Sunday 8 March 2015

The Listening Club - 8 March 2015

Hi there, listening chums!

With @kleptones and @nessiest away on a Moroccan jaunt, it's @jimmccauley here for a bit. After a bit of a false start for Spring yesterday – hey, I managed to get some washing out and dried for the first time this year so hooray – it's back to a grey and drizzly Bath today. On the plus side, though, I saw Underworld (minus a poorly Rick Smith) do dubnobasswithmyheadman the other night, so on the whole I'd mark this week down as excellent.

Last week @nessiest treated us to some excellently glitchy orchestral poptronica in the form of Lydia Ainsworth's debut, Right From Real, and there was much rejoicing. Big ups to her for the pick, and for the well-aimed frisbee flung at @wojsvenwoj for this week. Speaking of whom...

"I’ve been in orbit around the listening club star for a while now, drawn in originally by Twitter updates from @rougeforever and @mrhig about vortexes and gin, learning of Mr. Kleptone’s involvement and following @thelisteningclub. However, most Sunday afternoons (North American Eastern time zone denizen here), one thing or another is happening so I usually time-shift listening to the weekly offering to later in the week. Last weekend though, I was home working, saw the reminder update, downloaded, joined in…and caught the Frisbee tossed my way by @nessiest.

"Thus began a week-long debate in my head about what to select for an inaugural offering. A dear favorite? A desert island disc? A forgotten classic? An up-and-coming unknown? Something appealing? Something acerbic? As all y’all know, it’s not an easy decision. So I perused the mostly-physical collection, considering and rejecting various albums for a range of reasons, I finally settled in on something that isn’t any of the above.

"This isn’t my favorite artist. This isn’t my favorite record by this artist. This artist isn’t a complete unknown though neither is this artist very well-known. This isn’t an old chestnut that everyone’s forgotten about but neither is it something fresh off the press. Perhaps, you’ll be relieved to know that it’s not an off-putting listen. What attracted me to this record, when my gaze passed over the CD on the shelf, was that it was a refreshing listen. I hadn’t heard it in quite a while and, as I spun it in the ol’ optical drive, it dawned on me that one can (re)discover music in their own collection just as easily as one can discover music from others.

"So, thanks to @nessiest for helping me to remember this album! I hope everyone enjoys it and, if you don’t, may you enjoy your beverage!"

Scuba dooper! Direct download is here (link at the top of the page), and while Eric's away I'm experimenting with embedding the Mixcloud stream right here on this page, where it hopefully won't dick you about with track titles.

8PM! GMT! Be there!


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