What We Listened To - May 2026

Hello everyone,

Thanks so much to everyone who came down on Thursday. It was a really beautiful night - lovely weather, great vibes and some of the wildest (and oldest!) sounds we’ve heard at a Really Strange Record Club yet. Scroll down for a full account of everything we listened to, and do ping any questions or corrections over to hello@reallystrangerecord.club.

The next event is on Thursday 9th July, 7:30-10:30pm at Dreamhouse Records. Get the date in your diary now and see you there!

In other news, me and RSRC regular Chris will be DJing classic Warp and woozy IDM as part of Dreamhouse’s launch celebrations for the new Boards of Canada LP this Thursday (28th). Tickets are sold out but god (ie wi-fi) willing we’ll be broadcasting the set on Leyton’s extremely cool community radio station The Ditch. Keep an eye on the RSRC website for more details later this week.

Speaking of The Ditch, you should definitely listen to Jon from Dreamhouse’s new show Dreamhouse Despatch, surveying cool new releases available in the shop. It’s a fantastic addition to a small but mighty roster of shows including my show Mostly Listening (Mondays, 8pm), Emmet O’Donnell’s crucial roundup of new experimental and electronic sounds The Weekly Digress (Tuesdays, 8pm), Derek Bonz’s wonderful ambient and dub-techno show Pausa (Fridays, 9:30am), pop-up live broadcasts from Ditch founder Adam Clarke and more. Tune in here - and get involved!

Finally, if you’re doing something interesting / cool / weird around Leyton or East London, drop me a note so we can add it to our new friends page. We’re building a scene, piece by piece - come and be a part of it!

Have a great weekend.
Matt

What We Listened To - May 2026 edition

I kicked off the evening with a slept-on Yukihiro Takahashi LP, and Joe Hisaishi and Midori Takada’s first LP as the Mkwaju Ensemble. [photos]

  • Yukihiro Takahashi - Wild & Moody
  • Mkwaju Ensemble - Mkwaju

Gus told us about a two-day digging session he did in a record warehouse in Singapore, before playing us one of the highlights - a tune that could potentially be Singapore’s first ever hip-hop track. [photos]

  • Dick Lee - The Mad Chinaman

Geoff’s selection was an absolute education - a cacophony of wild sounds played on ancient musical instruments, some literally thousands of years old. A listening experience that completely rewires your sense of history. [photos]

  • Musica Sveciae - Fornnordiska klanger (The Sounds of Prehistoric Scandinavia)
  • The Kilmartin Sessions: The Sounds of Ancient Scotland
  • Atrium Musicae De Madrid / Gregorio Paniagua - Musique de la Grèque Antique
  • Lukas De Clerck - The Telescopic Aulos of Atlas

Matt brought a selection of Mogwai-adjacent indie-psych 7”s from Scotland, including a track by a pre-Franz Ferdinand Alex Kapranos. [photos]

  • Mogwai - Sweet Leaf (from Mogwai / Magoo AA-side)
  • The Karelia - New Year in New York (from Glasgow EP).
  • Urusei Yatsura - Pachinko [live] (from Mogwai tour 7")

Dan brought along some oddball prog/psych/disco from France, before closing out with a synth classic. [photos]

  • Horrific Child – L’Etrange Mr Whinster
  • Jean-Pierre Massiera – Psychoses Discoïd (1976-1981)
  • Èlg - La Chimie
  • Space - Magic Fly

Paul played us three unrelated but beautiful records! [photos]

  • Clipping. - Dead Channel Sky
  • Mary Lou Williams - Anima Christi (from Mary Lou Williams)
  • Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy - African Skies

Mark played us some killer free-jazz cuts. [photos]

  • Archie Shepp – Blasé
  • Max Roach - We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite

Lasse’s records touched on Swedish hip-hop, Japanese house and a wonderful Finnish jazz track memorably sampled by DJ Shadow. [photos]

  • Pekka Pohjola - Harakka Bialopokku
  • Looptroop - Modern Day City Symphony
  • Shinichiro Yokota - Ultimate Yokota

Elise brought along an incredible oddity - a hypnosis record designed to help the listener give up smoking. We listened to the whole of “The Treatment” - we’ll check in at the next RSRC to see if it worked for anyone. [photos]

  • Peter Casson - Give Up Smoking With Peter Casson, The Master Hypnotist

Tom dropped an undeniable KLF classic. [photos]

  • The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu - It’s Grim Up North

Ben closed out the evening in uncompromising style! [photos]

  • Tobacco - Sweatmother (from Maniac Meat)
  • Thomas Bangalter – Irréversible

What We Listened To