The Listening Club - 28th February 2016

Greetings folks and happy leap year for tomorrow, hope you're doing fine. Cold but clear here in Amsterdam, coming down after a rather bonkers night of oddball electronica at the annual Sonic Acts festival. Brain feeling well and truly tenderised by the combination of bonks, beeps, bangs and beers, indeed...

Last week @JimMcCauley was running things whilst I was away in old Brighton towne, and hosted @cdrose_writer's pick of Yorkston/Thorne/Khan's "Everything Sacred", which was decreed "quite interesting" by the assembled. Many thanks to Chris for the pick and for flipping the frisbee across to @wojsvenwoj for next week...

But first, yes, bolt the doors, batten down the hatches, secure the exits and confiscate the earplugs, for there is no escape from the #cringerapvortex. We have 12 choice selections of misguided rhythmic wordplay, and frankly, that's more than plenty. Seriously, I needed some protective gauntlets to handle some of these submissions. May god have mercy on our souls.

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

The Listening Club - 28th February 2016 - Cringe Rap Vortex by listeningclub on hearthis.at

See you at 8pm GMT if you've got the bottle.

The Listening Club – 21st February 2016

Evening all! @kleptones is away in Brighton for the weekend so it is I, @JimMcCauley, as your host tonight. Do make yourselves comfortable; by all means help yourselves to nibbles and feel free to turf the cat out of that chair. He can find somewhere else to sleep, it'll be fine. Oh shit, sorry, he doesn't normally do that. Would you mind awfully not bleeding on the rug? I'll get you a plaster.

Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, last week @kleptones smacked us up good with his pick of Wand's "Golem", a cracking portion of West Coast psychedelic rock (or rockadelic psych) that went down a treat with the assembled masses. Thanks to Eric for the pick, and for skilfully aiming the frisbee at @cdrose_writer, who will be with us presently.

First, though, your reminder that next week it's the #CringeRapVortex! So get all your bad or incongruous or just plain cheesy rappings over to Eric, and may God have mercy on our souls. And with that, it's over to @cdrose_writer for tonight's pick:

"Late winter in England can be a bleak time.  For every day of crisp sunlight and glittering frost, there’s a week of temperatures lurking in low figures, pavement-coloured skies and a cold that gets into your bones.  The only sensible refuge for such days are the good things: food, drink, friends, music.

"So I hunkered down and scanned through my LC possibles list and found that apart from one (a wonderful and unjustly neglected piece of lo-fi Manc psych, maybe a bit too similar to last week’s Kleptones pick) they were all songs of love tangled, lost or impossible: I blame the weather.

"I eventually went for something that, despite a keening mournful edge, is also a record of great warmth, tenderness, wit and variety.  It’s music from three diverse sources, a collaboration between musicians who have all previously done wildly different things now working together to make something strange and new.

"I’ll stick my head out now and say that some of you may not like bits of this one, but hey – that’s the fun of The Club, I guess.  I hope, at least, it provides an escape from the bare-treed emptiness of this time of year, makes the pavement sparkle and the evening glow."

Tip top! Download is here, and the HearThis stream should be below, as long as it hasn't been nuked.

Listening Club - 21 February 2016 by Jedburgh on hearthis.at

See you at 8PM! GMT!

The Listening Club - 14th February 2016

Greetings and happy Valentine's Day, if that sort of thing floats your romantic boats... Hope you've had a satisfactory day, whatever you've been up to... Quick reminder that I am again away next weekend, so am looking for another caretaker manager, if anyone cares to volunteer. It's not a vortex week, but that will be coming soon too so dig out those suggestions...

Last week @holette was in the chair, confusing, confounding and cheering in equal measures with her pick of the Yoko Ono remix / remake / cover version / all of the above album "Yes, I Am A Witch", a fine pick for sure. Many thanks to her for that, and for flipping the frisbee across to me! So... *attaches fake moustache*

"Howdy! Didn't see this coming, so the "possible #lc picks" cupboard was a little bare, but this album has served me well over the last few months, particularly in the "blotting out everything going on around you with your headphones" department. Swans being the usual main go-to for me in that area, but fret-ye-not, faint hearts, this isn't them... 

That said, it does have a rather solid sound and some seriously rock-out psych moments (or is it psych-out rock moments?) and maybe even a touch of 70s glam, but all backed up with some surprisingly tasty songwriting. 

True, there's nothing here musically that couldn't have existed 40 or more years ago, but it's wrapped in a fine production that places it very much in there here and now. Also seems to me to be an under-represented genre in the old #lc firmament, so crank up the volume real high, crack open a vessel of whatever tickles your fancy and let's set sail...."

Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream (if there's any luck, as they've started removing stuff too, now) should be below...

The Listening Club - 14th February 2016 by listeningclub on hearthis.at

Hope to see you at 8pm!

The Listening Club - 7th February 2016

Evening all, hope you're doing fine. Nice and chill here in AMS, following a rather large portion of various foods and drinks last night, today is proceeding gently and at it's own pace, sorting out old episodes of Top Of The Pops and sipping tea. As you do, of course...

Last week, @JimMcCauley and @Holette were running things, and did a splendid job presenting the #bowievortex, an excellent selection - many thanks to all for the contributions, and to Jim for the assembly.

Back to regular programming, we find the very same @holette with the frisbee, and here she is with the intro...

I heard about this remix album recently having seen publicity for a sequel due for release later this month.  I was intrigued to see what a bunch of diverse bands and singers could do with material by an iconic artist, famous for being experimental, highly distinctive and provocatively influential.  I think it's an interesting way of bringing a wider audience to the creative spirit of an artist who notoriously divides opinions.  See if you can spot some of the featured artists, including one or two Listening Club favourites.  

If you like it there's plenty more to delve into, including, somewhat oddly, a dance remix version of this album which features a couple of right bangers.  The track list and artists will be posted on the blog for your perusal later.

Reety-ho. Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream should be....

The Listening Club - 7th February 2016 by listeningclub on hearthis.at

See you at 8pm GMT!