back in Europe, which you'll either know or not, so we're back on GMT, 8 of the clock (must change those banners). See you in a bit!

The Listening Club - 18th October 2015

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all fine and dandy. Amsterdam is currently thronged with music types as the annual Dance Event takes over the entire city. Sadly the weather has been rather crappy, so the temptation to go out and about and see what free entertainment can be blagged has been seriously dampened. Still managed to trek out through the squelch into a nearby forest on Thursday (quite literally in the case of part of the return journey, glad I had a torch and a personal sat-nav), to see Robert Fripp play in a remote house with his hundred-strong Symphony of Crafty Guitarists. With barely 70-80 people watching (no room for more) it was quite the intimate affair. I'm still buzzing from the experience...

A reminder that it's #vortex time again next week, so looking for thematic suggestions - the last two #sleepyvortex and #wakeupvortex were both mighty fine indeed, so get thinking and we'll discuss it later this evening....

Last week, @emmaprice was in the chair, and treated us all to the sounds of Misty's Big Adventure and their "Funny Times" album, which produced a bit of marmite-ism amongst the assembled - some fell for it considerably, others not so much, but as always, very welcome - thanks to Emma for the pick and for flipping the frisbee across to myself, guess I deserved it. So let's get all italic and break out the heavy duty hyperbole...

"Must say, this one is proving quite tricky to introduce without revealing too much. 

It's certainly not an album, that I can be sure of. Maybe it could be considered an unexpected historical revisionary recreation, or possibly an intercepted archival transmission from a parallel universe of an event never to be realised within this one, an experience of magnanimous proportions, a true gathering of the tribes, a bootleg recording of the soundtrack to a cataclysmic electronic ritual, an incantation intended to blast open the minds of a generation, the culmination of several years intense preparation and observance, resulting in a gigantic celebratory occasion the likes of which had never been seen before, and maybe never would again. One thing is for sure - if this is what it sounded like, who knows what such a spectacle may have actually looked like, or what it must have felt to experience it. Sadly, this is the closest we will ever get... the rest lies between you and your imagination.

To those already initiated there will hopefully be much surprise and rejoicing. To those completely unfamiliar, take a deep breath and hold on tight.

#DrinkingClub = Nectar Of The Gods or failing that, Tennant's Super."

Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream is....

See you at 8pm! (BST +1)

The Listening Club - 11th October 2015

Hey folks,

Hope all is fine with you - not bad here in A-dam, a late delivery of sun making for an enjoyably bright early autumn, meanwhile the evenings have included taking in two mighty fine vocal performances, courtesy of Public Image Ltd and Blackalicious - both prime examples of astonishing vocal talent, and the accompanying music was none too shabby either... cracking sets both.

Last week in #LC land, @JimMcCauley was in the chair, and rocked the fuck out of everyone, early-70s Brummie style with his pick of "Slade Alive" - A righteously rocking sound indeed. Many thanks to Jim for the pick, and for sailing the frisbee across to @EmmaPrice, who's here with this week's intro...

"Greetings fellow Listening Clubbers

I've been wanting to share this album with you all for a while so have neatly avoided the notorious frisbee angst.

Have you ever met someone and instantly known they're a musical soul mate? Someone to talk about music into the night with, to go to gigs with and share mixtapes with because you can't wait to hear what they think of the music that makes you tick.

Like Listening Club really, you never know quite what you're going to be introduced to next.

This is a truly bizarre and glorious band I discovered in such a way. They never fail to make me smile and to unleash the chair dancing. 

Drinking club recommendation is cold cider, a marquee in a field and lots of bunting."

Okidoke - Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream is...


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)...

The Listening Club - 4th October 2015

Hey everyone!

#ListeningClub this week is on location, coming to you live and direct from my mum's house in Kent, where I've been doing the usual mix of odd jobs and IT support as you'd expect. Also taking time to grab a few choice English delicacies to bring back (lime marmalade and pickled onions, since you ask), enjoy some late summer sunshine with a few pints of bitter and a roast dinner, and celebrate the Amsterdam Glastonbury ticket squad's excellent performance this morning sorting out festival tickets for a whole bunch of people. A quite respectable day all round indeed.

Last week we woke up the town with the #wakeupvortex (not actual pope album pictured, obv), a rather spectacular selection of rise-and-shine anthems and then some. Thanks to all for the picks, track list is in the comments of last week's post if you missed it!

Back to regularly scheduled programming, @JimMcCauley was left clutching the frisbee, so here he is with this week's intro...

"Picking tonight's mystery LP was a piece of cake. Figuring out what to write about it isn't so easy. The problem is that the band in question is – to the UK contingent at least – instantly recognisable. You'd be hard pushed to find anyone in this country who doesn't know at least one of their songs pretty much off by heart. So it's difficult to say too much about them without giving the game away.

The thing is though, I've known all the hit singles for years, but beyond that I've never had a clue, so recently I've been acquainting myself with their albums and I think this is the one that stands out. It's a live album, recorded on a shoestring budget just after they'd begun to have a bit of success in the singles chart. Up until then they'd made a living on the road but not managed to sell many records; this was the album that turned things around.

It's big and loud, top-heavy with covers and all over just a little too quickly (which should please everyone who wants to watch This is England '90 at 9pm), but it's one of the great live albums, capturing the energy of a tight live act who've hit their stride and are about ready to take up residency on Top of the Pops, and it really makes me wish I'd been around to see them back then."

Alright! Direct download is here, and the new old HearThis stream is below:


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) !!!