The Listening Club - 28th January 2024

@emmaprice here once again with the renegade master coming live from Amsterdam. As promised in last week's #listeningclub I shall be going on a hipster baiting Soapbar mission during my soujourn here.

Speaking of last week @iamwahl was in the chair and treated us to Don't Call Me Buckwheat by Garland Jeffreys which seemed to go down rather well with the assembled throng.  

The Frisbaton was deftly caught by @erimichkea who has another week to ponder their choice as tonight we're delving into the world of Albert Camus with our 'In the Depths of Winter, I Finally Learned that Within Me There Lay an Invincible Summer' Vortex. As always huge thanks to @saucer for compiling and creating tonight's #Vortex

#ITDOWIFLTWMTLAIS #nowthatswhatIcallahashtag

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

The Listening Club - 21st January 2024

Greetings fellow lovers of the tune. @emmaprice here sitting in for our tunemeister while he's off to sunnier climes. Last week I was in the hotseat and treated you all to Funke & The Two Tone Baby and his 2023 release Reacclimate which seemed to go down rather well.

The frisbaton was deftly caught by @iamwahl who is here with this introduction

While this isn’t my most favourite album by this artist, like every other of their albums I possess, it remains in the stack of recordings I regularly return to for repeated listens. There was a break in their career and, I must confess, I lost contact with them when there was nothing forthcoming for many years. Partly as a result of this, I didn’t discover this album until well after its initial release (yes, it was another thrift-store find), which in turn was more than a decade after the most recent of this artist’s recordings that I had originally fallen in love with. This may not be the most recognizable of this performer’s output (although in some locations it may be) but it is representative of the breadth of their creativity and articulate voice. This is personal. There is an angry bite here, that delivers a mouthful of sweetness. As Emma Goldman said, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution”—come on down to the barricades, raise your fist, and swivel those hips….

As it is (for some) #DryJanuary I’ll leave #DrinkingClub up to each participant’s whims…

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

The Listening Club - 14th January 2024

Hey folks, 

Hope you're all doing good - Pretty standard grey / wet here, with a little touch of clear / cold occasionally, but we're pretty much bedded into winter, which seems like a perfect time to head off to a different part of the world or two, which is what we're about to do - first decent trip away for a good few years, thanks to pandemics and other real world concerns, so we're seriously looking forward to it. Major thanks to @EmmaPrice & @Saucer who have offered to take over management here whilst we're away - never know though, we might be tuning in from a distance if we get a chance, will have to wait and see... either way, see you in a month or so!

Last Sunday, we marked the changing of the years in customary #LC style with the 2023 #FestiveVortex, 33 slices of super-varied sounds, the mixing of which always causes no end of furrowed brows for me, so thanks for the post-playback props, it's always very much appreciated!

Looking back into '23, we see the aforementioned @EmmaPrice was left holding the frisbee, so over to her for the first #LC intro of '24...

"Evening all, hope 2024 is treating you well so far.

You know when you start getting to know someone better and realise you've found a musical sibling who reacts in the same way you do to the music that's within your soul. Someone who reminds you why you love a certain track or the way someone makes a guitar sing. It opens the door to the very heart of who you are and what's important in your world. I've had that experience recently and it's intoxicatingly glorious. My first gig with this person was this artist in an intimate London venue late last year and it was one of my gigs of the year. I've not done the final tally yet but my band count for last year is 150+ so you can understand why I'm so excited to share tonight's artist with you.

When the frisbaton landed I instantly knew I was picking this album. It was such a refreshing change to not have pickers angst/doing the whole shortlisting process.

This artist was a Boomtown Festival discovery thanks to a late night chat backstage with someone I met in a mosh pit due to his most excellent band shirt. Once I'd recovered from going to bed at 10am on the final day I started listening to this artists work and was immediately hooked. This album came out in October and has been on pretty constant rotation for me since. Only reason I didn't put a track into the best of 2023 vortex was not spoilering tonight.

Drinking Club is something yellow - White wine/beer/cider all count by my reckoning :)"

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

See you 20:00 GMT tonight!

The Listening Club - 7th January 2024

Greetings folks, and Happy New Year to you all.

Hope you've had an enjoyable one, whatever you've been up to. Been a gentle time here in Amsterdam, eating, drinking and conversing as befits the season - not much partying, but we're saving that for later this month when we vacate the premises for a few weeks (from Sun 21st Jan for 4 Sundays!) . Thanks to those of you who have offered services to keep this ship running in my absence - I will be in touch on M-don in the next few days to discuss the details - and still open to more offers of help if you're so incluned, please let me know.

Way back in time, we saw @Woj on frisbee duty, playing his traditional end-of-year game of "I wonder what that's like?! with "Data" by Tainy, which definitely got the assembled bopping in an early-xmas-party-where's-the-punch sort of way. Thanks extended for the pick and for sailing the frisb over to @EmmaPrice, who has had a serious amount of time to consider her pick, and still a week more to go, because...

...Yeah, it's that time again, when the best new sounds that passed through your ears in the preceding year gather together in one place to duke it out, it's the 2023 Festive Vortex - This year a bumper crop of 33 selections, from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again, encased in just over two hours of playtime (looks like we're going to have to restrict submissions a bit in future, eh?, especially if folks insist on picking such long tunes, hemhem!).

Anyway, much like 2023 itself, it is what is was, so download here, stream below:

See you at 20:00 GMT Tonight. Bring leftovers!

The Listening Club - 17th December 2023

Hi there folks,

Well then, last #LC of '23 and feeling astonished the year is over already, where did it go.. although looking back we managed to accomplish quite a bit, although this week chez kleptone we've not accomplished much apart from recovering from the evil flu. Que sera. Looking forward to a gentle and relaxed holday period, and wishing the same for y'all wherever you are and whatever you're up to, peace be with you all.

Of course, post-holidays it will be time for the 2023 #festivevortex, so it's time for you to pluck a couple of this year's finest sounds according to your ears and throw them into the pot. We return here on Sunday 7th January for playback and new years resolutions! (Also advance notice that I'm going to be away for a whole frickin' month in Jan/Feb, so will be needing managerial help here from 21st January onwards - can you help? Let me know, please!)

Last Sunday saw @Corin_Ja in the chair, pulling out something new by someone old in the shape of Peter Gabriel's "i/o" (the dark-side mix, should you be wondering) which got the assembled bobbing on their segways for sure. Thanks to Corin for the pick and for bouncing the frisb off my shoulder across to @woj, who's here with the last pick of the year...

As is my tradition, if the frisbee flits its way to me in December or January, I like to peruse the year-end best albums lists, select a highly ranked album by someone I've never heard, and - for good or for ill - listen to it for the first time with all of you. This Sunday is no different. There were a few albums I was eyeing whose descriptions looked particularly interesting but ultimately decided to go with this one since it's from a genre I know next to nothing about and almost never listen to: reggaeton! And that is pretty much the only bit of information I have to share about this album.

Also as is my tradition, I will be driving back from the airport when the appointed time of gathering rolls around but should be back home when the album ends. So while there'll be no #DrinkingClub for me, I'll be listening along in the car though - have no fear!

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

See you 20:00 GMT.

The Listening Club - 10th December 2023

Greetings,

Hope you're all doing good. Bit of a non-week here as the cold I picked up last week at The Prodigy gig decided to develop into a particularly unpleasant strain of Flu, which has wiped me out all week and now @nessiest too (sharing is caring, sorry my dear!). So I have nothing further to report. Bleurg.

Last Sunday @soundclamp went all west-coast klezmer on the collectively assembled's posteriors with his pick of Charming Hostess' "Eat" from 1998, which had the desired effect, at least it looked like it from here. Thanks to Dan for the pick, and for sailing the frisb across the Atlantic to @corin_ja, who's right here with tonight's intro...

"Well then. I had spent all week trying to decide between two very nostalgic albums from my early years, each of which I'd been meaning to inflict on ListeningClub for a while. I'd been pretty much decided which I was going to plump for. I even went and bought a CD as the version I had was not easily transferable to the internetz. And then two separate conversations with friends completely changed my mind about the choice for today.

Something was guiding me in a different direction.

So here instead is an album that is essentially new to me, and new to the world. The artist, I suspect, will be fairly readily identifiable by many. They are a significant figure by any standard, so it will be interesting to see what people make of it. We can go on a voyage of discovery together."

Indeedy. Download's here, and the stream's below:

See you tonight at 20:00 GMT.

The Listening Club - 3rd December 2023

Greetings folks,

Well, quite literally as I type, the first few tentative flakes of this Winter's snow are falling on Amsterdam, but as it's been raining all day, I don't see much laying just yet. Won't be going out in it either way, as, following a fine Wednesday evening catching up with old friends, drinking a few beers and watching The Prodigy, I've come down with a classic post-gig cold (ah-fuckin-choo). So no snow adventures for me for a few days...

In other news, glancing at the calendar, this year is one of those where Christmas Eve / New Years Eve falls on a Sunday, so advance notice thar we will be closed for the holidays! - Last #LC of '23 will be 17th December, then we will be back on 7th January 2024 for the customary #FestiveVortex, comprising of some of your favourite music of 2023!

Speaking of vortices, last Sunday we visualised a collectively agreed and much needed #HealingVortex, so many different kinds of healing, so little time. Thanks to all who chipped in a tune or two, and to @saucer for the fine assembly.

Which leaves us back in regularly scheduled programming land, where @soundclamp is waiting with his intro to tonight's pick...

"There’s so much weird shit going on everywhere and it’s really weighing on me, y’know? I kinda struggled to find a pick that felt good.

So… I’m doing something a little different and keeping it local this time. Let's go to West Oakland for a sweaty hoedown where bodacious babes belt the blues in Bulgarian, Ladino, and sometimes even English while an avant-rock band kicks out the jams (motherfucker) in accompaniment. They call it PUNK-KLEZMER. This is their debut album. It was released in 1998 on a small independent label and instantly made waves.

I actually saw them once at a night club in San Francisco called Slim’s (requiescat), and it was incredible. Okay, on with the show!"

Right then, download's here, stream below:

Hope to see you 20:00 GMT.