The Listening Club - 16th February 2025

Salutations folks,

Hope you're all doing as good as can be expected. Amsterdam is still mostly clear and chilly, although a pocket of warm air is apparently about to decend on us, which should make next weekend very enjoyable indeed. Despite the chill, a definite vibe of "early spring cleaning" is in the air, as freezers are defrosted and computers treated to an overdue backup (and in one case a complete virtualization, something I've never done before, looking forward to seeing how that turns out). A gentle and positive activity anyways, maybe in personal retailation to the unpleasentness of the daily news? It's very possible.

Timely reminder that, as February is a shorty, it's already time to pick a #vortex theme, so get your thinking caps out and pitch your ideas later tonight...

Last Sunday saw @ogili in the chair, getting highly verbal with his pick of John S Hall & Kramer's collaborative album "Real Men" from 1991, which got a mixed bag of reactions, as one would expect from an admittedly "marmitey" pick - nothing wrong with that either. Thanks to Oliver for the pick and for sailing the frisb across the sea to @faberfedor, who's here with the intro to tonight's selection...

"Another one from the back of the closet.

I don't remember when or how I got turned onto this album but the eponymous song is one of my all-time faves. I like the whole album _except_ for two tunes. While good tunes, I don't think the fit the rest of the album. But what do I know? One of those songs was the only (minor) hit from the album.

In researching the album, I was surprised that it didn't do all that well commercially. It eventually went gold, then platinum, and then double-plus-good and all that but it _has_ been around for awhile.

This will be a laid-back session (except for those two damn songs!). Pour a glass of your favorite libation, get comfortable, and relax."

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 9th February 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're doing okay and keeping safe. Another clear and cold week here in Amsterdam, which is very welcome, even though hype cat, being solar-powered, is starting to believe spring is just around the corner and is therefore now enthustically digging around any available hole for recently de-hibernated mice. We shall see if he is successful - An early spring would be very welcome indeed, all things considered. 

Last Sunday saw @eryngium in the chair, dealing a psych-out in the shape of The Black Angels' "Wilderness Of Mirrors" from 2022, which did the trick for the assembled, so it seemed. Thanks to Eryn for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @ogili, who's here with tonight's intro...

"I’ve got into the bad habit of doom watching dystopian films late at night.  While I did discover that the post-apocalyptic absurdity of The Bed Sitting Room (featuring Spike Milligan, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and other post war British comedy types) is available to stream.  I also stupidly watched Children Of Men again.  I mean it’s amazingly shot, and expertly realised, but its portrayal of a crumbling Britain with caged and beaten refugees is just so depressingly believable as a warning from the near future.  Listening to the soundtrack took me to this album….

No, scratch that.  F*ck wallowing in dark dystopian music right now.  It’s not healthy.  The world is grim enough already.  

So I’ve gone for this. I discovered this album in ‘91 or so.  It’s the artistic collaboration between  the man behind a cult underground New York label, and a Brooklyn born performance poet/author/singer/lawyer.  The latter was in an avant-garde band whose biggest hit was a song about a removable bodily organ.  It’s by turn, absurd, funny, weird, and f*cked up. But it also hides some serious points underneath the monologues and musical soundscapes. 

It will be a marmite pick, so be warned.  

Oh, and If you have children in earshot, save yourself having to dodge a lot of questions you really don’t want to have to answer by listening on headphones. 

Drink?  Yes, some form of intoxication would probably help. "

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 2nd February 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're doing good. Happy to see February arrive if only to categorize the crap stuff of the year so far into "January" and hope for improvements. Weather has been clear yet cold here in Amsterdam, but one out of two ain't bad, so we've been doing some much needed perambulating around town and dealing with the household external greenery's pre-spring haircut. Everything's looking a lot neater now, so we can pour ourselves a restorative glass and look forward to an early spring, wouldn't that be grand? (crosses fingers firmly)

Back in the land of #LC last Sunday we were celebrating the man, the myth and the hair that was David Lynch with a #LynchianVortex, which saw a fine variety of sounds and emotions on display. Many thanks to everyone for chipping in a tune or two, and king size thanks to @JimMcCauley for the mixdown. Looking back to regular programming, we find @eryngium holding the frisb with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"Things in my part of the world have been overwhelming these last couple weeks, so I’m a bit low on energy and focus for an album introduction. I thought I had decided on a selection last week, only to change my mind multiple times at the last minute because nothing felt right. I finally ended up with this one because the album title, along with some of the themes and lyrics in the songs, reflect some of my feelings about this moment in time." 

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight, I hope.