The Listening Club - 24th April 2022

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good. Still bright and dry here in Amsterdam, which is very welcome indeed, and following on from last week, happy to say that the wisteria is now near to full bloom, which will make for a fine and dandy canopy for Wednesday's activities, which also looks like staying dry (phew!), although maybe not super warm, so I'd recommend a light-to-medium jacket if you're attending!

Last Sunday it was @JimMcCauley in the chair, well and truly scaring the older generation (well, my mother, anyway) with his pick of "ULTRAPOP" by The Armed, and they certainly were too. Thanks to Jim for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @UnmannedFuture who has an extra week to ponder, because...

Yep, end of the month (just!) so a vortex-ing we go, and @Saucer, feeling the mood of the season, suggested a #RenewalVortex, and has gathered and assembled a basket of fine tunes, or as he says... "it was looking pretty dark on Friday night but then LC came through with an inspiring set of picks… so it was kind of fractal."

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

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

The Listening Club - 16th April 2022

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Tapping this out early so we can be off and things to have a Easter Sunday day trip north of the city. Spring has well and truly sprung in Amsterdam, the sun's out and things are starting to bloom, which is always welcome - hoping the wisteria around the front of our place manages to hold a decent amount of its blooms for King's Day, as it'll make for a lovely canopy to party underneath... (hint hint to the undecided, still time to book, would be awesome to see you! ;)

Last Sunday @ohmyliver was reliving misspent youth through Posthuman's "Requiem For A Rave", which got the assembled reaching for the sky and the water simultaneously. Thanks to Oli for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @JimMcCauley, who's here with the intro...

"Hey there, listening chums! It's a while since I've been on the decks, so what better way to get back in the game than with a divisive pick? I discovered this lot through a tweet from a bookshop, looked them up and found a video, and very much liked the cut of their jib. They're not my usual sort of listening material, but the noise they make is the kind of thing I come around to every few years when I need something to blast the cobwebs away.

This album needed a good few listens before I could make my mind up about it (and there's a whole load of back catalogue I've yet to explore, but one thing at a time, yeah?) and it's likely to be well Marmite, but with scope for some of you to be intrigued enough to go back and give it a few more goes. Me, I'm genuinely considering getting a day pass to a festival dedicated to an entire musical subset that I like in theory a lot more than in practice, just so I can catch their only UK performance this year.

"It's one of those albums, like MBV's 'Loveless' or Sleigh Bells' 'Treats', that I can never quite play loud enough. Headphones may be a wise choice. Enjoy! (Maybe.)"

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

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1) 

The Listening Club - 10th April 2022

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Cool but sunny here in Amsterdam, and we're in proper spring cleaning mode, pulling stuff out of storage, looking at it, throwing away a little bit then pushing all the rest back in again, as you do. Okay, maybe a little more constructive than that this time, prob because we'll run out of space if we don't, hem hem...

Chez #LC, last Sunday it was @nessiest in the chair, getting soulful with their pick of Mara TK's "Bad Meditation", which went down pretty fine with everyone so it seemed. Thanks to Ness for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @ohmyliver, who's right here with the intro...

"So, I’ve got the frisbie this week.  

What to choose. I’ve heard certain songs from Encanto so many times that I strongly suspect that people would talk about Bruno if they actually stopped singing about him for one bleeding moment. 

But I’ll not be picking that, I’ll be glad to hear.

I strongly approve of the whole ‘young people in their 20s discovering how great late ‘ardcore/early jungle was’ thing that’s been bubbling up for the last 5 years. People like Tim Reaper, and Sherelle and her Jungle Teknah thing 

But an hour or so of 160+ bpm Jungle made/mixed by people decades younger than me, probably won’t work on a Sunday night.  Also that Boiler Room set from ‘20 where Sherelle plays that amazing Jungle reworking of RIP Groove which was my entry point to this scene, has a really annoying emcee. 

We’ve also been listening to David Teie’s Music for cats, Music created by a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, and animal scientists. It also has us feline chilled. Our cat reacts with contemptuous serenity, obviously.

However we’re not cats, and not everyone is a member of a cat, or cat’s staff. 

I’ve also been dipping my ears into the Ukrainian electronic music scene, and kicking myself for not discovering earlier, but I need to listen more before picking. 

So I went with this. Released late last year, to quote the artist “This album is a love letter to our teenage selves. An ode to youthful memories from Scotland and the North East of England.”

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

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 3rd April 2022

Greetings,

Hope you're all doing okay. Amsterdam is, like most of the vicinity, in the midst of  a sudden cold snap, so temps back down to zero and a light white coating for everything, much to the annoyance of local budding greenery, and yours truly to boot. Hoping for a quick recovery, as there are multiple plans afoot, and the last couple of weeks have seen us stepping back into the gigging world, first for a lovely evening of Arvo Part compositions at the Muziekgebouw (admittedly amongst the youngest attendees, which is always cheekily heartening, but even more so post-pandemic ;), and this week a conscious bop with Femi Kuti and his fine band. Nice to be back in places we haven't seen for a while for sure... it's always a special feeling to be returning somewhere loved.

Last Sunday we vortexed a #peaceandlovevortex and, yeah, that was quite a cracker, I reckon. Thanks to everyone who chipped in a tune or two, and deluxe thanks to @JimMcCauley for assemblage. Back to normal programs, we see @nessiest waving the frisb with an intro to boot...

"There’s a vocal quality that I always associate with home. But I am not skilled enough in these things to be able to put it into words adequately maybe you can help me. Picking sentimental favourites for listening club is a risk. Although I love parts of this album, there are other elements that feel like work in progress. So I’ll take the risk, because overall I think it is interesting and varied enough to keep you engaged. And I’d like to hear what you guys think."

Okay. Download's here, stream's below.

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