The Listening Club - 27th November 2016

Hey folks,

Still grey and grim all around, but pushing on seems to be the order of the day as the political dust settles all around us. Don't forget we still have a bit of a quandary as to when the #festivevortex takes place (for the uninitiated, that's when we all pick a couple of our favourite tracks of this year, throw them into a mix and have a little party during xmas downtime). As I'm going to be away this year, the mighty @JimMcCauley has agreed to helm the operation, but we still need to agree on a date, as xmas day falls around the weekend. Ideas welcome, although I figure Jim should have the final decision, as he's the one that's going to be putting the effort in! Let us know on the tweets, folks...

Last week, whilst myself and @nessiest were away being jazzed to within an inch of our lives, the very same @JimMcCauley was in the chair, boogieing folks with his pick of Sasha's "Invol2ver", which seemed to go down most satisfactorily indeed. Thanks hugely to himself for the pick, and for flipping the frisbaton across to @Har_Shone, who is here with her debut pick introduction....

"I suppose I should apologise because I had an album all picked out that I was convinced a) you’d all probably like and b) most of you wouldn’t have heard of and then it suddenly struck me, ‘why don’t I pick one of my favourite albums of all time which is notoriously divisive instead’. So that’s what I’ve done. Sorry.

My Aunt and Uncle are my music guru Yoda-esque favourites and they recommended this album to me when I was about 14 and I pretty much hated it because, well, its a bit weird and I was very young. Then, when I was about 19, I revisited it and discovered, maybe I’m a bit weird and I loved it! Enjoy!"

Righty-ho. Direct download is here, and the spoiler-heavy HearThis stream is below.


See you at 8pm BST!

The Listening Club - 20th November 2016

Greetings folks,

Everything grey, wet and grim right now, fortunate though to have a cracking weekend of music to keep us positive and on-point; Mark Pritchard was in most excellent DJ form on Friday night, starting with ambient, folk, post-rock and dub, building to a ragga and jungle climax that stretched the leg muscles considerably. Last night we had a whole different bag of totalitarian boogie at the premiere of Laibach's "Liberation Day" documentary of their visit to play in North Korea, with a cracking set from the band themselves after. And today tapping this out early so we can scoot out for a good lunch and then an 8 hour set from The Necks and their friends, celebrating the band's 30th Anniversary. Get it whilst it's there folks!

Last week @wojsvenwoj was in an understandably fiery mood, stoking the flames with his pick of "Avengers" by, erm, Avengers, which sounded highly zeitgeisty, despite being nearly 40 years old. Thanks to Woj for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @JimMcCauley, who's here with the pre-match...

"I don't think I've picked a DJ mix album before, so let's see about that tonight. No crazy turntablism, just some mad Ableton skills and a bunch of great tunes; I think I'm mainly picking this one, over a whole bunch of other albums by the same artist that I could have chosen, because of the stunning remix around the 40 minute mark.

"Basically: this year, eh? It's put me right in the mood to just get mashed up and dance all night, and I'd be very happy indeed if this album dropped around 2AM. Enjoy!"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the potentially-spoiler-ridden HearThis stream is....


See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 13th November 2016

Greetings folks,

Well, fuck. Rendered very low and pretty much speechless by the last week's events. So long Leonard, you got out just in time. Meanwhile, let's all keep being excellent to each other and our communities and work up those Plan B's. We damn well gonna need them now.

Last week, aka a lifetime ago, @Nessiest was in the chair, smoothing our souls with "Treasure House" by Cat's Eyes. Many thanks to her for the pick and for sailing the frisbaton across to @wojsvenwoj, who's here with this week's pre-match...

"What a week. 

A kidney punch of a Presidential election here in the States that, of course, has ramifications well beyond our borders. Leonard Cohen's passing. A new Tribe Called Quest record.

Needless to say, the election has dominated my thoughts and driven a lot what I've been listening to since Tuesday. The early days of punk -- its rawness, speed, anger and, at least at times, political awareness -- has been where I've landed as my mood seems to be on that wavelength. 

So, figured this would be a good selection in that it's a little more political than most, captures a lot of what I am feeling now, and wraps it up in sweaty, adrenaline-soaked bow.

Drinking club: Lone Star"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, the HearThis (possible spoiler warning) stream is below:


See you at 8pm.

The Listening Club - 6th November 2016

Greetings folks,

Happy post-Guy Fawkes day. Grey and grim again outside, and a sense of foreboding across the planet as the American election prepares to drag its sorry carcass over the finish line, for better or for worse. Really looking forward to seeing this year folded up and packed away before it causes any more chaos, to be honest, but in the meantime let's join forces and get ready to howl at the supermoon....

All things considered, not surprising that last week @JonnyDaPigg chose to give us all a dose of the blues with his pick of Sonny Terry's "Wizard Of The Harmonica", which saw everyone assessing a few personal listening thresholds to much amusement. Many thanks to Jonny for the pick, and for sailing the frisbaton across to @Nessiest, who is here with this week's intro...

"This is from people I'd never heard of. They remind me of a lot of other artists while still managing to sound like themselves. 

I like the sharpness of some of the lyrics, the vying for balance between the artists without disrupting the effect of the overall album.

Steeped in a definite era, drinking recommendations for this one are maybe a dirty martini or an old-fashioned, accompanied by any food cut into cubes and stuck on toothpicks."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the click-through-for-spoilers-goddamit HearThis stream is below:


See you at 8pm GMT!