Sunday 6 September 2015

The Listening Club - 6th September 2015

Hey all,

"September already? Can't believe it" etc. Feeling short changed over the summer for sure, but still, indoor fun doth beckon with a satisfactorily full calendar of gigs to attend over the next few months, kicked off on Friday with a rare visit to these shores from John Cooper Clarke, and mighty fine he was too....

Over in #LC land we all donned jim-jams last Sunday for the #sleepyvortex, although looking at the tracklist a fair chunk of it was rather a non-sleeping vortex - make of that what you will... a fine selection of picks though, thanks to all who chipped in. Are we doing a #wakeywakeyvortex next time then?

Back to regular programming, @cdrose_writer was left holding the frisbee, and here he is with this week's intro...

"Instead of lazing by a poolside with a margarita and a trashy paperback in hand, I spent much of this summer rekindling an ongoing on/off love affair with my hometown, the great city of Manchester.  (Yeah, it’s on again.)

Aside from Vimto, Corrie, the splitting of the atom, the invention of graphene, Eccles Cakes and the Manchester Egg, I am sure that most of you will know this great city as the home of one or two well-known bands.  Given this heritage I was tempted to choose something Manc for your ears this evening.  You’ll probably be pleased to know I skipped over Northside and even Frank Sidebottom when considering my choice (though the latter was a sore temptation), and wouldn’t have gone for anything as obvious as Unknown Pleasures or Slaughter and the Dogs’ Do It Dog Style. 

I didn’t want the evening to descend into the endless debate about which the best Fall album is (though it’s Bend Sinister btw), there are too many Durutti Column lps to even think about and – sadly – A Certain Ratio recorded many great tracks, but never made a great album.

And then I realised I was being far too nostalgic.  Manchester – I was surprised to find - is still a town where a fair number of men of a certain age (about my age, tbh), still wander around with that haircut, desert boots and designer cagoules, telling each other that things are 'sorted,' and a place where several pubs seem to have Madchester’s 20 Greatest Hits stuck on a loop.  I wanted none of that, so have gone for a record from earlier this year, a record that looks back to the city’s industrial past and forward to its post-Industrial future.  It’s a record that could be from lots of places, yet remains very Manc."

Reety-ho. Direct download is here, and as mixcloud has taken this down before I even finish typing out the blurb, it's time to try something new, let me know how it goes for you... so you'll find the stream on HearThis!


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

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