The Listening Club - 29th January 2023

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good, it's been another reasonably clear, dry week here in Amsterdam, which is welcome, even if I haven't been out much in it, hehe. Staying indoors, makin' new mixes and radio shows and spring / summer plans has been more the order of the day. Hup ho.

Last Sunday we had @AqiDraco in the chair with their debut pick of "Black Widow" by In This Moment, which seemed to rock the assembled posse quite satisfactorily, I'd say. Many thanks to Aqi for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @saucer who has an extra week to ponder, because...

Yep, end-of-the-month means vortex time, and we find ourselves celebrating the Lunar New Year with a fine #rabbitvortex. @akx has been collecting the carrots from y'all, so here comes his (rabbit) stew...

Download is here: gdrive or direct, and the stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT for playback.

The Listening Club - 22nd January 2023

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good. Mainly clear but cold here in Amsterdam, good to have respite from the grey for a change. Apart from that not much else to report, it's quiet, and we should be grateful for that.

...and oh yeah, next Sunday will be the first #Vortex of the year, so we'll be canvassing for themes during tonight's playback, if you have any ideas, let us know in the chat... 

Last Sunday we had @soundclamp@mastodon.xyz in the chair, kicking off the '23 #LC season with his pick of Atsushi Tsuyama's "Henry The Human Horse", which charmed and bamboozled the assembled in equal measures, as is often the way round here. Thanks to Dan for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @AqiDraco@universeodon.com for their debut pick, and they're right here with the intro...

"It all started with a song. I had selected a song from this band for a playlist (wolf theme, let’s see if you can guess which one it is) years ago but never really checked out their other songs until a couple weeks ago when I started looking for albums for #ListeningClub. So, they are pretty new to me, it’s a bit harder than I usually listen too, apart from my 80s heroic metal or the occasional NIN, TOOL, or A Perfect Circle. It highlights a female singer in this genre. It’ll be interesting to hear what genre you assign this band. This music can evoke pretty strong emotions depending on one’s mood and can also help release emotions in form of loud singing along and head banging. 

The band is still active and touring across America in 2023. 

Drink Choice: Try a RAMMSTEIN liquor - Vodka, Rum, or Tequila. Whichever way suits your taste buds today. 

Non-alcoholic drink choice: The recently discovered yummy Raffaello Milk Shake. How to make it here)

Right then. Download's here, and the stream is below:

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 15th January 2023

Hey folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Wet as hell here in Amsterdam, seems like it's not stopped raining all week, so hunkering down indoors with something warm (cat) and tasty (beer) has been the order of the day, and maybe a little inevitable browsing of holiday websites too... le sigh.

Last Sunday, o my folks we did partake of the 2022 #FestiveVortex and, what do you know, it was another mighty fine mess of tunes. Thanks to everyone who chipped in one or two, it seems harder every year to blend the range, but, shucks, it always seems to work! (phew). 

Looking back to last year, we see @soundclamp holdling the frisbee and readying themselves for tonight's debut pick with this to say by way of introduction...

"It’s the mid-1990s and Japanese noizu (ノイズ) has captured the imagination of Westerners across a variety of underground music scenes. Today’s pick is the debut solo LP of this multi-instrumentalist who was already enjoying the fruits of being in a now famous Japanese psychedelic freak-out group. Mixing traditional Japanese folk music with a flair for psych-fueled jamming, punctuated by weirdo howling at the moon interludes, makes for a rather unique, yet compelling, listen. It's as if someone spilled a bit of their Bloody Mary on your chocolate peanut butter cup. But you know you love it."

Right then, download is here, stream is below:

See you 8pm GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 8th January 2023

Salutations and Happy New Year to you all.

Hope you had a pleasurable mid-winter holiday season type thing, whatever you got up to. Here it was customary good food, drink and gentle merriment with closest and dearest, minimal problems or complaints for a change, and feeling all the better for it. Yay.

Way back before all that, @woj was in the chair, delivering the last #LC of the year, in the shape of Shirley Hurt's eponymous debut album, which went down pretty well as I recall. Thanks to Woj for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @soundclamp, who has had a good long time to ponder his pick, and even more so because...

Yeah, #FestiveVortex innit? It definitely has been quite an unsettled year for many, and I think the wider-than-ever spread of tunes represents that. Quite a bit of comfort listening maybe, but that can be pretty extreme in itself, as I well kno, and you will hear. Many thanks to everyone who chipped in tracks!

Direct download is here, stream is below:

See you 20:00 GMT for playback. Bring a bottle and some snacks!