The Listening Club - 26th August 2018

Greetings folks,

So, yeah, remember the summer of 2018?... twice as hot and half as long as usual. Seems decidedly autumnal here now, showery and windy. Hoping it's a bit better next weekend as we're off to a natty little Jazz/World fest in Rotterdam. Marcos Valle! Azimuth! Wally Baderou! Hailu Mergia! Hell, it's got to be sunny for those folks...

Last week here in #lc-land, @akx was keeping the summer alive in his own way with his pick of Air France's EPs "No Way Down" and "On Trade Winds", which hit the spot for the assembled. Many thanks to Aarni for the pick, and for sailing the cheesebaton across to soggy Snowdonia, where a cagoul-coated @Holette has this to say by way of introduction...

"I’m someone with a weakness for sleazy garage rock and this is my new favourite band. An offshoot of a better known outfit, this lot play it loud, louche and super catchy. I’ve seen them described as “the pop band from hell” and you’d probably consider crossing the road if they lurched your way.

With lyrics in the same vein as Lou Reed, a little of The Cramps swagger and some Jon Spencer style hysterical grooviness, they make a schizophrenic noise that has had me listening on repeat for a couple of months. 

Amidst the low life tales and lounge bar crooning, listen out for a really cool xylophone riff. Or maybe it’s a glockenspiel. I get confused. Anyway, happy UK bank holiday listening to you from our rain lashed Snowdonia camp site!"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearBeSpoilers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 19th August 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine and well. All good here in Amsterdam, continuing standard grey muggy summertime, which is not so bad, as I'm back in an office most of the week, and therefore already valuing the weekend time seriously. Plus ça change, eh?

Last week in #LC-land, @SimonLandmine was in the chair, treating everyone to the string stylings of Matt Howden, aka Sieben's "The Old Magic", which had it's fair share of both fans and detractors, as is often the way. Many thanks to Simon for the selection, and for sailing the frisb up to @akx, who has this to say by way of introduction...

"This weekend, I've mostly been at my cousin's wedding in the
countryside. The wedding band played rockabilly. I had to (got to?)
wear a suit.

I hope you're ready for two back-to-back EPs (rereleased as an album) of some faintly melancholic leftfield balearic disco ballad synth dream pop from the Swedish west coast."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearMayBeSpoliers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 12th August 2018

Greetings,

Hope you're all doing fine. Finally got a bit of rain here in Amsterdam, which is most welcome, got to say, my brain has a tendency to slow down to a crawl after more than a couple of days of 30+ temperatures, which makes getting anything done a little tricky. Feeling a little apprehensive too this weekend, as come Monday I'm going back into an office job for the first time in 18 months. Hoping they're cool with my current "pants-only" dresscode... :)

Last week chez #LC, the legend that is @mutster101 aimed for the mid-90s with his pick of Pop Will Eat Itself's "Dos Dedos Mis Amigos", which didn't seem to win many new fans, but was cheerfully received by those who knew. Many thanks to Gareth for the pick, and for flipping the frisb across to @SimonLandmine, who has this to say by way of introduction to tonight's selection...

"Unlike my last submission, this one was the result of seeing the
artist live. Some friends were going to see them at a good local pub
and recommended them, and I wasn't doing anything that evening, so I went along. And then bought all of the different CDs they had on sale, and visited their bandcamp site to pick up the others.

They recently put out a new release, but this, from a few years ago, is probably still my favourite overall.

#drinkingclub: Probably mead."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearMayWellBeSpoilerinos stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 5th August 2018

Howdy folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. It's Pride weekend here in Amsterdam, so everywhere and everyone is covered in rainbows, and now on Sunday, with hangovers too. A bonus to have my visiting mum along for her first ever Pride experience too, delighted to see her made very welcome by the revellers. A reminder of how lovely people can be sometimes...

Chez #LC, last week our resident lurker @zbendr finally got a turn in the hot seat, psyching us out with the sounds of The Frowning Clouds' "Whereabouts" from 2013. Many thanks to Ben for the pick, and for spinning the frisb back around to this side of the globe, and into the hands of @mutster101, who's here with tonight's intro...

"This album goes back to the murky days of the mid-90s, when floppy disks were the way you swapped data and the internet was still a thing that was "just for nerds". My creaking 386SX20 was just about able to run Doom 2 and that was how I spent most of my evenings. This album was my perfect accompaniment to cutting edge 3D violence. I regret not discovering this band sooner. They had an extensive back catalogue by the time they released this album, and of course it then turned out to be their last. I wanted to hear more from them, but it was not to be.

For a drinking accompaniment I'd have to suggest a bottle of Thunderbird, consumed on a building site, because anything classier would be doing this band an injustice. Failing that, you could always find an old clunky PC to play Doom 2 on."

Okay doke. Direct download is here, and the HearMayBeSpoilers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 29th July 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope you're all doing fine. Bit of a heatwave break in this here bit of the globe, although for us in Amsterdam, it's nowt but a couple of light showers, though bits of the UK seems to have had it's monthly dousing pretty much overnight. Global warming? We got it in full effect. :(

Last week in #LC land, @thejayarr was in the hot seat, though his pick of Car Seat Headrest's "Twin Fantasy (Face To Face)" brought a mixed bag of responses, some enjoyed, some meh'ed, and some cared less. A good effort tho, many thanks to him for the pick. In the frisbaton scrum that followed, somehow the errant projectile managed to make its way right over to Sydney, where our resident timezone-restricted lurker @zbender seemed surprised, but happy, to be on the receiving end. And so and lo, here he is with this week's intro...

"Listen to this softly, maybe in the background, maybe from your tube set in the corner.

Can I set the scene for you all?

It’s somewhere between 1968 and 1971, you can’t really remember. You somehow got together the fare to go visit your cousin down by the coast for the summer.

One evening, you stumbled into a house party, and as you rounded the corner into the yard heard a din. And you stayed all night, riding on the energy the unit put out. You couldn’t believe they were just there, at someone’s place! Days later, still humming a tune, you asked your cousin about them. Nodding, this mysterious cousin retrieved a poorly-pressed LP and said “But I need it back in a day or two”.

You found a reel-to-reel in the house, it must have been your aunt’s. Loaded up some fresh Ampex (BASF was too expensive), set a level you thought could cope with their range, and made a dub of that wobbly, dusty, vinyl. You gave the record back, as promised, with a nod. And the tape reels you nearly wore out, each summer, until you “grew up” and forgot about them, until you found yourself on Listening Club one evening…"

Right then. Direct download is here, and the HearMayBeSpoilers stream is below:


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

The Listening Club - 22nd July 2018

Greetings folks,

Hope all is going well and good for you. This is definitely one of those times of the year where my intros kinda get a bit repetitive, or more repetitive that usual. Hot, sunny, blah blah blah. Not complaining though, even though it's hard to think past a certain level without an ice lolly first. Hottest summer since '76 so they say, which means if they get a refuse collection strike in the UK, it could be punk rock all over again. Which, given the current state of play over there, would probably not be a bad thing at all...

Last week, under the #LC gazebo, @Har_Shone was in the picnic chair, delivering, funnily enough, some cracking English Punk Rock, courtesy of Idles debut album "Brutalism", which shook the foundations of the assembled most satisfactorily. Thanks to Harriet for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across to the returning @thejayarr, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"I don't know if this band will be familiar to the Club. In certain circles they seem to have a die-hard following, but I'd never heard of them before a catching a snippet of one of this record's tracks on a podcast a few months ago. It was enough to make me listen to the rest and I think I was about two-thirds of the way through before deciding this was the best album of the year. Some twenty-odd plays later, that opinion hasn't changed.

The best art comes from honesty, and this is some of the most honest music I've ever heard. 

It is a bit long, though. Just putting that out there now."

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and the HearMayBeSpoilers stream is below...


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

The Listening Club - 15th July 2018

Greetings all,

Hope you're doing good. Warmness still gleefully in full flow here in Amsterdam, so a series of small outdoor festivals and food truck events are doing their bit to remind me just how much fun this city can be during the Summer months. Braincells still jangling too after the appearance here of King Crimson on Friday, surely one of the most awesomely intense and complex performances I've seen in a good long while, bless their polyrythmic socks...

Last Sunday evening, whilst I was flat on my back sipping beer and listening to Afrobeats in a park, @ohmyliver was in the chair, getting the assembled bopping with his pick of Sister Nancy's "One Two" from 1982. Many thanks to Oli for the pick, and for keeping the Frisb in London with the aid of @har_shone, who is here with tonight's intro...

"This album came to me earlier this year whilst I was going through a fairly rage-y phase, both at the world in general and in my own life. I really enjoy it and I suspect you will all hate it so, sorry, not sorry I suppose? ;)"

Okaydoke. Direct download is here, and HearBeSpoilerStream is below:


See you at 8pm BST tonight.