The Listening Club - 15th March 2020

Greetings folks,

@kleptones here, back at the blog sooner than expected for well obvious reasons. Amsterdam is unsurprisingly really fuckin' quiet (school, cafe & bar shutdown was just announced, in effect from 6pm), not that I've been out of the house much to check. Here's hoping that (for once) people heed the advice of medical professionals (and some governments, hem hem) and lay low until this runs its course... there really is nothing else that can be done, sadly.

Last Sunday, in my absence @JimMcCauly was running things and @EastVanHalen was in the hot seat, bringing the mighty funk of Bootsy Collins' Rubber Band, recorded live in Louisville way back in 1978, which got the assembled grooving like only Bootsy can. Thanks to Steph for the pick, and for sailing the frisbaton down south to @wojsvenwoj, who is right here with tonight's intro...

"I'm sure I'm not unique in this respect but, lately, at the end of every week, I look back and think, "what a month!" 

This past week was no different but the volume seemed to be turned up 11 though, with the continued spread of COVID-19, the bungled and not-so-bungled responses to it, the stock market's turmoil, festival, concert, and sport cancellations far and wide, borders closing, self-quarantines, and so on. Given the news, I was half-tempted to collect various covers of John Lennon's "Isolation" but I'm not sure that would have qualified under the rules.

When I got down to it though, I was flip-flopping between picking something calming and soothing to counteract the stress and anxiety of the real world and something that was reflective of the times. After reviewing some records from either side of that divide, I flipped the mental coin in my head and went with the latter.

So here's a dystopian tale of environmental pollution, totalitarianism, nuclear annihilation, and a Messianic boy with psychic powers. It's a double album so a bit on a the long side (sorry) but you've nowhere to go and nothing to do today except stay in and listen to music, right?"

Okidoke, direct download is here (with the wrong date on it, oops), and the stream is below:


See you at 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 8th March 2020

Hey there, listening chums! @JimMcCauley here, covering for an in-transit @kleptones. Just got back from a couple of late nights at a friend's in Wales, where I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Going to bang this out and then have a bit of a lie down; it's been that kind of weekend.

Last week saw @unmannedfuture hitting us with her maiden pick in the form of the eponymous debut album by psych-rock supergroup Heron Oblivion, which went down a treat with its big helping of fuzz and side order of wah-wah. Thanks to Ann for the pick, for chucking the old frisbaton at @eastvanhalen, who will address you imminently.

"Greetings, listening clubbers:

Spent part of this week miserably laid up with the crud (no, not the pandemic thingy) and then I tried to do a week’s work in two days and…it’s Saturday night, I have a headache, and the surefire choice I made last Sunday is of course rejected out of hand. So it went something like this:

<me> HALP I CANNOT DECIDE WHAT TO PLAY I HATE EVERYTHING I AM LISTENING TO

<bf> (casually) Here are a half dozen rad things that I just happen to be listening to atm

<me> WAIT I ACTUALLY LOVE ONE OF THOSE WHICH IS AMAZING BECAUSE I HATE EVERYTHING

<me> scours the internet for a copy to acquire, comes up with nothing anywhere WHY INTERNET WHY

And like magic, a download link appeared in my inbox, and I was saved. 

No better cure for grumpiness than the funk, so here it is — a bootleg of some fine and filthy funk live from Louisville, Kentucky in 1978. Cheers."

Cheers! Direct download's here, HearThis stream's below.

Word of warning to the trans-Atlantic contingent; I think you've just turned on daylight savings time or something, but we haven't and I'm far too tired to work out whether you'll have to start playback an hour later or earlier or whatever. This handy page should help you figure it out, though. So see you at 8PM GMT!

The Listening Club - 1st March 2020

Pinch and a punch to you all.

Hope things are going fine wherever you are. A gentle Sunday here in Amsterdam, recovering after a long night of playing tunes, drinking and talking. And the rain has eased off for the first time in bloody ages, nice to see a blue sky again, for sure.

Advance notice that I'm going to be away next Sunday AND the Sunday after (blimey!), so looking for a volunteer to run things here in my absence, please let me know if you can help, thanks!

Last time on #LC, @akx was in the chair, lounging around with the sound of Tom Waits' "Small Change", which not surprisingly went down a treat. Thanks to Aarni for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @unmannedfuture, who, after the requisite amount of deliberation, has penned this by way of introduction to their debut pick...

"Virgin Frisbee catcher here. Armed with only the advice to not overthink this, I jumped nimbly over the first hurdle (The Smiths! Tom Waits! I’m back at uni and therefore it’s time for The The!) and landed on something new but old, west coast* but half a mile down the road from Bert Jansch’s place, from a whisper to a scream, “pastoral to unhinged” if you follow the critics’ line. It’s quite a trip. They opened a highly strange triple bill (to be revealed), which is how I found them, and played to about…. 3 people. Criminal.

#drinkingclub I’m all about sours (that’s the cocktails with egg whites) so - one of those. Maybe a sidecar, which you can make with brandy, or even bourbon if you have any left over from last week. Shake with lemon, cointreau & raw egg (ingredients a pleasing metaphor for this band, actually), lie flat and die a little.

*of North America. It’s lunchtime here."

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


See you at 8pm GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 23rd February 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope all is good. Feeling fine and Sunday-ish here after an excellent spread of wide ranging electronic sounds last night, courtesy of Sonic Acts at the Paradiso, topped by Holly Herndon and her fine ensemble. Seriously, if you get a chance, go see her, it's quite a unique and life-affirming show, to say the least.

Last week it was me, @kleptones in the chair, digging back to simpler times with The Smiths' "The Queen Is Dead", which harked back for many, surprised how many folks had never listened to a whole Smiths album before, but there you go, that's what this thing is all about. Following that was a quick sail of the frisb from here in The Netherlands to Finland, where @akx has this to say...

"Ah, been a while since my last pick. It's been a while since I've found any new albums (aside from things sung in Finnish that might not really be very accessible), so I figured I'd look through my CD shelf, but alas, to no avail! However, when the CD shelf fails, there's always Foobar2000's shuffle, and a couple random tunes fast-forwarded I realized this is what I want to play for/with you.

Anyway, this artist is someone I was turned on to by my stepdad quite some time ago, and the friends I've sung karaoke with (to?) certainly are familiar with him too, and in fact a later album by the same
artist has been featured on Listening Club back in 2014! I think it'll be fun, or at least interesting (as LC tends to be) to listen to the full thing, not just the two tracks I tend to "sing", with you folks.

#drinkingclub: your cheapest bourbon, for a better emulation."

Download is here, and the stream's below:


See you at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 16th February 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope all is good and well in your hood. Wet, yes, again in Amsterdam, as Storm Dennis floats across the country giving it a good wash and blow dry, unlike Ciara, which missed us for the most part. Have you had a storm named after you? Was it a good one? Leave us a comment! Or don't!

Last week, @har_shone was in the chair bopping to the retro-futuristic sounds of Caravan Palace's "<| '_' |>", which divided opinion, some positive, some negative, which is absolutely as it should be. Thanks to Harriet for the pick, and for sailing the frisb back across to me, probably due to my clearly expressed dislike for the aformentioned. Which then, therefore, brings me to tonight's intro...

"Yes, opinions are tricky buggers, aren't they? Sometimes they should be expressed more diplomatically than others, but emotions and history tend to get in the way, both of which are also tricky buggers. Things have a tendency to get rather messy, rather quickly.

All of which is something that the vocalist on tonight's pick knows full well. 

This is a legendary album from a long time ago, containing several indie disco perennials, but still near-perfect in its pacing and execution (and also an all-time favourite of my own), but sadly the humour and poetry that balanced the vitriol and discontent in these grooves has long since vanished (along with the musicians), leaving, yep, just an unloveable c***. 

Still, it's good to be able to listen back to a time when the lyrical nuances were perfectly balanced, the music rose to the occasion, intense emotions were welcomed, and for many, a chance to wax nostalgic about a time when the battle lines were way more clearly defined than they are today.

"Has the world changed, or have I changed?". Both most likely. Opinions welcome!"

Direct download is here, and the stream is below:


See you at 8pm GMT!

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!