The Listening Club - 19th February 2023

Salutations, folks.

Hope all is well with you. Doing better here having finally got rid of most of my grotty lurgi, only the occasional coughing fit now, for which I'm very grateful. Sufficiently well enough to re-enter into society and go out to drink beer and see a bunch of local punkish bands the other night, which was jolly good fun (best band of the bunch being the very stompy L.A. Sagne). Hoorah for gigs.

February is a damn short month, so we find ourself facing a #vortex next week, therefore we find ourselves open to suggestions through the usual channels, as per.

Last Sunday we had @Holette in the chair, laying down Haai's latest album "Baby, We're Ascending", which rocked the assembled socks pretty successfully I'd say. Thanks to Sarah for the pick, and for flipping the frisb over the channel to @nessiest who's here with tonight's intro...

"Joy. The last few years haven’t had many joyous opportunities for reasons too dismally obvious to list. In 2022 in particular the moments where I felt unfiltered joy were notable when they did arise, because there simply weren’t enough of them. (I know, I’m working on it).

Like Saturday 12 November 2022. We swooped through the smorgasbord of Le Guess Who festival that night, having the best of fun, buoyed on currents of marvellous music.

I had two pick-worthy albums in mind for Listening Club, each by different artists we saw that night. 

I went for the one I’m hoping will lead to the liveliest discussion. It pairs catchy pop grooves with unflinching commentary and wry humour. I’ve admired the vocalist for years. It’s a delight to see them in a creative pairing and with production that works for them."

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 12th February 2023

Hey folks,

Not much new to report here, as I'm recovering after a solid week of yukky illness. One of the nastiest viruses I've had in many a year, will be really happy to see the back of it.

Last Sunday we had @saucer@mastodon.social in the chair, paying tribute to the legend that was Tom Verlaine with his pick of Television "Live At The Old Waldorf, San Francisco, 1978", which certainly triggered off a ton of discussion and remeniscence. Thanks extended for the pick, and also for sailing the frisb over to Wales, where @holette@toot.wales can be seen cheerfully waving an axe about with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's selection:

"After last Sunday's angsty guitar fest I thought I'd choose something quite different.

I'm enjoying hearing more women making electronic music ranging from experimental to pop and proper bangers.

Here's one of them combining a bit of all that in one album. You may spot collaborations with a couple of well known electronic music producers.

Writing this slightly hungover after annual meet up with an old mate so drinking club recommendation has to be hair of the dog."

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 5th February 2023

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Hopefully better than me, who somehow managed to pick up a rather nasty respiratory virus, and therefore has spent the best part of the last few days making the kind of noises and byproducts that only a mother or significant other could love. Bleuch. Hopefully it will be on its way soon!

Last Sunday in #LC land, as it was the end of the month, delivered unto us a Lunar New Year shaped #rabbitvortex, as collated and mixed by @akx, and mighty fine it was too. Many thanks to everyone who chipped in a track or two!

Back to regular scheduled programming, we find @saucer clutching the frisb with the following to report by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"Lots of music changes your mood, some changes your perspective, and some just slices through the zeitgeist and changes your life.

I have my stories about this and you have yours. If I said more I'd reveal what we're listening to so I'll shut up.

In deep gratitude and astonishment, I give you....

(#DrinkingEtcClub suggestion: What these guys are on.)"

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 29th January 2023

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good, it's been another reasonably clear, dry week here in Amsterdam, which is welcome, even if I haven't been out much in it, hehe. Staying indoors, makin' new mixes and radio shows and spring / summer plans has been more the order of the day. Hup ho.

Last Sunday we had @AqiDraco in the chair with their debut pick of "Black Widow" by In This Moment, which seemed to rock the assembled posse quite satisfactorily, I'd say. Many thanks to Aqi for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @saucer who has an extra week to ponder, because...

Yep, end-of-the-month means vortex time, and we find ourselves celebrating the Lunar New Year with a fine #rabbitvortex. @akx has been collecting the carrots from y'all, so here comes his (rabbit) stew...

Download is here: gdrive or direct, and the stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT for playback.

The Listening Club - 22nd January 2023

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing good. Mainly clear but cold here in Amsterdam, good to have respite from the grey for a change. Apart from that not much else to report, it's quiet, and we should be grateful for that.

...and oh yeah, next Sunday will be the first #Vortex of the year, so we'll be canvassing for themes during tonight's playback, if you have any ideas, let us know in the chat... 

Last Sunday we had @soundclamp@mastodon.xyz in the chair, kicking off the '23 #LC season with his pick of Atsushi Tsuyama's "Henry The Human Horse", which charmed and bamboozled the assembled in equal measures, as is often the way round here. Thanks to Dan for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @AqiDraco@universeodon.com for their debut pick, and they're right here with the intro...

"It all started with a song. I had selected a song from this band for a playlist (wolf theme, let’s see if you can guess which one it is) years ago but never really checked out their other songs until a couple weeks ago when I started looking for albums for #ListeningClub. So, they are pretty new to me, it’s a bit harder than I usually listen too, apart from my 80s heroic metal or the occasional NIN, TOOL, or A Perfect Circle. It highlights a female singer in this genre. It’ll be interesting to hear what genre you assign this band. This music can evoke pretty strong emotions depending on one’s mood and can also help release emotions in form of loud singing along and head banging. 

The band is still active and touring across America in 2023. 

Drink Choice: Try a RAMMSTEIN liquor - Vodka, Rum, or Tequila. Whichever way suits your taste buds today. 

Non-alcoholic drink choice: The recently discovered yummy Raffaello Milk Shake. How to make it here)

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 15th January 2023

Hey folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Wet as hell here in Amsterdam, seems like it's not stopped raining all week, so hunkering down indoors with something warm (cat) and tasty (beer) has been the order of the day, and maybe a little inevitable browsing of holiday websites too... le sigh.

Last Sunday, o my folks we did partake of the 2022 #FestiveVortex and, what do you know, it was another mighty fine mess of tunes. Thanks to everyone who chipped in one or two, it seems harder every year to blend the range, but, shucks, it always seems to work! (phew). 

Looking back to last year, we see @soundclamp holdling the frisbee and readying themselves for tonight's debut pick with this to say by way of introduction...

"It’s the mid-1990s and Japanese noizu (ノイズ) has captured the imagination of Westerners across a variety of underground music scenes. Today’s pick is the debut solo LP of this multi-instrumentalist who was already enjoying the fruits of being in a now famous Japanese psychedelic freak-out group. Mixing traditional Japanese folk music with a flair for psych-fueled jamming, punctuated by weirdo howling at the moon interludes, makes for a rather unique, yet compelling, listen. It's as if someone spilled a bit of their Bloody Mary on your chocolate peanut butter cup. But you know you love it."

Right then, download is here, stream is below:

See you 8pm GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 8th January 2023

Salutations and Happy New Year to you all.

Hope you had a pleasurable mid-winter holiday season type thing, whatever you got up to. Here it was customary good food, drink and gentle merriment with closest and dearest, minimal problems or complaints for a change, and feeling all the better for it. Yay.

Way back before all that, @woj was in the chair, delivering the last #LC of the year, in the shape of Shirley Hurt's eponymous debut album, which went down pretty well as I recall. Thanks to Woj for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @soundclamp, who has had a good long time to ponder his pick, and even more so because...

Yeah, #FestiveVortex innit? It definitely has been quite an unsettled year for many, and I think the wider-than-ever spread of tunes represents that. Quite a bit of comfort listening maybe, but that can be pretty extreme in itself, as I well kno, and you will hear. Many thanks to everyone who chipped in tracks!

Direct download is here, stream is below:

See you 20:00 GMT for playback. Bring a bottle and some snacks!