The Listening Club - 25th May 2014

Howdy y'all,

Hope things are going well whatever you've been up to - all fine in the Dam, a bit of sun peeking through from time to time, and plenty opportunities for genial afternoon drinking sessions and evening musical activities. All par for the course, as you'd expect, but it's a fine course to play, no?

Last week @monkeytypes was in the chair for the first time in a good while, and delivered unto us all a cracking mix and a half, courtesy of Jon Carter's "Live At The Social Vol.2", which went down so well quite a few of us had the first ever #listeningclub #afterparty and gave a spin to The Chemical Brothers Vol.1 mix also. A funkin' good time was had by all. Many thanks to him for the selection and for flipping the frisbee across to @mrhig for next week's pick...

But first, on a suggestion by @JimMcCauley, we present the #MyFirstLPvortex! Yep, time to represent the first time you moved past the realms of single songs, and decided to splurge on a full long-playing experience. Sweet and innocent times? Listen in and find out...

Download is here and the Mixcloud stream (which may reveal the song titles, you have been warned)  is here!

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

The Listening Club - 18th May 2014

Greetings,

Aha. Warm glowing ball in the sky is here! All hail warm glowing ball in the sky. It's a tasty 22 degrees here in the Dam, so the place is thrumming with activity and as per usual I'm tapping this out ahead of time, so I can go frolic. On y va...

Next week is #vortex week, as you know, and this time @JimMcCauley came forth with the suggestion of #myfirstLPvortex, so dig deep into your memories, put thoughts of embarrassment to one side and let's have a tune from each of your debut long-playing purchases... will be fun trying to match the tune to the person, fo' sho'...

Last week @cakehugga continued the impromptu mixtape season that seems to have followed #dambusters with @jayesofine's ace BBQ selection, incorporating a multitude of styles and generally leaving everyone wanting more! more! more! - The ultimate compliment for a mixtape, indeed. Thanks to her for the pick, and for nominating @monkeytypes to get back into the saddle this week. And here he is...

"One thing I've found with Listening Club is that I've always been sure what my choice would be right up until that point when someone throws the famous Frisbee in my direction. 

This time round has been no exception, although from the shortlist, this was only the second album I tried for size. And in the process, I've managed to add at least one more choice to discard the next time I'm in the hot seat.

So what do we have tonight? A combination of a legendary nightclub and a DJ who ended up being co-owner of what was once a regular haunt of mine in Camden. And while the DJ has gone on to produce other work and covered different genres, this is still by far my favourite..

With the sun finally starting to shine, this feels like a good mix to kick off the Summer with, taking me back to lazy afternoons sitting on the roof terrace of the aforementioned Camden boozer, with great friends, enjoying the rare, fine London weather..

This also had me dancing around the flat like an idiot, so I'm hoping for some top twerking, or if your of a certain age, at least some bad bogling (sorry, no Aswad, Spaced fans)

So with that, I'm going to slow my speed and stop the nonsense.

Enjoy."

Jolly good! Download is here and the Mixcloud stream (which may reveal the song titles, you have been warned)  is here!

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

The Listening Club - 11th May 2014

Howdy folks,

Hope all is going good wherever you are - it's a rainy rainy weekend here in the 'Dam, so local outdoor plans get put to one side and Eurovision, whisky and summer planning becomes the order of the day. All jolly good indeed.

Last week, @samsmitter was in the chair and treated us to a selection of his favourite Bob Dylan cover versions, based loosely around the soundtrack to Todd Haynes' film "I'm Not There" and a mighty fine collection it was too. Many thanks to him for the picks and for flipping the frisbee across to @cakehugga for this week. And here she is...

"Hello. So following the incredibly special weekend some of us spent in Amsterdam I’ve been thinking about how everything in life is connected (being a big hippy and all). Music connected me to Jaye as we bonded over shared musical tastes, she introduced me to The Kleptones and to The Listening Club.

Listening Club was something that we both enjoyed being part of.  Being part of Listening Club keeps me connected to Jaye but has also introduced me to some new music, lovely beautiful people and to amazing experiences like the recent Dambusters weekend. So I guess in a way it’s a link between my old and new lives.

Music was a massive part of my life with Jaye and still is. Since she died I’ve been playing Jaye’s Ipod on random a lot. I’ve also been working my way through the compilation CDs and playlists that she made for friends, for occasions and for me.

I think that it is amazing how certain songs have such an emotional resonance attached to them. You hear the song and are transported to a certain time and place in your past (whether good, bad or ugly). I guess that grief kind of amplifies those feelings – there are songs I hear now and just dissolve into tears or songs that make me beam because they remind me of good times.

I was inspired by Sam’s mixtape idea from last week. Jaye was all about sharing music with friends and put a lot of thought into her compilation CDs and playlists. I play them often and dance around the flat to them. Those of you who met me in Amsterdam might have noticed that I love to dance ;-)

After a lot of thought and deliberation the album I’ve chosen this week is a playlist that Jaye put together for a barbeque with friends last summer. She named it BBQ 1 (there was a part 2). It contains music from 1969 to 2011 and covers a variety of musical genres including blues, dub reggae, dance, indie, ska and sci fi according to I-Tunes?! – well I was called a geek last week ;-). 
There are a few classic songs that I reckon will be familiar and some that are less well known. I hope that some of them may make you dance or nod your head. This playlist reminds me of good times, friends, sunshine and laughter. I hope you enjoy."

Download is here and the Mixcloud stream (which may reveal the song titles, you have been warned)  is here!

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

The Listening Club - 4th May 2014

May the fourth be with you!

Har de har har. Hope you're all doing well and good, and if you're one of those #dambusters types, I hope you're re-adjusting to reality okay after last weekends shenanigans. And what shenanigans they were. This weekend has provided a much needed period of doing very little indeed for us here in the 'Dam, not surprisingly...

And oh lordy, that #swearyvortex. Of all the things to try and find somewhere to play in public, it had to be nigh-on an hour of utter filth. Thanks to all of you for chipping in an offensive moment, it definitely provided a fitting end to the #dambusters weekend, as anyone who was there, or was following the tweets can testify...

So... back to our abnormally scheduled programming, and here's the right honourable @samsmitter with this week's pick...

"On Kings Day in Amsterdam they throw the normal rules out of the window, so I thought I might get away with the same thing for this week’s Listening Club and do a bit of a Faberian rule-breaky type thing. I once heard a comedian say that you know a man loves you when he utters the immortal words “I’ve made you a compilation tape”, and #dambusters filled me with love for y’all so it seemed appropriate enough. Years ago I used to make cassettes as gifts for people on a regular basis, and after that it was CDs. Like the modern-day vortexes (vortices?) made famous by Listening Club, they usually had a theme. This is one I made in 2008 which was loosely based around a soundtrack album that came out the previous year, and is the only one I go back and listen to on a regular basis. Here is my official list of excuses for entering it as my Listening Club pick for this week:

1. It is a neat mirror/tribute/rip-off of the first ever Listening Club.
2. I absolutely LOVE all of the music on it.
3. It has, for the most part, a chilled-out, come-down sort of feel which might go well after all that #swearyvortex and #dambusters kerfuffle last week.
4. This week I have been mostly pondering the magic of art and creativity, the way one person creates something, someone else takes that thing and does something different, perhaps makes it even better, then someone else does something else with it, new shit comes to light etc. .. and this stuff, for me, is full of that kind of magic. 

Cheers!
Samx"

Excellent! Download is here and the Mixcloud stream (which may reveal the song titles, you have been warned)  is here!

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

The Listening Club - 27th April 2014

Greetings!

Well wowzers! #dambusters is in full effect here, and is being bloody excellent fun, as you'd expect! Much drinking, dancing, chatting, observing King's day insanity, samplings of Amsterdam's finest and general good times have abounded, so I'm tapping this out as quick as I can so I can get out and see everyone again!

Last week @mrhig was in the chair, and brought forth Sufjan Stevens' epic "The Age Of Adz", which certainly blew some minds. Many thanks to him for the great pick, and for flipping the frisbee to @samsmitter for next week...

But first, yep, it's the #swearyvortex - thanks as always to all who chipped in a track, we have 16 seriously profane tunes to annoy the neighbours with!

Reety-ho! Download is here and the Mixcloud stream (which may reveal the song 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 (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 20th April 2014

Hey there,

I've got family visiting over the holiday weekend, so today was all about enjoying stuff like this:

Yep, The Netherlands is truly in bloom, so it was off to Keukenhof to see many many many flowers. Lovely.

Back on home turf, next weekend sees many of you #dambusters arriving here for King's day, so next week's #swearyvortex (urm...) is going to be quite special. Not exactly sure yet where we'll be gathering for it, but it's going to be fun whatever happens. In the meantime, get yer sweary tunes into the usual address ASAP and we'll see how many eyebrows we can raise next Sunday...

Last week, @nessiest took her debut in the chair and presented us with a bunch of finest Kiwis in the form of the movie soundtrack for"Topless Women Talk About Their Lives", which went down pretty damn well - big thanks to her for the pick and for flipping the frisbee across to @mrhig, and here he is with this week's intro...

"In my list of genres in my musical library, I have entries for both "Chamber Pop" and "Baroque Pop". There's only one artist in each genre. They're both the same artist, actually, for different albums, and that artist is not the artist you'll be hearing tonight, but it's a useful demonstration that my musical tastes sometimes favour those who don't easily fit into obvious genres; those that straddle several, a lot of the time.

Tonight's artist is no exception. Here's the thing; I was going to go a bit easy on us all. I had something picked that was nice and upbeat, even dancey, and it evoked in me feelings that reminded me of Spring, so it was quite apropos, too. But Listening Club offers the opportunity of both exposing yourself to new things, and in my case, tonight, challenging an audience and showing them something you love.

So I chose this.

You don't get dancey. You don't get Spring. You don't get "nice" and "upbeat", either. You don't even get "easy". Or to be more accurate, you get all of those things at times… it's just not the whole package. Our artist contradicts himself. He is large. He contains multitudes.

So you get love. You get death. You get betrayal, breakups, betrayal, you get Art, you get God, you get aliens, you get the end of the world. I hope you like brass, strings, and a bit of electronica. Even if you don't, it'll be an experience. Just wait for that last track. I hope it blows your head off like it did with me, and still does."

Reety-ho! Download is here and the Mixcloud stream (which may reveal the song 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 (GMT+1)!

The Listening Club - 13th April 2014

Hey there,

Well, another bright spring weekend here in the Dam, so the windows are flung open, and spring cleaning is in motion to the soundtrack of Coachella via livestream on Youtube. Bryan Ferry in particular sounding very good indeed, can't wait to get a bit of that when he plays Glastonbury... Also only two weeks now until a good number of you #dambusters descend on Amsterdam for Koningsdag weekend, which really is going to be a very jolly time indeed, to say the least. It will also be a #vortex weekend, so bring forth the suggestings for possible themes please!

Last week @emmaprice sat in the big chair, and presented Ian Siegal's "Broadside", which brought a pretty even split of sitting room shimmying alongside steadfast fence-sitting. A divisive choice, but all the more welcome for it. Thanks to Emma for the pick, and for sending the frisbee bouncing across, eventually landing at the feet of @nessiest for her debut pick. And here she is...

"Being from a country where the inhabitants can be irritatingly parochial about anything home-grown, I'm fitting the cultural stereotype nicely tonight.  I've chosen an album from one of our finest independent labels. It also happens to be a movie soundtrack.

I've heard this album described as being a primer to the label's work and to me it showcases some of the highlights of a particular time and place in music when something special happened. It's been in my collection a long time, rediscovered in the last year or so and a couple of the tracks are among my favourites. The movie's not bad either.

The album probably won't be to everyone's tastes, but then every pick for listening club is a calculated risk in some way. I think tonight most of you will hear at least a few bands that are new to you and I hope some of you will be knee jiggling and toe tapping like I will be.

At 14 tracks long it still manages to come in at under an hour in duration and there's some variety and pacing. It was in my view compiled with a lot of care and a clear passion for the music.

So here goes, with my first album pick for the Listening Club, two weeks before #dambusters history is written all over Amsterdammage. I'm very glad to be able to share this with you. Settle back, crack open something #drinkingclub-worthy and get ready for the guitars."

Okaydoke! Download is here and the Mixcloud stream (which may reveal the song 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 (GMT+1)!