The Listening Club - 16th August 2015

Greetings!

Hope all is fine with yourselves - Standard European summer continues apace here in A-dam, which means, yes, quickly alternating lovely sunshine and torrential storms, although admittedly right now it's betwixt and between the two, keeping us indoors sipping coffee and peering out at soggy tourists who in turn are peering down at soggy maps, wondering where the hell their AirBnB has gone. Par for the course, indeed...

Over on Planet #LC, last week @FaberFedor did his usual head-spinning selection trick, bringing out the bluegrass with selections from The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" from 1972. A serious level of hoedowning was achieved for sure. Thanks to Faber for the pick, and for flipping the frisbee back across the atlantic to @mrhig, who's here with this week's intro...

"As the years get further away in the rear view, it's easy to romanticise the decades gone by as more glamorous than they really were to live through at the time. It's only natural sometimes to look at how things are today and reminisce at how much better we had it way back when. 

Gain enough distance from the past though, and eventually a different view begins to open up. How things really were. This is often a lot darker and more horrific than we claimed to remember it. Taking a look in UK news in the last five years at anything about the past would confirm that.

Our artist tonight has a view of the past that is more or less entirely fictional, but that doesn't make it any less valid.

I first came to find this artist when their music was used on a 1990s UK comedy series. I've been a fan ever since. In common with a lot of the music I enjoy, they have a slightly fantasised look at how the past used to be. Those halcyon days when air travel was impossibly glamourous, when the future held nothing but promise, and automation would ensure none of us had dull jobs anymore and could all focus on lofty ideals, and none of us would be lonely or in need of companionship…

We get the future we deserve, not the one we long for.

For a bit of fun, as you listen tonight, attempt to work out where this artist comes from. Your mileage may vary but I think they come across as quite prismatic in their possible nationality. In addition this may be the first example of its particular genre for Listening Club (or it may not - I'm not all-knowing). Enjoy! Luxuriate.

Serving suggestion - something on the rocks, something with a bit of fizz, or maybe a martini. Go louche."

Right then. Direct download is here, and the mixcloud, if they're feeling charitable, will be here.

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 9th August 2015

Hey all!

Well well, a glorious weekend here in Amsterdam, so with a fine breakfast and bloody mary combo swimming around in my stomach and the sound of Terry Riley's "Rainbow In Curved Air" and Arvo Part's "Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten" floating out of Radio 6 (good work Tom Service), it's time for a bit of tapping before a sitting out and relaxing session in the sunshine. Hoping there's no late disturbances like last week, kudos to @thejayarr for whipping a new treat out of the bag once he discovered his original selection had already been chosen last year by @eastvanhalen. For future reference, the list of albums we've already had is now here (thanks @akx, and ironically @thejayarr for the work) - a quick ctrl-f on that page if you're selecting and think you could be risking a repeat wouldn't go amiss! Also, stat fans, the track selections for the end-of-the-month vortexes are here, may prove handy if you're new and wondering what all this #vortex business is about...

So yes, @thejayarr turned it around in storming speed last week zooming back with "3rd Eye Vision" by Hieroglyphics, which did the job rather nicely indeed. Many thanks to him for the double effort, and for flipping the frisbee across to @faberfedor for this week's selection. And here he comes...

"Hi-de-ho, LC!

While listening to last week's excellent selection by @thejayarr, 
I kept thinking a good counterpoint would be $ALBUM by $BAND. Surprisingly, I don't own a copy of $ALBUM. I went to the local CD store but they didn't have a copy. Seeing how I don't want to encourage Apple's iTunes business, I looked around for an alternative.

I came up with this week's selection.

I find the background to this album to be very interesting. You may or may not. This band was a moderately successful soft country rock band in the early 70's (think early Eagles). They came across a musical tradition (which is the title of the album) which was very non-commercial. Their record company didn't want to do it but the band was adamant ("were adamant" for our Brish friends). They harassed their record company until the record company said "Fine! Here's some money. Go away!"

It became their most popular album and spawned a series of albums in the same vein with similar titles by other artists. Interestingly enough, you never hear anything from the band members themselves as they played as session musicians to the artists you'll be hearing.

During the opening strains, I expect to read a lot of "@faberfedor Are you freaking serious?!" or "I hate this style of music!" Keep listening. These were the best artists of their time in this 
genre. Not the stars. Not the headliners. The best musicians.

See you at 8 PM BST."

Indeedy. Download is here, and the mixcloud (*sacrifices goat*) shalt be here. So mote it be.

The Listening Club - 2nd August 2015

Hey there!

A real fijn day here in A-dam, sitting in the sun out front of the house watching folks trundle past, whilst sipping an elongated bloody mary and mulling over an intense day of fun yesterday at Pride - still the most insane party day of the year; all the lunacy of King's day, but crammed into a much shorter area and time frame. Truly crackers.

Back on planet #lc we vortexed it up last week with the #lastdancevortex / #lasttunevortex, which despite the different interpretations of the theme, flowed together rather nicely I thought - many thanks to everyone for chipping a tune or two into the pot.

This week we're returning to regularly scheduled programming, which means it's over to frisbee-holder @thejayarr for this week's intro...

"Looking back over my previous picks, it's pretty clear that they all fall into the mold of 'white guys with guitars'. With that in mind, I've tried to go for something different this time. Really different. This is hard, unflinching rap which probably won't be to everybody's tastes, and there's a good chance that the people who'll like it will have already heard it anyway (because it's not exactly obscure), but screw it, it's too good to not pick.

This is a record I only came to earlier this year, after track 3 was featured on the closing credits of a TV show, of all places. It's got one of those intros you can't ignore and when I looked it up, it turned out it was by a group that I'd heard of but had never even been tempted to investigate. It's their second album and, along with their début, it hasn't left my phone for months now. Hell, I've listened it to at least five times this week and I'm still not tired of it.

Turn up the volume and enjoy. You can always apologise to the neighbours later."

Well, sadly @thejayarr picked an album we've already had, but has quickly supplied a replacement -
Direct download is here, mixcloud stream (if it survives long enough) is here.

Hope to see you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 26th July 2015

Hey everyone,

Hope you're doing fine - Slow going here in Amsterdam, as a wave of supremely grotty rainstorms batter the lowlands into submission, meanwhile a set of titanic-sized hangovers sit around the house following a highly experimental evening of gin & tonic making. Ouch and oh dear...

Last week in #lc land, @tibieryo was back in the saddle, and pulled one right out of left field with Yamantaka//Sonic Titan's stomping album "YT/ST" (available from Bandcamp here!). Many thanks to Joe for the pick, and for flipping the frisbee across to @thejayarr for next week's pick...

But first, tis #vortex time!, which after a little discussion, allow us to dim the lights for a #lastdancevortex... or is it more of a #lasttunevortex ? Either way, it's the end of the night in club #lc, over and over again... join us to find out what exactly that entails.

Direct download is here, and the mixcloud is here.

See you at 8pm! BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 19th July 2015

Greetings,

Happy Sunday Y'all - Hope you're doing good. Pleased to have the new homestead finally ready for guests here in Amsterdam this weekend, with My Own Mum being the inaugural guest, we'll see if we can tempt her with a little bit of #lc action later... Speaking of which, it's #vortex time again next week: I seem to recall a flurry of possible suggestions for themes over the past couple of weeks, so we'll have a chat about it tonight and decide then, yeh?

Last week @AndersHanson was in the chair, and took, I think, maybe the most daring #lc pick one can take, selecting something by his favourite band Delays, namely their debut album from 2004, "Faded Seaside Glamour" which seemed to go down rather well, I'm sure much to his relief. Many thanks to Anders for going for it, and for flipping back the baton to @tibieryo, who is right here with this week's intro...

"I heard about this band when they were longlisted for the Polaris Prize. I read the band name, and I thought "That's the stupidest fucking band name I have ever read."

I googled them out of sheer morbid curiosity and found their Bandcamp. Their genre was a 27-word paragraph. And I thought, "that is the most useless, pretentious, and self-consciously 'arty' thing I have ever read, and it's dumb."

Figuring it was a Sunday morning and I felt like going further down the rabbit hole cos I had nothing else to do, I pressed play on the first song on their first album. Within minutes, I had a new favourite band.

I make a habit of saying that there has been no progressive, innovative, or "new" music with a guitar as a lead voice since 1980. And very frequently, I have my head up my ass about something.

Here are a band, an album, and a genre of music I had my head up my ass about. The only downside is that their fans don't know how to pogo."

Okidoke. Direct download is here, and, if the gods are willing, come the hour, the mixcloud will still be here.

The Listening Club - 12th July 2015

Hey there,

Good to see you, hope the season is proving complementary to your fine selves and needs. Life goes on here in A-dam sensibly today, tidying, sorting and setting up the spare room for impending family and friends visits, after a rather delicious Friday drinking @nessiest's mighty fine melon & raspberry daiquiris in the sun whilst watching drunk Dutchies negotiate the watery highways, and a rather mellow Saturday dealing with the related hangover thereof. All par very much for the course, as you'd expect. Yay summer!

Back on planet #LC, @eastvanhalen was in the chair last week and hit quite an impressive home run with a collection of Mandrill's finest work, "Fencewalk: The Anthology". Many thanks to her for the pick and for sending the frisbee back across the atlantic to @AndersHanson, who is right here with this week's pre-match...

"Finally I've done it! This band has been on my shortlist other times I've made a Listening Club pick but either it just didn't feel the right time or I couldn't decide which album to pick. Finally I’ve gone with it.

This is without doubt my favourite band. I discovered them ten years ago when they released their first single and I've just loved everything about them. I love that I was living just five miles from where they grew up at the time I heard their first single. I love the title and the imagery of this album's artwork. I love that they've underachieved commercially even though you often hear their songs on TV. I love their floppy blonde haired pop cuteness yet also indy edge. I love that their lead singer talked about his depression at the time I was going through the same thing. And love that someone I fell in love with at the time this album came out was coincidentally also one of their small number of fans. Of course, I also love their catchy songs and their relaxed melodies but that should be obvious.

There’s so many other great songs of theirs I wish I could play, but in the end I went with their first album which is how I first discovered them and at last year's tenth anniversary tour they simply played it from beginning to end at each gig. Enjoy!"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and, in shallah, come the hour, the mixcloud will still be here.

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 5th July 2015

Greetings all,

@kleptones back again after traditional Glastonbury hoo-ha with @nessiest and @emmaprice - as usual much fun and unsanitary insanity in the fields, too many highlights to mention but as usual wishing I could clone myself a hundredfold to take it all in - there's just waay too much to do... I know, first world problem deluxe.

Back on planet #lc, @jimmccauley and @holette teamed up to help this year's #livevortex which sounded mighty fine indeed - thanks to all who chipped in a tune or two. Way back on the other side of the fence, @eastvanhalen was found to be "with frisbee", and here she is...

"Hey everybody:

As is traditional, I threw out all the entries I had in the hopper, judging them too angsty/shouty/proggy for the lush and gorgeous summer we're having here in Vancouver.

Instead, here is a band I only first heard about a week ago. It's a disc from an anthology (!), with the songs dating mainly from the mid 1970s. The tracks run from booty-shaking R&B to salsa to balladeering in a way that, to me, has a real New York City feel. This is music for sun and hot pavement and drinks on the fire escape and sweaty dancing. Get something cold to drink and enjoy."

Righty ho! Direct download is here, and if we're feeling lucky, the mixcloud might well still be here...

Hope to see you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)