The Listening Club - 17th January 2016

Greetings,

Yeah well, what's left to be said? From the five-year old me, pointing out "Space Oddity" at the top of the singles rack in the Co-op in Dover, in response to my mum's question of "Which one is it, then?" to last weekend, sat with @nessiest listening to Blackstar for the first time in wonderment, his music has been a constant in my life. Like a lot of folks, I thought he'd go on forever.... I'll miss you deeply, David.

Last week that @nessiest was on frisbee duty also, and danced us all into 2016 with her pick of Shamir's "Ratchet" which hit the spot for most folks. Many thanks to her for the pick, and for trying hard to sail the frisbee to someone who wasn't going on their winter holidays, who turned out to be @JimMcCauley in the end. And here's Jim...

"I'll keep it brief because there's been so much written about David Bowie in the past week, and as someone who always admired Bowie more than I actually liked him – Life on Mars is clearly one of the greatest songs ever written and if I were ten or so years older I'd have completely lost my shit over Ziggy Stardust, but by the time I really noticed him he was all sharp suits and stadiums, and that kind of impression sticks – I don't really have anything to add, so let's get straight to it.

Tonight's album is what David Bowie means to me. Enjoy!"

Right then. Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream is...


Hope to see you at 8.

The Listening Club - 10th January 2016

Greetings all,

Headlong into 2016 we tumble, spending the weekend waving goodbye to the xmas tree and joining a large global congregation in raising a glass or two to the recently departed Mr. Kilmister, but keeping both eyes fixed firmly on the horizon, as always...

Last week we kicked off our 2016 season in fine style with @andershanson's pick of Yeasayer's "Odd Blood" from way back in 2010, which seemed to go down rather well. Many thanks to Anders for the pick, and for sailing the frisbee across the north sea to @nessiest, and here she is with the pre-match...

"Call me indecisive-ness. As at around 2am today you were *this close* to hearing at least the first 30 seconds of Ace of Spades. A few hours before it was Mr Bowie’s ★ which to me feels too freshly-hatched to be a listening club pick, but by crikey it’s a good listen. Then there was the lovely but unerringly melancholic folk album which is my first music purchase of the year and almost my pick. But…

This year my only resolution is to invest energy and attention in the inspiring and invigorating fun stuff I want to do, rather than the awfully responsible stuff I feel I should do. Which makes me doubly glad you lovely beans are around each Sunday.

So no introspective folk ballads tonight, instead measured, self-aware, fresh pop from a new artist with a decent dose of sass. You might, possibly, recognize one track from a past vortex. Now you get the full treatment of the debut album. Cowbells ahoy! This is an album that deserves effervescence, pick your drinking club choice accordingly."

Right then. Download is here, and the HearThis stream is...


See you 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 3rd January 2016

Happy new year folks, hope you had a fine one whatever you got up to - here in Amsterdam it was fireworks insanity as per usual, so we hit the streets and had a seriously random roam through the city centre for a change, resulting in rather a splendid time indeed. And so into 2016 we go...

Last week, of course, we #festivevortex'ed, and as usual had a cracking selection of tunes, many thanks to you all for chipping in your favourites and popping in for a listen. Now over to @andershanson, who is waiting with the first pick of the year...

"Despite two weeks in which to make my Listening Club pick, most of which was spent off work, I only got round to making my decision on which album to go with in the early hours of this morning. It was a decision that was complicated by me realising at the last minute that despite having only done this three times, my preferred album was one I'd forgotten that I'd already chosen before.

This album is one that I found by hearing one of the tracks played in the background in a bar. Having found the song, downloaded the album and then soon after been able to see the band perform at a brilliant gig round the corner from my flat, it became a firm favourite. It's an album that I've neglected for a bit but now feels a good time to dust it off and give it another play. It's catchy, with a few quirky touches that make it a bit different, but also some elements that leave you in no doubt that it's me that's picked it."

Right then. Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream is...


See you at 8!

The Listening Club - 27th December 2015

Happy Vortex everyone!

It's the most won-der-ful time of the year! Fridge is full of tasty leftovers, there's a pile of random booze to process, a stack of new presents to play with, friends to visit, and New Year's is on the horizon.... but nothing seems to be happening except "The Great Escape" on BBC2 in perpetuum; we're deep in the quantum state of the holiday season, the existential conundrum in the midst of wonderland, the #festivevortex.

(Last week, lest we forget, @wojsvenwoj was in the chair and brought the year's regular picks to a close with Dutch Uncles' "O Shudder",   which was appreciated by some, and 80s Bingo-d to death by others. A brave and fine pick nonetheless, many thanks to them for that, and flipping the frisbee across to @andershanson for next week but first...)

Yeah. #festivevortex. Tunes of 2015 times twenty-three according to the #lc. Boffo. Let's have it.

Direct download here, hearthis stream:



See you at 8pm GMT. Bring a bottle.

The Listening Club - 20th December 2015

Festive greetings folks!

Hope you're all doing well, and however you choose to celebrate this chunk of the calendar, wishing you all a most complementary, peaceful time! Here in AMS it's the first Xmas in the new abode, so lights are twinkling and the freshly-installed tree is looking mighty fine, if somewhat groaning under the weight of lights and ornaments...

Reminder that next Sunday is #festivevortex, so we need one or two of your favourite tunes from 2015 to shuffle up and serve with much alcohol and bonhomie next week - get 'em in as soon as you can please!

Last week @saucer was in the chair, and plumped for left-field French lo-fi goodness courtesy of "The Cult Of Less" by Lispector, which went down rather well indeed. Many thanks to him for the pick, and for sailing the frisbee across to @wojsvenwoj, who is here with a fine way to end the year's selections...

"Aside from to-do lists, I can't make a list to save my life. Especially ordered ones, such as those best-albums-of-the-year lists that multiply and spread across the land as the new year approaches. I have a hard enough time quantifying what I like about a song or an album, never mind comparing and contrasting albums released during one revolution around the sun and sorting them in a way which reflects which ones I think I like best at that time. 

However, I appreciate and respect the people who can - or at least make the effort to try - as those lists are an excellent source to find releases I missed over the year. 

So, for this week's Listening Club, I went looking through the Top Ten album lists looking for something I had missed entirely, a band and album I was unfamiliar with. A look through the lists from music magazines was surprisingly dull and similar and while I was tempted to pick Kendrick Lamar's record just because I haven't heard it, he didn't met the unknown artist criteria. So I turned to the bloggers and came across a list which emphatically placed this selection at its top. The band's name may have flashed across my consciousness during 2015 but it did not leave an impression. The description of the album sounded interesting so here it is: a record I have not heard, that may or may not be well-known, that may or may not suck, that I will be listening to for the first time today."

Righty-ho. Direct download is here, and the hearthis stream is...

Hope to see you at 8pm!

The Listening Club - 13th December 2015

Greetings all,

Hope you're all fine - feeling rather good here as last week's holiday mode evolves into festive mode, aka more opportunities for fun, food and alcohol. It all seems to have worked out rather nicely for a change... Also worth throwing out advance notice for the holiest of holys, yea the 2015 #festivevortex, which will take place 8pm GMT on Sunday 27th December. As always, from each of you i need a couple (pls no more than 2) of your favourite tunes that came into existence during this year, for playback and combined merriment. If you can get them in early, it would also be very much appreciated, naturally...

Last week @rougeforever was in the chair, treating us to (probably) her favourite album of the year, Sufjan Steven's "Carrie And Lowell", which was rather fine. Many thanks to her for the pick, and for flipping the frisbee across to the newly-returned @saucer, who is here with the intro...

"Freshly home (in California) from my unjustifiable-except, you-know, yolo, trip to Doha and London, jet lag in full force. Had a fabulous time (including two! listening club evenings hosted by @emmaprice), bridged back into real life with @rougeforever's frisbee toss (and yes, dear NSA, I did declare the frisbee on my landing card).

It was chilly, windy, & rainy in London. We're closing in on the end of 2015, a year that has made me value (more sharply and vividly) simple things that are dangerous to take for granted, among them friendship, caring, safety, & sanity. This year I've also learned something about the difference between fear and danger, and this evening's album is all about fitting this (complex but maybe elemental) mood.

In technical terms we have a short, lo-fi, minimalist, romantic set, from a relatively obscure artist whom I cannot recall how I discovered.

Be warm, and enjoy."

Righty-ho. Direct Download is here and the HearThis stream is....



See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 6th December 2015

Greetings all,

Yep, we're back from the beach trough, looking rather brown and slightly plumper as you'd expect. A very enjoyable week's diversion from the cold and dark for sure, although the severe paucity of quality musical entertainment during that time has left me well in need of some good old home cooked #lc fare...

Last week @JimMcCauley was man run tings, and presided over the #EspritD'EscalierVortex, which sounded all the shades of random that one would have expected. Thanks to Jim for taking care of business, and everyone for chipping in a track or two. Back on normal schedule this week, and therefore @rougeforever is due here any second with this week's introduction...

"We're away for the weekend in Yorkshire. At this time of year it's customary to look back on the year, think about highlights and lowlights and for a lot of us, that means thinking about the soundtrack that accompanied those memories. For me that means driving through New England to the sound of Fallout Boy on the radio, sitting on delayed trains to the sound of Father John Misty and wanting to dance to Taylor Swift whenever she appeared on the telly. It meant putting this Listeningclub pick on my headphones and trying to hide the tears when I listened to the words. Make no mistake - this album is a weepie.   It's about death and mourning, about that time when you're so deeply deeply sad that you don't think you're ever going to crawl out and feel normal again. It's about looking for redemption, and how sometimes it's the little things that keep us going when we don't feel we can. Truly, something for everyone. With just under three weeks to go, I think it's my album of 2015. 

We were lucky enough to see this album toured this year. Only one date, but that show went straight into my top 3 shows EVER.  

If you like this artist or their ilk you will have heard this already. I'm afraid a lot of you won't enjoy this record, but them's the breaks. You can pick next week, and treat us all to some overblown proggy nonsense which will make me want to tear my ears off. Gotta love listeningclub.  

I do hope though, you'll find something to like about this record. Even if it's just the lyric about wanking."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearThis stream is...


Hope to see you at 8pm GMT!