The Really Strange Record Club

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:53:16 +0100

Tonight! It’s the Boards of Canada listening party at Dreamhouse. Me and Chris are repping Really Strange Record Club by spinning classic Warp and woozy IDM in-store beforehand; tickets are sold out but you can hear the warm-up live on Leyton’s community radio station The Ditch from 8:30pm!

What We Listened To - May 2026

Sat, 23 May 2026 09:14:44 +0100

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

Thu, 21 May 2026 22:49:31 +0100

An uncompromising closer from Ben. Thanks so much to everyone who came down! See you in July!

Thu, 21 May 2026 22:24:59 +0100

A KLF classic from Tom.

Thu, 21 May 2026 22:12:57 +0100

Elise hypnotised us into giving up smoking!

Thu, 21 May 2026 22:12:07 +0100

Finnish jazz, Swedish hip hop and Japanese house from Lasse.

Thu, 21 May 2026 21:33:48 +0100

Killer free jazz selections from Mark.

Thu, 21 May 2026 21:22:34 +0100

Beautiful selections from Paul!

Thu, 21 May 2026 21:04:33 +0100

A selection of oddball French psych/prog/disco from Dan.

Thu, 21 May 2026 20:50:17 +0100

Matt has brought a selection of Mogwai-adjacent Scottish indie-psych 7”s.

Thu, 21 May 2026 20:33:24 +0100

Gus claims this could be Singapore’s first ever hip hop record?

Thu, 21 May 2026 20:32:29 +0100

A selection of truly ancient sounds from Geoff!

Thu, 21 May 2026 19:45:52 +0100

Some deeper-cut Yukihiro Takahashi from me to kick us off!

Next event: 21st May 2026! Leyton community radio!

Sat, 09 May 2026 08:43:54 +0100

Hello everyone, hope you’ve all had a great week.

Next event - Thursday 21st May

Here’s a little reminder that we’re just over a week away from the next meet-up of the Really Strange Record Club. Join us on Thursday 21st May, 7:30pm-10:30pm, as always at the wonderful Dreamhouse Records on Francis Road, and we’ll hang out, hear some new sounds from across the globe, and share the treasures hiding in our record collections.

If you want to guarantee your 15 mins on the turntable - yours to fill however you like! - then please do drop me an email. Other physical music formats are welcome, but if you’re bringing anything other than vinyl then do give me a heads up so we can make sure we’ve got the necessary machines.

If you’re wondering what to bring, the recently-rebooted website is fully up to date with all the lists from previous events. We also noted at the last event that in our first three years of existence, no-one’s brought along any (a) Can, or (b) dub, which feel like big oversights. So if either of those are passions of yours, this is your moment to shine.

Any questions at all, please do get in touch any time. I can’t wait to see what everyone brings!

The Ditch - Leyton community radio

A quick heads-up for those who didn’t already know that Leyton now has an extremely cool community radio station called The Ditch, founded late last year by Adam Clarke, with a small but growing roster of regular and semi-regular shows. I’ve been getting stuck in and now have what you might call an RSRC-adjacent show on Monday nights at 8pm called Mostly Listening. Tune in at the website, check out the Mixcloud archives, and join the chat (or hit me up) if you want to get involved - it’s extremely DIY and great fun, and so exciting to see our local scene growing.

Semi-relatedly, I’ve added a Friends page to the website which I hope will grow into a little community noticeboard for people doing DIY / grassroots / weird stuff round our way. If that’s you, let me know!

Have a brilliant weekend, and see you on the 21st.

Matt

Next event! New site! New newsletter!

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:45:02 +0100

Hello!

Quite a lot of news to get to, but I’ll put the biggest / most important announcement up top - the next meet-up of the Really Strange Record Club will take place on Thursday 21st May 2026, 7:30-10:30pm, as usual at the wonderful Dreamhouse Records on Francis Road in Leyton. Put the date in your diary right now and we’ll see you there.

Thanks to everyone who came down to our event last week - I think it was our biggest crowd yet, including a couple of spectacular RSRC debuts from new friends (and I hope future regulars). As usual, we heard an incredible mix of sounds from all eras and across the globe; and if you’re curious to hear what you missed out on you can find out RIGHT NOW on our…

New website!

That’s right, we’ve given the website a complete overhaul to make it much more complete/useful. You can now find all our listening reports in one place, including last week’s event and the long-overdue write-ups from September, November and December 2025. (Though weirdly, nothing from our second event back in May 2023 which I can’t find anywhere - if you have the tracklist lurking in your inbox please forward it on to me and I’ll post it!).

Going forward, this new site is much easier to update, which means you’ll get post-event reports much quicker - whether you’re reading them via the website or via our…

If you’re thinking this newsletter looks a little different, you’d be correct - this is the first mailout from our new newsletter system, built into the website itself. There are plenty of compelling reasons to leave Substack anyway, but their bells and whistles were also starting to feel like overkill for essentially announcing dates and posting lists of records. Hopefully it’s been a smooth transition to the new system, though there may be a few gremlins lurking - if you have any questions or concerns, please do email me and I’ll investigate. And of course, you can unsubscribe any time either at the link below or by emailing me.

New socials!

We’ve also got profiles on Bluesky and Mastodon and a good old-fashioned RSS feed in addition to our Instagram which means you can follow us for updates via whichever platform is most useful for you. And don’t forget the Whatsapp community for record chat and gig alerts from the crew.

New clubs!

Finally, I’m putting together a list of similar events in other parts of the country/world as I’d love to get a network of affiliate clubs going. So far I’ve heard of one other event in the UK and someone mulling one in Los Angeles… If you’re doing something similar, get in touch and I’ll post a list on the site. And I’m happy to share any intel with anyone who wants to set something similar up!

If you’ve got this far, thanks for reading - if you spot any problems with the new setup or have any feedback, do let me know. Otherwise, have a brilliant weekend (see you at the Ditch party in Leyton if you’re going) and looking forward to hearing what everyone brings on the 21st May!

Matt

What We Listened To - March 2026

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:58:28 +0100

A capacity crowd braved weirdly strong winds to descend on Dreamhouse Records for the very first Really Strange Record Club of 2026. We had some amazing debut appearances, immaculate vibes throughout and of course some incredible musical discoveries. If you have any questions or corrections to the list below, please do email me!

I opened the evening with some selections to mark the arrival of spring, before veering off into early Actress and neon new age.

Jon Hassell - Vernal Equinox
Operating Theatre - Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In Her Mouth
Balam Acab - See Birds (Moon)
Actress - selections from Hazyville
Slapp & Powell - Sex Drive from Valley of The Sun - Field Guide To Inner Harmony

Jen brought us the smooth sounds of 80s Japan courtesy of the amazing compilation - - Tokyo Nights - Female J-Pop Boogie Funk: 1981 To 1988.

Junko Ohashi - Sensual Night
Aru Takamura - 恋は最高 (I’m In Love)
Hitomi Tohyama - Wanna Kiss

Lasse brought some more deep cut Finnish joints - the first two of which were made by friends of his.

Cocknutz - Mut, Siis
Peu - I Am Me Without You
Jaakko – The Maker And Creator Of The Devil

Ollie made a strong RSRC debut with some truly out there Italian library psych, plus an Edan track that samples both of his other choices.

The Animated Egg - Sock It To Me
The Feed-back
Edan - Torture Chamber (Cut Chemist remix)

Matt M played some lovely cosmic beat tracks, before closing with an Italo stunner that he’ll be playing at his upcoming wedding!

Medasin - Always In A Hurry / Elevator Music
Sam Gellaitry - Escapism II
40winks - It’s The Trip
Shemale - I Wanna Discover You

Josh took us on another trip through his 7" collection with a collection of singles featuring musical legends in earlier bands or incarnations.

The Wind In The Willows - Moments Spent (Debbie Harry)
The Stripes - Ecstacy (Nena)
Nipple Erectors - King of the Bop (Shane McGowan)
Killjoys - Naive (Kevin Rowland)
The Beastie Boys (debut single with Kate from Luscious Jackson)
Inside Out - No Spiritual Surrender (Zack de la Rocha)

Will smoothed the vibe with some absolutely delightful funk, soul and rare groove selections.

Arnold Blair - Trying To Get Next To You
Sharon Révoal – Reaching For Our Star
Alice Clarke - Never Did I Stop Loving You
Jean & Trevor - Back Together Again

Tom brought us a great deconstructed beat track from his label Health Records - on a test pressing no less!

Bambooman & Kashmere - Supergod

Ben closed the night with two krautrock cuts from the brilliant compilation Berlin 61 / 89 - Wall Of Sound as well as a highly uncharacteristic Placebo b-side!

Faust - The Sad Skinhead
Placebo - Ion (from You Don’t Care About Us CD single)
Liaisons Dangereuses - Dupont I

A fantastic way to kick off the year - bring on the next one!

What We Listened To - December 2025

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:16:00 +0100

As with last year, December’s session had a non-compulsory Christmas theme, which we’d more or less abandoned by the end of the first hour.

I opened things up with some Christmas-adjacent cuts from the Yellow Magic Orchestra extended family, along with an 8-bit IDM take on a festive staple and then a selection from 2025’s best accordion record.

David Sylvian / Ryuichi Sakamoto - Forbidden Colours (from Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence OST)
Saitone - Sleigh Ride (from Holy 8 Bit Night)
Yukihiro Takahashi - Open The Door (from We Will You A Merry Christmas)
Walt McClements - On A Painted Ocean

Nick brought us an outsider Christmas gem and a truly transportive slab of French drone-rock.

Mozart Estate (aka Lawrence) - Come On Christmas / Vanilla Gorilla
Forrest Terry - Satellite-Love
France - Destino Scifosi

Josh treated us to a selection of festive 7"s that probably wouldn’t get a hearing on Magic.

The Ravers - It’s Gonna Be A Punk Rock Christmas
The Yobs - Run Run Rudolph
The Gonads - White Christmas
Hard Skin - Ding Dong Merrily on High (from Christmas Fisting EP)
Murder City Devils - 364 Days
Bomb Squadron - Run Run Rudolph / Police / If I’m Going To Die

Lasse played some more gems from the turn-of-the-century Finnish underground.

No More Ugly Germans - Educate The Masses
Katri Helena folk song sampled by…
Matti P - Save The King
Thage & Boogie B - A Few of My Favourite Things

Ben took advantage of the Dreamhouse CD player to bring us a selection of industrial from his car.

The Liars - Always Room on the Broom (track 1)
Einsturzende Neubauten - Feurio! (track 2)
Fluid Line - track 1 from Alternative Press cover mount CD

What We Listened To - November 2025

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:03:00 +0100

I opened things up with a selection of 80s art pop and global experimentation.

Laurie Anderson - Bright Red
Tau Ea Lesoto - S/T
Coldcut - Haruomi Hosono remix
Jean Michel Jarre - Zoolook
Various Artists - Methods of Dance compilation

Tom A brought us some deep electronic zones and tones.

Prins Emmanuel
Miet Warlop & Micha Volders – ICCHĀ

Rich took us on a wild trip into the outer reaches of extended saxophone technique.

John Zorn - Nani Nani (tracks 1, 6, 9, 12)
Napalm Death - Everyday Pox (with John Zorn)
Brain Tentacles - Sax Metal

Lasse tooks us on a whistle-stop tour of the Finnish underground.

Aavikko With Kabar – Finland Group Aavikko Meets Hit Singer Kabar (both sides)
Freaky Beats - How To Prepare A Delicious Cup of Coffee
**Red Volvo **

Ben treated us to some more industrial techno and dark ambient.

Paranormal Phenomena - The Icelandic Expedition
Oake
Second Tension - Atropos

Nick brought us some electronic spoken word and a dub/krautrock crossover.

Head Ache & Vegyn
Jah Wobble & Can - Trench Warfare

Tom M kicked off an impromptu half hour of remixes and mash-ups…

Stereo MCs remixing Sabres of Paradise
Herb Alpert vs Public Enemy bootleg
Caustic Window - Popcorn

…and I picked up the baton with some more mash-ups and bootlegs from the back of the cupboard to close us out.

Picasio - DJ Luck & MC Neat vs Axel F
Low Frequency Bootilator (LFO breaks bootleg)
Girls on Top - Being Scrubbed (TLC vs Human League)

What We Listened To - September 2025

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 13:40:00 +0100

September’s RSRC might have been one of the most wide-ranging meet-ups yet, taking in everything from deconstructed hip-hop and deep-cut machine funk to soap opera themes and even a record by a Welsh wrestler. For reasons of both legibility and efficiency, I’m experimenting with a slightly less verbose format for these write-ups - comments and corrections welcome!

I topped and tailed the night with some obscure machine funk from Lou Reed’s 80s rhythm section and the euphoric alt-pop of Kate NV.

Robert Quine / Fred Maher - Basic
Kate NV - Room For The Moon

Phil brought us more gems from New Zealand.

Patea Maori Club – Poi E (first Maori language single released in NZ)
DLT Meets The Projector – Freestyle Dub (from Deepgrooves 10”)

Josh took us on another wild trip through his 7" collection, including the only single released by wrestler Adrian Street and a song in praise of optometrists.

Crow - Evil Woman
The Rattles - The Witch
Spectacles - Low Ball
Adrian Street - Breaking Bones
The Shaggs - Sweet Maria
Wild Angels - Clap Your Hands & Stamp Your Feet

Tom returned to the world of The Cardiacs with a side from Tim Smith’s 1995 side project.

Sea Nymphs - S/T

Elise told us of her teenage years swapping records with people on comedy forums, before treating us to two versions of the theme from 80s yachting soap Howard’s Way.

Topper - Grappling Hook (from S4C Makes Me Want To Smoke Crack 7")
The Simon May Orchestra - Howard’s Way Theme

Rob brought along some vintage British hip-hop and deconstructed beats.

London Posse - My Beatbox Reggae Style
Clouddead - Dead Dogs Two (Boards of Canada remix)

Rahul brought one of the all-time treasures of 80s Japanese fourth-world music.

Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass

What We Listened To - July 2025

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:44:00 +0100

I opened proceedings with Hochono House by the legendary Haruomi Hosono - a playful self-cover album in which Hosono revisits his late-70s songs with a minimal electronic palette. I followed with selections from El-Mir’s incredible Malik Adouane compilation, showcasing his hi-energy raï jams in a Eurodance style.

Matt switched gears with three tracks from The Foreign Department by Astrel K.

Tom A took us into an electronic space with The Hour I Want by A Special Occasion, Mind in Camden from Enchante, a classic bit of longform deep house from DJ Sprinkles & Mark Fell and a slab of intricate protest d’n’b, Here comes a fucking startup campus by Mark.

Tom M played three movements from North Sea Radio Orchestra’s Dronne (A1, 2, 3) — a quietly overwhelming bit of pastoral minimalism.

Ben pulled us back into the underground with Scabs by Horrorshow (from the Fast Records compilation) before pivoting into A Split-Second’s Neurobeat, a menacing slice of EBM.

Will move us into the world of eccentric British tape manipulation with some tracks from the Basil Kirchin Is My Friend compilation.

Paul brought some selections from Iran, starting with Saint Abdullah’s Ta Tash followed by Morteza Hannaneh’s classic Persian songs Tchashm-e-Del.

Rahul rounded out the night with three tracks from City & Eastern Songs by Jeffrey & Jack Lewis.

What We Listened To - May 2025

Thu, 01 May 2025 17:43:00 +0100

I opened this blockbuster session with some selections from Wrong Way Up, the collaborative album between Brian Eno and John Cale from 1990. I’ve always loved the contrarianism of these two titans of experimental art producing a plasticky synthpop album - but have a look at Pitchfork’s deep dive to see how demented the creation of this smooth, airy record actually was.

Rich followed with the Pan Machine album by the Ebony Steel Band, Kraftwerk classics reimagined by a full steel drum band; a reminder that you can recontextualise the Kraftwerk back catalogue in an almost infinite number of ways and those melodies still shine through.

Ben brought us Norther by Ex Easter Island Head - a euphoric blast of widescreen guitar and electronics minimalism - and followed up with Q. Weirdo’s The Weird Way to Start the Day!.

Nick brought us two gems: the dreamlike 11000 Dreams by Jan Van Den Broeke, and Whale by White Light.

Josh threw us one of his customary curveballs with a selection of top-shelf smut records, kicking off with FOR ADULTS ONLY! by Snatch and the Poontangs, followed by Tony Hess’s Don’t Go Topless Mother, and finishing with My Pussy Belongs To Daddy. Feel free to trust your instincts on whether these records might be for you.

Kate brought us an incredible field-recording treat - the Sea Organ release on Wonderfulsound, featuring the Adriatic waves playing their own vast, strange instrument.

Ben P. took us into a classic Detroit techno zone with a couple of remixes from Model 500’s The Flow 12”, then followed with Class A’s double header Same As It Ever Was / U Bring Me Up.

Will gave us a blast of outsider soul with Shira Small’s Line of Time and Plane of Now.

Paul brought a selection around the theme of ritual and sacrifice, in honour of Mayday: Kali Malone’s austere masterpiece The Sacrificial Code; Stravinky’s Rite of Spring; the A Distant Invitation compilation; selections from Spectra Ex Machina; the ecstatic intensity of the Master Musicians of Jajouka; the earth-shaking Vodou Drums of Haiti compilation on Soul Jazz; and finally Broadcast & The Focus Group’s peerless Witch Cults of the Radio Age.

Erin pulled us back into the electro zone with 808 State’s rattling proto-acid banger Prebuild.

Tom mirrored the earlier Kraftwerk covers with selections from Mexrrissey - Morrissey en español.

And finally Chris closed things out with a hip-hop double header: Justice (To the Boss) Skatemaster Tate; Early Whitney by Why?.

[NB I also have photos of Venom - While Furi and The Residents - Eskimo but neglected to write down who brought them along - apols, will update this post if the owner wants to make themselves known!]

What We Listened To - March 2025

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 19:39:00 +0100

I kicked things off with a side from Awa Poulo’s Poulo Warali, a gorgeous 2017 album from the Malian singer on the always-reliable Awesome Tapes From Africa label.

Afterwards, Ben stepped up with Sleepy For Life, a melancholic slide of retro-acid by AAAA from 2018’s Acid Avengers 010 release. Then we looked back to, in Ben’s words, “a time before John Carpenter was a genre” and Gatekeeper’s magnificent, crushing Optimus Maximus from 2009 before closing out this set with Pussy Galore’s 1988 cover of Einsturzende Neubauten’s Yu Gung from 1988’s Sugarshit Sharp.

Erin kept us in the acid zone with an extraordinary rarity - a test pressing of one of his own records where glitter had been tossed in with the clear vinyl in an experimental process; five records were made but four broke making this the only surviving copy. Miraculously, it played extremely well but then unfortunately snapped when it was removed from the turntable, meaning this might be the one of the rarest records we’ve heard. He followed this with another rare test pressing of Autocratz’ reaKtor on Kitsune from 2007, before closing out with Deaf Club’s cover of Nirvana’s Tourettes from 2024’s split 7” with Fuck Money.

Rahil brought along two impulse purchases - the first an absolutely delightful beat record by M Shariff & The Zurah from 1973. We listened to the first side of Sudah Nasib, including the title track and Kembalilah Padaku, before switching up to enjoy Muévelo Negro, a 2013 cumbia 12” on Tru Thoughts by Quantic & Nidia Góngora.

Paul saluted International Women’s Day with a rapidfire set of cuts made by women from around the globe, starting with Asha Puthli’s incredible We’re Gonna Bury The Rock With The Roll Tonight from Mr Bongo’s 2022 compilation of her work. Then we heard Gina Martin’s Omo Belli from Soul Jazz’s Caribbean comp 90° Degrees Of Shade (2014); The Dezurik Sisters’ The Arizona Yodeller from Mississippi Records’ 2009 comp Mata La Pena; Mortuary Bound from Elyse Weinberg’s 1969 album Elyse; the magisterial Bulgarian choral singing from 4AD classic Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares; some really psychedelic cut and paste from Cobra Killer’s 1998 self-titled album; before finishing with Japanese duo Pop-Off Tuesday’s self-titled album from 2000.

Geoff brought some truly remarkable gems from the USSR in the 1970s, including three selections from Georgia (two on flexi-disc!) and one each from Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, running the gamut of expansive orchestration, traditional instrumentation and, fascinatingly, some soul influences. I snapped photos of all of these treasures but have been struggling to cross-reference them on Discogs; I’ll update this section of the post as and when I have more information.

Rob brought a selection of intriguing-looking records but hit a home run with the two he played. Pony Ride was the 2017 debut of Chinese/Greek drone duo Elephant House and was my favourite discovery of the night; he followed with a track from Butter (1996), the sole album of experimental rock supergroup group Butter 08 featuring members of Cibo Matto, the Jon Spencer Blue Explosion and Sean Lennon.

Nick brought along a collaborative 12” between English Krautrockers Standard Planets and author Iain Sinclair, in which the latter reads from his book Overground, putting the boot into London gentrification to a musical backing.

Paul returned to the turntable with a few more selections: the Finnish IDM of Kuupuu from their Sisar album (2013); the Malian desert folk of Idassane Wallet Mohammed’s Inarègh from her Issawat album (also 2013); Lottie Kimbrough’s Rolling Log from Mississippi’s Last Kind Words 1926-1953 blues/folk comp from 2006; and finishing with a track from Mu’s Afro Finger & Gel album, a 2003 Maurice Fulton production.

Ben closed out the night with two final records from his bag - Foetus Über Frisco’s Finely Honed Machine 12” from 1985, and Laibach’s lullaby-like cover of Across The Universe from 1988.

What We Listened To - December 2024

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 19:39:00 +0100

December had a non-compulsory Christmas theme that was reflected in some but by no means all of the records we played. We opened with a track I brought along - an excerpt from Tuluum Shimmering’s hour-long psyche jam based on Linus and Lucy from the classic Peanuts Christmas soundtrack.

Tom kicked off with the gothy Swedish synthpop of Troth’s Blood In My Hair (2022), before moving onto the exquisite Lift You from Moin’s You Never End (2024) - a glorious slice of math-rock-meets-spoken-word. He finished with the deep, heavy and seasonally appropriate techno of Coil’s The Snow from 1991.

Phil brought us another dispatch from the NZ industrial scene via Don’t Take Those, from This Kind of Punishment’s self-titled 1984 record. We then heard Beeside from Moonshake’s Beautiful Pigeon 7” from 1992 (another entry in our Leyton local history series) before finishing with William Shatner and Henry Rollins’ idiosyncratic take on Jingle Bells.

Geoff brought us a stunning 78 from 1954 featuring two unaccompanied vocal performances by folk singer A L Lloyd - Down in Yon Forest and The Bitter Withy. Then we enjoyed a seasonal release from The Qualities released on Sun Ra’s Saturn label in 1961 - It’s Christmas Time and Happy New Year, before finishing with another gem from Ra’s doo-wop era - The Cosmic Rays’ Daddy’s Gonna Tell You No Lie from 1955.

I played a couple of tracks from the Yen Records all-star We Wish You A Merry Christmas album from 1983 - Haruomi Hosono’s frosty ambient 25 Dec 1983 and Yukihiro Takahashi’s stately Door O Akereba.

Ben opened his selection with Dogbowl’s lo-fi The 1972 Christmas Bombing Of North Vietnam from Fantastic Carburetor Man from 2001, before unleashing the thrashy Kill Techno by Man Nebound And The Barbed Wire Hippopotamuses from Ugly Records’ Weird Sex compilation. We then moved into the industrial hip-hop zone with Pig’s Sick City 7” from 1989 then onto Way of the South by Headhunters (1989) before finishing with some classic hard techno via 1999’s Terminator by Digital Masters.

Harry played a couple of lovely psychey tracks from the only album by Pennsylvania commune group Farm (1971) - we heard Sunshine in my Window and Let That Boy Boogie. Then we heard a couple of great finds from Harry’s recent deep dive on the Fluid Ounce label - Nery Bauer’s Maharaja, a great funk/jungle hybrid from 2005, and BDI’s Ultra Living from The Science of Charity, a broken beat track from the same year.

A record was actually left for us behind the counter at Dreamhouse - we think it was from Tom M though do write in and correct me if I’m wrong! - but in any case we all enjoyed The Butthole Surfers’ rousing take on Good King Wenceslas.

We closed with a barnstorming set from Paul of festive treats from all over the map - starting with Joseph Spence’s Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town from 1980’s Living on the Hallelujah Side. We returned to James Chance’s oeuvre with his Christmas With Satan under his James White alias from Ze Records’ A Christmas Record (1982 edition), swiftly followed by Ray I’s Bruck Pocket Ismas from his 1978 Natty Christmas reggae record with Jacob Miller. From Stones Throw’s legendary 2007 Badd Santa comp we heard 69 Boyz & Quad City DJs with What I Want For Christmas before closing the whole night with Simply, a hellish Stock Hausen & Walkman deconstruction of Macca from V/Vm’s Turkey compilation (1998).

What We Listened To - October 2024

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 17:38:00 +0100

Tom kicked us off with Bruce Haack’s Electronic Record For Children from 1969, taking us back to a time when at least part of the intended audience for wiggy electronic weirdness was kids, via the somewhat harrowing Spiders. Then we enjoyed the strangely affecting MIDI-folk of Thomas Bush’s Old And Red (2018) before finishing with an outsider classic from Ireland, Michael O’Shea’s self-titled album from 1982 in which he conjures up some dark and deeply percussive soundscapes from a homemade zither-like instrument constructed from an old door.

Tom M treated us to a selection of covers - Silverfish’s hardcore version of White Lines from 1990, Revolting Cocks’ take on Da Ya Think I’m Sexy (1993) which boasted both a great groove and a mildly upsetting KY Jelly-filled sleeve, and finally Saint Etienne’s delirious acid reworking of I’m Too Sexy (1992).

Josh drew up some more treasures from his inexhaustible well of 7-inches, starting with You’ve Got What It Takes - a 1964 release from Mandy Rice-Davies in a charming bid to parlay her Profumo notoriety into a pop career. Next, we heard two covers of the Misfits’ Angel Fuck - one by Pajo from Scream With Me (2009) and one from Orange Hell’s self-titled comp from 2023. Finally we heard 1966’s Makin’ Deals by The Satans - a song that bears a remarkable resemblance to the later Sympathy for the Devil.

Jeremy introduced us to Deutsche Grammophon’s Avant Garde imprint with two selections from a 1968 recording by Chor Des Norddeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg - David Beford’s Two Poems for Chorus and Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna, which boasts some truly stunning dense vocal textures.

Paul kept us in the avant-garde space with an except from Conlon Nancarrow’s relentless Complete Studies For Player Piano Volume Four (1984), before switching into disco mode for Lata Ramasar’s India-via-Trinidad 12” The Greatest Name That Lives (1980) and finishing with George Coleman’s Bongo Joe (1969) - performed, according to the credits, on a 55-gallon oil drum.

Harry introduced us to the wonderful, late James Chance via a live LP of his band Contortions, Live Aux Bains Douches from 1980, including electrifying free-funk covers of Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough and I Got You (I Feel Good) - killer stuff.

Nick brought us the dub-disco of Tappa Zukie’s 12” Freak - a record he didn’t know he owned until choosing something to bring - before bringing us a really intriguing mispressing - a record that alleged to be Captain Beefheart’s Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) but actually contained a side of psychedelic jazz-prog from Hatfield And The North - released on Virgin in the same year.

Erin took us back to 2005 with Death From Above 1979’s Blood on our Hands 7”, before switching up into hardcore mode with Alexisonfire’s Accidents from the same year.

And finally Ben rounded out the night with an amazing grab-bag of stray singles and one-offs from the mighty KLF - Disco 2000’s Uptight, America What Time Is Love, Kylie Said To Jason, The Jamms’ It’s Grim Up North, The Timelords’ Doctorin’ The Tardis and of course the anthemic Justified And Ancient with Tammy Wynette.

What We Listened To - May 2024

Thu, 23 May 2024 17:34:00 +0100

Last night the Really Strange Record Club met at Dreamhouse Records to make a beautiful May evening on Francis Road a little bit weirder. And as the drinks flowed from the newly-inaugurated Dreamhouse bar, we enjoyed some truly amazing sounds.

First up was Gareth, who took us back to the new wave of British heavy metal with the 1980 compilation Metal For Muthas - notable for the inclusion of two early mixes of Iron Maiden’s songs Sanctuary and Wrathchild, their first appearance on EMI ahead of their debut album later that year. A fascinating look at the origins of one of Leyton’s most iconic bands.

Josh picked up the local history baton with a 7” inch from Leyton Buzzards, an early incarnation of Modern Romance, and their paean to life in North East London Saturday Night Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees. He followed with The Nerves original 1979 recording of Hanging on the Telephone, featuring a performance remarkably similar to Blondie’s subsequent cover. Crusher by The Novas came next, a teenage homage to wrestling that basically lists a series of moves in a charmingly gruff voice. Warrior Kids’ Forces de L’ordre introduced us to the less-problematic end of French Oi via a sadly still-relevant invective against police brutality, before Josh closed his set with Misty’s Resurrection Shuffle, a psyche-y synth-y glam oddity.

Jeremy brought us one of the undisputed highlights of the night - Phases In Exile, a solo recording from the late Akron/Family member Miles Cooper Seaton. Jeremy actually arranged the strings on this deeply poetic slice of psychedelic ambience, and he movingly told us about his personal and professional encounters with Miles ahead of his untimely death in 2021. This overlooked jewel of a record cast a spell over the room and deserves to find a much bigger audience.

Paul was up next, with a trio of records showcasing rhythmic traditions from around the world - from devotional to protest music. First we heard a cut from Sublime Frequencies’ Moroccan compilation Eat The Dream: Gnawa Music From Essaouira, and the lurching, swung groove drew comparisons to J Dilla. Next, we heard an exhilarating percussion workout from Soul Jazz Records’ Brazilian compilation Batucada Capoeira, before finishing with a jaw-dropping, super-long track from 1978’s Rara In Haiti: Gaga In The Dominican Republic - a deep hypnotic banger to file under “Folkways Records you could plausibly drop at Fabric.”

Ben switched things up with Divine’s sensational hi-NRG banger You Think You’re A Man, a 1984 12” where Pete Waterman got to unleash his rarely-heard industrial side. This was followed by The Second Aspect of the Same Thing, from a Martin Hannett flexidisc included with a Durutti Column release - the only release the legendary producer put out under his own name. Then, as a salute to the recently departed Steve Albini, we heard The Greenhouse from the album Gub by Pigface from 1990 - a track where the legendary producer is credited on synthesisers, and Pigface founder Martin Atkins is credited on “Doritos bag”.

Erin invited us to imagine a world where DMX Krew was a pop icon via the delightful electropop anthem Street Boys from 1997’s We Are DMX, before changing tack entirely with the proto-chillout of Sweet People’s Et Les Oiseaux Chantaient - a light and dreamy Rhodes and birdsong oddity.

Tom opened his set with Echo Minnott’s On My Way, a killer 7” on Prince Jammy’s Dub, before taking us to deeper places via Golden Teacher’s Like A Hawk, a terrific piece of dubbed out mutant disco from Glasgow’s legendary Optimo label. He finished with SW’s descriptively titled Extended Mix 33, a pulsing psychedelic groove from 2017 that might well have been 5 or 50 minutes long - its time-bending properties were in full effect.

Phil kept us in a similar hypnotic state thanks to Stereolab and Nurse With Wound’s collab Simple Headphone Mind - a blissful ten-minute motorik jam that goes everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Elise supplied us with a bedtime story courtesy of The Story of the Little Red Hen - a turn-the-page-when-you-hear-the-chimes Disneyland 7” with accompanying illustrated story book, and narrated in brisk fashion by one “Lois Lane”. And I closed the night with some cues from Yasuaki Shimizu’s peerless Music For Commercials, a compilation of Japanese ad jingles that appeared on Crammed Discs’ Made To Measure series.

All in all, it was another terrific night full of amazing discoveries! Thanks to everyone who came down, and particular thanks as always to Jon and Jack from Dreamhouse for hosting this madness and looking after us all so well. See you at the next one…