The Listening Club - 29th October 2017

Greetings folks,

Hope all is good in your respective hoods. A reasonably mellow week here in Amsterdam, as the leaves fall from the trees and the temperature drops, making plans for future activities, and enjoying hearty soups and stews for the first time in ages.

Speaking of which, I'm going to be away at Le Guess Who (check that lineup!) in Utrecht in two week's time, so will be needing someone to run things in this here sphere, if you're up for helping out, give me a shout, please.

Also apologies for forgetting, as bloody usual, that the clocks go back in Europe this weekend, so we're back on GMT until the end of March 2018.

Anyhow, last week chez #LC, @ohmyliver was in the chair, sending out an introspective grime missile in the shape of Trim's "1-800 DINOSAUR Presents Trim", which went down rather well indeed with the assembled folks. Many thanks to Oli for the selection, and for flipping the frisb across to @Isperia_ who will be here next week with their debut pick, but first...

"Yep, it's MYSTERY THING TIME. 

I've been pondering how to introduce this, and have come to the conclusion to not say anything much. Obviously there's a promotional aspect to it, as we've been given a vinyl test pressing of the album in question to give away to one lucky participant (details on that during the playback), but hey, what the hell, let's give it a shot. Quite a few of you will know this already, so let's have some fun with it!"

Stream only this week, which is underneath this sentence. Spoilers may result in clicking through, of course, for what it's worth. If you own it, you may wish to quickly dig it out and sync up your own copy... (will be deleted right after playback for obvious reasons, sorry!)

See you at 8pm GMT for playback.

The Listening Club - 22nd October 2017

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. Another very gentle Sunday here, following a rather boisterous night taking in a bit of this year's Amsterdam Dance Event, in the form of a surprisingly stunning Gary Numan show, followed up with a heavy slice of disco courtesy of Joey Negro & Dimitri From Paris. All good clean fun, as you'd expect.

Last week chez #LC, @akx was in the chair, with a slightly different form of disco indulgence, courtesy of The Knocks & Skylar Spence's "Amelia Airhorn" album. Many thanks to Aarni for the pick, and for sailing the frisbaton back across to South London, where @ohmyliver is waiting with this week's intro...

"After last weeks New York experimental mixtape, I wanted to represent London. After all London has been more interesting and innovative over the last 15 years musically. Of course, I might be biased, being a Londoner..  

So I turned to the two new genres forged in the multicultural heat of London.  Grime, and Dubstep.  Both children of the UKs rave scene, via UK garage.  One born from the anger and energy of the infamous sink estates of Bow, Hackney, Newham and other East London places that Black Cabs would be wary of, and the other from the languid sprawl of the deep south of London in places like Croydon. 

But I lost track of Dubstep when it became some sort of boring frat bro moshpit thing (thanks Skrillex!), rather than the sparse tension of Transmat meeting Studio One outside the Whitgift Centre at 3 am over a fat spliff and cans of red stripe that it once was.  

Grime on the other hand, seems to have returned to it's roots after a descent into a big tent Eurodance versus cheeky Laahndan geezah hybrid by some of the big names of its first wave.  Now Stormzy, and emcees like Novelist, or the frighteningly young Elf KId (Golden Boy being one of my favourite tracks from the last couple of years) are showing the genre has reclaimed the energy and edge that it once had.

I could have grabbed something like Hatcha's Practice Hours from '06 (which is probably the best early Dubstep mix), or the infamous Sidewider recordings of Wiley, Dizzy et all.  But London's got some good stuff out recently..  Terror Danjah released an album of instrumentals last year, but they need emcees, Giggs has a new mixtape which according to my brother is the most heard thing if you walk around Peckham, but he's UK hip hop.  So I went for this from last year..

The emcee is one of Grime's first wave who was in Roll Deep in the mid '00s, Since leaving Roll Deep in 2007 he's released 14 mixtapes where he veers between more standard grime stuff and more experimental stuff. I almost picked Vol 13 of said mixtapes just for the war track where he spits bars over the squelch from Joey Beltram's Mentasm, with a flow which rhymes fallopian, with utopian, and podium with Imodium,  but this album from last year really caught my ear.   It's him spitting bars over tracks put together by a collective of producers, one of which he's had a long standing collaborative musical thing with. The emcee's acrimonious breakup with Rinse Recordings (an offshoot of the hugely influential Pirate turned legit 'Rinse FM') a few years ago hangs heavy over the flows. Listening to this, and the mixtapes which I'd also recommend, I can only hope that the album with flows too 'weird' for Rinse gets released soon. On the downside it's quite short at just under 33  mins, but you can't have everything.  

Make sure you're listening on something that can handle subbass and enjoy."

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



See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 15th October 2017

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. Brief blip of warm and sunny here in Amsterdam, so off to soak it up whilst it lasts after tapping this out, bones still aching slightly after the insanity of Bangface at the Melkweg on Friday. Been a good while since I heard so much fine, loud, hard music in one night, special mentions for Ceephax, Dave Skywalker and Haarlem Demolition Crew for providing extra grinny moments, but really it was all lotsa quality fun.

Last week chez #LC, @saucer was in the chair, psychedelicizing the masses with his pick of Ariel Pink's latest, "Dedicated To Bobby Jameson", which dazzled and bamboozled folks in equal measures, I think. Thanks to @saucer for the pick, and for saling the frisbaton across to @akx, who is here with tonight's intro...

"Hello, hello, hello!

It's nice to be back in the selector's chair -- been a while, it
feels, especially since I've been sitting on this album/mixtape (they
call it an "experimental concept mixtape" -- who am I to argue?) ever since it came out in June. And to be honest with the weeks of rain that've been going on, I was kinda on the fence whether to pick something more seasonal, as this definitely is a summery one... but what the hell, maybe this'll bring back some summer memories?
Also, to put you in the right mindset, here's the authors' bio for the protagonist (with her name redacted):

> On a dark, glittering summer night in 1992, a girl named X X stepped into New York City nightlife and never came out. She’s a living and breathing sample, slipping in and out of the hectic thrill of the city — kicked up high-tempo on flashbulbs and disco balls, easing back into the heartbeat of a crowd dancing in a basement and a couple making their way uptown at dawn. She’s everywhere if you know what to listen for [...] X X is what it sounds like to want to be lost in a party and never be found again.

So, yeah, enjoy! Have a beer, have a good time now!"

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


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

The Listening Club - 8th October 2017

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. Autumn taking firm hold here in Amsterdam so to celebrate it's been several hundred different kinds of rain all week. Still managed to dive between the drops to see the new Blade Runner, which, yes, is far better than anyone would have expected. Even if some of the acting is a little clunky, the cinematography really is spectacular, who'd have thought our dystopian future would be so beautiful, eh?

Back in the land of #LC, last week saw @nessiest in the chair, spinning a slightly different form of future dystopia in the form of Juana Molina's latest album "Halo", which went down very well indeed with the assembled, as well it should. Many thanks to Vanessa for the pick, and for sailing the frisbaton across the Atlantic to @saucer, who is here with this week's pre-match...

"Alan Watts said no one believes in God like an atheist. Today's album shows that no musician believes in pop like one bent on turning its own architecture against it. 

Now, music has many potential roles: companion, comic, cathartic, salve, teacher, vehicle... god knows these days, with so much trouble in the world, just to keep on I need every last one of those. (Plus, chocolate.)

This album delivers. (Minus, chocolate.) Hope it does for you, too. Tomorrow is another day to help others less fortunate.

PS If you listen deeply, you might catch glimpses of how this gentleman's music is infused with the feel of the same city that Tom Petty called home.

PPS I'm curious how your pets and children and visiting relatives take this."

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


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

The Listening Club - 1st October 2017

Howdy folks,

Energy in rather short supply here today, following a fun trek over to the outer reaches of Utrecht to see Om Unit last night, and the cumulative effects of a few days merriment with a couple of house guests. All very well and grand, but today is most definitely for gentling. And yawning.

Last week chez #LC @SamSmitter was in the chair, getting low down and dirty with Little Axe's "Stone Cold Ohio" from 2006, which got a solid thumbs-up from the sofas of the assembled. Many thanks to Sam for the pick, and for sliding the frisb across to @Nessiest, who is here with this week's intro...

"Sometimes I really wish I spoke more languages. 

If you like this album, you might be interested to know it was a recommendation from Philip Selway in an interview. If you hate it, well it probably will have sent you to sleep and napping's good so there's that. 

Drinking club tip: something velvety."

Okidoke, direct download is here, and the old HearBeSpoilers stream is below.



See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1), providing I haven't fallen asleep before then...