The Listening Club - 29th November 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing well and keeping safe. Nearly advent calendar time already? Blimey. Must say, the last couple of weeks seem to have sailed by rather peacefully - it's amazing how much quieter things are without a certain orange blowhard upsetting the applecart on a daily basis (notwithstanding the occasional Giuliani Comedy Moment). Also, full disclosure, now having the T-word filtered out on social media also really makes a difference, my mental health highly recommends it...

Last Sunday in the land of #LC, @brainspiritus was in the chair, getting bluesy with their pick of Larry Garner's 2008 album "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow", which got everyone honking along in a fine way. Thanks to them for the pick, and for saling the frisb across the sea to @wojsvenwoj who's here with tonight's intro...

"If I remember correctly, I had one of the first - if not the first - pick after the 2016 Presidential election. My selection that Sunday was fueled by pretty much one emotion, anger about what my country had just done. 

Four years later, this election and its afters have at least superficially remedied that error and I find myself feeling a wider range of emotions: concern, trepidation, disgust, elation, relief, hope (yes, a little), and so forth. Thinking it would be a nice symmetry, I wanted this week's pick to be an album that captured that complex mixture so I queued up several records that, for me, have great emotional depth and poignancy. After careful consideration and listening to each of them, none of them seemed quite right for the moment.

So, I spun that compass around 180 degrees and here's something from the other end of the spectrum. It's a catchy, infectious, industrial-strength (and industrial-esque) chunk of saccharin that I unabashedly love. It ain't high art but it is fun, if dark. And if you don't like it, it's only 32 minutes long!"

Okaydoke. Download's here, stream's below:

See you at 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 22nd November 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all keeping well. Another predictable week of political bickering and a rampant pandemic. Connected? Surely not... Still, the first signs of a vaccination plan have emerged here in the Netherlands, although it seems unlikely that plan will reach us until probably the middle-end of next year, but that's pretty understandable, there are millions more needy than us to deal with first... so we stay hunkered down, take care of the nearest and dearest, eat and drink good, and keep the music playing....

Last Sunday @NeilPBardhan was in the chair, high fiving everyone aurally with his pick of Fang Island's self titled album from 2010, which intrigued the assembled for sure. Thanks to Neil for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @brainspiritus, who, having discarded a realm of possibilities, has this to say by way of introduction...

"Good Sunday local-time-of-day, ListeningClub Friends!

This week, I bring you an unusual choice. Usually, picking week for me involves fretting to conjure up a shortlist and then boiling it down to hopefully one entry and wondering what y'all will make of it. (And I know I've had my share of hits and misses, and usually there's a cryptic twitter poll to gauge y'all's interest. And no matter what, the more confident I feel about my pick, the more lukewarm the response is.)

This time, not so much. This wasn't even really on the shortlist until Thursday morning, when @faberfedor, @simonlandmine and @eastvanhalen convinced me that this is probably what the people want. (Also, one of the many fine artists I've been introduced to by way of BU4B, so if this is your wheelhouse, see if you want to support a small mom-and-pop internet radio station?)

No surprise metal guitars tonight

(but then, I _would_ say that, wouldn't I? :-D)

#DrinkingClub is probably cheap bourbon (but no Coke, whatever you do, you do not want that Coke). #EatingClub could involve beans and rice and seafood."

Okaydoke. Download est ici, et la stream du jour est below:

See you 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 15th November 2020

Hey folks,

Well, for a change it's been a predictable week, sadly that means unprecidented levels of political bickering whilst thousands of people unnecessarily get sick and die. Oh 2020, you really are such a card...

Meanwhile in the oasis of sanity that is #LC, last week @Saucer was in the chair, dealing forth a most unusual selection in the form of the original 1961 stage cast recording of the South African "Jazz Opera", "King Kong", which entertained and bamboozled the assembled in equal measures. Thanks to Saucer for the excellent pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @NeilPBardhan, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Near as I can figure out now, I must have first come across this band in early 2010 through a now-defunct music site a friend was working on. Their name popped up again a few months later when I was figuring out my summer concert plans... and then again, a few thousand miles later in my early fall concert plans. After that second show, I introduced myself to them by saying "I've seen you on two continents in the past 6 weeks." They invited me to have a beer with them afterwards, but broke and in a strange logistical limbo, I had to decline. I'll always regret not sticking around for that beer.

Their tracks are full of melodic fuzz, joy, countless layers, and wonky angles. I don't know how I dance to it, only that I do. What lyrics I recognize are sparse and encouraging. These songs feel like church to me in the best way: redemption and catharsis. 

I've never found another band that sounds like this, and I'm not sure I want to." 

Okaydoke. Direct download's here, stream's below:

See you at 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 8th November 2020

Greetings,

Well, thank fuck for that, eh? Not that it's going to automatically set the world right, but the lack of toxicity in the air is already noticable, and that really does help. Also can't remember the last time there was actually some good global news to celebrate, so congratulations Joe, and good luck...

Last Sunday chez #LC, @akx was in the chair, getting the assembled bouncing in their seats with his pick of Selo I Ludy's "Bunch One". Many thanks to Aarni for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @saucer, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Good news for me in the LC-pick-stress department: being on political tenterhooks left me with zero fucks available for stressing about a pick.

However, yesterday, just before I clicked send on my (high energy, in your face) pick, the networks and newspapers declared Joe Biden winner in Pennsylvania.

And just like that my pick was no longer au courant, apropos, or sane. I love that.

So let's have a go with something else...

I suppose that in the context of 8th November 2020 this album could be an allegory within an allegory. I suppose you're still, like me, a few inches off the ground with seratonin and whatever hormones our bodies give us when we feel a glimmer of hope after years of (and amid continuing) dread. So I offer this little gem as a 30-minute soundtrack to help us savor this crazy beautiful moment in history.

If we were all together, masked up de rigueur, this is what I'd put on the turntable.

Pro tips: The first two tracks are lower volume than the others. Second, this album has a bit of a surprise ending. When it comes, picture a hateful orange being in all-white golf gear riding along smarmily in a cart that suddenly hits a divot, flipping the cart and throwing the golfer out onto his orange face, like so.

Drinking club: something you've been holding onto for the right time."

Okaydoke. Direct download's here, stream's below:

See you 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 1st November 2020

Greeting folks,

Pinch and a punch and all that. And happy spooky time too, if that's your bag. Meanwhile it's all eyes on the US, and crossing fingers firmly that President Snake Oil doesn't convince enough morons to put their X in his "I'm a narcissistic racist" box. Things and plans the world-over are going to be very different if he does, that's for sure, so chalk out your pentagrams, sharpen your broomsticks, fire up your cauldrons and let's help banish this orange fuck for once and for all.

Last week, chez #LC, @samquitter was in the chair, reaching back for the Sound Of '79 in the shape of Gary Numan's "The Pleasure Principle", which brought forth reminiscing and bopping in equal measures. Thanks to Sam for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @akx, who's got this to say by way of introduction to tonight's selection...

"Hey,

It's been a long week looking for and at houses, and carrying boxes

and bags from place A to place B (and curiously enough, these two

things are unrelated).

So, instead of a spooky scary pick you might expect (from me?!) around this time of the year, here's something entirely different and rather non-serious that actually came up as a Spotify Weekly Pick during a drive, and it had both us listeners laughing out loud and going "what the hell?!". We need some of that, don't we?

#drinkingclub: whatever you think goes down well with half an hour of slavic covers.

Hugs from the dark north,

Aarni"

Okaydoke. Direct download's here, stream's below.

See you at 8pm GMT.