The Listening Club - 30th August 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Summer seems to have ended prematurely here in Amsterdam, as we go from mega-boiling to thinking-about-putting-the-heating-on in the space of a week. Bit of a shame, a little time inbetween the two temperature settings would have been nice...

Last week in #LC land, @JimMcCauley got his new pooter up and running, and dosed us all with UNKLE's second album "Never Never Land", which seemed to go down very well indeed. Thanks to Jim for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @emmaprice, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Evening all, Its been a while. As the trash fire that is 2020 continues to evolve and find new ways to shock and awe us, I've been finding comfort in the familiar. For me music has been one of the few saving graces of the year. From fine sessions from our host, @jimmccauley & @simonlandmine to listening parties such as Tim's Twitter Listening party the communal experience of listening to music has been really important (particularly in early lockdown) to take the edge off processing the new normality.

It was at one of these listening parties I heard this album again for the first time in many a year. It definitely brought me some pure joy as I sat gently riding the anxiety train.

It's the bank holiday weekend and we should all be in a field somewhere dancing and watching the sun go down, beverages in hand. So please join me as I have a bit of a dance round the living room to compensate. Drinking club is whatever you drank in the kitchen at a 90's house party."

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

See you at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 23rd August 2020

 Greetings,

Hope you're all doing okay. Heatwave is over here in Amsterdam, so we're back to the regular summer selection of sunny patches and showers, which is okay, I guess. Seems like we've reached the streaming festival highpoint of the summer, as Lowlands, Green Man, Fuji Rock and many others are filling up the net with stuff - here, we have been enjoying We Out Here's stuff especially, a fine selection of bopping tunes. So there's that.

Last week chez #LC, found me @kleptones unexpectedly dropped into the chair as @JimMcCauley battled computer problems, so everyone got a dose of sunny-day 90s electronico in the shape of Ultramarine's "Every Man And Woman Is A Star", which went down pretty well, I think. Looks like Jim is back in action again now, which is good news, so over to him for tonight's intro...

"The 2003 August bank holiday was a weird one for me; the tipping point of a lost weekend of a year that was a lot of fun but that all got a bit too much. It began on the Friday evening when a friend showed up with this, a leaked copy of an upcoming second album; after that it’s all something of a blur.

I remember the threatening skies on the Monday afternoon, the feeling that something wasn’t right and the unshakeable notion that a new year had just started. Things got dark for quite a while after that, and this album fitted my state of mind perfectly.

If you already know this album then you’ll find it slightly different thanks to a presumably uncleared sample that must have been pulled at the very last minute. And there’s a little audio glitch in there at one point that must have been some form of rudimentary digital fingerprinting; fat lot of good that did. I bought the album proper when it came out, but I still come back to this version.

Enjoy!"

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

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

 

The Listening Club - 16th August 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Heat is finally breaking a bit in Amsterdam, after what is now "officially" the hottest week here on record ever.. Very glad it's finally dipping a bit, as its been the first week that working from home has become a real pain in the (sweaty) ass, and I've actually been pining for a lovely cool air-conditioned office. Still, right now we're keeping a very close eye on the rain radar, as storms keep passing either side of us and we could really do with some rain to dance around in. Hopefully tonight...

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Last week chez #LC, @zbendr was in the chair, dosing us with Bob Mould's 2014 waxing "Beauty And Ruin", which rocked out the assembled most successfully. Thanks to Ben for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @JimMcCauley...

...who sadly is stuck with computer-says-no issues. So, you'll have to wait until next week for Jim's selection; in the meanwhilst, it ME...

"After many years of not having a "Listening Club possibilities" list (well, a list with more than one album in it), I finally started keeping one this year, as I kept remembering albums I love that really deserve to be included. This, then, is one of those.

Also as quite a few folks have been on a 90s tip lately, this fits right in there. The early 90s for me was a time of bountious music discovery, all-night and often all-weekend partying, and, ahem, everything that goes with it. The final chapter of one of those party sessions would inevitably be the "all back to mine" part, and, if the "mine" in question happened to be my actual abode, once the mood had mellowed sufficiently, this was one of the albums that was regularly reached for. Hence this is a record imbued with many good personal memories... 

So much so at the time, that I trekked a good few hundred miles in the Summer of 1992 to see this artist play a free open air festival in Cambridge, not knowing what to expect. After a languid afternoon of rather hit and miss entertainment, the sun started to dip in the skies, the evening's refreshments began to take hold, a small gang of folks started setting up a stack of technology on stage, and as soon as I spotted an accordion in the midst of the tech, I knew it was going to be worthwhile. And it was.

Anyway, enough of the waxing lyrical. This is definitely an album for balmy Summer days. Hope it proves complementary to yours, whatever the weather."

Direct download is here, and the stream's below:

See you at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 9th August 2020

 ... in which things go from not quite warm enough to ouch blimey okay then. Yep, Amsterdam has hit the scorchio bit of the Summer, with over a week of 30+ degrees to keep us, well, tucked up inside with an electric fan and an ice lolly (ok then, an ice cold beer). And also a handy cooling mat for my feets, borrowed from a certain nonplussed feline. I've never missed a cooling festival tent (and accompanying  soundtrack) more in my life, sad to say... le sigh.

Last week, @AngelaKlaus was in the chair, serving up a soulful side of the 90s with her pick of "Wild Seed - Wild Flower" by Dionne Farris which got the assembled bobbing their heads and rem'niscin', as you do. Thanks to Angela for the pick, and for sailing the frisb way over to @zbendr, who has this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"Please, Amigas y Amigos, be careful with your audio levels at the beginning, and as things progress.

I blurb, you blurb, we all blurb for LC!

This came out at a very difficult time in my life, and was somehow already imbued with all the feelings I was having. The lyrics were written for *me*, maaaaaaan! It’s always amazing how music does that to us.

But with this, if I could please just invite you to “go with it”, you may discover tonal variations that tickle your sensibilities.

Life is endlessly confusing: do you want to be a butterfly, or a better caterpillar?

Beverage suggestions:

“Silver Moon” tea by TWG.

Long Island Iced Tea by you.

Personally, I shall draw a long measure of single malt and sit back, as the lights twinkle across a bay of the Arabian Gulf"

Right then. Direct download here in MP3 or FLAC (ooh!), or the streamy below:

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 2nd August 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing as well as can be expected. Feeling a bit under the weather which is an annoyance, but despite that, was very grateful to to get out yesterday and see the Nam June Paik exibition that's been here for a few months (and thankfully extended due to lockdown), which was really excellent, and relatively stress free in terms of distancing restrictions (despite a few inevitable idiots).

In #LC land, last Sunday @FaberFedor was in the chair, hitting the 90s vein deep with his pick of Live's "Throwing Copper" from 1994 (Produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads / Modern Lovers, no less!) which hit the spot for some, and hit the dirt for others. Que sera. Thanks to Faber for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @AngelaKlaus, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"Many thanks to the fabulous Faber Fedor for flinging the frisbaton my way. And thanks also to the Listening Club for the opportunity to share one of my all-time favorite albums with you. 

I tried to stay away from all my '90's CDs (due to the recent glut on LC), but, alas, well -- this one practically jumped out of my attic. 

This selection was the debut - and breakout - album for this New Jersey (USA) native artist, although there was very little follow-up except for a few albums in the 2000's.  There is an interesting mix of pop tunes, funk, soul, rock, blues, and hip-hop. One of the tracks is a hard-hitting reminder of the results of racism in America - still, unfortunately, very relevant today in the 2020's. 

I travelled a lot in the mid-90s and this CD was one of my constant companions on many flights around the US.  I hope you enjoy this album as much as I have over the years."

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


See you at 8pm BST!