The Listening Club - 29th July 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. Bit of a heatwave break in this here bit of the globe, although for us in Amsterdam, it's nowt but a couple of light showers, though bits of the UK seems to have had it's monthly dousing pretty much overnight. Global warming? We got it in full effect. :(

Last week in #LC land, @thejayarr was in the hot seat, though his pick of Car Seat Headrest's "Twin Fantasy (Face To Face)" brought a mixed bag of responses, some enjoyed, some meh'ed, and some cared less. A good effort tho, many thanks to him for the pick. In the frisbaton scrum that followed, somehow the errant projectile managed to make its way right over to Sydney, where our resident timezone-restricted lurker @zbender seemed surprised, but happy, to be on the receiving end. And so and lo, here he is with this week's intro...

"Listen to this softly, maybe in the background, maybe from your tube set in the corner.

Can I set the scene for you all?

It’s somewhere between 1968 and 1971, you can’t really remember. You somehow got together the fare to go visit your cousin down by the coast for the summer.

One evening, you stumbled into a house party, and as you rounded the corner into the yard heard a din. And you stayed all night, riding on the energy the unit put out. You couldn’t believe they were just there, at someone’s place! Days later, still humming a tune, you asked your cousin about them. Nodding, this mysterious cousin retrieved a poorly-pressed LP and said “But I need it back in a day or two”.

You found a reel-to-reel in the house, it must have been your aunt’s. Loaded up some fresh Ampex (BASF was too expensive), set a level you thought could cope with their range, and made a dub of that wobbly, dusty, vinyl. You gave the record back, as promised, with a nod. And the tape reels you nearly wore out, each summer, until you “grew up” and forgot about them, until you found yourself on Listening Club one evening…"

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


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

The Listening Club - 22nd July 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope all is going well and good for you. This is definitely one of those times of the year where my intros kinda get a bit repetitive, or more repetitive that usual. Hot, sunny, blah blah blah. Not complaining though, even though it's hard to think past a certain level without an ice lolly first. Hottest summer since '76 so they say, which means if they get a refuse collection strike in the UK, it could be punk rock all over again. Which, given the current state of play over there, would probably not be a bad thing at all...

Last week, under the #LC gazebo, @Har_Shone was in the picnic chair, delivering, funnily enough, some cracking English Punk Rock, courtesy of Idles debut album "Brutalism", which shook the foundations of the assembled most satisfactorily. Thanks to Harriet for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to the returning @thejayarr, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"I don't know if this band will be familiar to the Club. In certain circles they seem to have a die-hard following, but I'd never heard of them before a catching a snippet of one of this record's tracks on a podcast a few months ago. It was enough to make me listen to the rest and I think I was about two-thirds of the way through before deciding this was the best album of the year. Some twenty-odd plays later, that opinion hasn't changed.

The best art comes from honesty, and this is some of the most honest music I've ever heard. 

It is a bit long, though. Just putting that out there now."

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


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

The Listening Club - 15th July 2018

Greetings all,

Hope you're doing good. Warmness still gleefully in full flow here in Amsterdam, so a series of small outdoor festivals and food truck events are doing their bit to remind me just how much fun this city can be during the Summer months. Braincells still jangling too after the appearance here of King Crimson on Friday, surely one of the most awesomely intense and complex performances I've seen in a good long while, bless their polyrythmic socks...

Last Sunday evening, whilst I was flat on my back sipping beer and listening to Afrobeats in a park, @ohmyliver was in the chair, getting the assembled bopping with his pick of Sister Nancy's "One Two" from 1982. Many thanks to Oli for the pick, and for keeping the Frisb in London with the aid of @har_shone, who is here with tonight's intro...

"This album came to me earlier this year whilst I was going through a fairly rage-y phase, both at the world in general and in my own life. I really enjoy it and I suspect you will all hate it so, sorry, not sorry I suppose? ;)"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and HearBeSpoilerStream is below:


See you at 8pm BST tonight.

The Listening Club - 8th July 2018

Howdy folks,

Back from the fests and feeling good, DTRH was very nice indeed, excellent sets from Mr. Cave, Mr. Byrne, The belowmentioned Breeders, and a whole bunch more, and possibly the nicest location to have to withstand near 30°C every day whilst doing so. Also great to be home in a couple of hours, makes quite a change from that Glastonbury. Back off out again today to a local world / roots fest, so another afternoon of lying in the sun, sipping beer, eating spicy food and listening to oddball tunes awaits... no complaints.

Big thanks to @emmaprice for helming things last week, and for her pick of The Breeders' latest, "All Nerve", selections from which sounded mighty fine to these ears last week live at the fest, tho they didn't do the cover of "Archangel's Thunderbird" which was a shame. Thanks to Emma for getting it all together with aplomb, and sailing the frisbee across London to @ohmyliver, who's here with this week's deliberations...

"So, the frisbee was thrown over to me this week. 

I can’t speak for anywhere else, but in my South London neck of the woods, it’s been almost insufferably hot.  Which means, in my case, a hazy sleep deprivation born of heat addled insomnia. My ginger genes have made me somewhat ill-prepared for climate change.

At the beginning of the week I was eyeing up Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace, an amazing gospel album recorded in 1971 to raise money for the church that Aretha started her illustrious singing career when she was at the peak of her career.  It’s almost good enough to cause conversions. Almost. 

Then as the sleep deprivation started making things fuzzy I turned to Raymond Scott’s 1964 album of minimal ambient electronica Soothing Songs For Baby which I’ve been listening to out of curiosity.  Despite being really quite childish sometimes, I didn’t find it soothing enough.

By the end of the week, I had turned to a genre that works well in the heat, and with the somewhat spacy head state of not really sleeping enough for days on end, which would be Reggae.  I then progressed through the at times excellent live recordings of Saxon Sound featuring Daddy Freddy, Tipper Irie, Smiley Culture, etc in ‘84/85 and ended up here.

Here being 1982 album from the first female Dancehall DJ, which at times get a bit preachy, with a killer stand out track that you’ll probably know through hearing it out, and from it being sampled by people like Jay Z,  It’s not a new discovery, but it’s an album with enough charm to cause my periodic return to it over the years. 

Make sure you’ve got a decent bass response on your speakers or headphones, and if you’re drinking break out the Wray and Nephews. "

Okay and dokay. Direct download is here or here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:

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