The Listening Club - 27th October 2013

Hello to you all,

Phew yes well, was expected to be gently nursing a hangover and chilling today, stitching together the #scaryvortex and sipping a brandy, but my current paymasters decided to up the ante considerably and drag me into a crisis situation. A few braincells less and a few paracetamol later, I'm back and working on said #vortex, with a little more haste than I would like, but, hey... life's rich tapestry and all that. LV's cracking DJ set last night makes it all worthwhile.

Anyhoo, last week, the redoubtable @JimMcCauley succeeded in blowing his remaining street cred with his selection of Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine's "Worry Bomb". Some liked. Some hated. The ultimate marmite band? Thanks to Jim for the pick, either way, and for flipping the frisbee to @petemaskreplica. But first...

Yes, it's the #scaryvortex, or #scaryasfuckvortex if you're so inclined. Thanks to all who chipped in selections, we have 14 tracks here, every single one guaranteed to incite differing levels of fear, from a subtle nagging disquiet to outright hide-behind-the-sofa insanity. So... cushions and stiff drinks at the ready? here we go...

Direct download is here, Mixcloud stream is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow @listeningclub for the admin.

The clocks changed in Europe last night, so hope to see you tonight at 8pm GMT!

The Listening Club - 20th October 2013

Greetings to you all,

Another early typing session for me, racking up the #LC business on a Saturday early evening before I head out into the crazier than usual Amsterdam streets. It's ADE this week (that's Amsterdam Dance Event, if you didn't know), which means tons of networking muso types flashing laminates left, right and centre, and world-famous DJs lurking everywhere you look. Last night twas was bobbing till daybreak to a most excellent soundtrack (including Rustie, Martyn and Jackmaster, if you're interested), and will be doing the same again tonight (getting down to disco with Kon and Maurice Fulton), so lets get this tapped out whilst there's still braincells in rotation, eh?

Timely announcement time, next week is #vortex week, so, being close to that Halloween thing, rather than asking you for token cheesy seasonal selections, behold the #scaryasfuckvortex! That's right, what we want from you this time is the scariest tune you can think of - the one that really, really freaks you out. And not just because it's shite, m'kay? Get your choices in ASAP, and join in next week with a seriously stiff drink at hand and a pillow to hide behind for the results!

Last week, indeedy, @emmaprice rocked and rolled everyone with "Diary Of A Soul Fiend" by Saint Jude. Bit of a split response, but on the whole positive I think, which is grand. Many thanks to Emma for the pick, and for digging up the vampirical @jimmccauley to get back in the (coffin-shaped) chair this week. And here he is...

"It's just musical sensationalism. You do something big on the stage and a thousand geezers sort of go, "Ah!"

This may well be my favourite band, and it’s one that I took a while to warm to. They’re a little divisive. They released two great albums while pulling in ever-increasing crowds with blinding live shows, then a difficult third and something of a them-by-numbers fourth, by which time they were struggling a bit and fewer people we showing up at gigs. This, their fifth, is given a boost by the addition of a new band member and sounds rather different to their earlier albums; bigger and a little older and wiser, but still shot through with dark humour and wordplay that makes my writing gland tingle. It doesn't quite have the raw energy of the first two albums, but it has enough great tunes to make it worth digging out every now and then.

I reckon there’s a good chance of some of you recognising the lead singer’s distinctive tones straight away and being all, oh, fucking hell, it’s them. They have that effect on some. But that’s all part of the fun. It’s a bit of an exercise in indie pop contrarianism, but it’s also me wearing my heart on my sleeve and playing a band I love rather than a safe choice. So: enjoy! Or don’t! I won’t mind.

Hooray!"

Awesomesauce. Direct download is here, Mixcloud stream (which may well reveal the track titles, you have been warned!) is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow @listeningclub for the admin.

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 13th October 2013

Greetings to you all!

Hope the week has been good to you - here the battle of the seasons continues as per usual, currently well into a solid day of rain, but as the week's gigs have taken me from Fleetwood Mac via Psychic Ills to The Mountain Goats, I'm not complaining too much... even if I have misplaced a couple of brollies already. Hum ho...

Back in #LC-ville, @akx was back in the hotseat, and went for a supreme trickshot, delivering Venetian Snares' classical / drill'n'bass crossover extravaganza "Rossz Csillag Alatt Született" (Hungarian for "Born Under a Bad Star", apparently). Despite the intensity, a thumbs-up from the #LC massive... those who survived, anyways. Thanks to @akx for the pick, and for thrusting the frisbee across to @emmaprice,  here she is with this week's intro...

"Greetings fellow Listening Clubbers.

I first discovered this band when I saw them supporting at the Academy in Islington back in 2010. It was one of those incredible moments where the support band totally blows the headliners off stage. Before they'd even left the stage we'd found out when their next gig was and made plans to see them again. Over the next 18 months or so we saw them play a variety of venues across London culminating with a storming set at Victoria Park back in 2011

This is their debut album and it's definitely been one of those albums where you tell your friends about the awesome new band you've found and how they must listen and tell you their reaction. So I thought I'd share it with Listening Club and see what you thought. One final note I absolutely love this album but have to say it really comes into its own when being performed live."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, Mixcloud stream (which may well reveal the track titles, you have been warned!) is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow @listeningclub for the admin.

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 6th October 2013

Hello hello,

Indian summer in full effect here in A-dam, 20+ degrees and sunny in October? Yes please. Hope you're getting some of the same wherever you are... It's a stressful day for many, as Glastonbury tickets go on sale, and a small corner of the internet tries hard not to buckle under the strain of 120,000 tickets being sold in under 90 minutes. Jeebs, that's some throughput, for sure...

Back in #LC land, we vortexed it up last week well and truly with the #floorfillersvortex, which turned out to be a mighty cross between a wedding disco, a mid-90s indie dance night and a rave - major thanks to all who contributed a tune! Casting minds further back we see @akx holding the frisbee again, and here he is with the intro...

"My turn again? Not that I mind...

This time I actually didn't have a choice ready and it took me quite some deliberating to get to this pick. I considered lavishing Norwegian space disco upon the club, or German winter melancholia, or American technical avant-garde black metal (yes, that's a thing), before realizing that the Club needed to hear Canadian... well, this.

I'll be curious to see if (or well, inevitably how) this might split opinions.

Hugs from the increasingly cold, autumny reaches of Finland,

@akx"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, Mixcloud stream (which may well reveal the track titles, you have been warned!) is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow @listeningclub for the admin.

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 29th September 2013

Greetings one and all,

Hope you're all good - a little frayed at the edges here, on account of being up till sunrise enjoying Amsterdam's Nuite Blanche, a rather haphazard journey through the centre of the city (including the Red Light District) taking in pop-up galleries, exhibitions, clubs and a lunatic selection of performance art and audience-participation stuff. Amongst other things, I now know what a hammer banging in a nail tastes like, and have been ordained as a Priest. Not bad for an evenings work, must say.

Last week, as you may recall, @mutster101 stepped up for his debut selection and delivered lunacy of the highest order with Martyn Bennett's "Grit", a truly singular and much missed talent indeed. Thanks to him for the pick and for frisbeeing across to @akx for the next selection...

But we have to interrupt that selection to bring you this month's #vortex! Behold, the #floorfillersvortex - 68 minutes, 18 tracks and... well, blimey. Get your disco boots on, crack open a Babycham and get a load of this lot... It's all rather speedily mixed together by yours truly... apologies if I've snipped off your favourite bit of a tune, but as @samsmitter said when I suggested a different mix of his selection, that's the "DJ's Prerogative"!

Direct download is here, Mixcloud stream (which may well reveal the track titles, you have been warned!) is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin.

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 22nd September 2013

Greetings, hope you're all doing well.

Enjoying some fragments of an Indian Summer here in A-dam, which is most pleasant indeed, I must say. Still enough stormy showers to make me start reaching for the winter cookbook, so now that there's a hearty stew bubbling away on the stove, off we go...

...To a bit of indecision, unfortunately - I'd be announcing next week's #vortex around now, but we seem to be stuck in a bit of nonplussedness - Three suggestions for a vortex have popped up from your good selves: Floor-Fillers, Kryptonite tunes (i.e. most hated) and Guilty Pleasures, but none seem to have taken root within the consensus and I'm reluctant to force one through, so hoping that a decision can be reached during this week's session, otherwise it might be worth letting it lie until a good idea comes along? Comments, suggestions welcome as always...

Anyhoo, last week @morecheerful stepped up to the plate for her debut, and delivered unto you all the soulful twang of Valerie June's "Pushin' Against A Stone" which definitely satisfied a good number of you. Big thanks to @morecheerful for the pick, and for nominating another debutant, @mutster101 for this week. And here he is with the intro...

"The prospect of choosing an album was a terrifying one at first, but not long after last weekend's listen I had three albums going around my head as potential choices. And then it turned out there was a very obvious choice that was none of them.

To describe this album in the most pretentious way possible, let's say that it's a musical Large Hadron Collider that takes two seemingly disparate genres and smashes them together so that we can study the results. The results will almost certainly be controversial, and I'll be amazed if you like every single one. That said, there are a variety of results to choose from and I'm hopeful that there is something for everyone.  So let's don our white coats and safety goggles and scrutinise what has been created for us."

Reet! Direct download is here (right click save as, it's one long mp3), Mixcloud stream (which may well reveal the track titles, you have been warned!) is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin.

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 15th September 2013

Greetings to you all,

Hope you've had an agreeable week - Summer is fading here in The Dam, slowly being replaced by The Big Grey, although the sun is out this morning, so I shall be taking advantage of that - I have a visiting parent, so for a change the weekend is filled with looking at olde worlde interior and exterior architecture as part of Heritage Weekend (think it's the same across Europe), so apologies in advance if this pops out a little late in the day...

Last week, @eastvanhalen hit home with what is probably the most well known #lc selection to date, although as she herself observed, one that probably few of us have ever listened from start to finish; Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life". Truly a masterpiece and a half. Thanks to her for the pick, and for flipping the frisbee back across the Atlantic to @morecheerful for her debut pick. And here she is with the intro...

"I had two very definite ideas for this week's album, having been idly wondering what I'd choose if the frisbee came my way. So naturally I've not chosen either.

This is an album that I've been listening to steadily all summer. It's a new album, but traditional in style, I think. I'm not sure how people will react to it, as when I saw the artist play earlier in the year half the audience had left by the third or fourth number. I think that the album is more mellow than the performance I saw but I'll be interested to know whether that's because I'm coming to it knowing what I'm getting. Happy listening!"

Direct download is here, Mixcloud stream (which may well reveal the track titles, you have been warned!) is here!

Search #listeningclub to see what's going on, and follow@listeningclub for the admin.

Hope to see you tonight at 8pm BST/EST (GMT+1)!