The Listening Club - 24th November 2019

Hey there folks,

Hope you're well and good. Shit, only one month to Christmas? Where has the year gone, etc. Been a quiet grey week here in Amsterdam, but there's Aldous Harding to look forward to on Wednesday, which should chase the grey away for a while, I hope...

Last week in the land of #LC, @eastvanhalen was in the chair, delivering a soulful selection box in the shape of the Soul Jazz Records compilation "Soul of a Nation - Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher", which hit the spot with the assembled for the most part. Thanks to Steph for the pick and for boldly flinging the frisbee across to @adam_steinert, who has this to say by way of introduction to their debut pick...

"Hello All,

A relatively short one, this. This was an album that I first heard when I was 18 or 19, a generation after it was recorded. Hopefully you won't know it, but I'm not laying bets!

At the time, I was devouring all the records I could lay my hands on from this genre, from wherever I could. I found this down the local lending library, which had just started offering CDs. They really didn't carry a big range, and although I got through almost everything they carried, for me it remains pretty much a chance discovery. 

Even on first listen, though, it felt head and shoulders above most of the other stuff, a little rough around the edges in ways most of its contemporaries weren't. The same artist has more famous albums, more strident, more experimental, but to my mind this one still cuts it. I just wish it was closer to Christmas!"

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


See you 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club - 17th November 2019

Evening all,

Yep, back from the front with tales to tell, mainly of 75-year old microtonal Pakistani singers, abnormal levels of sub-bass, mistreated theramins, Ethiopian legends dancing through a rather surprised crowd, on-stage facetime dial-ups to Contra Costa County, comedy 2am moshpits for Lightning Bolt, missing a surprise Bjork DJ set and not giving a toss, @nessiest's fine post-gig uitsmijters, the best/worst lounge-sax cover of Redemption Song I'll hopefully ever hear and (apart from that one tune ;) so much fucking fine music. Le Guess Who 2019 was business as usual, you'll be happy to hear.

Meanwhile, here at #LC, @JimMcCauley was running things, and @ohmyliver was getting funky with his pick of Spanky Wilson's 1969 stomper "Doin' It", which seemed to rock the house quite significantly. Thanks to Oli for the pick, and for sailing the frisb right across to Vancouver, where @eastvanhalen is waiting with a bag of beans and this to say...

"This week’s Listening Club is a first listen for me of an album that’s been sitting atop my stereo waiting for a spin for a couple of months. I bought it because I was browsing in a record store, and they were playing this, and I caught myself dancing my way down the aisle. Sold! 

It’s a compilation. There will be jazz, there will be funk, and there will be jazz funk. #drinkingclub as you wish — I’ll be having my usual strong coffee..."

Right. Direct download here, stream below.


You know the drill. See you at 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club – 10th November 2019

Greetings and salutations. @JimMcCauley at your service, holding the fort while @kleptones and (and @nessiest) are away at Le Guess Who, and trying to ignore a painful neck which I must have twisted awkwardly yesterday. Seems less awful than when I got up this morning, although that could be the paracetamol talking.

Last week, then, it was me on the decks, working through loss with ASIP's Portals: The KLF's Chill Out (A New Dimension), which seemed to go down well for the most part. So thanks to me for the pick and for spinning the frisbaton at @ohmyliver, who I'm sure will be along shortly.

Any moment now.

Ah yes, here he is:

"This pick has been difficult. Which is why I'm writing this at 5pm, Sunday. Sorry. 

I didn't have a clear pick lined up.  

I would have picked Bodega's latest album, just for the 'play me on an open plan tech office sound system, I dare you' opening track. But I'm not sure about the rest of the album in it's arty 'we've heard The Fall, and 90s US indie, and have their obscure tracks too' thing.  No doubt I'll get really into it, and regret not picking it.

I would have picked Soundbwoy Killah's latest album in all it's 'yeah I might be young enough to be conceived during the come down to an early 90s rave, but I like old school 'ardcore *and* uk garage thing.  But it feels a bit wrong putting something like that to listen to at 8pm on a Sunday evening. Apologies if you've had a big night, and your heartbeat still seems to be recreating outtakes from an LTJ Bukem recording session in '93, you'd have dug it. 

I would have picked P-Money's Money Over Everything Vol3, as that's one of the best straight Grime albums in years. But I've picked 2 grime linked albums in the last 18 months or so. 

So, I went with this from the late 60s/early 70s. 

I first heard the cover of a Cream track from this album (in my opinion it's better than the original) on a compilation in the late 90s, and if you were ever out dancing in the Rob Lluis part of 90s Brighton clubland then you probably know it too. I've finally tracked down the album.

It's funky, it's a little jazzy, and it's great. There's a little bit of surface noise on the rip, but to quote the late John Peel, 'life's got surface noise'."

Righty ho then. Direct download is here, HearThis stream is below, you know the score.


See you at 8! (GMT!)

The Listening Club - 3rd November 2019

Greetings and happy blow up parliament day, nearly...

Got to admit this is one of the few times I do miss old blighty, there's nothing like building a damn good bonfire and chucking a few industrial-strength bangers around to cheer yourself into the winter months... The Dutch don't have much in the way of an equivalent, although New Year's eve does come close in the homespun pyrotechnical danger stakes...

Last Sunday, @SimonLandmine was in the chair casting out his folky demons in the shape of Greg Russell's 2017 "Shake The Chains" project, which brought forth great debate, as would be expected. Thanks to Simon for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @JimMcCauley, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"A friend died a couple of weeks ago, suddenly and unexpectedly. We'd only known each other for six months, but in that time we'd played, improvised, performed weird street theatre in the centre of Bath and had many drinks afterwards; the sort of things that break down barriers between people fast.

The last time I saw him we were down the pub with other friends from our little group, plotting an upcoming performance and batting mad ideas back and forth. There were hugs on the street afterwards, we went our separate ways and then at some point later he died.

I was at work when I received the email, and it knocked me sideways; I had to quickly finish up what I was writing and get the fuck out of there. The first music I reached for was @kleptones' LO, which hits so many of the emotional notes that have been in my head since I got the news, but I hope we're all familiar enough with that particular work.

So what I've chosen instead is something that appeared a couple of days after I got the news. Some of you may well have heard it already; I'm not going to explain what it is, only that it helped provide me and some friends with some lovely background noise when things were feeling pretty raw last Saturday morning."

Direct download is here, and the stream is below:

See you at 8pm GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 27th October 2019

Greetings from the un-united kingdom.

Yep, I'm back over in the UK doing the traditional selection of DIY and IT support for my mum, as you do. Seem to have developed a habit of visiting these shores just before another brexit deadline flutters off into the distance. Even managed a couple of pints in the pub that I purchased my very first ever beer (aged 15), which last night was oddly hosting a Pink Floyd tribute band, who weren't that bad, as long as they kept away from the complicated bits...

Oh yeah, don't forget THE CLOCKS HAVE GONE BACK. So we're on GMT again.

Last week, @zbendr was indie mood, with his selection of Beirut's 2019 opus "Gallipoli", which massaged the ears of the assembled to mostly positive effect. Thanks to Ben for the pick, and for flipping the frisb back across to London, where @SimonLandmine has this to say...

"As I retrieved the Frisbaton from where @zbendr ably threw it (and I fumbled my catch, volleying it through next door's greenhouse), I opened up my Listening Club Ideas.txt file. And remained thoroughly undecided about any of them.

So instead of anything that was actually on that list, you get this
instead, which has been in the CD player in my study for a while now, and has grown on me each time. For a change, it's not an act I've seen many times - in fact, I think this line-up only came together for a tour, and this, the associated live album. And, to be honest, I missed the tour. But the CD was for sale on the merch stand after a performance by another associated project, in the physical implementation of the "If you liked that, you might like this" marketing algorithm of certain companies. And I thought "Ooh, that looks interesting."

This one's not so much about the artists, although they're talented, and known in their field, but more about the songs - a mixture of original pieces and some well-known covers, written and selected with a central theme by the chap who brought the project together. I hope that you enjoy them, and I apologise for the lack of unsurprise metal guitars. Blame the weather, or something. Normal service may be resumed another time.

Drinking Club - probably a mug of tea, maybe out of a thermos, and almost certainly in mismatched mugs, probably in a converted church, or maybe one still functioning as such when it's not a music venue. Sorry the pews are a bit hard - we did suggest you brought a cushion*.
(* Yes, that is a call-out to one specific London venue, where 'VIP membership' means a cuppa and a cushion.)"

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


See you at 8pm GMT. No ifs or buts.

The Listening Club - 20th October 2019

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. As usual trying not to type anything related to current British politics, but the combination of that metashambles and me managing to lose a very, very important thing that will most likely never ever be seen again (no need for details, sure you've all been there) has led to a rather grumbly state of mind this weekend. Still, as I always say at times like this, thank god for music. And beer. And good company...

Speaking of which, last week chez #LC, wor @nessiest managed to hit everyone hard in the emotionals with her choice of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds new opus "Ghosteen". Thanks to her for the pick and for sailing the frisb across to @zbendr, who is back within #LC timezone range, and has this to say by way of introduction to his pick of the day...

“Imagine…you lived in a shambolic world. Your everyday plod through life was a shambles, and things just crumbled and rusted when you touched them. You were…a Shambles King Midas, of sorts.

Now, imagine you scraped together a few coppers to pay for a holiday. After packing your favourite clothes into a small battered fibreboard suitcase, you took a discount airline to an exotic place, in a country that no longer exists.

But you’re not staying in the nice part.

You unpack your clothes into a broken wardrobe, grab your hat, and stroll down to the local taverna. I think that’s what they call them here : “tav er na”. As your first cheap drink arrives, a band unpacks battered and bent instruments and…simply starts playing.

And you realise that being shambolic is, sometimes, a bit magnificent."

Direct download is here, and the stream's below:

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 13th October 2019

Greetings folks,

Hope all is good in your hoods. Not much to report here, yeah, still grey and rainy, and looking forward to Le Guess Who more than ever now the lineup timetable is out, even though it's clash city central all the way through (e.g. Godflesh, Gryff Rhys and William Tyler at exactly the same time, and that's just the first hour... what to choose?) But these are good problems to have, of course. Speaking of which, naturally I'll be needing someone to manage things here on that weekend (Sun 10th November) so if anyone's up for standing in, let me know, thx.

Last week, the returning @NeilPBardhan got lo-fi on our posteriors with his pick of Ah Holly Fam'ly's 2007 album "Your Body Will Become An Anchor", which seemed to strike a chord with quite a few folks. Thanks to Neil for the pick and for sailing the frisb back here, where @Nessiest is waiting with this to say...

"I haven’t heard this album yet, but I want to listen to it with the club. A nod to the origins of the Listening Club I guess.

It’s also fitting given it’s the time of year when Kleptones and I met (our anniversary was this week) and tonight’s artist was the first concert I bought tickets for us to go see. It was dead romantic too, which says a lot about my idea of romance.

Drinking club suggestion - something robust and warming, not too fizzy."

Direct download is here, and the stream's right down below.


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