The Listening Club - 30th July 2017

How do folks,

End of July already? Dammit, summer flying by as usual. Although here in Amsterdam it's settled into the usual pattern of stormy showers and patches of sunshine. As long as it's warm enough for shorts, tho, it's fine by me...

Last week, chez #LC, that @JimMcCauley was casting a successful charm in the form of The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu's legendary "1987 (What The Fuck Is Going On?)", which, yes, sounds rather dated by today's standards, but it's homespun charm and gleeful theivery still managed to delight and boggle the assembled in equal measures. Thanks to Jim for the pick, and for sliding the frisbee down the M4 to South London, where @ohmyliver is waiting with this week's pre-match...

"Ah, what to pick.  Spotify is pretty much my constant companion at work, but most of my favourite recent finds I've found are either tracks from singles,, or gems from super long double CD compilations,  Which is a shame as things like the John Morales M&M mix of Ladybug, or the Special Request VIP remix of Hackney Parrot, or even the Shy FX remix of Golddust  really have rocked my world in the last couple of months.   Then there's all the albums which are interesting, but are let down by a couple of tracks, like The Dirtbombs album of garage punk covers of Detroit techno, or the albums that are way too long for this, despite their brilliance like Aretha's Amazing Grace. 

So, I went and chose something in keeping with last week pick.  Also late 80s.  Also innovative with its use of samples.  It purports to be 'acid house' but it's not really that like the 303 washed house coming out of Chicago at the time.  'This is like xxx on acid' is one of my most disliked lazy journalism clichés, but this album is actually fairly close to the lysergic wierding of sound in parts.  It has a sister album, which is more accessible, and more like acid house in a lot of its tracks, and entertainingly makes use of samples like 'yummy yummy yummy, I've got love in my tummy', but that is up on youtube, and this is not, so... 

Seeing the band live was one of my most memorable gigs.  Mainly because it was the night Gulf War 1 broke out, The lead singer announced on stage, mid set, that America had just started bombing Iraq, a woman at the back of the audience started freaking out, and the lead singer calmed her down by a terse and sweary explanation of the relative unlikelyhood of Saddam targeting the Zap club with his SCUDs."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 23rd July 2017

Greetings and salutations, folks.

Hope you're all doing fine. A week of gentle Amsterdam calm was disrupted earlier today by a ticket rush for a certain event in Liverpool in a month's time, which, against all the odds, will now see myself and @JimMcCauley join up alongside 398 other rather interesting people with absolutely no idea of what the fuck is about to go on. Meanwhile, normal life continues, so off to the supermarket we go....

...Back from the super, and last week in #LC land wor @nessiest was in the chair, introducing us all to the world of Aldous Harding via her album "Party", which went down rather well with most of the assemblage, and seemed to be tolerated by the rest. Thanks to Vanessa for the pick and for sailing that frisb across to the aforementioned @JimMcCauley, who wrote this earlier today by way of introduction...

"Tonight's pick isn't the first time that this lot have graced the #listeningclub decks, and I doubt it'll be the last. It'll be familiar to at least one of you, and I'm giving it an airing for two main reasons: first, we've recently passed a pretty significant anniversary of its release; and second, it's by way of an offering. One that, by the time you read this, will almost certainly have failed, but why the heck not, eh?

Thirdly, of course, it's a bit of a rarity that earned some small notoriety in its day, and while you can find this on YouTube in seconds, the thought probably never really occurred to you, so now's your chance. It's ripped from my bootleg vinyl, and you can tell in places that it's had a lot of plays over the years; nevertheless, I've yet to find a better-sounding version of it online. It's the sound of people just starting to meddle in forces they cannot possibly comprehend, it's gloriously uneven, so of its time in places it's almost painful, and I absolutely fucking love it.

Enjoy!"

Right then, direct download is here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 16th July 2017

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing well. Pretty much settled in a summer groove here in Amsterdam, for the most part, enjoying the sunball when it pokes its head out, finding random entertaining outdoor things to do here and there, giggling at twitter idiots affronted by a female Dr. Who, or simply perching on the stoop with a beer, watching the world go by when all else fails. Simple pleasures, eh?

Last week chez #LC @xpollen8 was in the chair, impressing the assembled with his pick of Isak's "Love Is A Panopticon". Many thanks to him for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @Nessiest, who, after some quite major deliberation, is here with this week's intro...

"I read a comment online earlier this year, that referenced a point tonight’s artist had made in an interview elsewhere. I can’t remember who the commenter was, or even what it was about. But it was a good point being made and I was intrigued. So I looked up the artist, read interviews, listened - and I know the exact date I stumbled across this artist, because she was playing a gig in Amsterdam that same day, quite a coincidence, in a teeny tiny venue on the furthest edge of the city… and it was thoroughly sold out. 

She’s been on my list of Listening Club potential picks since, although this weekend  I had difficulty deciding between two possibilities, the other being an artist recommended by someone from Radiohead. If they’re good enough for Radiohead, well, they must be pretty shit hot in my books. And they are, but will have to wait for another time. Because I’m treating you to what I called “morbid folk” earlier today. Which doesn’t do it justice. Intense, yes, morbid, sometimes. Occasionally disturbing, achingly beautiful, intelligent and likely to be divisive. But it keeps drawing me in. I want to re-listen and hear more. 

Tonight’s #drinkingclub recommendation - whatever you consider medicinal."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 9th July 2017

Morning all,

Tapping this out a little earlier than usual, as the gleaming golden Sun has decided to grace us with it's presence, so really we should be making for the outside while it lasts. Meanwhile inside will be recording the live stream from BlueDot Festival for later consumption (and possible @EmmaPrice spotting). Yesterday delivered fine sets from Orbital & Radiophonic Workshop, today has former #LC pick Anna Meredith amongst others. Good to see a UK festival other than Glastonbury doing some decent live streaming too!

Last week chez #LC,  @SimonLandmine was in the chair, trying out something a bit different, but naggingly familiar, with his pick of Linda Perry's "In Flight". Many thanks to him for the pick and for sailing the frisb across to @xpollen8 who is here with this week's intro...

"In 2012, I stumbled across a curious youtube video that tickled me in all the right places: off-kilter lyrics, non-traditional chord structure and arrangement. Not quite noise, not quite pop, a bit of glitch. Not yet a master of the form, but having immense fun and sharing a seat on the ride. Bookmarked.

Unfortunately, no more material was uploaded to youtube. An accompanying blog also remained un-updated, then disappeared.

5 years later, I got a hit on the artist's name, and boy has he been busy: 10 self-released albums, with a thrilling progression and retention of that crucial curiosity, experimentation, and humor.

Keep in mind as you listen that this artist is young (class of '18) and his first release was 7 years ago! His eyes are wide open and he's in that place where magic happens.

If you dig it, be sure to throw some love his way!"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 2nd July 2017

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all well and good. Yep, we're back from the funny farm, in one piece and very happy. Indeed this year's festival definitely ranks up there with the very best, combining pretty decent weather (especially compared to last year's mudfest), a uniformly positive mood amongst the troops (again compared to last year's Brexit referendum mid-fest downer), and truly supreme quality music, from Napalm Death early on Thursday evening thru to Addison Groove in the small hours of Monday morning. It was all really the jolliest fun imaginable, and naturally followed this week by the wobbly back-to-earth happy-yet-sad demob that inevitably follows. Que sera...

Big thanks to @JimMcCauley for holding the fort last week and delivering a mighty fine #FirstGigVortex to boot, and thanks to everyone for chipping in their formative experiences. Most enlightening, for sure. Week before saw @SimonLandmine left clutching the frisb, and here he is with this week's intro...

"This album is one that I've enthusiastically shared with a number of people over the years, and now you get to join that number. It's one of the albums that I've rescued from languishing in charity shops, when I've seen it on the shelves, in order to pass it on to people who I think might appreciate it. It's not really got any floor-filling club track - it's not that kind of album - but it's definitely one worth running through decent speakers.

I'm not entirely sure when my first copy joined my shelves - I think it was probably fairly soon after release, possibly from the clearance rack of the local independent music store. It wasn't a great seller at the time, partly because it wasn't the product the record company had been hoping for, the artist having split from their previous band. They then went on to make a bigger reputation for themselves over the years than they had with that band, though, and the album has since been re-released (although not by the original label). One of the tracks off this album did make it onto a film soundtrack, though (and was probably one of the standout tracks from a soundtrack that was
better than the film it accompanied). Hope you folks enjoy it.

#drinkingclub: Hmmm, not sure. I mostly only drink cider. Or mead. Neither of which seem entirely appropriate for this one. I'd say it's probably one for an inexpensive full-bodied red. Maybe more than one bottle. Once empty the bottles can join the others with candle stubs in the necks. And for one of the tracks (you'll know the one when it comes), you might want to switch to a bottle of something punchy in a brown paper bag, for outdoor drinking."

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


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)