The Listening Club - 27th November 2022

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Well, that was quite a move. I think we've done okay, most people seem to have come along, which is great, no idea about the lurkers because, well, they're lurkers, but we shall see. As I mentioned last week, if you haven't moved and you need help, please reach out on DMs and help will be provided!

Last week we bid farewll to our old zone, with @brainspiritus proviuding the soundtrack in the shape of Sa-Roc's "The Sharecropper's Daughter", which delighted pretty much everyone I'd say. Thanks extended for the pick, and for sailing the frisbee across the great platform divide to @EmmaPrice@universeodon.com, who has an extra week to ponder because...

Yep, end of the month means #vortex time, and possibly the most appropriate time to move platforms, as now we can have a #HellophantVortex (thanks @akx for the name) - Tunes have been gathered and assembled by @saucer, wonderful person that he is, so let's have it...

Download is here and the stream is below:

Hope to see you at 8pm GMT for playback.

The Listening Club - 20th November 2022

Greetings folks, hope you're all doing good.

<oldmanvoice>Well, that de-evolved quickly, didn't it? I really don't know what to say other than "oh dear". After ten (fuckin') years sittin' on the same corner, watching the world collapse around you doesn't quite have the same allure it used to, does it, sonny?...</oldmanvoice>

So... here's the deal. I'm personally done with Twitter. I have no desire to grab the popcorn and watch a daily dose of infinite-dumpster-fire, or my friends reactions to it. Also any future pay-to-play tweet-promotion stuff that surely *will* occur there will very probably impact our #LC real-time conversational abilities, which are already flaky at busy times, as u well kno. (Yes, the situation may change, but for now, it sucks, and the outlook is not good, is it?)

So... imho, we should be grateful we *can* go elsewhere. Mastodon seems good, takes a little bit of getting used to, but basically does what we need, without the dumpster-fire and hashtag spam - for now anyway. I can see that most of our regular folks have set up and followed us over there, (one or two haven't - please give it a go and feel free to let me know if you need any help setting it up), so I propose we move to Mastodon 100% from next Sunday for (maybe) a "Hi Hello How Are You" vortex. Please let me know what you think. 

(NB If the majority of folks wish to stay on twitter that is fine, but I'm sorry to say I will not be willing to administer the account, someone(s) else will have to take that on. And I have no desire to run both simultaneously either - again someone else is welcome to do it, but I don't want to!)

Anyways, last Sunday I was away having a fucking amazing time at LGW, whilst @JimMcCauley was kindly sorting things out here, presenting @corin_ja and his fine pick of Half Man Half Biscuit's 2008 opus "CSI: Ambleside", which presumably charmed and confused in equal measures, as is their wont. Thanks to Corin for the pick, and for the flip of the frisb across to @brainspiritus, who is right here with tonight's intro...

"Happy Sunday, folks!

Over here on the Baltic Sea, we're seeing the first snow of the season this weekend, even if it's currently gone back to "nasty sludge". I hope you are wrapped in thermally-appropriate clothing, enjoying the foods of the December season that have been in supermarkets for months now.

Today's album… I stumbled upon this artist when they had a guest appearance on a podcast and decided to give their latest album (from 2020) a go, and first got stuck on the occasionally almost "arabesque" weaving of melodies, and the excellent delivery, which gets only better after hearing it a couple of times, when all the double-entendres start to hit. (It seems to be a sort of catch-up album, because some of the music videos are a couple of years older than that.)

I can see how this is probably not going to be for everybody, because it's … not doing the usual melodic structure thing much? Also, this is a person with a lot of anger and struggle in their life, so it's a bit sweary and aggressive. (Trigger warning: contextualized variations of N-words, I'm sure there's the F-word in there, Abuse of various kinds.)

This has songs that hit you in the feels, and songs that hit you in the _other_ feels, the entire range from airhorn to ballad. I don't know about cowbells though, and you know I can't spoil surprise metal guitars.

Drink: Gosh, I guess a couple of molotovs?"

Okaydoke. Download's here (right-click, save as), stream's below:

See you 8pm GMT, I hope.

The Listening Club – 13th November 2022

Afternoon all! @JimMcCauley at your service while @kleptones is off at Le Guess Who. I was just about to do a spot of ironing before lunch, before heading off to this afternoon's Railway Children rehearsal, when I suddenly remembered that there was something else I needed to do, and this is it. Bit of close one, what? Anyway, hope you're all feeling reasonably splendid; I have lots on but having an excellent time with it, and I may or may not join you this evening, depending on how I'm doing after a four-hour rehearsal.

Last week we had @faberfedor at the controls with his pick of Johnny Cash's career-reviving American Recordings, the first in his series of albums with Rick Rubin, and while nobody was remotely surprised by the reveal, it all seems to have gone down very nicely indeed with the assembled. So thanks to Faber for the pick, and for flicking the frisbaton at @corin_ja, who will see you now.

"Thanks to @faberfedor for the frisbaton from last week after a superb selection.

"This is also kinda folk music (well, what isn't - as Louis Armstrong said, "ain't never heard a horse sing"), but of a particularly English variety. A favourite of John Peel's this lot, and they've been going for almost 40 years, which is pretty terrifying considering their early albums were teenage singalong fodder for me & my mates.

"I guess this will be a very marmite selection. Not everyone is going to like or get this. I hope those that do appreciate the strength of the melodies as well as the wit of the lyrics. We shall see.

"#DrinkingClub probably a pint of bitter or fizzy lager. Maybe a snakebite or a cider'n'black. Packet of crisps and ten B&H. You get the idea."

Wicked. Download's here or stream away below.

Maybe see you at 8PM; if I don't, have a good one!

The Listening Club - 6th November 2022

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good, and if you're in the UK, hope you're dealing okay with your Bonfire Night Hangover / Glastonbury Ticket Sale Failure. Bit of a double-bill that one, for sure.

I wanted to take a minute to say something about the changes at Twitter - Although #LC is unaffected at the moment, there is a possibility things may change in the future that may make us not want to continue on the platform - we all have our limits. As Jim pointed out the other day, losing Tweetdeck and / or access to Latest Tweets would be tough (and make doing this nigh-on impossible), and for me personally, if a certain orange-faced c*** is allowed back, I would not be able to continue, sorry - As I said, we all have our limits, I'd be interested in knowing yours, so we can reach a consensus for the time being ("time being" being something that does seems to be changing rapidly, I admit). I know some folks have signed up on Mastodon, and I encourage those that haven't to do so also, or bookmark this URL for future use!: https://joinmastodon.org/

Next Sunday I am away at Le Guess Who filling my ears with fine music, so if anyone is able to run things here, please let me know.

Last Sunday, as was end-of-the-month time, a #timevortex was had, as collated and mixed by @akx, and a mighty fine time was had by all! Thanks to Aarni for the assemblage, and everyone who chipped in a track or two. Looking back, we see @faberfedor waving across the water with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"A man and his guitar. It doesn't get much more minimalist than that. 

For an album with such a simple premise, this album had an outsized effect: it gave the finger to The Powers That Be, introduced the singer to a new generation and re-cemented his reputation as an American master.

Not bad for someone who swore he'd never make another album.

It's going to be a quiet night. So turn down the lights, grab some mountain dew -- and I don't mean the sugar water -- and relax into the evening."

Okay, download's here, stream's below:

See you 8pm GMT tonight.