The Listening Club - 16th September 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope all is good in your respective hoods. Here in Amsterdam, the last dregs of summer continue to play out and folks do what they can. personally hoping for at least one more sunny outdoor dinner in the locale before the grimness descends, but we'll have to see what Mr. Weather has to say about that...

Last week chez #LC, @wojsvenwoj was in the chair, getting extremely exotic with his pick of "Tahdig" by Mitra Sumara, which got many of the assembled whirling dervishly. Many thanks to him for the pick, and for sliding the frisb across to @FaberFedor, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"After last week's entry, I was in a bit of a quandry; do I attempt to do something as exotic or go off in another direction? After digging through the vault, I came up with fourteen possible choices; all but four are from the last century and rock-oriented. I threw a four-sided die and we have tonight's pick.

This is the artist's first official release; there was an underground release a year before that I don't care for as much. I'll be surprised if anyone in here hasn't heard of the artist. I expect half of y'all own the album.

So, without further ado, let's ado this!"

Okidoke. Direct download is here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) tonight.

The Listening Club - 9th September 2018

Greetings folks,

Warm with patchy sun here, so a spot of beer on the stoop to while the afternoon away is the order of the day, whilst whiling away is still a possible thing. Bit of advance notice that I'll be unavailable for #LC duty on the 7th & 14th Octobers, so if anyone fancies a spot of caretaking these here environs, please let me know, thanks!

Last Sunday, @nessiest was in the chair getting heavy with her pick of Sparklehorse & Danger Mouse's cast of thousands epic "Dark Night Of The Soul", which wound it's woozy charms around the assembled. Many thanks to Vanessa for the pick, and for sailing the frisbaton across to @wojsvenwoj, who is right here with tonight's intro...

"Naturally, after last week's warm and sunny summer Sunday afternoon, today is gray, cool and a bit weepy. Nevertheless, I still went ahead and picked this slice of upbeat, funky fun that sounds great (in my opinion anyway) blaring out rolled-down car windows. Maybe they weren't this year's summer jam (mining the vein of pre-Revolutionary Iranian pop music might put a damper on such achievements) but that doesn't mean they couldn't have been! Enjoy!"

Direct download is here, and the HereMayBeSpoilers stream is below:


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) tonight for playback.

The Listening Club - 2nd September 2018

Greetings,

So, the last bit of summer (or first bit of autumn if you're @nessiest) hits, and everyone's out and about in the sunshine, but with a light jacket just in case. Yesterday's Festival Magia in Rotterdam was a grand little garden party with an oddball soundtrack in a football pitch-sized city park, and although I'm not that keen on the super high tech / high rise city centre, there definitely seems to be enough oddball corners to the city to warrant a return visit or two, I'm sure...

Last week chez #LC, @holette was in the chair, getting down and dirty with her pick of Warmduscher's "Whale City", which rocked the assembled most satisfactorily. Thanks to Sarah for the pick, and for sailing the fromageaton back over this side of the channel to wor @nessiest, who is sat upstairs typing out the following introduction...

"If you were to make a Venn diagram of the Listening Club’s featured artists and musical styles, well, you’d be in for trouble and why would you even try? But if you did, this album would be at the heart of one odd little bubblecluster off to the side. I think some of you may already know it, in which case maybe it’ll be a welcome rediscovery. I hope not all of you know it and I hope you won’t all hate it. 

To me this album sings of the weirdness of living. I enjoy parts of it a lot but not all of it speaks to me equally. Some bits are utterly beautiful and joyous but it’s all bit of a mixed bag. Changeable, interesting, imperfect and a little messy. Like life. 

Drinking club tip: something mellow and soothing. Grab a blankie, light some candles."

Okaydoke, direct download is here, and the HearMySpoiler stream is below:


See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) tonight for playback.

The Listening Club - 26th August 2018

Greetings folks,

So, yeah, remember the summer of 2018?... twice as hot and half as long as usual. Seems decidedly autumnal here now, showery and windy. Hoping it's a bit better next weekend as we're off to a natty little Jazz/World fest in Rotterdam. Marcos Valle! Azimuth! Wally Baderou! Hailu Mergia! Hell, it's got to be sunny for those folks...

Last week here in #lc-land, @akx was keeping the summer alive in his own way with his pick of Air France's EPs "No Way Down" and "On Trade Winds", which hit the spot for the assembled. Many thanks to Aarni for the pick, and for sailing the cheesebaton across to soggy Snowdonia, where a cagoul-coated @Holette has this to say by way of introduction...

"I’m someone with a weakness for sleazy garage rock and this is my new favourite band. An offshoot of a better known outfit, this lot play it loud, louche and super catchy. I’ve seen them described as “the pop band from hell” and you’d probably consider crossing the road if they lurched your way.

With lyrics in the same vein as Lou Reed, a little of The Cramps swagger and some Jon Spencer style hysterical grooviness, they make a schizophrenic noise that has had me listening on repeat for a couple of months. 

Amidst the low life tales and lounge bar crooning, listen out for a really cool xylophone riff. Or maybe it’s a glockenspiel. I get confused. Anyway, happy UK bank holiday listening to you from our rain lashed Snowdonia camp site!"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 19th August 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine and well. All good here in Amsterdam, continuing standard grey muggy summertime, which is not so bad, as I'm back in an office most of the week, and therefore already valuing the weekend time seriously. Plus ça change, eh?

Last week in #LC-land, @SimonLandmine was in the chair, treating everyone to the string stylings of Matt Howden, aka Sieben's "The Old Magic", which had it's fair share of both fans and detractors, as is often the way. Many thanks to Simon for the selection, and for sailing the frisb up to @akx, who has this to say by way of introduction...

"This weekend, I've mostly been at my cousin's wedding in the
countryside. The wedding band played rockabilly. I had to (got to?)
wear a suit.

I hope you're ready for two back-to-back EPs (rereleased as an album) of some faintly melancholic leftfield balearic disco ballad synth dream pop from the Swedish west coast."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearMayBeSpoliers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 12th August 2018

Greetings,

Hope you're all doing fine. Finally got a bit of rain here in Amsterdam, which is most welcome, got to say, my brain has a tendency to slow down to a crawl after more than a couple of days of 30+ temperatures, which makes getting anything done a little tricky. Feeling a little apprehensive too this weekend, as come Monday I'm going back into an office job for the first time in 18 months. Hoping they're cool with my current "pants-only" dresscode... :)

Last week chez #LC, the legend that is @mutster101 aimed for the mid-90s with his pick of Pop Will Eat Itself's "Dos Dedos Mis Amigos", which didn't seem to win many new fans, but was cheerfully received by those who knew. Many thanks to Gareth for the pick, and for flipping the frisb across to @SimonLandmine, who has this to say by way of introduction to tonight's selection...

"Unlike my last submission, this one was the result of seeing the
artist live. Some friends were going to see them at a good local pub
and recommended them, and I wasn't doing anything that evening, so I went along. And then bought all of the different CDs they had on sale, and visited their bandcamp site to pick up the others.

They recently put out a new release, but this, from a few years ago, is probably still my favourite overall.

#drinkingclub: Probably mead."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearMayWellBeSpoilerinos stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 5th August 2018

Howdy folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. It's Pride weekend here in Amsterdam, so everywhere and everyone is covered in rainbows, and now on Sunday, with hangovers too. A bonus to have my visiting mum along for her first ever Pride experience too, delighted to see her made very welcome by the revellers. A reminder of how lovely people can be sometimes...

Chez #LC, last week our resident lurker @zbendr finally got a turn in the hot seat, psyching us out with the sounds of The Frowning Clouds' "Whereabouts" from 2013. Many thanks to Ben for the pick, and for spinning the frisb back around to this side of the globe, and into the hands of @mutster101, who's here with tonight's intro...

"This album goes back to the murky days of the mid-90s, when floppy disks were the way you swapped data and the internet was still a thing that was "just for nerds". My creaking 386SX20 was just about able to run Doom 2 and that was how I spent most of my evenings. This album was my perfect accompaniment to cutting edge 3D violence. I regret not discovering this band sooner. They had an extensive back catalogue by the time they released this album, and of course it then turned out to be their last. I wanted to hear more from them, but it was not to be.

For a drinking accompaniment I'd have to suggest a bottle of Thunderbird, consumed on a building site, because anything classier would be doing this band an injustice. Failing that, you could always find an old clunky PC to play Doom 2 on."

Okay doke. Direct download is here, and the HearMayBeSpoilers stream is below:


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