The Listening Club - 8th February 2015

Hello hello,

Hope all is fine in your locales, Amsterdam is doing well, feeling nice and quiet in the low tourist season, not too cold or grey for once, so enjoying checking out the huge range of quality food & drink at the new Foodhallen in the old west and making plans for the upcoming year - It's looking likely I'll be needing a caretaker manager here for March 8th & 15th if anyone fancys volunteering - yep, it's holiday time... and about time too, all work and no play and all that...

Back on planet #LC, @holette was in the chair last week, and had everyone rocking out quite satisfactorily to The Desert Sessions Volumes 9 & 10. A mighty fine pick indeed, thanks to her for that, and for flipping the frisbee across the Atlantic to the returning @tibieryo...

"... honestly, I've had this picked since Sunday.

Sure, I had the jitters I got the last three times I picked where I thought about other albums. But none of them have seemed like such a high quality bad idea as this.

I found this record after following features from a couple other albums (one of which I considered submitting). And since I first heard it last summer, I've been listening to it at least weekly, if not daily.

So, before we get into it, here's what you need to know. This album contains pervasive strong language, graphic sexual content, graphic violent content, scenes of drug and alcohol abuse, and will likely not be nominated for any awards. But it is a damn good time.

... and it's not Bat Out of Hell."

Right then. Direct download is here (link at top of the page), Mixcloud (who put the c*nt in c*ntent recognition) stream is here.

See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 1st February 2015

Pinch and a punch to you all,

Whizzing through the formalities today, as it's that annual-ish occurrence when there's a serious work overload and I find myself still digging away at stuff late on a Sunday night, the better to appease a paymaster come Monday morning. Also hobbling quite a bit after whacking my big toe on a stone staircase yesterday running for a train. Amazing how much pain one toe can generate, isn't it? Fortunately nothing broken, but some very interesting shades of purple to keep me entertained. So you'll forgive me if I just move right on past this paragraph before anything else happens...

Last week, ya ho, was that #twominutesorlessvortex which stretched out our collective abilities even further than ever - an amazing selection of shortness and smallness, doing the sublime-to-ridiculous-and-quickly-back-again dance that has become a #listeningclub trademark. Thanks to you all for the bundles of picks!

Back in regular #LC-land, @holette was left clutching the frisbee, so here she is with this week's pre-match...

"Relax fun seekers. It’s not the new Bjork album.

I was introduced to a track off this record a long time ago by occasional Listening Clubber @matthewesdigs.  I only got round to following up on the album recently, inspired by one of  Dave Grohl's Sonic Highways films.  Whatever you think of the Foo Fighters, the films, which take a sideways look at the musical heritage of various U.S. locations, are well worth watching.  One of these places was the crucible for this album. A place that seems a magnet for musical mavericks. It’s spawned a big range of significant albums, some known better than others.  Which also describes the collaborators on this album. Prize for the first to identify the very well known female guest vocalist.  Sometimes it’s sassy and cool, sometimes it’s uneasy listening, but hell it just rocks."

There you go! Direct download is here (link at top of the page), Mixcloud (who put the c*nt in c*ntent recognition) stream is here.

See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 25th January 2015

Hello, good evening and wilkommen.

All right? Good. Yeah, I know, cold snow brrrr, most miserable time of year around these here parts and all that. Even Kraftwerk had to send out for extra de-icer to keep their robots moving smoothly last week. But still, open fires, toasting marshmallows, industrial-strength curries, snuggling under blankets etc... ya dig? Always something, and I'm glad for that.

Last week, lest we forget, @pamac66 was in the chair, and threw down a mighty fine mix from The Fort Knox Five, Volume 20 of their Funk The World series, which caught quite a few folks by surprise, and resulted in some serious Sunday shaking and slipper shuffling satisfaction. Many thanks to Paul for the pick, and flipping the frisb onwards to @holette, who will be here next week with her pick...

But now, and phew, here it comes.... Yes, it seemed like quite an innocent theme, this "two minutes or less" vortex, but the end result? Well... no spoilers, but I think we've levelled-up on this one folks. 67 tunes, 79 minutes. By 'eck. Tunes have been assembled in diminishing order of length (that's the longest ones first, eh?) apart from the intro and the outro. Quite astonished by some of the segues and blends that pure durational synchronicity have generated. As, I hope, you will be...

Direct download is here (link at top of the page), Mixcloud (haha, let's see you deal with this mr content recognition) stream is here.

See you at 8pm GMT. Bring vodka!

The Listening Club - 18th January 2015

Howdy folks,

Hope you're all doing swell. Positive energy abounds here in Amsterdam despite the winter freeze after seeing Kraftwerk perform "Radio Activity" last night at the Paradiso as part of their Catalog shows. First time they've played in that venue since 1976, fact fans.... and first time I've seen them with the 3D visuals which are seriously impressive. A phenomenal show, indeed.

Back on planet #lc, as you well know, #vortex discussions were had, and the #twominutesorlessvortex (or #tmolvortex ?) has been decided and will happen next Sunday. So I'm looking for short tunes - as short as you like, but no longer than 120 seconds. As I mentioned on the tweets, if you're going to go for really, really short, then feel free to send a bunch, but try not to go over 4-5 minutes or so in total otherwise I think we'll be risking collective brain-fry...

Last week, oh yeah, it was me with the frisbee, which led to Timber Timbre's ace "Hot Dreams" album, which went down very well indeed, I'm glad to report. Despite not doing much tweeting, the knowledge that @pamac66 was applying brush to canvas through the playback made me smile, so the frisbee was spun in his direction. Happily he accepted, so here he is with this week's intro...

"First off, I feel a bit of a fraud being asked to host Listening Club this week when I hardly contributed to the proceedings last week. I was listening (honest) and loved EC's pick but I was too busy to tweet - sorry.

But, hey, it's not often I get to listen at all on a Sunday these days. As for setting one - it seems an annual event for me.

So, what have I chosen for you?

When I heard that I was setting this week I knew straight away which album I would pick. It's been on my phone for ages and I love it. It's by a group of DJs/musicians/producers based in Washington DC. But, in doing a bit of research about them I found some mixes that they've put together. I'm currently going through these mixes and when I heard this one I thought you'd all love it too.

My last couple of picks have been hit and miss affairs so hopefully this'll go down better. Enjoy."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here (link at top of the page), Mixcloud (may well say nasty things about your mother) stream is here.

See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 11th January 2015

Hey hey hey,

Ah, holiday time winds down and bleak midwinter beckons; here in Amsterdam it's been blowing a mighty gale, much to the annoyance of cycle-parkers city-wide. Despite that, it's a good time of year to be in the city, as tourist levels are at their lowest, and stay-at-home-ness is at it's mostest, making for very calm, quiet streets to wander through (mighty gales notwithstanding)...

Looking at the calendar I see we have a #vortex coming up a little sooner than expected, thanks to 1st Feb falling on a Sunday, so I'll be coming amongst you later this evening with the ideas plate, fishing for contributions - feel free to chip one in if you have one.

Last week @faberfedor was back in the chair, playing with everyone's heads as usual with the instrumental version of The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper", which led to some very interesting revelations and, yes, quite a bit of singing along... Thanks to FF for the pick, and for flipping the frisbee across to, well, me. So here I am with the intro... (*quickly dons wig & fake moustache*)

"Ahem. In true #LC style I thought I had this one nailed immediately, but over the course of the week, as always, a ton of additional options presented themselves, all of which seemed like they'd do the trick splendidly. Unable to decide, and very close to rolling a dice or picking one at random, I thought it best to wait till the day to see what kind of mood I was in. Last night was filled to bursting with Belgian beer and retro soul and funk till the early hours, so today I'm not surprisingly on a mellower tip, therefore a mellower selection you all get, m'kay?

Don't want to say too much by way of intro about this one, which popped up in a playlist of albums from last year that passed me by at the time, but within half-a-minute of track one starting, the spider-sense was seriously tingling. Fine playing, great songwriting, a characterful singer, excellent production and bucketloads of atmosphere. The only bad thing about this album is it doesn't seem long enough, but hey, it's their 5th one, so you've got plenty to dig back into if you feel so inclined, and I reckon you will.

Hope you enjoy..."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here (link at top of the page), Mixcloud (may well say nasty things about your mother) stream is here.

See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 4th January 2015

Happy new year folks! Hope you all achieved a satisfactory NYE experience, whatever you were up to. Amsterdam went off with a bang as usual (being the only day that folks can set fireworks off, hemhem), and boy am I ever glad of this lil' old extended weekend for restorative purposes. Can't help feeling all "back to skool" tho, but hey, into the breach and all that...

Last week saw the annual cavalcade of audio awesomeness and drunkenness, the #festivevortex, and, as usual was one of finest, widest ranging selections the one could ask for. Big thanks to everyone for chipping in tunes, tracklist is in the comments of last week's post if you missed it!

Back to our regularly scheduled entertainment, and @FaberFedor is back in the chair, grinning from ear to ear no doubt, as he leans over and says...

"Last time in #listeningclub...

The lovely @eastvanhalen helped closed out the old year with a new album not three months old, then we followed it up with a #festivevortex again, of new songs. 

I've decided to do the opposite (surprise!); I'm starting the New Year with an old album.

Some might call it a classic.

You've all heard this album before (and if you haven't, GTFO), but this time, I want you to really listen to the music; approach this album as if you've never heard it before. It will be difficult, believe me, but if you do, you'll realize that there are subtleties you never really heard before.

Don't sing. Don't tap your foot. Just listen to the music."

Rightyho. Direct download is here, Mixcloud (may well piss on your chips) stream is here.

See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 28th December 2014

Festive greetings!

Yep, here we are, in the depths of the mighty, name-donating, leftover-munching, board-game-playing, family-amusing, ferrero-rocher-scoffing (hem), great-escape-watching, empty-pub-observing FESTIVE VORTEX. Woo. And Yay. Compliments of the vortex to you all! Hope you're enjoying it as much as I.

Speaking of woo and yay, thanks to @eastvanhalen for last week's pick of the most excellent, parent alarming "Run The Jewels 2" from El-P & Killer Mike, which went down pretty good I reckon, and thanks to Steph from flipping @faberfedor back in the chair, not long after his previous pick. We'll be hearing from him next week but now...

Yea, and verily, the #festivevortex2014 est arrive! 31 quality selections, from the truly sublime to the truly ridiculous, your favourites of the year have been selected, mailed and assembled, and here they are. Prepare your libations and make 'em strong, as we peel back the clingfilm on the aural buffet of the year.

Direct download is here, Mixcloud (let's see what it's made of, eh?) stream is here!

See you at 8pm GMT!