The Listening Club - 15th November 2020

Hey folks,

Well, for a change it's been a predictable week, sadly that means unprecidented levels of political bickering whilst thousands of people unnecessarily get sick and die. Oh 2020, you really are such a card...

Meanwhile in the oasis of sanity that is #LC, last week @Saucer was in the chair, dealing forth a most unusual selection in the form of the original 1961 stage cast recording of the South African "Jazz Opera", "King Kong", which entertained and bamboozled the assembled in equal measures. Thanks to Saucer for the excellent pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @NeilPBardhan, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Near as I can figure out now, I must have first come across this band in early 2010 through a now-defunct music site a friend was working on. Their name popped up again a few months later when I was figuring out my summer concert plans... and then again, a few thousand miles later in my early fall concert plans. After that second show, I introduced myself to them by saying "I've seen you on two continents in the past 6 weeks." They invited me to have a beer with them afterwards, but broke and in a strange logistical limbo, I had to decline. I'll always regret not sticking around for that beer.

Their tracks are full of melodic fuzz, joy, countless layers, and wonky angles. I don't know how I dance to it, only that I do. What lyrics I recognize are sparse and encouraging. These songs feel like church to me in the best way: redemption and catharsis. 

I've never found another band that sounds like this, and I'm not sure I want to." 

Okaydoke. Direct download's here, stream's below:

See you at 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 8th November 2020

Greetings,

Well, thank fuck for that, eh? Not that it's going to automatically set the world right, but the lack of toxicity in the air is already noticable, and that really does help. Also can't remember the last time there was actually some good global news to celebrate, so congratulations Joe, and good luck...

Last Sunday chez #LC, @akx was in the chair, getting the assembled bouncing in their seats with his pick of Selo I Ludy's "Bunch One". Many thanks to Aarni for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @saucer, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Good news for me in the LC-pick-stress department: being on political tenterhooks left me with zero fucks available for stressing about a pick.

However, yesterday, just before I clicked send on my (high energy, in your face) pick, the networks and newspapers declared Joe Biden winner in Pennsylvania.

And just like that my pick was no longer au courant, apropos, or sane. I love that.

So let's have a go with something else...

I suppose that in the context of 8th November 2020 this album could be an allegory within an allegory. I suppose you're still, like me, a few inches off the ground with seratonin and whatever hormones our bodies give us when we feel a glimmer of hope after years of (and amid continuing) dread. So I offer this little gem as a 30-minute soundtrack to help us savor this crazy beautiful moment in history.

If we were all together, masked up de rigueur, this is what I'd put on the turntable.

Pro tips: The first two tracks are lower volume than the others. Second, this album has a bit of a surprise ending. When it comes, picture a hateful orange being in all-white golf gear riding along smarmily in a cart that suddenly hits a divot, flipping the cart and throwing the golfer out onto his orange face, like so.

Drinking club: something you've been holding onto for the right time."

Okaydoke. Direct download's here, stream's below:

See you 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 1st November 2020

Greeting folks,

Pinch and a punch and all that. And happy spooky time too, if that's your bag. Meanwhile it's all eyes on the US, and crossing fingers firmly that President Snake Oil doesn't convince enough morons to put their X in his "I'm a narcissistic racist" box. Things and plans the world-over are going to be very different if he does, that's for sure, so chalk out your pentagrams, sharpen your broomsticks, fire up your cauldrons and let's help banish this orange fuck for once and for all.

Last week, chez #LC, @samquitter was in the chair, reaching back for the Sound Of '79 in the shape of Gary Numan's "The Pleasure Principle", which brought forth reminiscing and bopping in equal measures. Thanks to Sam for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @akx, who's got this to say by way of introduction to tonight's selection...

"Hey,

It's been a long week looking for and at houses, and carrying boxes

and bags from place A to place B (and curiously enough, these two

things are unrelated).

So, instead of a spooky scary pick you might expect (from me?!) around this time of the year, here's something entirely different and rather non-serious that actually came up as a Spotify Weekly Pick during a drive, and it had both us listeners laughing out loud and going "what the hell?!". We need some of that, don't we?

#drinkingclub: whatever you think goes down well with half an hour of slavic covers.

Hugs from the dark north,

Aarni"

Okaydoke. Direct download's here, stream's below.

See you at 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 25th October 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Still looking for the light at the end of the tunnel here in Amsterdam, but it seems quite a way off - infection numbers are still rising and the govt really seem to be fumbling it terribly. Meanwhile I (and probably most of you) remain glued to what's happening in the US, and hoping that enough folks over there see sense and don't inflict four more years of orange-faced hell on us all... 

Last week in the #LC sanctuary, @unmannedfuture was in the chair, getting all slanted and enchanting the assembled with her pick of Pavement's "Brighten The Corners". Thanks extended for the selection, and for sailing the frisb over to @samquitter who's here with tonight's intro...

"It's another trip down memory lane for me this week - this is an album I was given a vinyl copy of on my 9th birthday and the artist was my absolute number one poster-on-the-wall musical hero at the time. He seemed mysterious, glamorous and futuristic to my young self and perhaps tied in with my sci-fi obsession a little. 

Then when I became a teenager I felt embarrassed about having been a fan, being by now a very mature person with very serious musical taste and generally way too cool for this sort of thing. It didn't help that the artist was clearly a bit of a plonker (actually a lot of a plonker) and - even worse - a proud Tory. 

I had not heard the album (with the obvious exception of the hit track) for almost 40 years when I noticed this summer that my son (who is now 15 and literally down with the kids) had been listening to it on my Spotify account. (This is also how I discover new music these days.) I gave it a spin and was pleasantly surprised, finding some of the music and instrumentation to be both pleasing and amusing. At the traditional and merciful album length of just over 40 minutes it just felt rude not to pick it. Hope you enjoy!"

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

See you 8pm GMT - REMEMBER THE CLOCKS HAVE GONE BACK!!!

The Listening Club - 18th October 2020

Greetings,

Hope you're all doing okay. Yep, it's week whatever in the shitty virus house and everyone is slowly losing their marbles one by one. Numbers keep going up, governments ability to deal with it without destroying the now-painfully-obvious-if-it-wasn't-already-economic-house-of-cards-they've-built-around-us becoming more apparent week by week, the American election is still not over, and yeah, it's still raining. Really starting to wish that I was twently-odd years younger, then I could gleefully zone out on a crapton of quality drugs and wait for this to be over. That said, I have to admit there could well have been a previous global pandemic during my mid-twenties and I probably would have been completely oblivious to it, but anyway, enough about me...

Last week chez #LC, @simonlandmine was in the chair, dealing out Jim Bob's "Pop Up Jim Bob", which charmed most of the assembled it seems. Thanks to Simon for the pick, and for sailing the frisb long distance to @unmannedfuture, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Whenever I go to buy a CD by this band at the cool kids 2nd hand record place, whoever is on the cash desk will always strike up a conversation about them. This is the favourite (rightly so, methinks).  I really disliked it the first time I heard it, but after a few go-rounds each tune got a serious hook into my head. When the CD makes it off the floor of my car and into the player, it usually stays there for a couple of weeks and passengers are inevitably beaten into submission. "

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

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) - Clocks go back next week, you have been warned!

The Listening Club - 11th October 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay and keeping safe. What's to say? Here, the weather's getting shitter and infection numbers are still going up (second highest in Europe atm, sigh), elsewhere there's a no-deal Brexit looming bigger every week and over the pond, the orange lunatic gets worse by the day. At least we have a good soundtrack. Yes, it has been one of those weeks, how could you tell?

Last Sunday on the #LC oasis, @xpollen8 was in the chair, condensing the works of Judee Sill into a sweet half hour that did a fine job in calming and beguiling the assembled. Many thanks to him for the pick, and for richocheting the frisbee across to London, where @simonlandmine looks at it, smiles and writes the following...

"This is an artist whose voice some of you may recognise. Those who recognise the voice will probably do so almost immediately, and will also probably recognise the approach to writing lyrics, which came to the fore in the band they were previously associated with. After that act broke up for the last time, they continued along the furrow that they used to plough.

I saw them live in that former identity quite a few times, and have also seen them live in this newer incarnation a couple of times, both with a full band and as a solo performer.

I would say that this album is short but sweet but, frankly, sweetness is more a trait of their melodies than their lyrics, which have always tended more towards the sharp.

Drinking club: Why are you asking me? It's not like I drink at all often. With the previous band maybe a tin of Red Stripe nicked from the rider, some Johnnie Walker, or even some Galloway's Sore Throat Expectorant, although these days I suspect a bottle of red is more the style."

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

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 4th October 2020

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Seems like 2020 is the year that just keeps on weirding, eh? Here's hoping it doesn't end up in a catastrophic season finale... :-/

Last Sunday, @holette was in the chair, smoothing our souls with her pick of Michael Kiwanuka's "Kiwanuka", which got the assembled grooving and discussing production techniques. Thanks to Sarah for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @xpollen8 who's right here with tonight's intro...

"This is not an album.

This is a short celebratory retrospective of an artist's short career.

After a difficult adolescence, she was the first artist signed to Geffen's Asylum label, and being kicked off of that label led to her re-descent into the drugs that she had been battling.

She died when I was just a kid.

I've put this set together from her only two releases and some captured performances.

I only recently came to know of her, and... she's made an impression.

Track 4 is among the most perfect songs I've ever heard."

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

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