The Listening Club - 9th February 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope all is doing fine, and for those of you in the northern European vicinity, hope you haven't been blown away much, as it's very stormy round these parts at the moment. Still, we're in a chipper mood, recovering after Supergrass doing a fine turn last night in the Paradiso, and @nessiest has an impressive leg of lamb in the oven, so it's all good indoors, if not outside...

Last week, @emmaprice was in the chair, bringing the strangest of big beats with her pick of Bentley Rhythm Ace's eponymous debut album from 1997, which brought compliments, sarcasm and reminiscence from the assembled in equal measures. Thanks to Emma for the pick and for sailing the frisbee a short distance over to @har_shone, who has this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"I am spectacularly late to the party with this band (as usual) but I've only recently discovered them and they have been bringing me great joy in the windy, dark, damp and joyless months that are January and February. So much so, that I am about to ask my Listening Club family a question I am not known to utter often - 'Are you ready to dance?'"

Download is here, and the stream's below:


See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 2nd February 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're having a fine 02-02-2020. Standard buisness here in Amsterdam, still grey, still wet, but even more decent gigs popping up for attendance later this year, so the calendar is filling up very nicely indeed. As for my home country, well, the less said about that the better, but going from a big bong to a small gong kinda sums it all up for me...

Last Sunday chez #LC, @SimonLandmine was back in the chair, getting the assembled bopping with his pick of 2005's '2 Pie Island', the only release from 2 Bit Pie (folks formerly of Fluke). Thanks to him for the pick and for sailing the frisb across London, where @emmaprice is having the usual quandary...

"Greetings all.

I've thought long and hard about this pick. There's a part of me that wanted to play something spiky and angry to sum up the feelings of so many of us in the UK this week, to rail against the stupidity of it all.
However in the end I decided to go for something that will hopefully put a smile on some faces tonight and be a new discovery for many of our friends outside of the UK.

I'm taking you back to the late 90's and I'm at university in North London, spending all of my time between lectures in the many music shops around Soho. I think I'd heard of this artist via one of the many NME cover CD's that were floating around my consciousness at the time. I distinctly remember being in a little record shop next to the LA2 (dearly departed music venue next to Tottenham Court Road) and hearing one of the tracks being played and that was enough to seal the deal. Cue me heading straight to the counter and handing over cash. This was quite a departure for me musically at the time and was a big part of expanding my horizons in other directions. Which is what it's all about really.

This album makes me smile - After this week I'll take that whenever it's on offer.

#Drinkingclub is being drunk out of a plastic cup in a tent while you dance the night away with friends."

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


See you at 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club - 26th January 2020

Greetings folks,

Time flying as usual... end of January already? Blimey. Still on the making plans tip, and also finally, finally, finally getting my next slice of music finished, which is most welcome, as it's taken way longer than I'd anticipated, due to one thing and another, and it's always one of the best feelings in the world when something is close to done, and the light at the end of the tunnel is enjoyably blinding... if you know what I mean :)

Last week @mrtorture was celebrating the frisb's arrival in Buenos Aires with their debut pick of Anekdoten's "Gravity" from 2003 which went down rather well indeed. Thanks to them for the selection, and for sailing the frisb across to London, where @simonlandmine is in the usual quandry...

"Picking albums for Listening Club is difficult, as many have noted.
This time around, I managed to narrow the choice to two albums. And the rip was a bit iffy on one of them, so that one will be held off
until I dig out the CD, which means you get this instead.

This is an album which I picked up after first hearing one of the tracks at a regular club night. I identified the artist in the traditional, pre-Shazam, fashion - asking the relevant resident DJ when they were done readying the next track ...

- "What's this? It's great!"
- "?"
- "WHAT'S THIS?"
- "[inaudible]"
- "SORRY, WHAT WAS THAT?"
- [scribbles]
- "CHEERS!" [thumbs-up]

And then I went out and bought it. And the exact same conversation was replicated a couple of years later, in the other direction, when I played the same track at the BiCon Ball - which was rather gratifying. Bonus points (worth nothing) for guessing which of the tracks inspired the purchase.

It's quite possible that you all know this, as I have absolutely no idea how well known it is. Whether it's familiar or new to you, I hope that you enjoy it anyway.

#DrinkingClub - It doesn't really matter, someone at the club will spill it for you. You might want a bottle of water, though."

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

See you at 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 19th January 2020

Greetings,

Standard intro here, wishing you all well, gently griping about the weather, light commenture and plans about upcoming gigs (John Grant! Pigs x 7! Dekmantel! Birthday shenanigans!). Pretty standard week really, but with much to look forward to...

Last week, @xpollen8 was in the chair, sharing their results of what sounds like quite an immense digitization project in the form of sounds from Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign, Vanguards, and Funk St Workshop from his Father's studio archives. Thanks to him for the fine work, and for sailing the frisb way down to Buenos Aires, where @mrtorture is waiting to provide his debut introduction....

Hello peeps!

First time handling the Frisbee here. I decided to pick something mellow, to go down the road on this Sunday afternoon/night/whichevertimefits.

Lots of mellotrons, pouding and very present bass lines, mellow lyrics and vocal tracks. These fellows have come and gone a long way, fans tend to dislike this particular album (same old "their old stuff was better!!" excuse). Nevertheless, for me this album represents a change of pace in the right direction. They would soon reinforce this in latter releases... but this one feels a lot like where everything began.

I discovered this band and this album at a very different time in my life. In a way that time feels a lot like right now, since thanks to a group of people, I found the joys of musical discovery and rediscovery. I wanted to share this with the rest of you, since it feels like the right place to do so. Serve yourself a smooth cup of tea, or a soothing scotch, sit back and let yourself go.

Cheers!

Okay, direct download is here, and the stream is below:

See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 12th January 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're doing fine and surviving the nose-back-on-the-grindstone time of year. Still keeping up some of the fairy lights here, because they look pretty, and things are just a bit too grey and dull without 'em. Still rather sad following the news of the passing of Neil Peart, who really was one of my favourite musicians of all time. They called him The Professor, and I certainly got a lot of joy and learned a hell of a lot from listening to him play and hearing his lyrics. Although he'd been retired for a few years, he'll still be much missed, but he's left one hell of a legacy, that's for sure...

Last week, @brainspiritus was in the chair, rocking out the assembled with their pick of Gov't Mule's "High And Mighty". Thanks extended for the selection, and for sailing the frisb back across to @xpollen8, who has this to say by way of introduction...

"While the world still exists, I'd like to share a tiny bit of what I've been working on since last summer.

I'm providing more hints than usual, because only a couple of the tracks today are commercially available - the rest are unreleased and I've digitized them directly from their 15IPS 1/4" master tapes as part of an ongoing preservation and archival effort.

Almost unheard-of bands + remarkable musicianship + masterful recording and production techniques + 24 bit/192kHz digitization = something special.

Enjoy ya some Funk & R&B!"

Direct download is here, and the streams down below:


See you at 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club - 5th January 2020

Greetings folks.

Happy new year? We should be so lucky, eh? Already seems like there's been more than enough unwanted craziness, and we're only five days in.... *deep breath*

Still, the annual ceremonial #festivevortex should keep us all protected and positive for a good while. Thanks to everyone for chipping in their fave raves, and thanks also for the compliments about the resulting mix, glad everyone dug it.

Back to regular programming, a few weeks ago @brainspiritus was left holding the festive frisbee, and therefore is right here with the intro to the first pick of the year...

"Happy year of the banana, everybody!

(Because as with the old banana joke, I know how to write the year 202020, I just don't know when to stop.)

I hope you all made it here in one piece, avoiding all the missiles that have been flying for one reason or another, and any hangover you may have had is slowly subsiding.

Just in case there is any remaining headache, I decided against surprise metal guitars tonight, so you're getting something from my usual corner in the big sphere of music instead (sorry, xpollen).  Today's pick is somewhat of a classic: this group has been around for twenty-five years now, and their ancestor formation for another twenty-five years before that. So dig out your tie-dye t-shirts, blame that funky-smelling smoke on residual fireworks, and let your freak flags fly with me for one hour and five minutes. (I promise there's more than two songs in that.)"

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

See you at 8pm GMT tonight!

The Listening Club - 29th December 2019

Greetings and seasonal compliments to you all.

Hope you've all been indulging in a little (or a lot) of what you fancy over the ascribed period. Here in Amsterdam it's been a gentle time, fine food and drink has been consumed and a most welcome and much needed annual decompression has been had. Although I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions, personally the last year has proved to be an annoyance and a disappointment in quite a few ways (can't win 'em all), so it's been good to have the headspace to consider some course corrections for the year (and indeed the decade) ahead. As far as the decade goes, I cannot complain on the whole, the choices I've made have proved to be good ones, so here's hoping that good fortune continues for the next ten years and more.... for everyone. *raises glass to you all*

Week before last, in regular #LC land, @faberfedor was in the chair, taking us back to his formative years with his pick of Santana's "Santana III", which percussed the assembled quite successfully. Thanks to Faber for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @brainspiritus, who has a good length of time to consider their options because first...

Yes, it's the 2019 #festivevortex. A cracking 24 tune selection, all over the shop as usual, but with one or two common threads running through, as you will hear. Thanks to all who chipped in a tune or two!

Direct download is here (backup link here if needed), and the stream is below.


Charge your glasses, and see you at 8pm GMT tonight!