The Listening Club - 4th July 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Delighted to say that I'm tapping this out early as we have gigs to go to over the weekend, been a real long while since I've said that. Although Sunday's weather is looking decidedly wet here in Amsterdam, which might make the open-air roots festival a bit of a washout, but we'll have to see... a normal problem to have, though, for a change, eh?

Last Sunday we celebrated midsummer in traditional stylee, with a #livevortex, and got some mighty fine performances too - many thanks to everyone that chipped in tunes, and double plus thanks to @saucer for facilitating and assembling the setlist. 

Back on regular #LC turf, we find @zbendr waiting with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

“Don your rose-coloured glasses and put on your sheepskin vest. Or, if it’s hot weather, drink a rosé-coloured drink and put on your swimsuit. This is a journey into nostalgia and relaxation.

There’s something about the tonality and artistry of this album that seems familiar to many, but this album is not owned by all.

This particular version was sourced in an über-geek way from vinyl, so if you have the means and reproduction method, grab the FLAC which I hope I haven’t butchered.

Give it time to break down your preconceptions, and allow yourself to bop along. Go on…bop. You deserve it. Winter greetings from your Antipodean correspondent.”

Okaydoke. Download here in MP3 or FLAC, or stream below:

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 27th June 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Still fine here in Amsterdam, if a little overcast, and there's storms forecast for the evening, which is a small consolation for the lack of Glastonbury again this year, although I am seriously looking forward to next weekend, which sees us off and out to our first concets for 16 months or so, to the annual Minimal Music festival next Saturday and Amsterdam Roots festival on the Sunday. The first is socially-distantly-compliant, and the second requires a full vaxx or negative test for entry, which is fine by me, really looking forward to both, naturellement!

Last Sunday here chez #LC, @unmannedfuture was in the chair, getting everyone down and dirty in the allotment of Schoolboy Q's "Blank Face", which got the assembled grooving and puzzling in equal measures. Thanks to Ann for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @zbendr, who has an extra week to consider their pick, because because because...

Yes, for the first time in a while, the solstice brings a new #LiveVortex, nearly 2 hours of live performances selected by yourselves. Thanks to @saucer for marshalling the troops and assembing the results!

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

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 20th June 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Things continue to improve here in Amsterdam, as daily infection numbers keep going down and the city continues to cautiously open up. Hoping that things continue to go well, as we're tentatively planning our first vacation in ages, so will be looking for a substitute host here in #LC land for the first two Sundays (1st & 8th) in August - let me know if you want to help out!

Also don't forget, to celebrate a festival season that may or may not be happening depending on where you are, next Sunday will be the return of the annual #livevortex, so get your thinking caps on and be ready to dig out a couple of classic concert performances. More details on the tweets soon.

Last Sunday we had @JimMcCauley in the chair, digging back to youthful purchases in the shape of Alan Parsons Project's "I Robot" which went down surprisingly very well indeed. Plus ça change, eh? Thanks to Jim for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @unmannedfuture, who has this to say by way of introduction to tonight's selection...

"Becuz of covid and the general collapse of western civilization, I've spent a lot of the last year really digging into this genre. Happily before I got too random and overwhelmed I was taken in hand by a twitter moot, one of those great and rare guides who did the, "oh, if you like this, you’ll probably like that…” pretty perfectly.  And so here we are. Good opportunity to thank them, and also to give y’all at Listening Club a shout out for daring and sharing great musical adventures weekly.  This pick sparks joy in me, and by now even my long-suffering partner has come to like it, due to relentless high decibel exposure. It may not spark joy in you, but if that’s the case I’ll just mention that being totally inept, I managed this time to leave off the final track, so that’s 4:45 of your life that you DO get back."  

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

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

The Listening Club - 13th June 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Summer now in full effect here in Amsterdam, with the neigbours already partying hard outside (with much Heineken, accompanying cheese cube plates and equally cheesy soundtrack in full effect) in readiness for the first Dutch Euro 2021 match tonight.... 

Last Sunday chez #LC, we had @holette in the chair, dealing a vintage 80s indie classic in the shape of Microdisney's "The Clock Comes Down The Stairs", which went down very well indeed with the assembled. Thanks to Sarah for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @JimMcCauley, who's here with the intro, oh yes he is...

"I can't remember what prompted 18-ish me to choose this tape in High Wycombe's Scorpion Records. I didn't know anything about the band beyond the name, but I must have figured that it was probably the sort of thing I might like, in my unguided late-teenage 'all modern music's shit' kind of way. And I can't remember if I bought it or rented it; I certainly can't find the tape and either way, I never actually got round to listening to it.

I've no idea whether I chose wisely or not, so let's find out! Will it be good or will it be a load of old wank? It's a mystery!

(It's okay, it's not Toyah.)"

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

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 6th June 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Still pretty warm and sunny here in the Dam, which is jolly fine, even if I'm a bit fazed after my first vaccine jab yesterday. So gently does it today...

Last Sunday the assembled assembled a super speedy #animalvortex, and mighty fine it was too - many thanks to everyone for chipping in tunes at @saucer's call, and to @akx for the assemblage. Back to regular programming, we see @holette waving the frisb with this to say...

"I’ve been caught up in a reading recommendation from both occasional Listening Clubber @cdrose_writer and, tangentially, that late lamented man of eclectic and esoteric taste, Andrew Weatherall. Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry follows the misadventures of two Irish gangsters. The book made my thoughts drift to an album I’d not listened to in years. It’s by an Irish band, a favourite back when I was an indie kid listening to music on the sixth form common room record player. Imagine such a thing, if you will, Millennials: a crap record player that we sidled up to and slipped records onto. A crap record player that was a crucible of forged friendships, taste-making and windows onto other worlds. I guess this was an album that resonated with me as I grew up longing to escape a small industrial town in the far north of England.

The beautiful pop melodies belie the bittersweet lyrics and caustic commentary.  A band with the kind of fearsome front man you really wouldn’t want to mess with. Some of you may know the album but like me not listened in a while. I think it stands up pretty well.”

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

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 30th May 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. A fijn time currently in Amsterdam, as the cool wet weather has finally given way to a decent sunny spell, so, yes, time on the stoop watching the world go by with a tasty beer or two and a copy of the (very enlightening, so far) 13th Floor Elevators biography has been the order of the day. Notwithstanding the long awaited arrival of my vaccination papers (first jab coming Satuday) and further populating of the future gig calander (including @wojsvenwoj's pick for the festive vortex, Bab L' Bluz, at next month's Amsterdam Roots Festival) so for a change there's really not much to complain about... 

Last Sunday chez #LC it was @akx in the chair, covering a whole bunch of bases with his pick of M-Flo's "Beat Space Nine" from 2005. Thanks to Aarni for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @holette, who has a week to wait because..

...last minute vortex ahoy! Seems I missed the vortex discussion in last weeks tweetstorm (sorry bout that), but an #animalvortex was decided, quickly set into motion by @saucer, and herded together by @akx. So here it is, a ton of animal tracks (ahem) for your pleasure...

Download's here (google) or here (direct), stream's below:

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1) for playback.

The Listening Club - 23rd May 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Could easily recycle last week's intro here, as it's been another week of showers, bit of sun, but not much else - Hype cat is well fed up with getting soaked. Meanwhile, Amsterdam continues to slowly rise out of lockdown, infection numbers are finally going down and vaccinated numbers are going up (me? not jabbed yet but I'm expecting it to be very, very soon...), and a small celebration was in order this week as we booked tickets for a show for the first time in nearly a year and a half... So, and slow, it grows... impatient, moi?

Last Sunday we had @ohmyliver in the chair, getting the place slowly rocking to the sounds of Soulwax's "Cherry Moon On Valium" mix from a while back. Many thanks to Oli for the chunky pick, and for sailing the frisb up to Finland, where @akx peers over his sunglasses with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's selection...

"So, by the time you read this on Sunday we'll all know whether Finland won the Eurovision Song Contest this year or not. At the time of writing, it's been a day of cleaning around the house and we're getting our snacks and beers ready for watching the thing, and there's a very festively dressed plush Blåhaj shark on the couch -- we've come to the conclusion he likes musicals a lot, so you can imagine he's very fired up for ESC.

Anyway -- this album's been on my shortlist for a while now (I think one of these songs made it into an afterparty at some point?). It's yet another of my Japan picks, but with a bit of a different genre twist than the stuff I've picked before.

Even if you probably can't make heads or tails of half the lyrics (indeed, half - you'll figure out what I mean), it's catchy and glossy and pretty much just plain fun.

#drinkingclub suggestion: something fizzy!!"

Okaydoke. Download is here or here, and the stream's below

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)