The Listening Club - 15th August 2021

Evening/afternoon/morning [delete as applicable] all! @JimMcCauley here sitting in for @kleptones once more, preparing for a parental visit which means that at some point I'm going to have to vacuum the spare room, which Marmalade isn't going to like one bit. First though, let's get all this sorted.

Last week, then, @wojsvenwoj was doing his thing, with the eponymous debut (and indeed only) album from Sybil Vane, a long-lost slice of *checks notes* melodic grunge that seemed to hit plenty of people's sweet spots. So big ups to Woj for the pick, and for flipping the frisbaton at @zensolo, who's here for you now with his own debut.

"This beloved dance band from Puerto Rico played 'salsa' before the New York-bred hybrid of various Afro-Caribbean music traditions (and popular song forms) became known as such.

"This record in particular seems to be the follow-up to a first successful crossover effort into what used to be (?) known as 'Latin Soul': Looking up the discography I find the label put out three, from the looks of it, stylistically related releases in the same year, taking advantage of the trend.

"(Does it give too much away to pinpoint the year as 1967?)

"In case you were wondering, the Spanglish wordplay is full of politically incorrect double-entendres...

"Ashamed to say, this is the only salsa record on my hard disk! My LP's & CD's have been in refrigerated storage back in P.R. since hurricane María threatened in Sept. 2017. Hard drive crashes have erased a fair amount of earlier digitising attempts.

"Full disclosure: from tender childhood, I was more of a budding 'rockero', starting my LP collection with discs by Chubby Checker and The Ventures around my first communion at age seven, going on to become a full-bore (ouch) Beatlemaniac...

"I was something of a latecomer to the jiggy enjoyment of grooves playing all around.

"To likely misquote Captain Queeg (played by Humphrey Bogart) at his court martial, 'Well, if there's anything else you need to know, just ask me the questions and I'll do my best to answer them, one by one...' Enjoy!"

Right you are! Download's here or simply stream below.

See you at 8PM! (BST!)

The Listening Club - 8th August 2021

Happy International Cat Day! @kleptones is off on his hols, so you're stuck with me, @JimMcCauley, for a bit. Daisy cat is currently tucked up in her favourite blanket-lined Amazon box, having worn herself out this morning running around in the rain, so she's completely missing out on a surprisingly sunny afternoon. Meanwhile Marmalade is happily curled up on the spare bed, where he'll likely stay until teatime.

 

So then, last week @brainspiritus promised us a novelty album and instead delivered a Bootsy deep cut in the form of Zillatron's Lord of the Harvest, which I think we can all agree was a well cosmic groove. So thanks to @brainspiritus for the pick, and for passing the cosmic baton to @wojsvenwoj, who's taken a few minutes out of his busy International Cat Day schedule to say this: 

"Back in the 1990s, when I had more time and record stores were still a thing, I had a weekly ritual of hitting all the local record stores and combing through through their used and cut-out bins. At the time, I lived in northern New Jersey and would trawl through the rows and rows of used CDs (vinyl had seemingly breathed its last plasticine breath) in stores like Scotti's and Alwilk's and all the others I can't remember the name of looking for treasure. 

"Sometimes I would find promotional singles or advance releases by bands I collected or followed. Sometimes I would find albums I'd heard of that I wanted but didn't want to pay full price for. And sometimes I'd find a record by a band that I'd never heard of that had an interesting cover or interesting liner notes or an interesting name. Today's pick had all three...and it turned out to be a pretty good album too!" 

Well there you go. Download's here, and the stream's down there:

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

The Listening Club - 1st August 2021

Pinch and a punch to you all, hope you're doing okay. Toodling on as per usual here in Amsterdam, bit of sunshine, bit of rain, bit of pandemic, no bloody festivals (everythings been cancelled now here - one-dayers might continue, but only if there's a safe way to do them). Ah well...

Last Sunday we were deep in vortexland, with the #RelationshipAdviceVortex, which brought out some crackers for sure. Thanks to everyone for chipping in tracks, and double plus thanks to @JimMcCauley for helming and assembling.

Back in regular mode, we find @brainspiritus holding the frisb with this to say...

"Happy your time of day wherever you are coming from a cloudy Germany. Due to a bit of family business, you're getting a somewhat spontaneous pick (because "oh no, not another brainspiritus bluesrock pick") — a novelty album, I guess we should call it, from somebody who's more known for an entirely different non-bluesrock genre. 

Drinking club: no, just watch the pretty patterns your subwoofer makes in the water glass your neighbours keep their dentures in over night."

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

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

The Listening Club - 25th July 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Sunshine n showers as per usual here in Amsterdam, infection numbers slowly going back down again, which is great, but does that mean anything musical's going to open up again this Summer? Probably not, as the govt & event organisers most likely will be unable to agree how to keep things open and safe yet still profitable. So all the nice suimmer things get cancelled for a second year. Le sigh sigh...

Last Sunday chez #LC we had @eastvanhalen in the chair, getting everyone down and dirty with Latin Playboys eponymous debut LP from 1993, which grooved and bamboozled the assembled in equal measures. Thanks to Steph for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @brainspiritus, but that'll have to wait a week because..

Yep, it's #vortex time, and, thanks to a random comment the other week, we have a #relationshipadvicevortex, as collected and assembled by @JimMcCauley. Who knows what will transpire, but let's all lie back on the couch and find out...

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

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1) tonight!

The Listening Club - 18th July 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Lovely weather-wise here in Amsterdam, sunny and warm-not-boiling, which is prime stooping weather, as far as I'm concerned. Also good to note that after last week's virus panic, the numbers have levelled off... not going back down yet, but at least not going up any more, which is a relief. 

Reminder that despite all things covid related, I'm still going to be "off" for two Sundays in August (8th & 15th), so I'm looking for someone to mind this fort while I'm gone - let me know if you can help out, thanks!

And another reminder that next week will be a vortex week, this time it has been decided we'll be having a #RelationshipAdviceVortex, which will be helmed by @JimMcCauley. So please get a couple of fine slices of wisdom ready, and tune drop details will appear on twitter some time this week.

Last Sunday, chez #LC, we had @faberfedor laying down the boogie in the shape of Little Charlie and the Nightcats, "Captured Live", which got the assembled swaying so it seems. Thanks to Faber for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @EastVanHalen, who's here with tonight's intro...

"This “collaboration” was basically Tchad Blake and Mitchell Froom pulling every trick in the book to salvage great home recordings [artist redacted] had made on a badly misaligned four track in his kitchen in the middle of the night.

The album sounds like a unmarked cassette tape you’d find in the dirt by the side of the road in the desert. Pop it in, see what’s on it."

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

See you 8pm BST (GMT+1)

The Listening Club - 11th July 2021

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Mixed weather and vibes here in Amsterdam this weekend. On the one hand, really happy that we got out last weekend and safely enjoyed a stack of fine performances at the Minimal Music Festival and the Roots Festival. Sadly, the safe approach that these events took doesn't seem to have been applied to many places elsewhere in the city, and so Amsterdam is now reporting the highest daily infection figures the city has ever reported (seriously, from 50 new cases a day ten days ago, to 1350 today), which is a huge fucker, really. So now all the clubs are shut again, festivals cancelled, and the government is trying to figure out what went wrong (not hard to figure out, admittedly) and how to fix it (much harder to figure out, sadly).... Le sigh.

Last Sunday, while I was out bopping to Bab L'Bluz in light drizzle, @zbendr was in full control of the #LC stereo, hitting a high ball in the shape of Supertramp's "Breakfast In America", which got the assembled harmonizing satisfactorily, so it seemed. Thanks to Ben for the vintage vinyl, and for sailing the frisb way over to @faberfedor, who's here with tonight's intro...

"Like everything else this year, this is odd: I had pre-selected a stack of CDs for my next #listeningclub round. The stack sat behind me on the filing cabinet. The idea was to simply turn around at my desk, pick up a CD and send it in.

Of course, when my turn rolls around, the stack is nowhere to be found. This is why you don't clean your flat!! I lose something every year I do that.

Fortunately, I've had this CD in my rear-pocket for a couple years now...

Many moons ago, I moved to $NEW_TOWN and fortuantely, there was a record store around the corner (I'll explain "record store" to you young-uns someday). I'm standing in line to buy $CD when I hear this band playing over the store speakers. When I asked who it was, they said "This is $BAND, the best kept secret of the West Coast." I'm not going to argue with them.

Not my usual cuppa' but an entertaining album nonetheless. So for those not watching that mis-named ball game, this should keep you a bit etertained this afternoon.

Now where the hell is that stack..."

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

See you at 8pm BST (GMT+1)

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)