The Listening Club - 24th November 2019

Hey there folks,

Hope you're well and good. Shit, only one month to Christmas? Where has the year gone, etc. Been a quiet grey week here in Amsterdam, but there's Aldous Harding to look forward to on Wednesday, which should chase the grey away for a while, I hope...

Last week in the land of #LC, @eastvanhalen was in the chair, delivering a soulful selection box in the shape of the Soul Jazz Records compilation "Soul of a Nation - Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher", which hit the spot with the assembled for the most part. Thanks to Steph for the pick and for boldly flinging the frisbee across to @adam_steinert, who has this to say by way of introduction to their debut pick...

"Hello All,

A relatively short one, this. This was an album that I first heard when I was 18 or 19, a generation after it was recorded. Hopefully you won't know it, but I'm not laying bets!

At the time, I was devouring all the records I could lay my hands on from this genre, from wherever I could. I found this down the local lending library, which had just started offering CDs. They really didn't carry a big range, and although I got through almost everything they carried, for me it remains pretty much a chance discovery. 

Even on first listen, though, it felt head and shoulders above most of the other stuff, a little rough around the edges in ways most of its contemporaries weren't. The same artist has more famous albums, more strident, more experimental, but to my mind this one still cuts it. I just wish it was closer to Christmas!"

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


See you 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club - 17th November 2019

Evening all,

Yep, back from the front with tales to tell, mainly of 75-year old microtonal Pakistani singers, abnormal levels of sub-bass, mistreated theramins, Ethiopian legends dancing through a rather surprised crowd, on-stage facetime dial-ups to Contra Costa County, comedy 2am moshpits for Lightning Bolt, missing a surprise Bjork DJ set and not giving a toss, @nessiest's fine post-gig uitsmijters, the best/worst lounge-sax cover of Redemption Song I'll hopefully ever hear and (apart from that one tune ;) so much fucking fine music. Le Guess Who 2019 was business as usual, you'll be happy to hear.

Meanwhile, here at #LC, @JimMcCauley was running things, and @ohmyliver was getting funky with his pick of Spanky Wilson's 1969 stomper "Doin' It", which seemed to rock the house quite significantly. Thanks to Oli for the pick, and for sailing the frisb right across to Vancouver, where @eastvanhalen is waiting with a bag of beans and this to say...

"This week’s Listening Club is a first listen for me of an album that’s been sitting atop my stereo waiting for a spin for a couple of months. I bought it because I was browsing in a record store, and they were playing this, and I caught myself dancing my way down the aisle. Sold! 

It’s a compilation. There will be jazz, there will be funk, and there will be jazz funk. #drinkingclub as you wish — I’ll be having my usual strong coffee..."

Right. Direct download here, stream below.


You know the drill. See you at 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club – 10th November 2019

Greetings and salutations. @JimMcCauley at your service, holding the fort while @kleptones and (and @nessiest) are away at Le Guess Who, and trying to ignore a painful neck which I must have twisted awkwardly yesterday. Seems less awful than when I got up this morning, although that could be the paracetamol talking.

Last week, then, it was me on the decks, working through loss with ASIP's Portals: The KLF's Chill Out (A New Dimension), which seemed to go down well for the most part. So thanks to me for the pick and for spinning the frisbaton at @ohmyliver, who I'm sure will be along shortly.

Any moment now.

Ah yes, here he is:

"This pick has been difficult. Which is why I'm writing this at 5pm, Sunday. Sorry. 

I didn't have a clear pick lined up.  

I would have picked Bodega's latest album, just for the 'play me on an open plan tech office sound system, I dare you' opening track. But I'm not sure about the rest of the album in it's arty 'we've heard The Fall, and 90s US indie, and have their obscure tracks too' thing.  No doubt I'll get really into it, and regret not picking it.

I would have picked Soundbwoy Killah's latest album in all it's 'yeah I might be young enough to be conceived during the come down to an early 90s rave, but I like old school 'ardcore *and* uk garage thing.  But it feels a bit wrong putting something like that to listen to at 8pm on a Sunday evening. Apologies if you've had a big night, and your heartbeat still seems to be recreating outtakes from an LTJ Bukem recording session in '93, you'd have dug it. 

I would have picked P-Money's Money Over Everything Vol3, as that's one of the best straight Grime albums in years. But I've picked 2 grime linked albums in the last 18 months or so. 

So, I went with this from the late 60s/early 70s. 

I first heard the cover of a Cream track from this album (in my opinion it's better than the original) on a compilation in the late 90s, and if you were ever out dancing in the Rob Lluis part of 90s Brighton clubland then you probably know it too. I've finally tracked down the album.

It's funky, it's a little jazzy, and it's great. There's a little bit of surface noise on the rip, but to quote the late John Peel, 'life's got surface noise'."

Righty ho then. Direct download is here, HearThis stream is below, you know the score.


See you at 8! (GMT!)

The Listening Club - 3rd November 2019

Greetings and happy blow up parliament day, nearly...

Got to admit this is one of the few times I do miss old blighty, there's nothing like building a damn good bonfire and chucking a few industrial-strength bangers around to cheer yourself into the winter months... The Dutch don't have much in the way of an equivalent, although New Year's eve does come close in the homespun pyrotechnical danger stakes...

Last Sunday, @SimonLandmine was in the chair casting out his folky demons in the shape of Greg Russell's 2017 "Shake The Chains" project, which brought forth great debate, as would be expected. Thanks to Simon for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @JimMcCauley, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"A friend died a couple of weeks ago, suddenly and unexpectedly. We'd only known each other for six months, but in that time we'd played, improvised, performed weird street theatre in the centre of Bath and had many drinks afterwards; the sort of things that break down barriers between people fast.

The last time I saw him we were down the pub with other friends from our little group, plotting an upcoming performance and batting mad ideas back and forth. There were hugs on the street afterwards, we went our separate ways and then at some point later he died.

I was at work when I received the email, and it knocked me sideways; I had to quickly finish up what I was writing and get the fuck out of there. The first music I reached for was @kleptones' LO, which hits so many of the emotional notes that have been in my head since I got the news, but I hope we're all familiar enough with that particular work.

So what I've chosen instead is something that appeared a couple of days after I got the news. Some of you may well have heard it already; I'm not going to explain what it is, only that it helped provide me and some friends with some lovely background noise when things were feeling pretty raw last Saturday morning."

Direct download is here, and the stream is below:

See you at 8pm GMT tonight.