The Listening Club - 21st May 2017

Morning folks,

Rather an early hour for me to be tapping this out, but providing the day's weather turns out nice, there's a pleasant day of lounging in the Vondelpark listening to oddball world music to be had, so better discharge my responsibilities and get this up and out before the beer starts to flow, eh?

Last week @RougeForever was in the chair, jigging and reeling the assembled with her pick of DeVotchKa's "How It Ends" before sailing the frisbaton across to the other side of the sofa, landing in the lap of @MrHig, who has this to say by way of introduction...

"I always said to myself that I wouldn’t be one of those Listening Clubbers that gets cheeky and breaks the rules. To the extent that there are rules. I might have made up the rules myself. In any case, I’ve only gone and done it. Sorry. I hope you’ll be able to forgive me.

What is the history of music, or of popular music? As time winds inexorably down are you one of those who believes music gets worse and worse with each new generation? That the best music is behind us and that today can’t hold a candle to the tunes of twenty or thirty years back? Is it your belief that music peaked in the decade of your birth, maybe the decade after, when you properly got into music? Or perhaps it’s a few decades back from before you were born. But not too far back, right? I mean no-one’s out here rating the thirties or fourties. Unless you’re a particular fan of Charlestons.

Does it depress you that the music of today, the chart landfill, may well be held up as a shining example of all mankind and music had to offer in a few short decades time? Is Ed Sheeran going to be considered the Dylan of his day?

I don’t think there’s anything to fear about modern day music. Even modern day pop music. Even modern day, mainstream pop music. Even CHART music. There’re gems everywhere if you look close enough.

We won’t be looking at Ed Sheeran.

It may not always be easy to tell what is going to last, what will stand the test of time. Maybe if you can look at the bare bones of a song - see a song reduced to lumps of clay and refashioned again along the same lines, but different - you can tell whether there was anything there to begin with.

Now BOGOF."

Right then. Direct download is here, and the old HearThis stream is below:


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)