The Listening Club - 22nd December 2024

Salutations and holiday greetings,

Well, it's that time of the year - slinging up lights everywhere that will support them, family members hanging ornaments everywhere else, a spicy drink and a seasonal snack, and some low-offense festive music - non-denominational holiday season greetings to you all.

As is customary around these parts, next Sunday will be our annual #FestiveVortex, for which we require one or two of your favourite new releases of 2024. You can pop them in the dropbox here, and @kleptones will fry them up into a fine bubble'n'squeak for playback next Sunday.

Looking back, last Sunday saw @JimMcCauley take time out from critical panto rehearsals to deliver Underworld's latest waxing, "Strawberry Hotel" which got the assembled grooving and spacing out in equal measures, I'd say. Thanks to Jim for the pick and for sailing the frisb across England to @SimonLandmine, who's got this to say by way of introduction to the last #LC pick of 2024...

"I briefly thought about picking something festive for tonight, almost exactly six months after my last pick ... but nah. This album is one that's been on my increasingly-misnamed 'short list' for quite some time. Earlier this year I was reminded that it's actually a round number anniversary for it, so this might as well be the year in which I post it. Some of you are likely to recognise it from the off, but I'll be interested to know how many, especially of our non-UK contingent. This was admittedly, their big break album and included what might be considered their breakout single, so may have travelled further than other works. Hopefully those who haven't encountered it before appreciate it.

Warning, contains some swearing (from pretty much out of the gate), if you're playing this in a public space (or have small folk nearby). Also contains some complex percussion rhythms (as, it seems, do quite a few of my picks).

Drinking club:

Either some warm lager in a flimsy plastic cup that'll be jostled out of your hand the moment the band starts up, or a whole bottle of vodka, which was something one of the members was going through every day early in the band's career."

Right then - download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 15th December 2024

Greetings folks,

Well then, judging by the number of fairy lights popping up around the immediate neigbourhood (including our own abode), holidays-are-a-most definitely coming. Good for me that my back is recovering for sure. Looking at the calendar there doesn't seem to be any need to take a #LC break over xmas, as a (slim) majority of you expressed a preference for the annual #festivevortex to be held for once during the actual vortex (i.e. the period between xmas and new years when not much happens), so, as always at this point in the year, it's time for me to ask you to consider the past 12 months and pick one or two newly released tunes that had you smiling - a dropbox will appear in a few days to gather them up, then it will be me myself stitching everything together for a fine party on Sunday 29th December. (If you don't have any new tunes to contribute that's totally okay, but if so, we hope you'll still join us for the playback!)

Looking back to last Sunday we found @holette in the chair, captivating the assembled with her pick of Anna Erhard's "Botanical Garden", which seemed to go down very well indeed, it seems. Thanks to Sarah for the pick, and for sailing the frisb over to @JimMcCauley, who zoomed past with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"Banging this out fast (ish) because I need to sort myself out for a full panto run-through complete with costumes and makeup, plus sort some lunch before heading out. Hopefully I'll be home in time for the playback!

So then: love this band but honestly, it's been a long time since they've delivered anything to match their early run of albums. Not saying this latest release quite manages that, but it's definitely their first album in a long time that I've had on regular rotation, so I figure they're doing something right.

Got to run; enjoy, and hope to catch you later!"

Right then, download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 8th December 2024

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing okay. Grotty week weather-wise here in Amsterdam, and most of Northern Europe it seems, as everyone gets a dose of stormy weather. I am less bothered than usual as I managed to put my back out lugging boxes around, therefore I'm sitting inside feeling a bit grumpy and sorry for myself. So let's get on, shall we?

Last Sunday @Saucer was in the chair, getting emotional in a very modern way with his pick of Alan Sparhawk's "White Roses, My God", which certainly brought forth some discussion, and gained some new fans in the process. Thanks to Mr S for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @Holette, who brings us this by way of introduction to tonight's pick:

"Greetings from the Wild West of Wales where we've just survived an intense storm with the highest red alert warning. Hearing the siren sound of a Government Emergency Alert on my phone for the first time was suitably dystopian, coming hot on the heels of our apocalypse vortex.

But as the festive season approaches, here's a pre-Christmas cracker of a record for you.

This young artist makes witty, wordy and slightly warped pop. I like their attitude, wonky synths and slacker guitar sounds. 

Fun, and only 30 minutes long, it's an ideal musical stocking filler. 

Aspirational Drinking club: a Snowball"

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 1st December 2024

Greetings folks,

Pinch and a punch and a happy advent calendar opening day to you all, if that's your sort of thing. December already, sigh. A peaceful week here in Amsterdam, grey and rainy sure, but quiet, at least till my desktop decided to start randomly freezing (but the mouse still working). Ugh ugh ugh. So let's get this done before it happens again, eh?

Last Sunday, appropriately it was the #Apocalypse2ThisTimeWeMeanItVortex, which truly hit the spot in a variety of ways. Many thanks to everyone for chipping in tunes, and to @saucer for the mighty effort of assembly. That very same @saucer also finds themselves in the regularly scheduled programming picking chair, so let's go back over to him for tonight's intro...

"Remember discovering new music in physical record stores? Physically browsing shelves? Deciphering handwritten reviews on index cards? Speaking face-to-face with the music lovers who wrote those reviews? Instant access to everything is great but we lost a lot when instant access to music and reviews won. 

So it was especially pleasing to discover tonight's album in a record store. Granted, it was a record store in an airport. So that's weird. When traveling through that airport I schedule time to hang out in the store. And this fall there was this surprising album on display (granted, surprising 'cause I don't keep up with music news), with this artist's vivid portrait on the cover.

I didn't buy the vinyl. Back on home WiFi I took a listen, courtesy of instant access to everything. 

In the slice of the year's new music visible to me so far, this album is iconic. And there I'll stop the story so, if you somehow haven't heard it by now, you get to experience it as I did, without expectations or back story."

Right then, download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 24th November 2024

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing as good as can be expected. Another fallout week it seems, as yet more folks finally quit the birdsite and go shuffling around the other social networks - taking no pride in being seemingly ahead of the pack on that one (it's a steady flow, tbh, but that's not much of a story for the media, is it?), though I'm kinda disappointed to find that despite both Bluesky & Threads claiming to be "Federated", for the most part we can't follow or interact with their users like we can with folks on other Mastodon servers, which seems to me to be the whole point of federation, really. Another case of "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"? Time will tell, but until then, this little gathering will stay on Mastodon, looking forward to federating with everyone, eventually...

Last Sunday saw @vinomadic in the chair, delivering sharp words and guitars from a previous time in the shape of XTC's "English Settlement", which went down pretty well with most folks. Thanks to Mr V for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to @saucer who has an extra week to ponder because...

...he's got his #vortex hat on, hip hip hip hooray. Or not, as may be the case as it's an #ApocalypseIIThisTimeWeMeanItVortex, for which the aforementioned @saucer has been gathering up your submissions and here is the mighty result. Download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 GMT tonight for playback, and may the gods have mercy on your souls.

The Listening Club - 17th November 2024

Salutations folks,

Hope you're all doing good. @kleptones here, back after a fine weekend of deeply varied sounds, food and drink at Le Guess Who, and a seriously well-timed getaway that turned out to be, eh? Big thanks to @saucer for taking care of things here in my absence, very much appreciated.

Speaking of which, next Sunday is last-of-the-month so as usual we're looking for #vortex themes,  if you have ideas, stick 'em in the chat later on please!

Looking back, last Sunday saw @david@social.jazzbutcher.com in the chair, sending out Kara Jackson's "Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?" which seemed to soulfully serenade the assembled quite satisfactorily. Thanks to David for the selection and for sailing the frisb over to @vinomadic, who has this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

"ARGH-- it's been a week.

The endless cloudy grey backdrop to the distant threat of rolling thunder did not help-- I may have taken fighting (with) myself to new heights, not just second-  but third- & fourth-guessing myself.

On reflection, I was floored by last Sunday's pick so that I grew irritated-- ashamed, even-- at loitering & picking around music half a century old when there are artists working the current cultural zeitgeist so poignantly.

Thought I could justify this to myself finding a selection evidencing the sound of things falling apart & providing some minimal guide in addressing loss, finding one's way over grief even if only sleepwalking through it.

As you might imagine, going down that emotional rabbit hole proved rather fraught. (There being no lack for candidates, I have THREE more selections all prepped into tag-free single-track files joining the 'closing' 1967 release my linear mind had been keeping ready by the programming bedside, until I'm ready to delete those copies...)

'What, will these hands ne'er be clean? — No more o'that, my lord, no more o' that; you mar all with this starting.'

In the end, a selection of slightly more recent music-- just a bit over four decades old.

Loved it upon first listen at my buddy Carl's in 1982, only bought my own vinyl copy a decade later when I finally had my own flat in Puerto Rico & the audio equipment to play it on...this shouldn't be unfamiliar! Certainly varied enough...

Enjoy!"

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

Hope to see you 20:00 GMT tonight.

The Listening Club - 10th November 2024

Hey, it’s @saucer here holding the fort, @kleptones away at Le Guess Who!

So, what a week, huh? What a week. Many of us trying to figure out how to digest the American election result, how to respond. I’m personally devastated, terrified, triggered. Compelled to reassess how I look at society, politics, history, psychology, communication, propaganda, ethics, activism. Seems there’s a lot of this going around.

I hope you’re doing OK.

But maybe let’s vinyl scratch away from that… or not? In any case, it’ll be there waiting for us on the other side. For now I’ll move on to the far more pleasant business of recapping last week’s LC.

Last Sunday our beloved Listening Club took a trip back and back again with the double album Odessey & Oracle {Revisited} - The 40th Anniversary Concert by The Zombies, lovingly selected and presented by @iamwahl. 

Much appreciated by most of us on hand. And when all was said and done, the frisbee found itself sailing California way and into the hands of @david, who’s here right now to introduce a pick that sounds like a suitable musical antidote to current events…

“Ok. I'm getting this out of the way before the nukes start raining down.

“Released earlier this year and unintentionally related to my last pick (the previous dude performs and produces), this is the debut LP by a talented contralto songwriter. She was also National Youth Poet Laureate earlier in life.

“Slow and introspective. Precision wordplay concerning relationships and such. Sparse and gorgeous production. A calming balm at a young lady's lived expense. Her live performances are solid.”

Allons y. Download’s here and the stream's below.

See you 20:00 GMT tonight!