Sunday, 26 September 2021

The Listening Club - 26th September 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Still warm here in Amsterdam, but the clouds are decending more and more, and the temps are set to drop next week, so we reluctantly get ready to bid goodbye to Summer 2021, not really the one we were all hoping for, but, for me anyway, any summer is better than no summer, so there's that. Now hoping for a half-decent Autumn gig season, fingers crossed...

Last Sunday we had @ohmyliver in the chair, dealing a dose of dread in the shape of The Bug's "Fire", which certainly lived up to its name. Thanks to Oli for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @emmaprice, who has a bit longer to consider their options, because, yep, it's vortex time. And this time, we have a "Songs to or about anyone other than Maggie May Vortex" (long story, don't ask). @Saucer has been hard at work extracting and assembling the tunes, and here's what he has to say...

"Always a huge honor to be trusted to do something legal with your musical picks. Thank you.

I often go for intersong flow but this time around found myself embracing a hairpin-turn aesthetic. To be honest, with a vortex, sometimes the hairpin-turn aesthetic embraces you. It was massive fun to put together and I hope it's fun to listen to."

Right then. Download's here, stream's below.

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)

Sunday, 19 September 2021

The Listening Club - 19th September 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Still dry and warm here in Amsterdam, so another week of perching on the stoop interspersed with gentle strolls and cafe visits has been in order. Gotta make the most of it, eh? Meanwhile the Dutch government are slowly relaxing their last remaining covid-blocks, which is causing a considerable amount of annoyance as people try and figure out exactly what they can and can't do. As long as everything's 100% back to normal by the time of Le Guess Who at the start of November, I'm OK with it. Crossing fingers firmly for that, as you'd expect.

Last Sunday, chez #LC, it was myself, @kleptones, in the chair, hitting everyone hard with the mighty Nash The Slash's "Children Of The Night" from 1980. Nice to see one of my all-time favourite albums go down so well, for sure! Also nice to see @ohmyliver catch the frisb; here he is with tonight's intro...

"This time the choice was easy.  No deliberation, no dithering, nothing like that. 

This album came out a few weeks ago.  I think.  My sense of temporal distance is still pandemic-wonky.  

His first album under this name in 7 years.  A fine selection of noisy, intense basscapes.  With some great vocalists.  From long term collaborators like an emcee who was part of Roll Deep’s original line up in 2002, through to new collaborators like a rising Grime emcee from Birmingham, or a Jamaican poet/playwright.  

Some might say it’s a dark album, but not me.  It’s an album steeped in the space and tension of early Dubstep, with angry bars coiling through bass-heavy post-industrial soundscapes, that’s true, but anger can be a cathartic, creative energy, as it is here.  Afterall, the world is in a pretty bad way at the moment.  Pandemic, bullshit nativist populism, sociopathic venal politicians, climate change, antisocial media, the list goes on, and perhaps, a healthy response is to release and acknowledge the anger at the state of things. Witness the shitness, as it were. 

It sounds a bit like a soundtrack to a cinematic midpoint between Bladerunner, Top Boy or Bullet Boy, and Children of Men.   Which, sadly, isn’t too far away from where we are now.

I suspect that some of you might have already listened to this album, but hey ho."

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


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) while stocks last!

Sunday, 12 September 2021

The Listening Club - 12th September 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good in your hoods. September continues to be mostly warm and sunny here in Amsterdam, which is very welcome indeed. Many gentle evening strolls (both with and without hype cat), meals and drinks have been the order of the day. I reckon as this summer got off to a late start, the least we can do is ride it out in style, eh?

Back on #LC turf, last week saw @nessiest sending a slice of fine lyrical grooves in the shape of Blood Wizard's "Western Spaghetti" which slid down very nicely indeed with the assembled. Thanks to wor Ness for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to me, @kleptones, so let's get italicised for tonight's selection....

"Like most of us, my #LC picks usually fall into one of two groups, either something super new, or something historical that has special meaning. This one's in the latter group, and very Marmite-y. No sitting on the fence here (it's covered in barbed wire anyways), you'll either love this or hate it.

I discovered this artist a long, long, long time ago, back when I was a miniscule music sponge, sucking up whatever my pocket money could find and afford, using my imagination (and Record Mirror) to fill in the gaps. I'd seen this artist's name linked to another (chart-topping) one that I really liked, playing a guest spot on a few of their tunes and supporting them on tour (not possible for me to see at such a miniscule age), so I saved my pennies, scurried down to the local disc-o-rama, made the purchase, scurried home twice as fast, pulled the vinyl from the sleeve, dropped the needle and... "what the flying fuck is this???"

To lil' sponge me, nothing about this record made sense. Most of the genres you'd drop this record into either didn't exist or were still in very early stages when it was made (trying to be a bit vague, here). The choice of cover versions (nearly half the album) is decidedly unhinged, sometimes awesome and occasionally hilarious, and the artist's whole onstage schtick and related lyrical themes (for want of a better term) was (and still is), decidedly abnormal. (A few of the lyrics, I have to admit, don't stand up to 21st century analysis (thinks back to me singing along to them as a kid, chuckles wryly to self) but certainly fit the aforementioned schtick and the style of the era, for sure).

Not to mention wondering what the reaction was of the English teenyboppers subjected to this artist's performance as support to their awaited megastar. I'm sure it acted as a perfect palette-cleanser, but suffice to say that continued global success never happened, and after this album the artist returned to being pretty much a local hero. So it goes.

But apart from all that, what mostly blew me away as a lil' sponge is the sound this artist makes. Even after years tracking down information about some of the machines and instruments used, I've never managed to come anywhere near emulating it. Amplifiers? Effects pedals? No idea, but I'd never heard electronics churn like this before, and as for the solo instruments, what's going on there? The album cover gleefully states "There are no guitars", so what the hell is that screaming sound flying out of the speakers...???

Listening back now, yep, it's astonishingly future-facing and unique but still definitely a work of it's time, and for lil' sponge me, an important stepping stone into the universe of potential musical lunacy. Bless 'em.

You get the idea, I hope you enjoy. Turn it up loud right from the start.

PS You may already know this artist, especially if you're from their locality, if so, hope you're up for another spin!

Drinking club? Bull's blood red wine, or a decent bourbon."

Right then. Direct download is here, stream's below...

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

Sunday, 5 September 2021

The Listening Club - 5th September 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Amsterdam is feeling pretty lively and enjoying a decent run of late-summer weather and, as everything is pretty much closed at night, the daytime is where the action is right now, I guess. So I'm tapping this out early before we jump on a boat and head off for a day-out visiting one of the Netherlands many tiny islands... and we'll be back by playtime, naturally.

Last Sunday saw us all trekking quite literally (mate) into parts unknown with the #UnseenPlacesVortex, which truly took us around the world and across the universe in 90-odd minutes. Thanks to everyone who chipped in tracks and biggest thanks to @akx for mapping the journey. 

Back in regular-programming-land, we find @nessiest holding the frisb with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"Late summer has a special feel, the light is more golden, all the summer’s goings on are still happening but the evenings are shorter and you’re aware this isn’t going to last.

I don’t know a lot about this act, but their presence on the summer festival circuit (happening elsewhere) caught my attention and my ear.

In the absence of a personal opportunity to discover this act at one of those late summer festivals this year, what better than sharing them with the club. Hopefully this will complement your day well and help to extend that summery feeling. For the antipodeans among us it might be a promise of those golden days to come."

Right then. Direct download's here, stream's below:


See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)