The Listening Club - 11th April 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Bit of a week of same old same old here in Amsterdam; still chilly and soggy with the odd flash of sunshine, and the vaccination programme continues its crawl down the age groups. We personally won't see a sniff of it until mid-May at the earliest, as long as they don't end up banning 'em all due to random side effects that is... :-/

Back in the safe land of #LC, last Sunday we had @wojsvenwoj sailing one in from left field, with his pick of "Black Christ Of The Andes" by Mary Lou Williams from 1965, which had the assembled clicking their fingers and boggling their brains in equal measures. Thanks to Woj for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @myemuisemo, who has this to say by way of introduction to their debut selection...

"Two of my fascinations collide here. One is for finding ways to experience 1960s music as raw, fresh, and innovative, the way it was originally heard, rather than as iconic tracks everyone knows. The other is music somewhat local to places I’ve lived. The Beatles are the obvious touchstone for this band’s debut album, but with a tougher, more swaggering tone. I’m curious what knowledgeable listeners will make of this lost band that dissolved before this album was released.

Mix up a cocktail garnished with a maraschino cherry and contemplate whether it’s too early to swap the white shirt and narrow tie for something in psychedelic paisley."

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

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 4th April 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Here in Amsterdam it was 20°C and gloriously sunny earlier in the week, and there's snow forecast for tomorrow. Good old April, eh? 

Last Sunday we were a-vortexing, in the shape of the mammoth #NonEnglishVortex, which covered all the bases and more, for sure. Many thanks to @saucer for helming and compiling, and to everyone who chipped in some tracks. Tracklisting here, if you missed it...

Two weeks previous, we left the frisb in the hands of @wojsvenwoj, and here's what he has to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"I don't know much about jazz. I've heard the classics and have picked up on things i like and don't care for as much. Unsurprisingly, i veer towards the weirder stuff. Even so, I still don't know much about all that there is to learn and explore in that genre. So I was a bit surprised to learn that the artist who released this record was well known, influential, and involved with some of the bigger names of the big band era. 

I had come across her via a mixtape that included the final song on this record. It's a soulful, religious barnstormer of a celebration that caught my ear, perhaps because it was kind of unjazzy, and resulted in an album purchase (it was a bit hard to find but eventually found it digitally). The rest of the record is a mixture of some really nice combo work and a few other idiosyncratic pieces, including a really striking opening number which is just as unjazzy as the closer but in a completely different way.

Anyway, enough clues. This is a re-issue so includes a few extra tracks bringing its length a little above the optimum but hey! It's Sunday and you have nothing else to do! 

P.S. I was not thinking about Easter when making this selection - it's been in the back of my head as a Listening Club pick for a while now - but it's apropos. Everybody clap your hands!"

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

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 28th March 2021

Greetings folks, hope you're all doing OK. 

Shit, nearly April already. Ah well. Already my pleasure centers are focussing on Le Guess Who festival in November and crossing my fingers firmly. As for the summer... we'll see. yeh?

Last Sunday, hey! it was me. @kleptones, getting everyone polyrhythmically energized with Guedra Guedra's debut album "Vexillology" and a bonus DJ set, which I think more than achieved the intention. Glad I had enough energy left to flip the frisb over to @wojsvenwoj, who will be here mit sounds next Sunday, but first...

Yeah, it's the end of the month, so it be #vortex time - this time a #NonEnglishVortex, lovingly assembled by @saucer, who, wiping sweat from his brow, has this to say...

"By etiquette we don't theme vortexes according to genre. But oh... my... god.... With "non English" as the only unifying factor... I fancy that my years radio DJing conferred some assembly skills but vortexing all y'all's picks this time was effing wild."

That's you told. Direct download is here, stream's below.

CLOCKS HAVE GONE FORWARD - See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 21st March 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Business as usual here in Amsterdam, as the weather gets warmer, the infection numbers go back up (third wave anyone?) and we sit patiently in our bubbles awaiting the vaccine roll out... Events are being booked and scheduled here starting in July, even though (as with most other countries), no one is totally sure yet how they are going to manage "conditions of entry"... but it looks like charging people extra for a rapid test on the day of the event will be the order of things, vaccine notwithstanding. Quite surprised that the govt are letting organisers figure this out for themselves rather than laying down the law, but there you go... it's going to be an interesting summer for sure...

Next Sunday, as I am sure you're aware, is the time of the vortex, this time it's a #NonEnglishVortex, so please parcel up a couple of your global favourites, and DM the mighty @saucer for the upload link!

Last time on the regular #LC, it was the very same @saucer in the chair, keeping us in the here & now for our 9th Birthday with his pick of Dry Cleaning's first two EP's (That's "Sweet Princess" and "Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks"), which went down very well indeed. Thanks to him for the pick, and for sailing the frisb back over to me, @kleptones, so let's get italic...

"Right then. I did have something earmarked for this purpose already, but as it's a bit close stylistically to last week's selection, we'll save it for another time,,, and go for something completely different.

Regular #lockdownradio listeners will know that I'm quite the fan of freaky electronic dance music from all corners of the globe, so here's a brand new dose of that. It's rare that an album comes out that I can cheerfully stick every track straight into my DJ box, but in this case it's pretty much true. Not easy to say much else that won't give it away too much, and I want to allow y'all to amuse yourselves trying to guess the country of origin. 

I realise that "Dance Music Albums" can be a bit of a stilted listen, but (1) this one is quite short (as are all the tracks), and (2) I've trimmed the track edges slightly to make it flow a little smoother. 

Furthermore, (3) if it goes down well, and I hope it does, I'll share an afterparty link to a 45 minute live video from a couple of years ago, which flows nicely and should make all of us pine seriously for the time to come when we can all get sweaty and jump around to crazy sounds together again. (Well, I will anyway!).

Hope you enjoy. Not sure about #drinkingclub... maybe a fruity cocktail, or voddy n redbull. Something with a kick, anyways... :)"

Right then. Download's here, stream's below:

See you 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 14th March 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Astonishing myself this week, if only for the reason that it's our NINTH BIRTHDAY, and I actually remembered it this time, unprompted. Maybe this rememberance says something about the current state of event-free affairs, he says as he postpones his Birthday Party again on Facebook, le sigh... which, actually, is an important point to note. Next year, it will be #LC tenth birthday, and, notwithstanding the ability of the governments of the world to sort this shit out, it kinda coincides with the party I'm waiting to throw. So... joint party next year, yeah? *crosses well-crossed fingers*

But in the meantime, Happy Birthday collective #LC posse, you're all awesome 'n' curious folks, it's an honour to know you.

Speaking of which, last Sunday twas @holette in the chair, soothing the souls of the assembled with her pick of Jessica Pratt's "Quiet Signs". Thanks to Sarah for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @saucer... and here's their intro...

"One of my childhood musical meta awakenings was WGTB-FM, the student station of Georgetown University in DC. It introduced me to Krautrock, Italian rock, Canterbury rock, prog, jazz, electronic music, abstract music, and a special favorite: rock instrumentals. 

Now, this set (from a couple+ years ago, which I mention because of one song in particular) reminds me of those days but it's not any of those genres. My connection trigger is the instrument work. It goes all the places I loved about those instrumentals: Lyricism without lyrics! 

Layer penetrating poetry over the weaponized minimalist rock, et voila... it is very much my cup of tea.

I hope you enjoy, even if you've heard these songs many times."

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

See you 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 7th March 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing OK. Running a bit late after spending time this afternoon figuring out if You Tube would allow collaboration on playlists for a future vortex - turns out it will, but won't allow you to play the ever expanding playlist in real time, which is a shame. If you know any better than me, let me know, would be great to make it work...

Shpeaking of vortexes, last Sunday we had a #coversvortex, which went off very nicely indeed, thanks to everyone that chipped in some tunes, and hip hooray to @akx for gathering and assembling - a fine job!

Now, back to regular programming, we left @holette holding the frisb, and here sh'is...

 "I was privileged to see a live performance by this artist a few years ago at Le Guess Who in Utrecht. The gig was in a huge church with a narrow nave and high stone arches above. The packed congregation watched as cool blue and fuchsia light drenched the performer. One of those gigs so mesmerising that only the odd popped bottle top briefly broke the spell.

This is delicate, dreamy and slightly eerie music with beautiful guitar work. Lyrically I find it quite mysterious. An album it’s good to listen to for a bit of stillness.  

Drinking club suggestion: a pitcher of fruity summer punch 

Dress up club suggestion: probably paisley and certainly floaty."

Okaydoke. Download's here, stream's below...

See you 8pm GMT.

The Listening Club - 28th February 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay and keeping safe. Another bright week here in Amsterdam, it really seems like Spring has sprung early (take that, groundhog), however with bright weather comes plenty of lockdown-denying gatherings, so the infection numbers are going up again also. Sigh. Really starting to look like a race against time with the vaccine here, as it's becoming pretty obvious that a growing proportion of folks have had more than enough of being locked down, and as the weather warms, it's going to get harder and harder to keep everyone indoors, whatever the consequences. And so it goes all over the world right now, I'm sure... 

Last Sunday chez #:LC, wor @nessiest was in the chair, delivering a master of Ethiopian Jazz in the shape of Mulatu Astatke's volume in the fine Ethiopiques compilation series, "Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz 1969-1974", which smoothed everyone out just fine. Thanks to Vanessa for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @holette for week-after-next, but first...

Yep, it's last-Sunday-in-the-month again, which means #vortex time, this time a #coversvortex, as someone pointed out the first time we've done one of these for 8 years or so (pretty sure it was one of the first vortex themes back then also). This time it's @akx who has been doing the collecting and assembling, big thanks to him for the effort!

Direct download is here, and the stream is below

See you at 8pm GMT. Bring a bottle.