The Listening Club - 26th October 2025

Greetings folks, 

Hope you're all doing good. A seriously wet and windy week here in Amsterdam, which has certainly caused this year's ADE (Huge dance music industry event, if you didn't know) to go with quite a soggy squelch, as thousands of unprepared folks from afar scurry from cover to cover, frantically buying raincoats, hats and brollies as they go. A fair chunk of the ADE schedule is not really to my taste, but they do cover a wide range of stuff, and the variable weather means that enterprising locals can pick up cheap last minute tickets if they're lucky, which allowed us to get blown across town by Storm Benjamin to see Asko|Schönberg perform Steve Reich's "Music For 18 Musicians" on Thursday, and mighty fine it was too, yay.

(PSA - Reminder I'm away on Sunday 9th November, still looking for a helping hand to run #LC, let me know if you can help, pls thx.)

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Last Sunday saw us paying tribute the best way we know how to our fallen comrade @FaberFedor with a splendidly emotional #GroupHugForFaberVortex. Huge thanks to everyone who chipped in a tune or two, and everyone who congregated to listen and share reminiscences of a fine chap. 

I've been asked by Faber's executors to share his obiutuary, which you can find here, and also let everyone know that there will be an online memorial on Sunday 16th November at 12noon ET (which I think is 4pm GMT, 5pm CET). The memorial will be held on Zoom, details here.

Back in the land of regularly-scheduled programming, we find @EmmaPrice holding the frisb, with this to say by way of introduction to her pick...

"Greetings my Listening Club Friends. 

It's been a while since I've been around regularly for Listening Club. I spent the summer in the fields on the festival circuit raising money for Oxfam enjoying the sun on my face with the shared joy of communal music and meeting folks from all walks of life.

Last week's #grouphugforFaber experience hit me pretty hard and I'm not embarrassed to say I wept like a baby thinking of our friend and the memories and connections we've all made via music. If any of you are ever visiting London please let me know and it'd be a pleasure to meet and raise a glass to this fantastic group of people. Thank you for all the moments we've shared and those that are yet to come.

Onto my pick for this week. First things first, I know nothing about the artist behind this album and while I'm writing this intro I'm listening to it for the second time. I bought this album, on vinyl no less, for one reason. The cover.  As I'm listening to it again I'm really glad this has randomly made it into my music collection. I'll explain the story of how I acquired this vinyl during the playback to avoid spoilering up front.

Drinking club: Is it too early for a mulled wine?"

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

See you 20:00 GMT - Yes, the clocks have changed over here!

The Listening Club - 19th October 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're doing okay. Another mild week here in Amsterdam, as autumn continues to take hold and the piles of leaves begin to mount up, I'm kinda hoping for a little rain soon to wash the streets down. That said, hoping the temperature stays mild for a little longer, as it's coming close to Le Guess Who? time of year, which of course also means I'm in need of someone to run things here whilst we're away, so if you can help out on Sunday 9th November, please let me know, thanks!

Last Sunday saw @iamwahl in the chair, sending the assembled into a gentle reverie with his pick of Lloyd Cole & The Commotions 1987 album "Mainstream". Thanks extended to him for the pick, and also for sailing the frisb across to @EmmaPrice who has an extra week to ponder...

...as we find ourselves in an unexpected mode, paying tribute to @FaberFedor, a fine friend and long time #LC comrade, who has departed the earth way too soon after many fights with cancer. In the time honoured words of The Warriors DJ, "I guess the only thing we can do is play you a song", So here's a #GroupHugForFaberVortex, sad that he wasn't able to stick around to hear it. Thanks to everyone for chipping in tunes and @kleptones for the mix assembly. Adios, Senor Fedor, your sharp wit and gentle wisdom will be much missed.

Download's here, stream's below (yes, back on Mixcloud, as HearThis now has a free limit of 90 mins, merr):

Hope to see you at 20:00 BST (GMT+1) for playback.

The Listening Club - 12th October 2025

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good. Amsterdam is settling further into Autumn as expected, tho it's still pretty mild and dry, which is always welcome. 

Unfortunately, I have some bad news to break to you all regarding our good friend and long time #LC contributor @FaberFedor. Some of you will be aware that he has been fighting a serious illness for a long while, and despite much treatment, he is now receiving hospice / palliative care. 

Many of you have met Faber over the years, including at our momentous Amsterdam get together back in 2014, so will have first hand experience of what a fine chap he is, but I'm sure for everyone reading, this is deeply sad news. At this stage, it's not known how long he'll be in care, but he will hopefully be able to listen tonight, and I therefore propose that next Sunday we postpone our regular scheduled program and instead put together a #GroupHugForFaberVortex, for which we invite you to contribute tunes, as happy, sad or ridiculous as you like, that you think he would get a kick out of hearing - multiple tunes are welcome too, the more the merrier - long time #LC folks will have a good idea of his tastes, but if you need a reminder you can see his album picks going back to 2012 on the list here. 

Of course, you're welcome to contribute even if you don't really feel you know Mr. F but would like to add an appropriate tune as a gesture of kindness. Given the circumstances, the sooner you can get your picks in the better, just in case we have to expidite the delivery, so to speak, although I truly hope that's not necessary. I'll add a link for the dropbox here as soon as we have one, and also post it on Mastodon. (Update - Dropbox link)

Back in the land of regular programming, last Sunday it was m'self, @kleptones, dosing the assembled with the heady blend of Asha Bhosle & The Kronos Quartet's "You've Stolen My Heart - Sounds from R.D. Burman's Bollywood", which I was delighted to find going down very well indeed (phew). All that remained was for me to flip the frisb across to @iamwahl, who is here with today's intro...

"Ah, what excitement. Please join me as the tumbling, twisting turns of what to present to the Listening Club again finds me stumbling into a more fulsome review and dive into some neglected corners of my music acquisitions.

After hearing last week’s surprising, entertaining, and compelling selection from Kleptones I thought I knew exactly what album I would present this week. Upon listening to that album I started to think the time isn’t quite right to offer that initial choice. Still, I was intending to hold steady on the track of (or at least lean towards) the more disparate world of musical styles and influences to be found in my collection but, while wandering through a goodly number of options from locales more remote (both physically and metaphorically) than my more frequent musical travels, I was suddenly, and surprisingly, reminded of an artist that doesn’t fit that mould at all. Listening to a couple albums by that musician then made me think of yet another performer, whom I was surprised to discover had not been the subject of a previous Listening Club session. For some reason the first recording I ever heard from them has always felt like autumn to me (perhaps because it was released in a previous October?). This, then, is what was my introduction to this artist, albeit being the last studio album from this particular incarnation of their musical face (again I’m late to a party). Perhaps it will also be an introduction to them for some of the club; although I suspect more than a few will immediately recognize, if not the album, the uniquely identifiable voice. Either way I hope this brings you as much pleasure as it has me…

For #DrinkingClub, a sipping whisky, neat (or other cool weather favourite)…"

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

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) later today.

The Listening Club - 5th October 2025

Howdy folks,

Hope you're doing okay. Autumn seems to have grabbed Amsterdam by the metaphoricals most definitely - it's been a blustery wet week and a half, so sitting in with a cup of something warming and occasionally darting outside for a social activity, like scoffing an eye-watering tableful of Sichuan goodness or catching ESG's last European show ever (so I believe), which was as suitably joyful and boisterous as one would hope. More of that to follow, I predict!

Last Sunday, as was end-of-month, meant a #vortex, and this time we fired the gun on a #GamesDayVortex, which saw an impressively huge range of styles lining up for the race. Many thanks to everyone who chipped in a tune, and to @akx for the fine mixwork. Looking back to regularly-scheduled programming, we see, er, me, @kleptones, in the mirror, waving the frisb at myself, so...

"...let's get italic. Have to admit I've had this pick ready for a while, when another picker was rather late with their submission, so I decided to get a backup together just in case. Fortunately I didn't need it then, so here 'tis!

I noted a conversation on Mastodon a while back about the tendency for #LC denizens to mostly pick "western" "rock-derived" albums, which is to be expected, for the most part, as that's pretty much where and what we're from, but as I get older I definitely consider a larger and larger part of my listening to be outside of those areas, as my ears always remain thankfully curious, so here's something, possibly unexpected coming from me, that doesn't fall into either of the aforementioned categories.

This is a collaborative album by two legendary artists, one of whom has been radically widening the scope of their proscribed "style" over the last 50 years, whilst the other has spent their even-longer career finessing one style to absolute perfection. What happens when such disparate artists meet, readers? It's time to find out.

(PS I'd say the first tune is possibly one of the best-known, so if you know them, you'll recognise it immediately)

#drinkingclub = mango lassi."

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

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) for playback.