The Listening Club - 1st July 2018

Greetings all,

@emmaprice here with her best caretaking coat on while fun and frolics is being had down that there Rabbit Hole.

Last week @JimMcCauley treated us all to some banging indie dance pop in the form of Confidence Man's debut album, 'Confident Music for Confident People', which seemed to have everyone jumping around nicely. So thanks to Jim for the pick, and for chucking the frisbaton at me, who is here now to introduce my pick:

"I've had a bit of a tough time deciding this time around. After a day of angsting I narrowed it down to two albums and eventually resorted to picking names out of a hat with my eyes shut.

"I was introduced to this artist by my friend Mary at University. She quickly became my musical guru and has introduced me to many bands over our 20 year friendship.

"After a substantial hiatus and some eventful personal lives they recently released this album. This got a pretty good set of reviews and was album of the month in Fopp a while back (I felt all ahead of the curve for about 3 minutes).

"I've seen them a couple of times in the last year and can confirm they're on fine form at the moment."

Direct download is here and the herebespoilers stream is below.
 

See you at 8PM (BST)!

The Listening Club - 24th June 2018

Midsummer greetings to you all.

Although it's grey in Amsterdam right now, the forecast is fine and hot, which is grand as we're in full-on festival prep mode here for Down The Rabbit Hole next weekend. With Eels doing a grand (and surprisingly rocking) set last week and John Cale to come this week before we head for the fields, the pre-fest entertainments are going pretty swimmingly too. Big thanks to @emmaprice also, who will be running things here next Sunday in my absence...

Last week, @saucer was in the chair, rocking the assembled with his pick of Snapped Ankles' debut album "Come Play The Trees" which went down very well indeed. Many thanks to @saucer for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @JimMcCauley, who has this to say by way of introduction...

"It's that time of year when the turnout here's normally a bit thin because of Glastonbury, but with Michael Eavis taking a break this year so that he can, I dunno, murder more badgers while the weather's really nice or something, I thought I'd go for a bit of a festival vibe  tonight.

"This lot have been killing it at festivals all over the place for the past couple of years, and this, their debut album released this year, has quickly put them into the position of My New Favourite Band In The World That I Definitely Have To See Live At Some Point.

"They sound like the bastard indie dance pop children of Lady Miss Kier and Dieter Meier, their songs have a delicious vein of very dry humour running all the way through them, they know how to strike a pose and they’ve made this album of pretty much non-stop bangers that often sees me throwing shapes when I should be concentrating on making dinner.

"#DrinkingClub: something long and strong, in a plastic glass. Enjoy!"

Righty-ho. Direct download is here, and the HearMayBeSpoilers stream is below:



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

The Listening Club - 17th June 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good. June is proving to be a bit of a let down here in Amsterdam following the scorching May weather, overcastness being the order of the days. Still, there's a raft of gigs on the horizon, including the lovely Eels on Thursday, so all is good, even if the sun is hiding...

Last week, @xpollen8 was in the chair, presenting what I'm pretty sure is a world first, an album by his dad, Mo, from 1976, which certainly had folks guessing, grooving and bamboozling in equal measures. Thanks to David for keeping it in the family, and for sailing the frisb across to @saucer, who sends this by way of introduction...

"Probably a quirk of the timing of my life, or of some synaptic issue I ought to see someone about, but I think of punk as something that ended (not began) with the Sex Pistols; so the thousand flowers that started blooming in 1976... and that still pop up now and then between the paving stones... certainly not punk but maybe they're post punk?

Now, folks don't talk much about "post Residents," but maybe it's a thing, too, in terms of employing musical surrealism as alchemy, or anonymity as an artistic statement.

(Oh. There's a "post Neu" element here as well.)

Please don't search for it because spoilers, but a review of the folks behind this evening's selection included the line "They're dressing up as trees but not being dicks about it."

Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this, whether it's your introduction or a relisten."

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


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

The Listening Club - 10th June 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope you're doing good. Pleasantness abounds here in Amsterdam, patches of sunshine and live rock'n'roll keeping spirits high. Quick note that I'll be away festivalling at the end of the month at Down The Rabbit Hole, so am looking for someone to handle this here shenanigan on Sun 1st July, let me know if you're up for helping out, thx.

Last week chez #LC, @Isperia_ was in the chair, with a double header of crazy dancing and beard stroking courtesy of "Poutatorvi" by Poutatorvi, from back in 2009. Many thanks to Teppo for the pick, and for sailing the frisb all the way across the Atlantic to @xpollen8, who's here with this week's intro...

"What can I even say about this? None of you have ever heard this before, nor anything much like it, probably.

Listen with open ears and I'll provide a link to an explanation afterwards."

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



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

The Listening Club - 3rd June 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. Still hot as balls here in Amsterdam (hottest May on record, so I read, hum ho), so Sundays are falling into the summer pattern already, either I get this done before I go out, or I go out, then have to drag myself back in when I remember it needs to be done. Today is one of the latter, but as we haven't gone any further than the stoop of the house, it's not so bad... heh.

Last week @akx was in the chair, sending the assembled bopping with a trio of EPs from Japanese Futurefunk artists MikazukiBigwave, Night Tempo & Macross 82-99. Which ones I have no idea, but they're fresh! Thanks to Aarni for the pick and for sailing the frisb across to @Isperia_, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Summery salutations!

Th​​ank you @akx for shoving me into the chair again - I've had a very busy week and haven't been able to scour my libraries, so I've returned to a personal summer classic.

This is a record I had in my car back when I still had a car, because this was almost perfect for cruising-around-music. The album stil sits on my shelf, and I always return to it during summer. And since summer hit a bit early here this year, it's high time to share it with all of you.

The band in question hasn't to my knowledge given themselves a specific style label, but "jazz progressive fusion" comes to mind.

Enjoy!"

Okaydokey. Direct download is here, and the HearMightBeSpoilers stream is below:

See you tonight at 8pm CEST (GMT+1)