Podcasts about songbytoad

It's been a very, very long time since we had a nice simple podcast of me just chattering about music without extraneous distractions of various drunken people babbling to one another over the top of it. Last week was Ruth, Michael and Dylan, the week before that was Vic and Peej, then me and Mrs. Toad and then there was the one from Homegame, which was nuts, so this one is just calm and sensible and plain vanilla and basically just me playing some songs, wondering how to pronounce names like Borcherdt, and talking pish like usual. Next week will be the Mumford & Sons Toad Session, which is nice. Toadcast #116 - The Dead Calmcas 01. The Van Allen Belt - The Way You Look (02:14) 02. Songdog - Gene Autry's Ghost (08.50) 03. Over the Wall - Settle Down (16.56) 04. Deathpodal - Squirrel and the Fox (20.55) 05. Brian Borcherdt - While I was Asleep (28.27) 06. Emit Bloch - Dorothy (34.34) 07. David Thomas Broughton - Perfect Louse (40.49) 08. Mat Riviere - FYH (43.09) 09. Member of the Wedding - New Century (51.37) 10. The Sequins - Offside & Beautiful (57.09)

The Toadcasts stumble from one clusterfuck to the next, each one more incoherent than the last.  This, I think it's fair to say, makes the Homegame one look good by comparison.  Not that the songs aren't good, just that the instances of people talking over one another and two conversations going on at once and so on and so forth are notably worse on this. However, the music is excellent, and surprisingly up to the minute by my standards.  We even managed to sneak the new National song in there, which they only released on Thursday - how's that for happening and newsworthy and so on and so forth. We have some new Sam Amidon as well, a track by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti which dropped through my letterbox while I was away in Austin, and some splendid stuff by Harlem and Clogs.  If only it wasn't for the pish chat, this would be a great podcast, actually. Toadcast #115 - The Messcast 1. Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou - Ruth Drink My Whisky (05.12) 2. The National - Blood Buzz Ohio (13.40) 3. Loch Lomond - Spine (MMIX) (25.50) 4. Sam Amidon - Way Go Lily (29.43) 5. Harlem - Friendly Ghost (34.49) 6. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round and Round (44.02) 7. Ghostkeeper - By Morning (49.10) 8. Love is All - Bigger Bolder (53.57) 9. Grand Champeen - Broken Records (62.16) 10. Clogs - Last Song (68.24)

eagleowl Toad Session from Song, by Toad on Vimeo. Video: Vimeo - YouTube Photos: Flickr - Blueback Hotrod Audio: below A large part of me thinks there should be an Eagleowl Interviewers' Support Group.  They are some of the loveliest people you will ever meet, but getting them to talk is like trying to learn Kung-Fu in an afternoon.   I've been down the pub with these guys, so I know it's not like they don't have anything to say for themselves, it's just that teasing it out of them with cameras and microphones present requires a black belt in interviewing people which I quite simply do not have yet.  Next time I will be prepared.  Possibly no more successful, but prepared nevertheless. The music has come out beautifully, recorded by Neil Pennycook and Gavin Tarling, and mixed by Neil - eventually.  Dylan took the pictures, and I have a Song, by Toad set on our Flickr page, but Dylan's full set can be found on his own site at Blueback Hotrod.  I've made videos of the songs themselves and there is of course the main video at the top of the page which gives a not-entirely honest and rather heavily edited impression of what the whole day was like. The playlist for the interview podcast is at the bottom of the page and as per usual all the Toad Session recordings are available for free for you to download and generally do as you please with.  Hope you like it. Toadcast #112 - eagleowl Toad Session [audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo112.mp3] eagleowl -Into the Fold (Toad Session) [audio:http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/ToadSessions/eagleowl-IntotheFold-ToadSession.mp3] eagleowl -Blanket (Toad Session) [audio:http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/ToadSessions/eagleowl-Blanket-ToadSession.mp3] eagleowl - Laughter (Toad Session) [audio:http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/ToadSessions/eagleowl-Laughter-ToadSession.mp3] eagleowl - Sleep the Winter (Toad Session) [audio:http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/ToadSessions/eagleowl-SleeptheWinter-ToadSession.mp3] Toadcast Playlist: 01. eagleowl - Into the Fold (Toad Session) (07.03) 02. Rob St. John - December & Whiskey (Live) (16.26) 03. Silver Jews - How to Rent a Room (19.31) 04. eagleowl - Blanket (Toad Session) (30.25) 05. Spokane - Proud Graduates (36.12) 06. eagleowl - Laughter (Toad Session) (49.21) 07. Adrian Crowley - Bless our Tiny Hearts (54.54) 08. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - The Willow Garden (57.34) 09. eagleowl - Sleep the Winter (Toad Session) (66.42)

Well in all the chatter about the Beeb this week I was strongly considering ignoring it completely in this podcast and giving everyone a welcome break from the wailing and gnashing of teeth... but naah, that was never going to happen, was it. So there's a lot of railing against the Beeb and the threat to 6Music and yaddah yaddah you know the script don't you.  Sadly, and somewhat ironically, we spend so much time talking about the state of the Beeb and the loss their support of small bands will represent, that we actually forgot to talk much about the small bands we ourselves put on the bloody podcast. Toadcast #111 - The Beebcast [audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo111.mp3] 01. Ballboy - All the Records on the Radio are Shite (03.21) 02. Love is All - Bigger Bolder (13.02) 03. Fredrik - Vinterbarn (15.53) 04. Exrays - Everything Goes (27.16) 05. Phil Ochs - Automation Song (34.33) 06. Ghostkeeper - By Morning (37.26) 07. The Light Footwork - Carlsbad Irrigation Project (47.54) 08. Mondrian - Rise and Fall of a Golden Boy Seen by a Porn Star Using No Sextoy (50.21) 09. The Leaf Library - Losing Places (ISAN Remix) (63.00)

I don't know what the damn hell it is about dressing formally which makes me feel so uncomfortable, but it does.  Presumably just because I'm such a scruffy fucker for the entire rest of my life, those few hours every year I spend in a (vaguely) ironed shirt and pair of proper shoes just seem so completely out of character as to be really quite discomfiting. Still, at our age everyone we know seems to be either getting married or breeding (and not infrequently both) so the old whistle is going to have to get used to seeing a little bit more action over the next few years, it seems.  The ludicrous thing is that I actually have a couple of really nice suits, but I never get round to wearing the fuckers because it just all seems too much like hard work. This weekend, people.  In a suit.  Me!  Would you believe it.  I really should thank all these marrying bastards for saving my investment in suits from being complete waste of money it would be if I actually was left to my own devices. Toadcast #109 - The Suitcast 01. Joker's Daughter - The Bouncing Liquorice (02.22) 02. Lloyd Cole - Undressed (05.52) 03. The Besnard Lakes - Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent Pt.1: The Innocent (11.53) 04. Shearwater - God Made Me (18.52) 05. King Post Kitsch - Alaska (24.52) 06. Cold Lake Flight School - Driftwood (30.16) 07. Dan Sartain - Ruby Carol (32.52) 08. The Japanese War Effort - Lanark (38.01) 09. Oreaganomics - Self-assembled Martyr (45.35) 10. The Stands - Some Weekend Night (53.45)

Hooray for us - possibly the vilest and least romantic Valentine's Day Podcast yet!  And before anyone whinges about that picture, go to fucking Wikipedia and complain, because that's where we bloody got it from.  I know!  Scandalous!  Someone should complain. So erm, yes.  I don't think we left anyone unoffended this year.  I sincerely hope not because I don't like to think of people out there nurturing an anticipated false outrage complex only to be let down. We do not like romance, we do not like being told when to have fun by people who are simply hoping to exploit our disposable income, we do not like it being implied that being single is some sort of failure, we do not like people measuring their self-worth by how much their partner can be emotionally blackmailed into spending on them, we do not like having to live up to commercially defined standards to demonstrate that we love one another, we do not like having to skip the football just cos we're supposed to behave one some particular day or other, we do not like fucking teddy bears or fucking chocolates, we do not like sitting in tumbleweed-infested restaurants whilst people glance nervously around them wondering if they've done it right, and we do not like having a list of things to live up to before our relationship is considered functional thank you very fucking much. We do like lazy Saturdays in the garden, crackling fires, meals with friends, new places, fresh flowers when we feel like it and walks on Porty beach that just happen.  Listening to vinyl so loud the floor shakes, a bit too much to drink with people that you really like, laughing at films, arguing about the side of the bed, swearing blind it's not your turn with the chores when you know damn well it is, drinking coffee in the garden when it's sunny, slagging off almost everyone, shouting at reactionaries on TV, emailing stuff that interests us, insulting the cat (he is an inbred retard, I like to think he's a member of the Royal Family), surprise cups of tea, buying shit on the internet when we're drunk, coping with the washing mountain when it threatens to start a SARs epidemic, watering the plants only minutes before death and walking hand in hand through the park and peering at cool old dudes chuntering around at the allotments or sailing model boats in the park pond. Now, isn't that a better basis for a relationship than trotting out a box of chocolates 1/365? Toadcast #108 - The Boabycast 01. Cracker - Mr. Wrong (03.10) 02. Billy Bragg & Wilco - Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key (09.57) 03. The Smiths - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (17.11) 04. Eels - Love of the Loveless (20.16) 05. The Clash - Brand New Cadillac (29.40) 06. Bill Hicks - Pussywhipped Satan (31.41) 07. Evan Dando - Hard Drive (44.33) 08. The Coathangers - Nestle in My Boobies (48.11) 09. Virgin of the Birds - She's in the Moon Again (59.10) 10. David Cross - Your Baby is FUCKING BORING! (65.59)

Erm, really sorry that this is so very, very late, but life rather caught up with me this week.  So I never quite managed to find time to get my shit together until this evening, unfortunately. It's surprising how much of my time these weekly podcasts seem to take up - it can be quite hard to find an evening every single week to record these things.  What I find amazing is that I don't run out of blather.  I don't recall ever saying anything profound or all that intelligent either, so this little collection must represent hours and hours of inconsequential rambling. On Friday a nice young lady in the pub asked me "Has anyone ever told you that you talk loads and loads."  I suppose, looking back at a hundred and some podcasts the miracle is that actually the answer to that question is 'no, not really, not that I can remember'. Oh, and yes, that is Tina Turner and Kim Carnes you see there.  Suck it up, hipsters. Toadcast #107 - The Tardicast 01. The Walkmen - This Job is Killing Me (03.30) 02. Grandaddy - Hey Cowboy, the Phone's For You (09.57) 03. Comaneci - Satisfied Girl (15.51) 04. Tina Turner - Private Dancer (17.50) 05. Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou - England (27.33) 06. Ruth Theodore - False Alarm (34.09) 07. The Waterboys - Sweet Thing (40.54) 08. Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes (48.04) 09. R.E.M. - Half a World Away (53.55) 10. Radiohead - Creep (Acoustic) (59.59)

This podcast is slightly kinda somewhat about about the myopia of the London media, in particular as to how it pertains to Scotland and Scottish music, and slightly about the Glasgow media.  There are a number of different triggers for this, starting with this article in the Scotsman's Under the Radar blog last year about the rejection by the editor of a London glossy of an article on four up-and-coming Scottish bands, made even more offensive by the fact that said editor had requested the damn article in the first place.Of course, anyone who reads the London glossies knows they don't half cover an awful lot of shite themselves, so they really are in no position to pass judgment, but these things are about personal taste at the end of the day and you really can't force anyone to like stuff.  Then of course there was a wee bit of chatter about the Glasgow focus of the media in Scotland - like and endless set of Russian dolls - particularly focussed on the remarkable Glasgow-centrism of The List's Hot 100 list and then some stupid woman on BBC radio sneering at the Edinburgh music scene despite knowing no more of Glasgow than Mogwai or Franz Ferdinand.  So yes, there's a bit of that going on as well, but for the most part it's surprisingly non-confrontational given the level of annoyance I felt with both the BBC lady and the List list at the time.  Toadcast #105 - The Myopiacast 01. James Yorkston - A Man of My Skills (04.26) 02. Frightened Rabbit - The Greys (10.22) 03. Orange Juice - Blue Boy (16.02) 04. The Pogues - Rake at the Gates of Hell (18.53) 05. Fang Island - Life Coach (27.56) 06. Her Name is Calla - Long Grass (30.51) 07. Fire Engines - Get Up and Use Me (37.59) 08. Last Battle - Ward 119 (47.44) 09. Sebastian Dangerfield - Morris (49.53) 10. Sigur Ros - Gong (58.05)

It's freezing outside and (just slightly) covered in snow (about half an inch) so naturally the entire nation has ceased to function.  Erm, okay, it really isn't that cold and the snow really isn't that big a deal in all honesty but of course given the worst weather conditions we usually have to deal with are constant and life-sapping drizzle it seems that it's all come as a bit of a shock to the nation as a whole.We live in a city by the sea of course, which means that we never get the sunshine which is promised and sadly, during the winter, we never get the snow or the cold either.  In the countryside it may occasionally be dangerous, but in the city it's never much more than a stunningly picturesque inconvenience, and the bastard stuff will all have melted by next week anyway, so we might as well enjoy it while we still can. This week the podcast is not themed at all, it's just new and interesting stuff from my inbox.  I tend not to just slap up promo tracks emailed to me by PR chappies on the blog because, frankly, I really have nothing to say about them yet and I don't really like firing out posts on the site when I don't really have an opinion, right wrong or otherwise, to accompany it.  Podcasts, on the other hand, are a bit more spontaneous so they seem like a more suitable place to put new and interesting stuff before I have any real chance to figure out whether or not I actually like it properly. Toadcast #103 - Baby, it's Cold Outside 01. Timber Timbre - Magic Arrow (Daytrotter Session) (01.47) 02. Drew Danburry - Many are Cold, but Few are Freezing (11.11) 03. Barton Carroll - The Poor Boy Can't Dance (14.57) 04. Kid Canaveral - Good Morning (21.50) 05. The Middle East - The Darkest Side (28.19) 06. Eluvium - The Motion Makes Me Last (38.04) 07. Final Fantasy - Lewis Takes Action (43.12) 08. Rachael Dadd - Table (50.13) 09. Woodpigeon - Music Belongs to Those Who Make It (56.15) 10. Samamidon - How Come That Blood (62.32)

I recorded this podcast marooned in the middle of France at my parents' house, with no more musical resources than the compilation CDs I've been taking them constantly since I left home. It was quite weird to poke through all the old songs I've sent home over the years, actually. There's something unavoidably honest about the mixes you make for other people. Look back on the year or the decade yourself and you apply hindsight, selective memory and all sorts, but if you look at the stuff you send to other people then you don't get the chance to quietly forget the shite because it looks a little unfashionable in hindsight. Of course, due the benefits of hindsight and making sure I save face I am not playing you any of the shite because my ego is fragile and couldn't stand the mockery if I told you the absolute and honest truth. So here is a version of the music I used to send to my parents, handily sanitised so I don't make a total tit out of myself. Right, happy Christmas, I'm off to watch Back to the Future... Toadcast #101 - Boxing Day 01. Sparklehorse - Eyepennies (02.48) 02. Evan Dando - Hard Drive (11.57) 03. Jay Farrar - Fool King's Crown (14.57) 04. Lucky Jim - You Stole My Heart Away (21.31) 05. Mark Lanegan - Wedding Dress (29.39) 06. Grand National - Boner (32.34) 07. Arizona Amp & Alternator - Baby, it's Cold Outside (41.29) 08. The Zincs - Finished in This Business (46.50) 09. Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel (54.10) 10. Tom Waits - The Part You Throw Away (61.23)

I get an awful lot of stuff in my inbox.  When I get jaded and fed up it seems like a bit of a burden, in all honesty, like I owe it to every band and every publicity monkey who ever gets in touch with me to give them complete attention and the time to let the music sink in and all these things which just aren't possible. Sometimes, though, I get in the right mood and having an inbox full of bits and bobs is an indulgent treat.  This week is one of those weeks, where I am enjoying pottering through my inbox and having a listen to this and that and basically, it's just a bit of a treat. So, after weeks of structured and themed stuff, this week I am basically playing whatever the fuck it is I fancy.  No theme, no plan no goal and no coherence in particular Toadcast #98 - Randomness 01. Stanley Brinks - The End of the World (01.42) 02. Tune Yards - Hap-B (08.09) 03. eagleowl - Laughter (17.00) 04. Stringjammer - Long Road Home (19.45) 05. Eels - Little Bird (26.09) 06. Fang Island - Daisy (31.32) 07. Candy Claws - Island Grows (41.30) 08. Animal Collective - Bleeding (43.41) 09. Dylan in the Movies - Josephine (52.53) 10. Clues - Perfect Fit (61.20)

I'm not sure why the end of the noughties should necessarily lead to any kind of retrospective of the nineties, but it has.  I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I just feel it's way too early for me to figure out what I make of the noughties. So, given that it must be about time for the nineties revival (actually, probably best give it another year or so) and given that the nineties are now quite a long way away and given that, erm... well I dunno. Given I was poking around at that stuff recently and listening to some Pulp and Gene and Blur and stuff I figured I might as well pop the whole bloody lot into a podcast. Toadcast #97 - The Nineties 01. Pearl Jam - Even Flow (Unplugged) (4.16) 02. The Stone Roses - (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister (12.23) 03. Belly - Untitled & Unsung (18.37) 04. Echobelly - Insomniac (22.13) 05. Blur - Yuko & Hiro (29.00) 06. Gene - Wasteland (36.14) 07. Ben Folds Five - Underground (38.49) 08. Blur - Country Sad Ballad Man (44.56) 09. REM - Parakeet (52.03) 10. Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place (59.30)

The Excast is so named because I am playing a lot of people's former bands.  There's Shane MacGowan's Nipple Erectors, Phil Chevron's Radiators, Shilpa Ray's Beat the Devil and Billy Bragg's Riff Raff. I concentrate so much on new music these days that I often decide whether or not I like a band on the basis of a handful of demos, maybe a single, sometimes a debut EP, stuff like that.  And of course, bands don't stumble into the world fully-formed, it takes some of them ages to become brilliant, and a lot of the time the initial forms of a band can be really strange, presumably because the people in question were still casting around a bit for their sound. So there's a bit of that here, but it's not all that rigid a theme, and the playlist is a bit messy but, erm, well never mind.  There are some great songs, so enjoy! Toadcast #96 - The Excast 01. Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers - Beating St. Louis (04.07) 02. Beat the Devil - Plea Bargain (11.09) 03. Bright Eyes - Neely O'Hara (19.56) 04. Richard Hawley - Naked in Pitsmoor (26.16) 05. The Young Republic - The Alchemist (33.20) 06. Construction & Destruction - The Signal (41.24) 07. The Nipple Erectors - Nervous Wreck (48.34) 08. The Radiators - Walking Home Alone Again (50.39) 09. The Pogues - Lorca's Novena (56.37) 10. Riff Raff - You Shaped House (63.33)

I think it would be only fair to describe this podcast as a little bit messy.  We recorded it immediately after first Craigcast two weeks ago, and so by the end of it we were all fucking hammered. I promise I have tried to edit out as much of the madness as I could, but it was difficult.  The problem with incoherent drunken rambling is there don't tend to be a lot of natural breaks, so it was devilishly hard to cut down. Anyhow, this won't be the first or last time you listen to a load of mental old nonsense on the Toadcasts, so I am going to just have to wish you luck and let you get on with it. Toadcast #95 - The Craigcast Pt.2 1. Mississippi Fred McDowell - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (04.31) 2. RL Burnside - Fireman Ring the Bell (12.22) 3. RL Burnside - Don't Let My Baby Ride (22.08) 4. Junior Kimbrough - Stay All Night (24.59) 5. Charles Caldwell - Old Buck (34.31) 6. Robert Lucas - Miss Being High (40.35) 7. Steve James - Grain Alcohol (45.22) 8. Kelly Joe Phelps - House Carpenter (57.06) 9. North Mississippi Allstars - Circle in the Sky (66.57) 10. Buddy Guy - Baby Please Don't Leave (75.50)

I know I promised the Notcraigcast last week, but it didn't happen I'm afraid.  After last week's amazing Craigcast Neil and I were intending to introduce Craig to all sorts of modern music which we thought continued some of the traditions of the blues music he was describing to us, but circumstances have rather conspired against us unfortunately.  Neil is off on tour with Meursault playing his songs, and Craig is off on tour with his liver, taking it around the watering holes of Edinburgh and giving it a good, hard kicking in each one. Consequently I've sort of cobbled together a podcast from fragments of the Pantscast and the stuff I'd intended to play for Craig.  It's largely folky, but that wasn't wholly by design, more to do with the fact that listening to the really early blues stuff Craig played for us sent me back to listening to old Smithsonian Folkways stuff and so there are a couple of songs from there, as well as a couple of modern things which those recordings brought to mind. Smithsonian Folkways, incidentally, is a non-profit record label run by the Smithsonian Institute to preserve and support a truly epic amount of our musical heritage.  Just go and have a browse through their archives - it's amazing how much incredible stuff these guys are looking after on everyone else's behalf.  Toadcast #94 - The Not-Notcraigcast 1. Micah P. Hinson - She Don't Own Me (02.57) 2. Hem - The Cuckoo (11.13) 3. Saint Etienne - Like a Motorway (16.52) 4. White Antelope - Silver Dagger (22.15) 5. The Boggs - Plant Me a Rose (28.00) 6. Willard Grant Conspiracy - River in the Pines (31.47) 7. Berzilla Wallin - Conversation With Death (Oh Death) (39.22) 8. Samamidon - O Death (44.26.) 9. Dock Boggs - Sugar Baby (49.21) 10. Alela Diane - White as Diamonds (Daytrotter Session) (54.09) 11. Sandy Denny - By the Time it Gets Dark (59.07)

I have a friend Craig who works in Waterstones and is an obsessive about old American folk music and, more specifically, blues. He has been making Neil Meursault mix CDs for ages, which I've heard and consistently found myself asking what the hell I was listening to. I usually hate the tedious collections of old blues music which seem to always adorn Uncut covers when they ask bands to name their formative influences, but some of the really scratchy old recordings Craig put on his CDs were amazing, so erm... this is the podcast I guess. At last - someone who actually knows what he's talking about! 01. Blind Boy Fuller - Rattlesnakin' Daddy (02.57) 02. Charley Patton - Pea Vine Blues (12.34) 03. Big Joe Williams - Baby Please Don't Go (18.54) 04. Willie Brown - Future Blues (22.16) 05. Skip James - Hardtime Killing Floor Blues (31.32) 06. Robert Johnson - Hellhound on My Trail (39.57) 07. Muddy Waters - I Can't Be Satisfied (50.54) 08. Muddy Waters - Trouble No More (57.16) 09. Howlin' Wolf - Spoonful (59.54) 10. Mississippi Fred McDowell - Fireman Ring the Bell (71.15)

This podcast is a little bit random, I have to say.  There are songs which follow on from the like folk/hate covers posts which have appeared over the course of the last week or so on the site, a couple are related to the fact that Mrs. Toad is once more away in God Bless America shooting illegal aliens, chewing gum, whistling Dixie, or whatever the fuck it is they do over there, while most of the first half is related to the fact that my friend Andrew is coming to visit this weekend. They do sort of relate to one another, the songs, at least.  Or there's a bit of overlap anyway.  I never keep much track of it, but this is at least the second version of Blues Run the Game we've had on the podcasts, and I have no idea if I've ever actually repeated a song on these things.  I wouldn't be surprised if I had, because I'm bloody disorganised when it comes to this kind of thing. Anyhow, no scary metal bastards making your ears bleed this week, just a lot of lovely folky stuff and a couple of scratchy indie bands.  Oh, and Jack White.  I'd say that he was an egomaniacal dick, but he's massive and would probably kick my arse, so I won't.  Recent stuttering aside, though, he's produced some cracking tunes, whatever you think of the guy. Toadcast #92 - The Pantscast 01. Soul Asylum - New World (04.17) 02. The Tragically Hip - Pigeon Camera (10.29) 03. Beck - Guess I'm Doing Fine (14.47) 04. The White Stripes - I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself (24.46) 05. Elbow - Fugitive Motel (29.57) 06. Billy Bragg - Wishing the Days Away (Alternative Version) (34.53) 07. Tortoise & Bonnie Prince Billy - Thunder Road (43.15) 08. Christopher Bell - Pretty Thing (53.53) 09. Nick Drake - Blues Run the Game (55.33) 10. Fairport Convention - Crazy Man Michael (60.52)

Well the Funkcast was probably about as gentle a 'tell me about this genre' podcast as you're likely to get.  This, on the other hand, is not gentle.  I suppose it was never likely to be - there's only so gentle an introduction you can give to this kind of music. Basically, I was becoming increasingly curious about the number of alt-folkies I know who come from heavy metal backgrounds.  Loads of my friends here who I know because we all listen to indie rock or alternative folk or all sorts of things inbetween seem to have been really into metal when they were young.  This doesn't entirely make sense to me because I see very little connection between the two kinds of music, and for so many people to have made that transition it must be a strong connection. Then, of course, it turns out that loads of people whose music I listen to - alt-folk, once again - also grew up listening to metal.  The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie and, more locally, Dan from Withered Hand and Neil from Meursault.  So, having been round at the house doing artwork for their single releases I asked the Neil and Chris from Meursault and Matthew who helps out with the label to put together a metal podcast.  It might not be quite as pleasant to cook your bacon sandwiches to on Sunday afternoon, but erm, well I never made any promises with these bloody podcasts anyway - just deal with it, we'll probably be back to the alt-folk next week. Toadcast #91 - The Metalcast 01. Half Man Half Biscuit - Vatican Broadside (0.00) 02. Withered Hand - Takeaway Food (05.03) 03. AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie (13.17) 04. Slayer - Jesus Saves (17.25) 05. Mount Eerie - Wind's Dark Poem (24.21) 06. Nirvana - School (35.13) 07. Dinosaur Jr. - On the Way (37.50) 08. Lightning Bolt - Ride the Sky (42.59) 09. Richard Cheese - Rape Me (47.47) 10. Children of Bodom - The Trooper (53.50) 11. Meshuggah - Autonomy Lost (57.05) 12. The Mountain Goats - No Children (62.01) 13. Anal Cunt - You're Old (Fuck You) (73.27)

We'd already recorded the FOUND Toad Session earlier this same day, and Honeytrap had just recorded their session with Off the Beaten Tracks.  So basically, the sun was baking and we were all absolutely shit-faced.  Consequently, to describe the interview as any sort of conversation as opposed to some kind of deranged, cataclysmic cluster-fuck would be to massively flatter it.  In all honesty, this is a complete and completely splendid mess - enjoy! Again, all the videos can be seen on the Song, by Toad Vimeo or YouTube pages, and the photo galleries can be perused on our Flickr page.  Dylan from Blueback Hotrod took all the photos, and the set he has posted has a few more pics than the one on the Toad Flickr page, so go and have a look to view the full set.  The whole interview is below, in the podcast file, and after that there are all the session mp3s which you are welcome to pass around as you see fit.  Good luck with the interview; it's fucking mental. Toadcast #90 - Honeytrap Toad Session Honeytrap - Roslin is a Cylon (Toad Session) Honeytrap - Death Before the Silver Screen (Toad Session) Honeytrap - Hours With the Masters (Toad Session) Honeytrap - Broken Violin (Toad Session) Now we have the increasingly chaotic session video first, and then three session videos for Roslin is a Cylon, Death Before the Silver Screen and Hours With the Masters. 01. Honeytrap - Roslin is a Cylon (Toad Session) (8.15) 02. Kate Bush - Army Dreamers (14.08) 03. Jack Charman - Wibbly Wobbly Walk (16.54) 04. Honeytrap - Death Before the Silver Screen (Toad Session) (25.03) 05. The Sequins - Let's Go Drinking in the Morning (28.43) 06. Dirty Projectors & David Byrne - Knotty Pine (31.39) 07. Honeytrap - Hours With the Masters (Toad Session) (41.29) 08. Beach Boys - Honkin' Down the Highway (50.22) 09. Prince - Raspberry Beret (52.57) 10. Honeytrap - Broken Violin (Toad Session) (66 39.)

This podcast is unconscionably late once more and again I am going to plead that there is a perfectly good reason for this.  Today has been taken up with constant recording here at Toad Hall, and I myself have been finishing the video for the Honeytrap Toad Session which finally, finally will be making an appearance this time next week.  My job is virtually finished, and it's messy, but it will be a corker. This podcast has no real theme, but I did let Neil choose most of the songs, so that gives the podcast something of a character of its own.  I did make him be on a podcast with a Noah & the Whale song on it though.  Ha haaa!  That'll teach the trendy little bastard! Toadcast #89 - The Latecast 01. Sunset Rubdown - I'll Believe in Anything You'll Believe in Anything (02.09) 02. King Creosote - Homeboy (09.14) 03. Rob St. John - Domino (Live) (18.13) 04. Noah & the Whale - The First Days of Spring (23.05) 05. Melanie - What Have They Done to My Song, Ma (31.35) 06. The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Stop! (39.42) (Interlude music: The Divine Comedy - Theme From Casanova) 07. The Notwist - The Devil, You & Me (45.53) 08. Mum - Green Grass of Tunnel (49.26) 09. Sol Seppy - Hafiz, a Mime (60.18)

Right, given we've come down to Manchester for the Meursault gig, I thought I might make a podcast based around the two years I spent living here.  As I mentioned on this week's Friday Five, however, those were really not very happy times so basically this podcast is just a great big hour-long whinge about how shit my life was a couple of times a few years ago. Nah, not really.  I mean, I do describe why life was tough then but it really isn't just a great big moan, I promise.  For some reason the music in my life at those times seems to have really stuck in my head and become incredibly strongly associated with the period in question.  Partly, I suppose, because the emotional succour you get from music when things are a bit rough is something you're grateful enough for for it to really form an important connection. The other aspect is that on both those occasions I had so little music with me that the stuff I did have got played over and over again, so a really small amount of stuff really dominated my listening habits at that point, and became incredibly strongly intertwined with all of my memories of the time.  So, er, yes.  Here you go: The Manchester Podcast. Toadcast #88 - The Manchester Podcast 01. Pearl Jam - Dissident (03.16) 02. The Newcranes - Box of Shadows (08.53) 03. James - Say Something (17.17) 04. The Lemonheads - Into Your Arms (20.30) 05. Blur - Clover Over Dover (27.00) 06. Yo La Tengo - On Our Way to Fall (39.47) 07. Moby - Southside (41.31) 08. Calexico - Removed (48.10) 09. Jolene - Constantinople (51.46) 10. The Magnetic Fields - Yeah! Oh, Yeah! (57.57)

Well this podcast has been recorded from my sick bed, given my current immobility.  Actually, recording the Toadcast from bed was quite pleasant, once I got over the slightly unusual surroundings.  Imagine me in my pants and scratching my balls whilst talking to you and you'll pretty much have the ambience down pat.I sort of intended this to be a selection of poppy little tunes from my inbox, because all the last podcasts have been so heavily themed, but instead it's ended up a little bit on the experimental side, through no real intent of my own.  Nevertheless, if you're happy to listen to the growl of Polvo, the monologues of George Pringle and the peculiar electro-experimentalism of Mark Linkous and Fennesz all in one podcast then, fuck it, you're in the right place. Toadcast #86 - The Paincast 01. Langhorne Slim - I Love You But Goodbye (03.11) 02. Cast Spells - Glamorous Glowing (07.39) 03. The Pineapple Chunks - Art Storage (13.02) 04. The Leg - A Rat's Health (17.04) 05. Polvo - Fractured (Like Chandeliers) (22.40) 06. Vandaveer - A Might Leviathan of Old (29.22) 07. Sparklehorse & Fennesz - If My Heart (from In the Fishtank #13) (40.13) 08. George Pringle - SW10 (45.03) 09. X Lion Tamer - Tugboat (52.40) 10. Kurt Vile - Blackberry Song (59.54)

DO NOT WORRY!  This is not a podcast stuffed full of tedious moralising and empty pontificating and generally depressing garbage about a subject far too weighty and philosophical for this sort of half-arsed internet enterprise.  In fact, towards the end it really gets quite chipper. Basically, there are so many extraordinarily good murder ballads that that particular aspect could so easily have entirely overtaken a podcast ostensibly about prison, crime and criminal justice. This week, however, I have still managed to marginalise the role of the murder ballad, because the concept of death incorporates so many disparate emotions and aspects that simply doing a whole podcast about murderous folk tales and their musical counterparts seemed unnecessarily narrow.  So you get this.  Which starts out a little heavy but becomes positively gleeful by the end, I promise you. Toadcast #86 - The Deathcast 01. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Painter Blue (03.01) 02. Samamidon - O Death (12.33) 03. Eels - Going to Your Funeral (22.31) 04. Melanie Rivaud & Strange Weather - The Fall of Troy (Tom Waits Cover) (25.05) 05. Bob Frank & John Murry - Jesse Washington 1916 (31.53) 06. Bruce Springsteen - Dead Man Walking (37.02) 07. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Up Jumped the Devil (41.15) 08. The Men They Couldn't Hang - The Green Fields of France (48.26) 09. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Tramp the Dirt Down (57.02) 10. Chumbawamba - Passenger List for Doomed Flight 1471 (66.35)

Hello, welcome to the Ruthcast.  Why the Ruthcast?  Because my friend Ruth who runs the Bowery with Jane came round to the house last week to thoroughly upstage me on my own podcast. Last yearRuth was a guest on my Fresh Air radio show and completely and utterly upstaged me, and in this podcast we agreed that she would come on every week this year.  And that, frankly, sounds like a bloody good idea to me. I mentioned on the Friday Five a couple of weeks ago that Ellie Greenwich had died, and as this is something which upset Ruth rather a lot, so the podcast is absolutely chock-full of Ellie Greenwich songs Toadcast #85 - The Ruthcast 01. The Ronettes - Baby I Love You (05.51) 02. Golden Ghost - If You Are in Love Then Why Are You Asleep? (13.36) 03. The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me (16.07) 04. Parenthetical Girls - A Song for Ellie Greenwich (23.25) 05. The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack (34.25) 06. Jeremy Jay - Beautiful Rebel (37.10) 07. The Blank Tapes - Listen to the One (41.41) 08. Dusty Springfield - What Good is I Love You (43.59) 09. Julie Doiron - Last Night (56.52) 10. Mount Eerie - Between Two Mysteries (69.06)

Playing With the Past is an annual (we hope) event at the Edinburgh Film Festival where contemporary bands are invited to write new soundtracks for old films.  Last year was the first of these, when the superb British Sea Power wrote a brilliant score for Man of Aran, a (slightly fake) documentary about the lives of the inhabitants of a remote island off the West Coast of Ireland (extract here). This was such a success that the band have been performing it all over the place ever since.  This year David Drummond, who put the event together, decided to invite three different bands to work with roughly half an hour or so of footage each, and he started off by inviting eagleowl, who suggested a number of other bands, from which David chose FOUND and Meursault. We decided not to include more than a few excerpts of the music in this because the bands were a little uncomfortable about listening to too much of their stuff in the absence of the film to which it belongs.  So a big thank you to Tommy, Bart and Neil for coming in to talk about their music, and to David and Theresa from the Filmhouse who came by to chip in at the beginning, before having to rush off.  It may not be the catchiest of podcasts in a musical sense this week, but I think this is easily one of the best podcasts we've done - one of the most interesting, certainly. Also, although I haven't tracked down all these films on the internet, I have got some bits and pieces for you to give you an idea of what was going on.  Confusingly, they all have the original scores on these clips, but erm... well, hopefully you'll find them instructive. The Films: 1. eagleowl: Granton Trawler 2. eagleowl: Begone Dull Care 3. Meursault: Stan & Ollie 4. Meursault: Night Mail (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3) 5. FOUND: Camera Makes Whoopee (Sorry, couldn't find this one anywhere - here's a Google search though if you want to have a go yourself. And a bit more about Norman McLaren, here.) Toadcast #84 - The Playing With the Pastcast 01. British Sea Power - Oh Larsen B (06.17) 02. eagleowl - Granton Trawler (Excerpt) (17.16) 03. eagleowl - Begone Dull Care (Excerpt) (24.46) 04. Six Organs of Admittance - Eighth Cognition/All You've Left (27.34) 05. Meursault - Night Mail (Excerpt) (35.46) 06. Meursault - Stan & Ollie (Excerpt) (43.24) 07. The Books - All Our Base are Belong to Them (46.25) 08. FOUND - Camera Makes Whoopee (Excerpt 2) (56.43) 09. Marvin Gaye - T Plays it Cool (68.39) 10. FOUND - Camera Makes Whoopee (Excerpt 1) (72.56)

Would you believe that this podcast is finished and ready and done and I am ready to go to bed by 10pm.  This is a fucking scarily strange occurrence.  I've only had about four beers too, which is also a little unsual. The only organisational task at which I have abjectly failed is keeping the length of this podcast down to an hour.  Basically, having different people co-present is really nice, and I think it makes the podcasts miles better, but I am still coming to terms with the discipline of keeping the talky talky down to a manageable level and sticking to that hour which has made these weekly swear-morsels so digestible in the last few months. At the Wickerman Festival Callum from Meursault made the highly contentious statement that not all funk music was buttock-clenchingly awful and, whilst I mocked him, I decided that someone with that kind of crazy recklessness must be brave enough to bring a Toadcast full of funky classics to an audience of sulky, morose indie kids with art school fringes.  So good luck to Callum - I am going to be listening to this with the same curiosity as the rest of the audience I would think.  It's hard to get a handle on what a podcast sounds like as you record it, so I guess if I am going to absorb the lesson of the funk then I will have to have a cup of coffee, put my feet up on the couch and listen to it the same as everyone else. Toadcast #83 - The Funkcast 01. Parliament - Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) (06.23) 02. Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information (17.21) 03. Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band - The E-Street Shuffle (25.55) 04. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (30.15) 05. The Come Ons - Strangelove (37.00) 06. Charles Mingus - Boogie Stop Shuffle (49.39) 07. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Mr. Brown (54.33) 08. Sly Stone - Can't Nickname the Truth (63.09) 09. Funkadelic - You Scared the Lovin' Outta Me (74.53)

The most enormous difficulty with recording this podcast was that it was monumentally, wonderfully, amazingly sunny and hot outside.  So there we were, stuck in our house, trying to play songs and conduct an interview while we were all secretly (and not so secretly) longing to just be out in the back garden.  Mrs. Toad was making burgers, you know.  Gaaaaah! I remember when FOUND recorded a show with Marc Riley recently and I got plenty of emails saying that they really weren’t very talkative.  Which is odd really, because I didn’t entirely get that kind of impression as we recorded this session or about them in general, but then I listen back to it again and the first few interviewy segments really do take a while to get going.  I guess it took a while for Ziggy (who I’d never met before) and myself to figure out exactly how to talk to one another and whether or not we really got on.  So that whole dynamic makes for a really good podcast, which gets more and more interesting, from my point of view anyway, as the thing progresses. As usual, all the videos are embedded below and can be seen at the Song, by Toad Vimeo on YouTube pages, along with a portfolio of photos by Dylan from Blueback Hotrod, and Fee on Flickr here.  The session tracks can all be downloaded below, and the main interview podcast itself is immediately below.  Have fun Toadlings.  I am going to sleep like a freshly-slaughtered corpse. Toadcast #83 – FOUND Toad Session FOUND – Mullokian (Toad Session) FOUND – You’re No Vincent Gallo (Toad Session) FOUND – Medley (Toad Session) FOUND – Anti-Climb Paint (Toad Session) FOUND – Gifted (Toad Session) Now we’ve got the main session video below, followed by the videos we made for the individual songs (Vimeo are being fucking useless at the moment, but eventually that main video and Gifted won’t be on YouTube). 01. FOUND – Mullokian (Toad Session) (05.11) 02. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (09.27) 03. The Avett Brothers – The Greatest Sum (Acoustic) (13.26) 04. FOUND – You’re No Vincent Gallo (Toad Session) (20.39) 05. Animal Collective – Brother Sport (20.32) 06. FOUND – Medley (Toad Session) (36.00) 07. Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight (44.20) 08. Lambchop – Your Fucking Sunny Day (49.11) 09. FOUND – Anti-Climb Paint (Toad Session) (64.29.) 10. FOUND – Gifted (Toad Session) (72.25)

Helloooo people.  This morning the Toadcast comes to you from Leith.  There were beers and there was a fuckload of incoherent rambling, and it ran way over time but, erm, who really cares? This week I went to visit my crippled friend Steven (v? ph?) Kearney in Leith and we recorded a podcast in his house prattling on about all the usual nonsense.  He got all jumpy about sound quality, omitting to mention the fact that the Toadcasts are the most incredibly badly recorded show on the interwaves.  Honestly, why would this week be the one single week it suddenly didn't sound like shit? Still, Steven has recently started his own podcast, leading on from his Fresh Air show Dylan and the Mule.  It's only one episode down, but it sounds very promising indeed, so with a bit of luck there could be very good things coming from that part of the world this year.  Me, I just desperately need a sleep.  Night night Toadlings. I will probably be gawping at the wonderful Cybraphon by the time you read this.  With a hangover. Toadcast #81 - The Mulecast 01. Withered Hand - No Cigarettes (06.56) 02. Buster Fantastic - Mess of Me (17.57) 03. Mountain Goats - Genesis 3-23 (19.47) 04. Kill It Kid - Send Me an Angel Down (29.07) 05. Joe Cocker - Dear Landlord (33.51) 06. Loch Lomond - Blood Bank (44.52) 07. Micah P. Hinson - Don't You Forget (Parts 1 & 2) (59.24) 08. The Palace Flophouse - Until My Lungs Hurt (64.52) 09. Tom Waits - A Little Rain (78.17)

When we were out in Italy on our holidays Mrs. Toad and I had very few CDs with us but one of them was an Uncut compilation of prison blues and murder ballads which, amazingly, given the very promising subject matter, really wasn't very good.  In fact, it was rotten, so I've made a podcast based on the self same concept, but with what I personally think are vastly better songs. Most  obviously, to my mind, there were very few contemporary songs in there, and I thought that was a little weird.  Now, I actually think that the level of political commentary in popular music is just a little weak at the moment, but there are nevertheless some amazingly good prison and criminal justice-related songs to be had, and certainly some exceptional murder ballads, although I must confess that the most recent bit of genuine social commentary here pre-dates the 1990s by a couple of years.  There was probably more recent material I could have used, it just didn't spring to mind at the time I'm afraid. So here we have the Jailcast, complete with some largely incoherent ranting about politics and my own stupid fucking jail story which Mr.s Toad takes such delight in sniggering about at every available opportunity, the bitch.  It's not that exciting, really it isn't. Toadcast #80 - The Jailcast 01. Tom Waits - Jockey Full of Bourbon (02.05) 02. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Drunkard's Prayer (08.37) 03. Pulp - Down by the River (16.14) 04. Bob Dylan & the Rolling Thunder Revue - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (Live, 1975) (19.42) 05. The Pogues - Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six (31.36) 06. Bruce Springsteen - Vigilante Man (Woody Guthrie Cover) (39.33) 07. The Radiators - Prison Bars (43.34) 08. Enfant Bastard - Compilation Tapes (50.10) 09. Nightjar - The Hanging Tree (55.30) 10. Pete Wylie - Stay Free (Clash Cover) (60.49)

This is our first attempt at a stunt podcast, live from a festival.  We go to festivals and I am trying to figure out how much work I can make for myself without taking the fun out of the festival for myself, or just generally trying too hard. I didn't really set up any interviews this time around - no, not even Billy Bragg - but I did manage to grab Mark from emerging Glasgow band The Seventeenth Century for a chat.  The audio is terrible, I'm afraid, but it should be just about audible.  If I'd been able to locate the keys for the Toad van at that point we'd have gone in there, just for a respite from the wind noises on the recording and the colossal amount of bleed from the main stage. In any case, it should be entertaining enough, I hope, and with a bit of luck subsequent attempts at the same thing will be a lot better. Toadcast #79 - The Wickerman 01. The Cave Singers - Beach House (04.04) 02. Julian Plenti - The Fun That We Had (07.31) 03. The Second Hand Marching Band - Mad Sense (15.37) 04. The Seventeenth Century - Mid October (22.59) 05. Celebrity Chimp - Pornstar (35.37) 06. The Lemonheads - The Outdoor Type (40.00) 07. The Human League - All I Ever Wanted (47.11) 08. The Go Team! - Feelgood by Numbers (50.25) 09. Meursault - Lament For a Teenage Millionaire (59.16)

Uncut Magazine and I had a pretty amazing relationship between the turn of the millennium and about 2004 or 2005.  Basically, I would buy it every month and turn straight to the reviews section and the cover mount CD of what they considered to be the best of new music released that month, and devour both simultaneously, taking notes about what I wanted to spend that monthís meagre wages on. Those cover mount CDs were amazing, at the time, and almost invariably related to that monthís new releases, but in the last few years they have become way, way more concepty, and I have started to enjoy them less and less.  For some reason, Uncutís relationship with contemporary music seems to have come adrift even faster than my own, even as I approach my mid-thirties. Even if I am exaggerating that particular claim - maybe blogging is keeping my tastes young(ish), you never know - it seems a shame that I have drifted away from what was one of my major sources of new music for years, so this podcast is something of a retrospective  and also a salute to all the stuff I picked up from Uncut and in particular their amazing cover mount CDs over the years. Toadcast #78 - The Uncast 01. The Magnetic Fields - I Donít Want to Get Over You (03.36) 02. Ismael Lo & Marianne Faithful - Without Blame (10.01) 03. Gemma Hayes - Over & Over (14.19) 04. Elliot Smith - Memory Lane (19.01) 05. The Woodentops - Well Well Well (26.59) 06. Lift to Experience - To Guard and to Guide You (31.07) 07. Heather Nova - Iím On Fire (39.55) 08. Roddy Frame - I Canít Start Now (46.36) 09. The Flatlanders - Going Away (50.10) 10. The Acorn - Crooked Legs (59.37)

I recently did an interview with Billy from The Scotsman's Under the Radar blog (amongst other venerable organs) which took the form of an interesting chat about the current tension between  bloggers and professional journalists.  He has played off my opinions against those of his friend Mike Diver, who is currently the online editor for (the excellent) Clash magazine.  The whole thing can be found here, along with plenty of comments from Ally and Milo, professional writers from around these parts, and myself and Tart, on the side of the bloggers.  The comments on that thread It's an interesting debate, frankly, and one which, as a blogger with aspirations, as opposed to someone who is happy to simply chat for the sake of it, I have applied a fair deal of thought to.  Ultimately, though, I think it is something of a false dichotomy: some of the best reporters keep blogs as ways of expressing themselves outwith the constraints of the editorial policy of whatever rag pays their wages and a lot of the best bloggers end up parlaying their writing skills into professional careers in journalism.  And of either side there is a vast amount of detritus, professional and amateur. So, yes, the Toad once again holds forth passionately on subjects he knows far too little about and may in general be making a fool of himself once more.  The, erm, songs are good though. Toadcast #76 - The Presscast 01. Billy Bragg - Which Side Are You On? (03.17) 02. The Decemberists - Cautionary Song (Live) (11.03) 03. Jens Lekman - No Time For Breaking Up (14.09) 04. The Meteors - Out of Time (22.21) 05. Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure (32.47) 06. The Dead 60s - Horizontal (35.17) 07. Sleepy Horses - Lubbock Love Song (42.27) 08. Eels - I Write the B-sides (52.05) 09. The Replacements - Unsatisfied (62.30) 10. David Cross - My Kids are Amish (68.09)

Well, we are nearing the end of our time in Puglia.  We're spending a couple of days in or near Napoli before we fly back on Sunday, presumably troughing like total pigs, rather than paying all that much attention to culture and all that bobbins. Mrs. Toad is doing Sudoku and complaining about the 'wrong sort of paper'.  I kid you not, it's just like British fucking Rail and their 'wrong type of snow', but she insists it's just for that reason that she can't solve them, not because they're too hard.  Personally I find myself wondering if 'evil' is used to describe the comments one's spouse will inevitably make when you fail to complete it, rather than the actual difficulty of the Sudoku puzzle itself. So yes, we have done the lazing about and there are now a few days of actually doing shit in between us and a return to the damp splendour of the British Isles.  I suppose this is what you're supposed to do on holiday - pay attention to the country you're in and return, eventually - but honestly, another week of doing bollocks-all wouldn't hurt anyone would it? Toadcast #75 - The Bone Idlecast 01. Snow Patrol - An Olive Grove Facing the Sea (04.14) 02. Beck - The Golden Age (12.33) 03. Belle & Sebastian - Simple Things (19.32) 04. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Tom Justice, the Choirboy Robber (21.00) 05. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues (29.10) 06. Navigator - Work is Done (NOT Change, as we announced, sorry!) (34.44) 07. Lord Cut Glass - Holy Fuck! (40.19) 08. Son Volt - Sultana (46.46) 09. Smog - Drinking at the Dam (56.30) 10. Alela Diane - Age Old Blue (60.17)

Mrs. Toad and I might be gallivanting about the Italian countryside, but we are still thinking of you, our loyal Toadlings. We may be relaxing by the pool, but we understand that life might not be quite so easy for those of you at home. Actually, fuck it, life is never this easy for us either. This is like some bizarre anomaly for us - time, peace, reading books… it’s all so fucking restful I’ve almost forgotten to swear at the locals. The place we’re staying is just plain ridiculous. We are living in what amounts to the tiniest of little comedy garden sheds imaginable, but the outside space is some great big gigantic plaza. It’s just ridiculous. Fortunately, there is something to lower the tone. Nature is basically a great big urinal, as we all know, and I have been doing my best to maintain a time-honoured male principle of ‘no place being too sacred or picturesque for having a sly piss’. So when the bladder beckons, so does the wall, and there I go to water the olive groves of Puglia. It feels like a public service, really it does. Thanks again to Euan and the lads for keeping things going while we're away. The connection here is so damn slow I really haven't been able to read it all, but Mrs. Toad periodically checks up on things on her Blackberry (the woman's insane) and lets me know how things are going. This news I generally treat with an indifferent grunt, before returning to the pondering of precisely which sort of cheese I most fancy for lunch, but I appreciate her efforts. Toadcast #74 - The Poolcast 01. The Shaky Hands - Summer’s Life (03.26) 02. Lemonjelly - Spacewalk (12.45) 03. Grandaddy - Ghost of 1672 (19.44) 04. Billie Holiday - Good Morning Heartache (24.36) 05. Animal Magic Tricks (with Neil from Meursault & Pete from The Leg) (34.42) 06. Edith Piaf - C’etait Une Histoire D’amour (38.11) 07. The Flaming Lips - Can’t Get You Out of My Head (48.12) 08. Wilco - Jolly Banker (52.17) 09. The Laurel Collective - No Pirates Left (63.04) 10. Yoshimi! - Philosophy For Fangirls (69.12)

This is not so much the holiday podcast as the pre-holiday podcast, because for all we are away now, I recorded this on Thursday night before going away, as we prepare ourselves for the unspeakable burden of doing absolutely fuck all for two weeks. I am taking a pile of books and a pile of new music and we are going to do pretty much nothing at all.  My parents used to do really adventurous travelling when we were young, but honestly I don't have the energy.  I am so incredibly fucking exhausted from constant Toadery that actually, despite having a holiday inferiority complex, pretty much all I can cope with at the moment is a couple of weeks of fuck all. Even last year when we went to Portland for a couple of weeks, we took all the technology and recorded interviews and all sorts at Pickathon.  It was relaxing and nice, but I still got a hell of a lot of work done.  This time I will take along some tunes which I have been meaning to catch up with, perhaps record a podcast or two, and basically spend the rest of the time lying in the sun by the pool.  My folks might not be all that impressed, but the recharging of the batteries is the sole purpose of this trip and I think we might manage just that. Toadcast #73 - The Holiday Podcast 01. MJ Hibbett & the Validators - Being Happy Doesn't Make You Stupid (04.17) 02. Midnight Oil - Bushfire (10.06) 03. Headless Heroes - Hey, Who Really Cares? (Jon Hopkins Remix) (16.56) 04. Alela Diane - Pieces of String (21.05) 05. Inspector Tapehead - A Fillet of Bozo (25.42) 06. Maxwell Panther - Shiver on a Twist of Fate (33.19) 07. Jack Richold - Lady of the Calico (37.00) 08. Grant-Lee Phillips - Calamity Jane (41.16) 09. Billy Bragg - Bread & Circuses (50.20) 10. The Divine Comedy - Les Jours Tristes (57.45)

This is called the Slowcast because there are so many songs and, more commonly, whole albums out there which I took ages and ages to get into, and for no really obvious reason. There are several reasons, I guess: how familiar a sound is, your emotional state at the time, what your mates are listening to, how popular something is and stuff like that.  I know I've admitted plenty of times in the past that I have a habit of refusing to like things if they get too popular.  That sounds ludicrous, but it's not exactly a conscious decision, more an instinctive recoiling.  I never have liked much popular stuff, although I do certainly go through phases.  Maybe that's one of the reasons that, with the label, I am not looking to sign or work with the modern equivalent of a Top 40 band - I have never much liked Top 40 music.  Anyway, that's not really the point of the podcast.  This is dedicated to those albums which for some reason you have to hear about a million times before you eventually, out of nowhere, realise that you love them. Toadcast #72 - The Slowcast 01. Billy Bragg - Honey I'm a Big Boy Now (04.36) 02. Tom Waits - Goin' Out West (08.37) 03. Radiohead - My Iron Lung (14.14) 04. The Mutton Birds - Envy of Angels (23.42) 05. Mancino - Definition of an Accident (32.26) 06. The Mabuses - I'm the Greatest (36.09) 07. Interpol - Obstacle #1 (43.31) 08. My Latest Novel - Wolves (49.30) 09. The Wedding Present - 2, 3, Go! (55.29) 10. Yo La Tengo - Big Day Coming (59.56)

Oh dear god almighty I have a hangover.  Fucking bastard music people.  Last night there was gigging and drinking and wandering the streets of a most balmy and pleasant Edinburgh with an assortment of miscreants and other ne'er-do-wells.  We saw Honeytrap and Meursault play at Sneaky Pete's - I was recording this podcast, hence late for X-Lion Tamer, sorry to both Ed and Tony - and it was fucking amazing.  And after that there was drinking.  Fuck me there was lots of drinking.  And then I came home and went into the local all night shop and purchased a couple of steaks for late-night snacking purposes, and was harassed by a bunch of young lads when I came out.  Not harassed in a bad way, but I think I was asked to buy them some fags or something like that.  Anyhow, the conversation... erm, well I'm not really sure how the conversation went, because I was fucking hammered, but at some point the van came up, which was parked just along the road.  So, ah, for some slightly bizarre reason I ended up with five high school lads and me sat in the van with the stereo up fucking loud - so loud apparently that you could hear it all the way down the street.  Or, at least, so Mrs. Toad tells me.  Because at some point she came home from wherever it was she was out drinking and hopped in as well. So, after a little van-based rocking out, they came back into the house for a bit and Mrs. Toad played them Motorhead and The Sex Pistols and The Wedding Present so fucking loud the windows shook.  Funnily enough, these nice, polite lads kept insisting throughout that we should just let them know when we were bored and we would like them to go.  Such nice, polite boys!  I think one of them even did the dishes.  I didn't want to have to try and explain what a couple of total fucking bozos they were dealing with, but erm, yeah, that was our Friday night.  Weird, huh?  I think we went to bed at about five, eventually.  And now to record a couple of Toad Sessions, at least one with a very, very hung over band. Toadcast #71 - The Tough Lovecast 01. Belle & Sebastian - Take Your Carriage Clock & Shove It (03.46) 02. Adam Balbo - Debating a Time Metaphor (07.16) 03. The Sequins - The Usual Delights (14.05) 04. Situationists - A Cold Front (16.31) 05. Blur - Out of Time (23.02) 06. New Ruins - Symptoms (32.37) 07. The Laurel Collective - Hindenburg Mile High Club (41.26) 08. The Lovely Eggs - Tyrannosaurus Rex for Christmas (45.07) 09. The Empty Set - A Challenge to Copernicus (49.34) 10. Honeytrap - Mussolini's Son (55.29)

This week I am piling on the music snobbery.  Oh, okay, I'm not really - if anything I'm undermining it with some truly guilty pleasures.  There's not much modern fluffy pop music which I happen to enjoy despite my snobbery because... well, because I just don't think there's anything I can think of which fits that bill at the moment. I know nostalgic guilty pleasures and truly embracing low-brow music purely for the enjoyment of it aren't quite the same thing but I think I've budged about as far as I am going to go on this one.  Girls Aloud are unlikely to ever make an appearance on this podcast, but there's a spot of memory-tickling being indulged in with picks from Kylie and Guns 'n' Roses.  You can tell Mrs. Toad has been involvedin choosing a playlist when it contains Guns and fucking Roses, but she was sacked from co-presenting duties due to excessive drunkenness, so her imprint on this particular episode is in selections only, and not in the presence of her dulcet tones on the interwaves. Toadcast #70 - The Snobcast 01. Kid Canaveral - Couldn't Dance (03.52) 02. Popup - Lucy, What Are You Trying to Say (07.04) 03. Art Fag - Nakhla Dog (15.48) 04. Kylie Minogue - Confide In Me (23.27) 05. Motorhead - Ace of Spades (28.50) 06. The Seventeenth Century - Mid October (36.16) 07. Alan Pownall - The Others (43.56) 08. Haggard the Listener Group - Blackette (47.29) 09. Soft Cell - Tainted Love (51.22) 10. Guns 'n' Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine (58.12)

Me and the missus are rambling away together on this one.  It's largely new music, bookended by a couple of more well-known things.  We Invent a new term - a weird combination of food and sex called culiniungus.  We offend the Irish and the Scots.  In fact, we are as offensively and predictably us as you could imagine. We were out and totally smashed at the Broken Records gig at the Bowery yesterday, followed by some hot Sneaky Pete's action.  There are some disastrously embarrassing pictures here, if you want to point and laugh.  The gig was amazing.  I knew a group like Broken Records would be amazing in a small space like that, and so it proved. I had to do some very pointed Standing Up though, which was fucking annoying.  What the fuck is it with people, sitting down at fucking gigs?  If the room's empty that's one thing, but the room was full, people were on tiptoes up the back, and this shower of cunts insisted on sitting on their fucking arses down the front, protecting a meter and a half of empty floor space between them and the band.  So, as Mr. Discreetandtactful, I went and stood in front of them.  Fuckwits.  The band did get everyone on their feet after a song, which was a fucking relief, but honestly... it's rock 'n' roll bitches, get up off your fucking hippy folk arseholes and stop acting like the Chipping Sodbury Chapter of the National Union of Knitting Champions.  It's not, to paraphrase a friend of mine, the fucking Teddy Bears' Picnic. This delightful little anecdote does have a darker side, however.  Some lass tugged on my sleeve to ask me to sit down during the first song, and I attempted to politely but firmly say no thank you.  Unfortunately I may have succeeded more at the latter than the former, and ended up just being rude to the woman.  Who was very pregnant.  Well done me.  Picking fights with pregnant women isn't really all that clever, is it.  So, er, sorry pregnant lady, I didn't mean to be quite so terse, nor did I mean to imply that you should just stop moaning about your baby and stand up.  But then, you can't really expect to sit two metres back from the stage and object to anyone standing in front of you either, because that's just silly. Oh, and we met Peej, a reader from New York, who was in town for the week and said hello.  He was a really nice chap, so why he reads this fucking site is a mystery, to be honest, but it was brilliant of him to say hello, and then to put up with our drunken stumbling later on as well.   Sometimes I love teh internetz.  Not times like this of course, but sometimes. Podcast #68 - The Leprecast 1. Joy Zipper - Dosed & Became Invisible (01.40) 2. Love Like Fire - William (08.37) 3. Rock Plaza Central - O Lord, How Many are My Foes (13.17) 4. Animal Magic Tricks & Neil Pennycook (17.24) 5. Ambulances - Last Old Fiver (24.45) 6. King Creosote - Camels Swapped for Wives (27.11) 7. Jesus H. Foxx - I'm Half the Man You Were (33.51) 8. God Help the Girl - Act of the Apostle (44.15) 9. The Limes - Dead Furniture (46.47) 10. The Pogues - Night Train to Lorca (58.06)

Features full tracks by The Vaselines, Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy), Meursault and Grizzly Bear. Plus an interview with Matthew Young of songbytoad.com and songbytoadrecords.com Read my blog: http://milomclaughlin.squarespace.com Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gaseousbrain

This podcast is sort of like the Clustercast should have been.  I haven't actually listened to it yet, so I don't know if it's any good, but it sort of felt better, somehow.  It isn't anything like that incoherent and garbled anyway, which is a relief. We spent the day collecting for the lifeboats, along with some excellent help from our pals Dylan from Blueback Hotrod, Neil from Meursault, Ed from 17 Seconds, Dave, Michael and the Stormettes from The Stormy Seas and Morgan from, erm, Glasgow.  I have to point out how important their help was as well.  It's easy to talk a good game and then to pussy out at the last minute, but despite the fact that both Neil and Ed had other things on today, everyone made the time to come down and help out, which is bloody good of them.  We collected a fair chunk of cash - Mrs. Toad's pretty blonde colleague collected the most, rather predictably.  Maybe we need fewer beardy alt-folkies and more hot babes next year. Enjoy the podcast, then; we've got a lot of nautically-themed songs this week and could have had even more.  There are loads of songs, and we had far more on the list before trimming.  It's a bit out of control, this podcast, but actually I think it's quite good.  Dylan's roving reporter slots are just... well, they're just.  They're just. That's what they are.  Experience them for yourself.  Good luck. Podcast #67 - The Wuzzlecast 01. The Pogues - The Ship Comes In (05.57) 02. Sad Day For Puppets - Big Waves (09.07) 03. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (17.44) 04. James Yorkston - Sir Patrick Spens (26.22) 05. The Second Hand Marching Band - Not Yet (38.40) 06. The Stormy Seas - The Sea Wind (42.40) 07. Ute Lemper - Little Water Song (50.31) 08. Frightened Rabbit - Floating in the Forth (57.25) 09. Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians - The Wreck of the Arthur Lee (64.53) 10. American Music Club - The Song of the Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship (75.43)

Today I am angry at Capitalism.  Partly, funnily enough, I am angry at Capitalism because in many ways I myself am a Capitalist.  The problem I have with Capitalism is not really the theory, but the practise.  So many people and companies who chant the free market mantra simply are not free marketeers.  They want isolationism and protectionism as much as the most paranoid Marxist when it will protect their interests, but they won't for a second entertain the economic theory behind that sort of behaviour - gosh no! So there is plenty of paranoid ranting in this week's podcast, railing against people who talk all Capitalist whilst not actually being Capitalist, people who are moral and honorable in their personal lives but who turn into voracious whores as soon as they put on a suit and, erm, well generally there's lots of pish to be talked, sorry. Still, at least it's marginally better than last week. Podcast #66 - The Greedcast 01. Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities (03.27) 02. Billy Bragg - NPWA (16.27) 03. Eric Bachmann - Liars & Thieves (21.30) 04. The Zincs - Moguls' Wives (28.04) 05. Tom Lehrer - Selling Out (34.24) 06. Depeche Mode - Everything Counts (39.16) 07. The Clash - Bankrobber (45.07) 08. Tom Waits - God's Away on Business (54.07) 09. Billy Bragg - To Have and to Have Not (65.56)

As you might expect from the title, this is one ungodly clusterfuck of a podcast.  It was recorded well into the early hours of the morning with Dylan, Neil and DC who were all in the house by virtue of Homegame being imminent (happening already by the time you hear this) and the Meursault EP being in the final stages of completion.  DC stopped by the house on his way to Fife, Neil was around to put CDs into card envelopes and Dylan, er, just likes beer I think. There's was also some heinous Norweigan anus cheese being eaten as well.  Toffee-flavoured cheese.  Fucking toffee-flavoured fucking cheese.  Honestly, it is the most disgusting substance known to man and looks just a little bit like brown plasticine. Anyway, please don't expect anything coherent or, frankly, even anything listenable.  Four of us sat around and bellowed incoherently into a microphone for a couple of hours, and frankly that's exactly what it sounds like.  There are some good songs, though, and somereally good new music but, erm, honestly you might want to skip the talky bits.   Actually, you know the first time anyone talks any sense whatsoever on this podcast?  The last link.  Really.  We get drunker and drunker and more incoherent, and then right at the end there's an utterly shocking outbreak of common sense. Toadcast #65 - The Clustercast 01. Eels - Fresh Blood (02.27) 02. Jeffrey Lewis - Don't Be Upset (10.10) 03. Slim Twig - Young Hussies (17.07) 04. Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows (21.04) 05. Dame Satan - Suffering Daughter (33.03) 06. Eagle Winged Palace - Hand of Doom (36.21) 07. Arab Strap - Fucking Little Bastards (43.49) 08. Graffiti Island - Wolfguy (53.47) 09. Graham Coxon - In the Morning (66.12)

It's been a longish week, but believe me this weekend is going to be worse.  I am offering up my poor old Volvo for sale, which breaks my embittered little alcoholic heart, so it does.  I am going to miss that car, we've had some wonderful times pottering about in her and I am going to miss the silly old girl, really I am. This is a joint podcast, seeing as how I was in the pub with Dylan and the poor whelp seemed to have nowhere else to go, I invited him back to the house to add his own particular brand of incoherent nonsense to this week's podcast.  Because lazy racial stereotyping is something of a stock in trade around here, I find myself making several lame attempts to bring up Welshness and national identity and all that pish, but ultimately this is just two drunk people chattering about music.  More or less the usual, then. Toadcast #64 - The Welshcast 01. Billy Bragg & Kirsty MacColl - A New England (05.12) 02. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Miniature Kingdoms (14.54) 03. Manic Street Preachers - From Despair to Where (18.53) 04. M.J. Hibbett & the Validators - The Fight for History (27.46) 05. Broken Records - And They All Fell Into the Sea (35.50) 06. Drunk Country - The Rain That Almost Drove the Windows In (44.44) 07. Meursault - William Henry Miller (49.34) 08. Super Furry Animals - Into the Night (57.24) 09. Supergrass - Moving (65.15)

Spring makes a fucking colossal difference, doesn't it.  People have been tripping around Edinburgh with a spring in their step for the last week, when the sun has come out and the air, whilst it may still be a little chilly, is notably warmer.  It's gentler, I suppose, is the main difference.  There's something of a release about Spring, as if all the uncomfortable restraint of Winter no longer has to be acknowledged.  Does anyone remember that episode of Northern Exposure when the ice melted?  Everyone went nuts, and the relieved exhalation we all express on the coming of the sunshine does remind me in many ways of a tame version of the exact same mania depicted in that episode of, erm, a serialised drama from the, er, mid ah nineties...  anyone still reading?  Never mind. In any case, this is a purposeless but musically excellent podcast which is something of a lazy one, if I'm honest.  Frankly though, I think I deserve it after the effort put into the Pictish Session, so fuck you if you have an issue with that.  Tee hee.  There's a lot of new release stuff on here, a couple of bands reviewed recently on the site, and a couple who are going to be reviewed later this week. Next week I'll think of a theme. Promise. Toadcast #63 - Sprrring is Here! 01. The Soft Pack - Right & Wrong (01.33) 02. Maxwell Panther - A Shade Away (08.24) 03. Phil & the Osophers - They Threw a Shoe at You (11.16) 04. The Felice Brothers - The Big Surprise (15.34) 05. The Empty Set - Alice & Bob (Forlorn Photo Love) (24.01) 06. The Van Allen Belt - The Revolution Will be Merchandised (27.24) 07. Meursault (no, not that Meursault) - Blindfolds (33.31) 08. Outlaw Con Bandana - Rainy Season (37.16) 09. Dame Satan - Ghost Dance (39.25) 10. Peter Doherty - 1939 Returning (49.30)

This Toad Session has been a wee while coming, but frankly I think it's fucking superb.  The videos have turned out wonderfully, Neil and Gav have done an amazing job with the sound, Fee and Dylan have taken some great photos.  I'm happy as a pig in shit, quite frankly.  Johnny Lynch (Mr. Pictish Trail) had plenty of time to kill, so we drank some beer, took our time and talked a monumental amount of shite.  The podcast is really strong this time around, I think.  We talk a lot but I think it's pretty decent stuff for the most part, not random blather, so I really think it should be an enjoyable listen.  Hopefully, anyway. Johnny picked really nice songs, too.  He's recorded a couple of unreleased ones, and a Lone Pigeon cover, as well as his Top of the Pops hit single Winter Home Disco.  It makes for a really nice mix.  As per usual the songs are all available for downloading, hotlinking and sharing around, the videos can be watched below, on our YouTube (yeuch) page or our Vimeo page, and the photos are all to be seen as a slideshow here or on the general Song, by Toad Flickr page here.  Go to Blueback Hotrod for more of Dylan's live music photography.  And enjoy the podcast - it can be played below, and the tracklisting is at the bottom of the page.  I'm really proud of this, people, so I hope you enjoy it. Toadcast #62 - The Pictish Trail Toad Session The Pictish Trail - Winter Home Disco (Toad Session) The Pictish Trail - I Will Pour it Down (Toad Session) The Pictish Trail - You Covered the Earth With Your Thumb (Toad Session) The Pictish Trail - Won't You Take Me Back (Lone Pigeon Cover) (Toad Session) And now the videos, starting with the overall session video, and then the ones we made for the individual songs: 01. The Pictish Trail - Winter Home Disco (06.04) 02. Bonnie Prince Billy - Today I Started Celebrating Again (17.33) 03. Adam Beattie - Bank Street (22.12) 04. The Pictish Trail - I Will Pour It Down (34.37) 05. Judson Claiborne - Song For Dreaming (38.30) 06. Amadou & Mariam - Sabali (43.35) 07. Why? - The Song of the Sad Assassin (48.51) 08. The Pictish Trail - You Covered the Earth With Your Thumb (62.31) 09. Preston School of Industry - Walk of a Gurl (69.03) 10. The Pictish Trail - Won't You Take Me Back (Lone Pigeon Cover) (76.42) Thanks folks, hope you enjoyed that.

Well, as DC pointed out on Five Friday Fatwas, the 90s revival is not quite upon us yet.  It's both totally inevitable and somewhat due, so it will be here sooner rather than later, but for the time being it has yet to entirely arrive.So in anticipation of the inevitable, I thought I might just make a podcast which partly tried to anticipate the revisionism and partly talked just a little about what I myself might remember when the 90s revival hits full swing in a couple of years. I wouldn't describe myself as a child of the 90s, but I think that I might be wrong in neglecting to do so.  When they started I was 15, just moved from Singapore back to Vienna and very much a kid.  By the time they ended I had finished my Master's degree and spent a long time pouring pints waiting for a proper job, which in some ways I suppose might just make you an adult. It was an interesting era for me personally and when the revival arrives , as it inevitably will, I am downright fascinated to know what the younger generation will make of the music with which I grew up. Toadcast #60 - The Blandcast 01. Pearl Jam - Go (03.47) 02. R.E.M. - Oddfellows Local 151 (11.05) 03. Cocteau Twins - An Elan (18.16) 04. Gene - Sleep Well Tonight (21.46) 05. Counting Crows - Omaha (30.33) 06. Supergrass - She's So Loose (38.37) 07. Echobelly - King of the Kerb (41.33) 08. Alice in Chains - Nutshell (47.47) 09. Pavement - Gold Soundz (53.22) 10. Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra - Eggshell Miles (59.01) Song, by Toad

This week I welcome you to the absolutely 100% guaranteed non-controversial podcast.  Nothing to see here. Move along.  Although, it might be slightly controversial, just possibly, around two thirds of the way through if you are excessively religious or perhaps if you have some objection to pointing and laughing as Jade Goody dies of cancer or Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse slowly expire in the full and relentless gaze of the public eye. Has anyone seen the film Deathwatch?  It's set in Glasgow in the 1980s and almost entirely obscure, despite an amazing cast: Romy Schneider, Harvey Keitel and Max von Sydow.  What it amounts to is that a woman discovers that she is going to die, and then a TV company ask to buy the rights to film her last weeks.  It's a bit over the top at times, but a pretty visionary movie nevertheless.  It's always disconcerting where something like that makes a prediction which proves to be so uncannily true.  I think the scariest thing about 1984 is how utterly determined the species seems to be to make sure that it comes true. If you can find a copy, I'd recommend that you watch it.  It's pretty hard to track down though - we had to get ours from Amazon France for some bizarre reason, so good luck to you. Toadcast #60 - The Blandcast 1. Belle & Sebastian - Women's Realm (04.41) 2. Clem Snide - Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievience (09.00) 3. Pree - Light Falls (17.05) 4. Frivolous Laura - A Lullaby (20.22) 5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Statues (27.27) 6. The Low Anthem - Oh My God Charlie Darwin (37.18) 7. Kill It Kid - Burst its Banks (41.31) 8. Pete Doherty - The Last of the English Roses (49.03) 9. R.E.M. - Perfect Circle (59.41)

Live recordings - in fact, specifically, live albums - came up in a recent post on Song, by Toad and the idea of doing a podcast composed entirely of live recordings really appealed to me because there are so many great ones.  That said, on the post in question there arose a debate, one voice expressing my deepest hatreds of the genre, and another being perhaps over-generous in the other direction.  Frankly, I despise the vast majority of live albums.  Mostly they are shit recordings of songs we already know, released for the sole reason of fleecing fans whose devotion has already been established, and whose wallets can clearly be plundered for a few more empty sheckles.  Despite that, of course, there are some truly stunning live recordings.  In fact, I'd argue that some of the most memorable, legendary recordings of all  time are in fact live ones.  Bob Dylan live at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1966.  Bruce Springsteen pretty much any time in the seventies.  Basically, for all live recordings are mostly rip-off bollocks, there are some truly phenomenal live albums, ones which open your eyes to the artist, ones which fill in that artist's musical upbringing, and some which are just genuinely amazingly wonderful recordings in their own right.  Therefore we bring to you the Livecast.  Enjoy, Toadlings... Toadcast #57 - Production Values 01. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - 10th Avenue Freeze Out (04.09) 02. Andrew Bird - Why (11.47) 03. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Papa Won't Leave You Henry (16.22) 04. The Moulettes - Country Joy Song (25.29) 05. Colin Meloy - Blues Run the Game (32.49) 06. Quasar Wut-Wut - The Partisan (35.45) 07. Jeff Mangum - Two Headed Boy (43.04) 08. Tom Waits - Diamonds on My Windshield (54.37) 09. Billy Bragg - Days Like These (DC Remix) (56.46) 10. Ben Folds Five - Satan is My Master (60.15) 11. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone (64.16)Song, by Toad

After a week spent debating it, how about a podcast embodying the discussions we've been having about production values I thought a podcast which sort of pulls all the disagreements and moans and whingeing and so on into one big mp3 of joy would be a good idea. So we've got some Big Production, some demo scratchy stuff and a few bands who have dabbled with both.  I fart on about production values as if I have the faintest idea what I'm talking about, which of course I don't. I'm not sure how well it works as a playlist - it might be a bit disjointed - but in general I like it.  I like the debate in general, I like the thought process we've all gone through together this week, and in general, by association, I like this podcast. Toadcast #57 - Production Values 01. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (Original Nebraska Sessions Demo Version) (04.31) 02. Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place (11.13) 03. Enfant Bastard - Vessel (20.19) 04. Half Man Half Biscuit - 1966 and All That (22.37) 05. U2 - Red Hill Mining Town (29.56) 06. Snow Patrol - Last Ever Lone Gunman (37.40) 07. The Divine Comedy - Life on Earth (42.10) 08. Yann Tiersen - Geronimo (Black Session w. Neil Hannon) (46.07 ) 09. The Wave Pictures - A Long Way Away From Me (53.34) 10. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, 1975) (57.35)

We both hate Valentine's day and have no desire to take part in its consumerist pantomime.  It seems to have created its own little rituals in our house though: we have an annual Valentine's hate-fest, which lasts a couple of days, where we pour scorn on both the event itself and anyone who takes part in it.  The problem is, in doing so, we have sort of made ourselves part of what gets on our own nerves.  Fucking people and their fucking stupid valentine's traditions like, er... this one. This is probably only the second in what will probably become an annual Valentine's Scorn-o-rama, but it already feels like a time-honoured tradition.  So if you're single, generally antagonistic, miserable, lonely or just plain indifferent then this is the podcast for you.  We even have an odd conversation where we wonder what the point of marriage is - a slightly bizarre thing for a married couple to start wondering about.  But that's the Toadcasts for you. Toadcast #56 - Valentine's Schmalentine's 01. Nirvana - Rape Me (00.57) 02. Weeping Willows - Failing in Love (06.39 03. Cherry Poppin' Daddies - When I Change Your Mind (13.36) 04. The White Stripes - Conquest (16.04) 05. Tammy Wynette - D.I.V.O.R.C.E. (22.38) 06. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - She's Leaving You (25.32) 07. Yo La Tengo - Stockholm Syndrome (35.26) 08. Aidan Moffat & the Best Ofs - Oh Men! (42.33) 09. The Avett Brothers - The Ballad of Love & Hate (45.36) 10. Arab Strap - There is No Ending (59.09) Song, by Toad

The day after his amazing live set at the Bowery, Sam Amidon came round to the house to record a Toad Session.  He didn't have all that much time, and I don't think he quite knew what he'd let himself in for either, so this one is pretty brief.  Still, between this and the footage from the live show I think we have a really nice portrait of the guy, who is so different in person from his recordings.  Whilst the latter may be beautiful, and whilst All Is Well is an amazingly lovely album, his personality dominates his live show so much it gives you such a different perspective on his music. As per usual, we have the session podcast below, and after that the Toad Session mp3 files, which you are free to pass around as you please.  The videos are posted below that, and can all be found on the Song, by Toad Vimeo page (recommended) as well as the YouTube page (shit, but popular, so I have to put them there too).  There's also a series of photos from the session, which can be found on our Flickr page.  The tracklisting for the podcast is at the bottom of this post - enjoy! Toadcast #55 - Samamidon Toad Session [audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo55.mp3] And the downloadable, shareable, huggable mp3s from the session: Samamidon - 1842 (Toad Session) [audio:http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/ToadSessions/Samamidon-1842-ToadSession.mp3] Samamidon - Pretty Fair Damsel (Toad Session) [audio:http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/ToadSessions/Samamidon-PrettyFairDamsel-ToadSession.mp3] Samamidon - Fiddle Mayhem (Toad Session) [audio:http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/ToadSessions/Samamidon-FiddleMayhem-ToadSession.mp3] And the videos: This is the main Toad Session video. Samamidon's live Toad Session version of 1842, recorded in January 2009 for songbytoadcom. During his Toad Session we persuaded Sam to play his fiddle, and believe me it's something to behold. He switches from these perfect reels into abstract experimentalism and back and, as long as the screeching doesn't put you off, it's truly amazing to see. Recorded for songbytoad.com in January 2009. Samamidon's live Toad Session version of Pretty Fair Damsel, recorded in January 2009 for songbytoad.com And the playlist for Toadcast #55 - Samamidon Toad Session: 01. Samamidon - 1842 (Toad Session) (05.23) 02. Peter & Mary Alice Amidon - True Born Sons of Levi (10.23) 03. Mary Margaret O'Hara - When You Know Why You're Happy (12.49) 04. Shirley Collins - Lovin' Hannah (18.17) 05. Samamidon - Pretty Fair Damsel (Toad Session) (24.16) 06. Othar Turner & The Rising Star Fife And Drum - Bouncin' Ball (33.20) 07. Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Swimming Song (36.29) 08. Doveman - Happy (38.53) 09. Samamidon - Fiddle Mayhem (Toad Session) (47.49)

The Spacecast is yet another podcast dreamed up in the pub, this time between myself and Dylan, the official Song, by Toad photographer.  And again it's one of those podcast which could have gone on for over two hours quite easily, but we don't do that anymore, not around here, we're disciplined these days goddammit. So I've missed off about a million other suggestions and come up with a combination of songs genuinely about space, and few that use space as some sort of metaphor and then a few which just stick a few spacey words in the title.  And of course, it starts with something rather splendid... but you'll have to listen to find out what it is.  Alright, it's not that special.  Just mildly amusing. Toadcast #54 - The Spacecast 01. Me First & the Gimme Gimmes - Rocket Man (03.52) 02. David Bowie - Space Oddity (07.06) 03. Bob Geldof - Thinking Voyager 2 Type Things (15.09) 04. Inspiral Carpets - Saturn V (24.49) 05. The Only Ones - Another Girl Another Planet (28.30) 06. Shirley Bassey - In Other Words (Fly Me to the Moon) ( 32.36) 07. Yann Tiersen (Black Session w. Neil Hannon) - Life on Mars (36.04) 08. Riff-Raff - I Wanna be a Cosmonaut (41.34) 09. The Holy Modal Rounders - Mr. Spaceman (42.59) 10. Tom McRae - 2nd Law (48.29) 11. Blur - Far Out (51.46) 12. Queen - Flash Gordon Theme (57.30) Song, by Toad

This is just an overspilling of all the shiny new things I have in my inbox this week.  It's so fabulously up to the minute that there are songs in here which only landed in my inbox yesterday.  There's a slightly sneaky legend making an appearance as well, in the shape of Jason Lytle.  Jason was the lead singer of Grandaddy, a legendary group who disbanded back in about, erm, 2006 or so, leading to Jason moving to a house out in Montana and apparently giving up on the idea of making a living out of music altogether. The thing is, music is an art form, and no-one makes a fucking living out of making art.  The only exceptions are deplorable cunts like Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and fucking Bono, so please can we dispel the idea that art is a profession.  It's not a job, nor a career, it's a fucking calling; an obsession.  Of course, the good news for us fans is that, because it's a calling rather than a job, Mr. Lytle was never likely to stay away forever.  If you care about something it's almost impossible to stop yourself doing it.  Believe me, I know - I feel the same way about masturbation (sorry, not that funny, I know). Oooh, by the way, I was very macho this evening.  I got home and I opened the gate to find some random chump sitting on our steps drinking beer.  So I bellowed with rage, grabbed him by the lapels and flung him out into the street, shouting angry man things like 'get the fuck out of my fucking house you cunt or I'll fucking batter you fucking senseless' and other well known aristotelian arguments.  Unfortunately, as is often the case with fighting, one proved vastly less capable than the other, and he apologised and asked for the rest of his beer back and acknowledged that was in the wrong.  Christ that made me feel like a prick and a bully.  So I ended up pointing out that my wife was small and that if she came home and found someone sitting on our steps drinking beer she's have been scared, and that I was sorry for being so violent and please just bugger off etc etc.  He agreed and apologised and basically took all the fun out of being an alpha male, the bastard.  Christ, I might have to wait ten years to be that macho again, why did he have to ruin it for me? Toadcast #53 - Shiny! 01. Orouni - A Greased & Golden Palm (05.47) 02. The Gillyflowers - Country Boy (09.25) 03. Trips & Falls - And in Real Life He Wears Corduroy Pants (16.45) 04. Ragged Claws - On the Death of an Emperor (25.00) 05. Findo Gask - Wrapped in Plastic (Live) (32.00) 06. Enfant Bastard - Landscape Painting is Easy (36.23) 07. Scuff - Sailing Three Sheets to the Wind (40.56) 08. Jason Lytle - Birds Encouraged Him (Live at Maps) (47.34) 09. Auld Lang Syne - Where My Fortune Lies (51.01) 10. Scott Pinkmountain & the Golden Bolts of Tone (58.24) Song, by Toad

Well here we go.  The new year is yet to quite take hold or take off, but I promise you that things will kick back into gear this weekend.  There are some fine love shows appearing on the calendar, slowly but surely, and eventually 2009 will get going.  No rush though. This Toadcast is a bit of a mix.  I've got some of this year's favourites, I look back at some of last year's favourites, and I also poke away at a couple of the bands I hope will make their mark in 2009.  In that sense, examining last year's favourites makes a lot of sense.  I'm always curious about how well our fads and fancies bear up to the passage of time.  I've not been too fickle in recent years, which is sort of nice, so I don't mind looking back like this.  There aren't too many embarrassments to be had, so it's kind of nice to take the chance to look backwards, look forwards a little and generally just take the opportunity to pause for breath and enjoy the new year.  As should you, toadlings, as should you.  Happy new year, folks. Toadcast #52 - Let's Go 01. Bombadil - Cavaliers' Har Hum (02.24) 02. Gerry Mitchell & Little Sparta - The Ragged Garden of Your Eye (08.57) 03. Aidan John Moffat - The Boy That You Love (12.19) 04. Mitchell Museum - Extra Lives (18.11) 05. The Savings & Loan - The Virgin's Lullaby (24.36) 06. The Builders & the Butchers - When it Rains (28.06) 07. Elvis Perkins - It's Only Me (34.30) 08. Mother & the Addicts - Are Others (38.21) 09. The Pictish Trail - Winter Home Disco (46.27) 10. The Low Lows - Dear Flys, Love Spider (54.49)

Oh thank fuck it's Christmas.  Or, any holiday really.  I am so fucking incredibly tired I could pitch face first on the tarmac and sleep for six months without so much as coming up for air. I have been reading, with some amusement, the bickering over the religious nature of Christmas which seems to take place in the American press with monotonous regularity.  Apparently the Christians are adamant that we remember the religious nature of a pagan festival, which seems a little odd considering that the Christianisation of Christmas itself was basically the Christian colonists' acceptance that they could never defeat local pagan religions.  So basically they adopted Yuletide and tried to wedge their amusing Biblical myths into a story that their conquered people would never give up, and then waited a few years for it to degrade into some sort of carnival of aquisitiveness which they could have a tantrum about. So it's a pagan festival which has turned into an unbridled celebration of Western consumerist greed... erm, which part of this came up in the Bible again?  Personally, as an atheist, I love Christmas.  It's got nothing to do with that Jeebus character, it's closer akin to the the pagan celebration of light and life in the middle of the darkest part of the year.  As a family we have always come together and spent peaceful time together at this time of year.  We play music, we read books, we cook together, but above all we rest.  We get together and enjoy one another's company.  Mrs. Toad and I will, this year, be doing nothing more than snuggling up on the couch and wasting time.  And that time wasting together is oddly one of the most important things you can do to forge a strong relationship.  Just taking time to be together and enjoy one another's company is, after the year we've had, going to be a rare treat, and one which I intend to enjoy immensely. Toadcast #51 - The Yulecast 01. Yo La Tengo - On Our Way to Fall (03.12) 02. Tom Waits - Soldier's Things (07.21) 03. Pale Young Gentlemen - We Will Meet (15.23) 04. The Felice Brothers - Greatest Show on Earth (19.15) 05. Eels - Beautiful Freak (27.27) 06. Clem Snide - The Dairy Queen (35.25) 07. Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue (43.13) 08. A.A. Bondy - Black Rain, Black Rain (48.45) 09. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Brompton Oratory (54.19) 10. Sufjan Stevens - Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother (60.06) Song, by Toad

Ah, mates.  Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.  Mrs. Toad's best friend from her reckless yoof is visiting us here in Edinburgh with her gentleman friend, and consequently I got to thinking about my own old friends, and all the people who, over the years, have introduced me to so much brilliant music.  So I started to patch together a playlist of all the important friends who have added a lot of music to my life.  The problem is that it became way too long for my one hour restriction, so for this week I cast that aside, and allowed myself an extra ten minutes. Honestly though, old friends are so important, this could have gone on for two hours, easily.  Every one of the people I mention here has a whole story of their own, and it was quite difficult to resist telling all of them in proper detail.  It seems such a shame, actually, to reduce all of these people to a two-minute link.  I could almost do a whole podcast for any one of these scenarios really, and maybe I'll do that in future.  For now, though, you'll have to make do with this.  It may be shabby, but it really could have been so much worse.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Toad is fucking plastered.  Oh good.  Enjoy! Toadcast #50 - The Friendcast 01. Pink Floyd - On the Turning Away (02.27) 02. Pearl Jam - Black (11.23) 03. The Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings (18.30) 04. Gene - Her Fifteen Years (25.23) 05. Radiohead - Black Star (28.04) 06. Verve - Lucky Man (34.41) 07. Weeping Willows - Eternal Flames (39.19) 08. Billy Bragg - Days Like These (DC Remix) (45.41) 09. Bob Dylan - Po' Boy (49.42) 10. Elbow - Newborn (55.46) 11. Blanche - Do You Trust Me? (63.19) 12. Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure (69.07)

By the time this is published I will be lying in bed in Toad Hall with a hangover like a nasty case of death warmed up.  The Song, by Toad Christmas Party was on Friday 5th December, and given how exhausted I am at the moment I would imagine that about two or three gins into the evening I will be whistling Waltzing Matilda out my fucking ears. Still, the Meursault album will be out, the party will be sorted, the Song, by Toad Records publicity juggernaut will be chuntering along comfortably and I will be able to begin the gentle slide into Christmas relaxation.  Finally finally finally.  I am so fucking exhausted from all the bloody time I've thrown into this since the Summer, and over Christmas there will be two weeks off with little to do but move this site all over to self-hosting and tinker a little with the design.  I'll be trying to make the sessions and Toad Records things a little more prominent, and generally poking about in general.  The problem is that my CSS is so piss-poor that I really am limited in what I can do, so I'll just have to hope it turns out okay.  I am loath to pay someone to redesign the thing for me though, because that seems to be somewhat contrary to the Spirit of All Things Toad. The Spirit of All Things Toad, of course, being gin. Toadcast #49 - Hangovers 01. The National - Fake Empire (01.30) 02. Doveman - Teacup (06.05) 03. Samamidon - Wild Bill Jones (12.53) 04. Phil & the Osophers - High Art (22.43) 05. Miracles of Modern Science - MR2 (26.15) 06. Radiohead - Idioteque (32.49) 07. Chopps Derby - Down the Dogs (41.22) 08. The 1900s - Age of Metals (47.01) 09. Alela Diane - White as Diamonds (50.12) 10. The Wave Pictures - Leave the Scene Behind (58.07)Song, by Toad

This may be the limpest of all excuses I've ever had for naming a podcast.  You know why it's called the Jeffcast?  Because I kinda mention Jeffrey Lewis a couple of times.  Oooh, yes, that makes sense.  Still, sorry, I couldn't think of anything else really, off the top of my head. I suppose I am off to see Jeffrey Lewis directly after recording this, so I guess it sort of counts.  He is playing a secret gig at Henry's Cellar Bar after sneaking out of the Beggars Banquet Christmas Party at the Picture House over the road.  It's one of the things I love about the anti-folk crowd: you genuinely get the impression that they'd rather be playing to an appreciative crowd of their mates, rather than a bigger crowd of anonymous punters who may stand there and demand entertainment. So there you go, that's the deal for tonight.  For the rest of the weekend we're putting together Meursault albums, ready for the official (re)launch of their record next Friday at the Song, by Toad Christmas Party.  So, after folding and screen-printing a thousand of the bastards we'll all be well ready for Gimme Shelter in the Caves on Saturday and a spot of Candythief action in the Jazz Bar on Sunday.  Enjoy the 48th Toadcast.   Toadcast #48 - The Jeffcast 01. Yo La Tengo - Double Dare (04.12) 02. Wolf Parade - Call it a Ritual (07.29) 03. Modey Lemon - Loch Ness Monster (11.25) 04. Sly & the Family Stone - Life (17.09) 05. The Velcro Quartet - The Love Song of Little Cosmo Nostradamus (20.03) 06. The Pernice Brothers - The Ballad of Bjorn Borg (25.57) 07. Caramel Jack - The Lincoln Jackson Incident (34.37) 08. The Magnetic Fields - All the Umbrellas in London (38.29) 09. Sparklehorse - Happy Man (Memphis Version) (44.46) 10. The Veils - Birthday Present (49.44) 11. Grandaddy - Miner at the Dial-A-View (54.24) Song, by Toad

Christ this has taken me ages. We recorded this in late August after myself and Mrs. Toad came back from the States, but the intervention of the End of the Road Festival and an unspeakable disaster with video tape has delayed this beyond the bounds of pretty much everyone's patience. I eventually had to give up trying to extricate video from chewed tapes and make do with the video we actually had, which has been bloody frustrating. As per usual we have the videos all posted either on the Toad Vimeo page (the best quality) and YouTube (more accessible). We also have pictures taken by both my friend Morgan, who is also the official Song, by Toad camerman, and Dylan as well. Dylan has all his pictures, including these, on his own site, and we've also uploaded them to the Song, by Toad Flickr page as well. So, firstly, here is the podcast, with the tracklisting at the bottom of the page: Toadcast #46 - Sparrow & the Workshop Toad Session Here are the session tracks themselves as downloadable, shareable and loveable mp3s: Sparrow & the Workshop - Last Chance (Toad Session) Sparrow & the Workshop - Magic Tricks (Toad Session) Sparrow & the Workshop - The Gun (Toad Session) Sparrow & the Workshop - My Crime (Toad Session) Toadcast #46 - Sparrow & the Workshop Toad Session Playlist: 01. Sparrow & the Workshop - Last Chance (Toad Session) (07.21) 02. Scuff - Step a Little Closer (10.14) 03. Skeeter Davis - My Last Date With You (17.50) 04. Micah P. Hinson - Come Home Quickly Darling (21.22) 05. Sparrow & the Workshop - Magic Tricks (Toad Session) (26.19) 06. Rob St. John - Tipping In (30.17) 07. Langhorne Slim - Restless (35.27) 08. Sparrow & the Workshop - The Gun (41.50) 09. The Everley Brothers - Crying in the Rain (46.56) 10. The Skids - In the Valley (48.51) 11. Sparrow & the Workshop - My Crime (Toad Session) (58.25) Song, by Toad

Okay, not so much a podcast this week, more my effort to recreate a mix tape sent to me by my Mum's cousin when I was far too young to appreciate its brilliance.  On the plus side though, despite my failure to really understand how lucky I was, they leaked more indelibly into my consciousness because I was so young that it all went beyond 'music I remember' and became something more fundamental than that. I played this tape quite literally to death.  I think it finally gave up the ghost some time when I was about thirteen or fourteen - about 1988 or 1989.  I forgot about it for some time after that, and it was only some ten years later, about the time of Napster, that it occurred to me to finally try and reassemble all these brilliant songs together again. Well, I tried but I failed.  The biggest problem was remembering what was on the thing.  I mean, a tape I last listened to ten years ago, whatare the chances?  Still, aided by perseverance and some good fortune I prety much managed to as best I could.  Some I remembered immediately, others took a while, and still others took the discovery of songs on the tape itself to trigger the memory.  Easily the best playlist of any Toadcast to date, I'm only ashamed that it's me talking about this music instead of someone more knowledgeable. Toadcast #45 - The Stevecast 01. The Piranhas - Tom Hark (02.06) 02. The Clash - Bankrobber (03.57) 03. John Cooper Clarke - Gimmix (Live) (10.42) 04. The Specials - Why? (18.00) 05. The Piranhas - Boyfriend (21.54) 06. Madness - Baggy Trousers (25.35) 07. The Piranhas - Getting Beaten Up (29.00) 08. The Specials - Ghost Town (32.16) 09. The Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia (37.57) 10. The Beat - Stand Down Margaret/Whine & Grine (46.37) 11. Adam & the Ants - Antmusic (52.39) Song, by Toad

It's teh next Great Depreshun oh noes!  Or maybe we're just moaning like a bunch of fucking girls.  After the doom and gloom in the papers it seems time to actually compare the current financial tantrum to the Great Depression and tell anyone who makes that comparison to fuck right off and stop being so self-indulgent. Even compared to the rough times in the fucking eighties when Margaret Thatcher eviscerated everywhere in England outside the M25.  She destroyed the country.  Annihilating nationalised industries which were no longer economic makes sense, but completely destroying the industries that keep a town alive at the same time as you destroy the support networks provided by the state and also refusing to do anything to encourage industries to grow that might replace the thousands of jobs you have just made vanish is just slash and burn social policy. There may be a little too much opinionated political opinion and general drunken rambling between myself and my darling girl Mrs. Toad, but erm, well, fuck it you're own your own.  Listen if you think you can face it.  But you must understand, we were vewy bewwwy drnk. Toadcast #44 - The Whingecast 01. Woody Guthrie - Do Re Mi (04.20) 02. Ray's Vast Basement - Black Cotton (12.52) 03. The Specials - Ghost Town (15.31) 04. The Clash - Career Opportunities (25.33) 05. Billy Bragg - To Have and to Have Not (36.04) 06. Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing (36.03) 07. 4 or 5 Magicians - Forever on the Edge (39.25) 08. The Men They Couldn't Hang - The Ghosts of Cable Street (52.29) 09. The Willard Grant Conspiracy - Evening Mass (62.44) 10. Phil Ochs - No Christmas in Kentucky (68.29) Song, by Toad

The Fightcast?  Yes, the fucking Fightcast.  Why?  Well because mp3 bloggers have been taking it in the arse with some force over the last week.  Posts are being deleted left right and centre, so presumably the major labels have decided to declare all-out war on blogs.  This is because they are scabby old unwashed cheesy penises.  This is not slander, I can prove it with charts and graphs. Ultimately this is about corporate control of culture.  I don't want to sound like a ranting conspiracy theorist, but put simply, this is how it works.  People pay for things they feel passionate about.  People feel passionate about art, the creation thereof and the participation therein.  Consequently any company vaguely engaged in cultural endeavours desperately wants to own the loyalty and devotion of as many people as possible, and anyone participating in this arena is a threat.  Because grassroots art has more emotional resonance with people it is an ever bigger threat and must be exterminated. They want blogs to exist inasmuch as we provide free market research and free A&R, but if we think we have any influence, any rights, or indeed any genuine loyalty, they wish us dead.  Fuck them, fuck their little games and fuck the horse they rode in on, they are whores.  If they don't want to play with normal people then let them withdraw.  Let them take REM and U2 and fuck off.  I would rather form a massive great list of small independent record labels that do want to play nicely and only ever cover them and unsigned bands, and let the big boys compete with the X-Factor, if they think they can.  Fuck them, let them drown in their own greed. Toadcast #43 - The Fightcast 01. The Love Language - Lalita (02.20) 02. Honey Claws - Shout Out (07.14) 03. Findo Gask - One Eight Zero (10.56) 04. The Avett Brothers - Murder in the City (23.25) 05. Yusuf Azak - Ursa Major (28.02) 06. Miracle Fortress - Have You Seen in Your Dreams (30.53) 07. How To Swim - From Here to Dundee/Eternity (33.55) 08. Jib Kidder - Flip Flap (45.09) 09. Situationists - Onwards & Upwards (46.17) 10. Yusuf Azak - 19.19 (53.45) 11. The Avett Brothers - The Greatest Sum (Acoustic) (62.02)Song, by Toad

Oh deary me.  A somewhat slurred podcast this week.  I recorded this on Friday night after coming home from sharing about seven pints with my boss at Proper Job, who is a thoroughly decent chap and doesn't get out for beers as often as he used to due to an unfortunate breeding accident in which his wife had a baby, thus confining him to the house.  The lesson - gentlemen, for the love of god, don't let them breed! So I came back to the house and wanted to play some loud music.  I popped a bottle of beer, bought some munchies and mumbled my way through a pile of loud, rambunctious songs that I played far too loud as I sorted out the playlist, and great fun it all was too. I asked about modern rowdy music this week, and Bart kindly recommended some bands, a couple of whom I assume I may have been a little quick to dismiss in the past, so I am going to have another go at them. Looking through the playlist, I find one thing sticking out more than anything else: how the hell can you tell a Sex Pistols demo from a Sex Pistols recording? Toadcast #42 - Noise Please 01. The Libertines - What a Waster (02.56) 02. The Von Bondies - Shallow Grave (08.59) 03. The Bellrays - Blues For Godzilla (12.05) 04. Ian Dury & the Blockheads - Ballad of the Sulphate Strangler (17.49) 05. The Damned - Thrill Kill (23.07) 06. Hoggboy - Left & Right (29.31) 07. Liars - Mr You're on Fire Mr (35.33) 08. Monster Magnet - Kiss of the Scorpion (37.57) 09. The Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK (Demo) (43.24) 10. The Fall - Two Librans (49.47) 11. The Small Faces - All or Nothing (Live) (.) 12. The Detroit Cobras - Hey Sailor (.)Song, by Toad

This week's Toadcast has no theme at all because, erm... well, frankly they're difficult to come up with and therefore seem just a tiny little bit like hard work.  So given I'm podcasting once a week now, I am not going to be arsed coming up with some immaculately scripted (ah ha haaa!) arrangement once every seven days, so this week it's really just a brief tour of inbox fodder. This weekend there are loads of good things happening, not least a performance by Mumford & Sons at the Voodoo Rooms, and a first look for me at what could potentially become an excellent new venue in Edinburgh.  That's a secret though, so no more details than that. So, for now enjoy the Soulcast, so named for no better reason than that the first couple of songs have the word soul in the title.  Piss-poor excuse really, isn't it. Toadcast #41 - The Soulcast 01. Nat Johnson - Dirty Rotten Soul (02.39) 02. Maxwell Panther - Lost Soul on a Roll (06.21) 03. Deerhoof - Chandelier Searchlight (11.40) 04. Aberfeldy - Claire (15.01) 05. Hot Lava - Blue Dragon (21.11) 06. Deathbot - The Cold Wind Revival (23.20) 07. Lambchop - Sharing a Gibson With Martin Luther King Jr. (28.41) 08. Wilco - Company in My Back (35.45) 09. Woodenbox - Twisted Mile (39.17) 10. Pale Young Gentlemen - There is a Place (46.33) 11. Japanese Motors - Spendin' Days (54.52) Song, by Toad

Hello people, more podcastenfun once again.  Having done the Deathcast recently, I thought it might be nice to do the polar opposite - the Birthcast.  This week's podcast is all about the birth of Song, by Toad.  I'll tell you about how I started writing about music, how I discovered blogs, how I discovered that what I was writing was in fact a blog and how I ultimately ended up on Wordpress writing what you are now reading.  r casually skimming over, depending on your bent. It has also ended up being something of a 2004 retrospective, because that's when this all started, however slowly, and that side of it has been nice.  I had met Mrs. Toad by this point, and I was all excited, and despite the fact that my job was bollocks, living in London was great fun.  I was on a narrowboat at Nine Elms Pier at this point, which was an amazingly brilliant place to live, and I used to cook myself kettle noodles because I couldn't be arsed firing up the stove.  I'd boil some water, throw it over some noodles and some stock and chuck in lots of fresh veg - bloody delicious. Toadcast #40 - The Birthcast 01. Modest Mouse - Bury Me With It (01.39) 02. The Fiery Furnaces - Chris Matthews (07.57) 03. The Innocence Mission - I Have Not Seen This Day Before (Live) (17.54) 04. American Music Club - Only Love Can Set You Free (22.57) 05. Brian Wilson - Cabin Essence (28.40) 06. Andrew Bird - Lull (35.30) 07. Jim White - Static on the Radio (42.52) 08. Tom Waits - Trampled Rose (49.09) 09. The Dears - Lost in the Plot (54.36) 10. Giant Sand - Anarchistic Bolshevistic Cowboy Bundle (59.43)

This podcast contains a large number of songs from albums which I didn't really enjoy enough to want to review, but which nevertheless contained some excellent songs.  I never want to give a small or emerging band a shitty review because it just feels mean.  For me there's a certain threshold to be reached, after which you are fair game for anything I feel like saying because, frankly, why would you care, but smaller bands are never going to get a really hard time on this site.  Unless they behave like dicks of course, but I digress. A lot of these albums contain songs I really like, but only one or two, and I really wanted them to be heard.  Also, give that your music taste and mine probably only partially overlap anyway (otherwise it would just be creepy) I think it's quite possible you might disagree and want to explore further.  It always amazes me how seriously people can take even my opinion, as some sort of self-appointed arbiter of musical worthiness, when neither I nor any other critic is any better placed or more worthy to judge than any random fanny off the street.  The only thing that sets us apart is not musical judgment, it's the slightly dubious compulsion to constantly be writing or talking about it for some unknown reason. Anyway, that's only about half a dozen songs on this list, the rest are just there either because they don't entirely belong anywhere else, hence the Orphaned Songs title, and partly because I just felt like it.  Enjoy... Toadcast #39 - Orphaned Songs 01. Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers - Let the Fever Out (HearYa Live Session) (02.40) 02. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (07.30) 03. The Hurricanes - Down Below (13.46) 04. Simon Bookish - Dumb Terminal (21.30) 05. Adam & the Amethysts - Bumble Bee (23.49) 06. KiNo - Won't Do (29.29) 07. Rags & Feathers - Silent Movie Starlets (33.04) 08. Woodpigeon - Home as a Romaticised Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always & Forever (37.39) 09. Eagle Seagull - I'm Sorry but I'm Beginning to Hate Your Face (44.56) 10. Meursault - Westward, Ho (51.53) 11. Sun Kil Moon - Carry Me Ohio (57.26) Song, by Toad

Yes, another podcast dedicated entirely to the End of the Road Festival.  I did the very same last year because I do rather love this festival, and the sheer quality of the lineup easily merits a podcast to itself. Unlike last year, Mrs. Toad actually came with me this time around.  We drove this stupid old 1960s VW camper van down there, and Christ knows how we didn't die in the process.  The fucking thing steered like a bathtub full of water, there were no brakes at all and the only crumple zone was us.  The other disconcerting thing is the fact that VW campers are something of a community, so everyone who passed us in one would flash their lights and wave with the sort of sincere enthusiasm that made us mortally ashamed to be mere renters - mere passengers in a club full of such obviously devoted members, Christ we felt like charlatans. Anyway, ignore our guilt and enjoy the podcast.  There's some fucking great music on this one.  And why is it called the Deathcast?  Because that blasted camper van we drove down in was an absolute death trap.  Honestly, want to die in a nasty accident?  Try driving a 60s VW camper van around the English countryside in the middle of the night in the pissing rain. Toadcast #37 - The Oddcast[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo38.mp3] 01. Micah P. Hinson - Patience (03.17) 02. Nick Cave & the Dirty Three - Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum (09.41) 03. The Young Republic - Shiloh (20.19) 04. Over the Wall - Thurso (23.22) 05. British Sea Power - Carrion (29.40) 06. The Pictish Trail - All I Own (36.50) 07. Shearwater - Levithan, Bound (41.31) 08. Jeffrey Lewis - Do They Owe (45.50) 09. The Wave Pictures - Leave That Scene Behind (50.39) 10. Richard Hawley - Coming Home (53.21) 11. Calexico - Minas de Cobre (For Better Metal) (59.55) Song, by Toad

Bill Oddie, for those of you who don't know, is a legendary British television birdwatcher - twitcher as they're known.  He is also the subject of one of the most famous of all mondegreens: Madonna's "Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie, put your hands all over my body".  Anyhow, as a legendary feather flutterer it seemed only appropriate that his name should adorn a podcast entirely made up of bands with ornithological names.  We have everything here, from the albatross to the gull to the guillemot to the owl to the sparrow to the pigeon.  Honestly, this podcast could have been twice the length that it is, there were just so many appropriate bands - no Flock of Seagulls, for example, no Sparrow & the Workshop, no Sheryl Crow. So I hope you enjoy it.  While you're listening to this, Mrs. Toad and I will be enjoying the End of the Road Festival, and hopefully getting a few interesting interviews in for you all.  It'll be my first ever attendance as a legitimate press person, so I am feeling very full of myself at the moment, but with a bit of luck I'll justify the inflated sense of self-importance and bring back some fine bits and pieces for you to enjoy in the next week or two. Toadcast #37 - The Oddcast 01. Hate Beak - Feral Parrot (02.27) 02. The Eagles - Outlaw Man (04.52) 03. Eagleowl - Motherfucker (10.55) 04. Woodpigeon - Knock Knock (15.22) 05. The Lovely Sparrows - Department of Foreseeable Outcomes (19.45) 06. The Bowerbirds - In Our Talons (23.47) 07. Doves - A House (35.30) 08. Counting Crows - Start Again (38.12) 09. Andrew Bird - Why (Live) (46.32) 10. Guillemots - Take Me Out (Live Lounge) (50.43) 11. A Hawk & a Hacksaw - Portlandtown (56.07) 12. Gossamer Albatross - Held Hands (59.57) 13. The Housemartins - Me & the Farmer (63.26) Song, by Toad

Well, no gin, no misbehaviour (except the mandatory foul language), Christ you'd be forgiven for thinking I'd sold out on you and actually grown up at last.  No fear of that actually, just a bit of liver protection.  We're trying to guzzle just that little bit less midweek, and save the beer tokens for when we really need them, so it's tea and slippers this time around.  In fact I thought I was being exceptionally tame until such time as I realised that I hadn't reigned in the swearing one little bit.  Fuck, I thought to myself. Thematically, erm, you're on your own I'm afraid.  I've no real idea if you can think of anything that holds all these songs together as a coherent whole, but damned if I can.  There's quite a bit of new stuff and quite a few stray songs that I didn't know how to cover because I didn't want to review the whole album, but there was a song or two that I liked.  You know what I mean.  And thirteen songs in just under an hour - fucking hell that's efficient. Toadcast #36 - The Domesticast[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo36.mp3] 01. Christian Williams - 30 Minutes (00.17) 02. Calexico - The News About William (05.03) 03. Crystal Stilts - Crippled Croon (07.42) 04. Glasvegas - Flowers & Fitba Tops (14.39) 05. Fishboy - Half Time at the Proper Name Spelling Bee (20.12) 06. From - One Spring Away (23.21) 07. Eef Barzelay - Make Another Tree (28.19) 08. Michael Zapruder - Ads For Feelings (34.23) 09. Okkervil River - Singer Songwriter (37.37) 10. Marc Farre - La Plaie et le Couteau (42.42) 11. Adam Balbo - Big Kid Now (48.14) 12. Christian Williams - Judas (50.24) 13. Micah P. Hinson - Throw the Stone (57.00)

This is the podcast to accompany all the Portland and Pickathon things I've been slowly but surely writing up over the course of the last couple of weeks.  With all the video to edit it may take a while to get it all sorted, but just follow this Pickathon search and you'll find it all.  My full review of the festival is here. This is a musical journey through our trip, from the Shaky Hands and The Builders & the Butchers who got us out there, to Eef Barzelay who we saw in Portland, several bands from the Pickathon Festival and even a song from Ray Rude's Gameboy pop outfit Operation Mission. It's rather shorter than usual, but that is part of a new strategy: shorter podcasts more often.  I am going to try and go for once a week, and make them a maximum of an hour long.  I can't promise anything, but I am going to try, and I think this might be a better approach for all of us, frankly. Toadcast #34 - The Portland Podcast 01. The Shaky Hands - A New Parade (2.20) 02. The Builders & the Butchers - When It Rains (08.47) 03. Eef Barzelay - Numerology (12.21) 04. Operation Mission - Aqueous (19.30) 05. Lackthereof - Choir Practise (23.22) 06. Langhorne Slim - Restless (31.20) 07. Bombadil - Cavalier's Har Hum (40.47) 08. Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers - Beloved, We Have Expired (43.26) 09. Oz St. Fossils - Jeweller's Daughter (53.54) 10. Loch Lomond - Tic (59.49) 11. The Cave Singers - Cold Eye (66.34) Song, by Toad

Fear not, this isn’t quite as horribly overbearing as it could have been. The ranting is actually fairly under control, and the self-important pontificating not quite as reckless as it could so easily have been, partly because I wasn’t quite as liberal with the gin as I have been in the past. The reason it’s called the Popecast is because of this amazing little story about Catholics in the States issuing death threats to a kid who took a communion wafer out of the church with him.  The hilarious PZ Myers then got involved, threatening to show them what real desecration would look like, and the pandemonium reached all new levels of shrillness. The thing that really got my goat about all this was not so much that Catholics took offence, but more the level of the hysteria and the language of persecution.  It was honestly described as kidnapping and as a hate crime by various loonies, and there was nothing like enough ‘Oh fucking grow up and get the fuck over it’ being said.  People seem to be seeking all sorts of odd legal protections for their crazy superstitions these days, and I am flabberghasted that a particular kind of idea is being so fucking mollycoddled as to be deemed immune from criticism and contempt.  Come on, people, fuck your religious convictions and learn to deal with the fact that most of the planet thinks they’re crazy - and that applies to atheists as well. Anyhow, I promise this doesn’t take over too much of the podcast, and that the music is given plenty of space to breathe. Toadcast #33 - The Popecast 01. Vatican Broadside - Half Man Half Biscuit (00.07) 02. Beck - Profanity Prayers (02.27) 03. Punch & the Apostles - Nouveau Gypsy (10.20) 04. I Said Yes - The Town Crier (15.07) 05. Albert Hammond Jr. - GFC (20.47) 06. Bonnie Prince Billy - So Everyone (23.51) 07. Tom Lehrer - Vatican Rag (33.53) 08. The Savings & Loan - Catholic Boys in the Rain (37.12) 09. Derek Meins - The Gin Song (42.57) 10. Holly Golightly & the Broke-Offs - Devil Do (48.47) 11. Ghostkeeper - Solid Gold (56.02) 12. Forest Fire - Fortune Teller (60.44) 13. Silver Jews - Strange Victory, Strange Defeat (70.22) 14. Sparrow & the Workshop - Magic Tricks (77.55) 15. The Just Joans - Hey Boy, You’re Oh So Sensitive (79.43) 16. Roy Zimmerman - Ted Haggard is Completely Heterosexual (85.41) 17. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Evening Mass (97.16) Song, by Toad

Hello, more Toadcastery.  I've, erm, focussed on Dadrock for this one.  Not too much of it on the playlist, fortunately, although there's a couple of well-known names on there.  In my defence though, I couldn't bring myself to feature Coldplay, so I was forced into the compromise of playing an almighty butchering of one of their songs by the splendid Richard Cheese.  Basically I spend most of this podcast trying to justify the presence of so much bland music in the charts and how the hell that came to pass.  There's plenty of chatter about how music is used as a sort of social glue as well, in which case the quality of the stuff becomes almost secondary.  There are some really good new bands on this as well - The Velcro Quartet are particularly brilliant, as are the songs by Mumford & Son, Yoshimi! and Honeytrap.  Enjoy responsibly. Toadcast #32 - The Tribecast 01. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules Theme (01.32) 02. The Velcro Quartet - Dead Dog's Hill (07.53) 03. Seabear - Teenage Kicks (11.17) 04. Athlete - Shake Those Windows (21.02) 05. Richard Cheese - Yellow (30.31) 06. ESL - Czarne Oczy (31.59) 07. Emiliana Torrini - Me & Armeni (39.50) 08. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (43.24) 09. Snow Patrol - Last Ever Lone Gunman (48.11) 10. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done (58.17) 11. The Pictish Trail - All I Own (66.52) 12. Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page (73.01) 13. Honeytrap - Song For Nona (82.18) 14. The Velcro Quartet - How to Kill Your Wife (87.04) 15. Yoshimi! - Song For Suzy (Demo) (94.34) 16. Frank Turner - The Outdoor Type (100.34)Song, by Toad

There’s not much of a unifying theme to this podcast, but there are a healthy number of breaking tracks in the playlist, so I guess calling it the Newcast will suffice for want of anything more inspired. There’s new tracks from the impending singles by Kid Canaveral and The Left Outsides, a good few new bands you’ve never heard of, a couple of JC’s selections for the Toad Records Launch Night and some of the tracks from the sampler that I gave away at the party itself. There’s also the first Recorded and Produced by Toad song in the world: Fearing Lothian by Uhersky Brod.  The band are friends of mine and we used the Toad Sessions recording equipment to put togethera demo for them.  It’s the first time I’ve ever recorded anything, so I presume there must be all sorts of issues with it but, well, you’ve got to start somewhere.  It’s a cracking song, whatever I’ve ended up doing to it. So I hope you enjoy this rather disjointed collection of songs, because for all the lack of any real coherence it’s a good collection of songs nonetheless. Toadcast #31 - The Newcast 01. Cinerama - Health & Efficiency (03.57) 02. David Cronenburg’s Wife - My Ukrainian Girlfriend (12.39) 03. The Ukrainians - Batya (Bigmouth Strikes Again) (16.14) 04. The Lucksmiths - T-Shirt Weather (21.34) 05. Porlolo - There is No I in Athens (26.22) 06. Uhersky Brod - Fearing Lothian (33.17) 07. Sparrow & the Workshop - Grizzly Bear (38.46) 08. The Futureheads - The Beginning of the Twist (43.24) 09. Kid Canaveral - Teenage Fanclub Song (47.11) 10. The Left Outsides - Deep Rivers Move in Silence, Shallow Brooks are Noisy (Found Remix) (53.15) 11. King Creosote - Ear Against the Wireless (61.34) 12. Eagleowl - Blanket (64.50) 13. Rob St. John - Domino (72.22) 14. Les Enfant Bastard - Plastic Bag (79.27) 15. Dinosaur Pile-Up - My Rock ‘n’ Roll Demo (85.43) 16. Computer vs. Banjo - Give Up on Ghosts (95.06)

Hello and welcome back to the Toad Sessions. I was a little drunk when I noticed that Alela Diane was playing in Edinburgh as part of the Triptych Festival, so the idea of emailing her label and inviting her to do a Toad Session didn't seem quite so preposterous. In the morning, I thought I was mad and would be laughed at, but amazingly they agreed, and now here it is. This one was also recorded by Nick at Bananarow and he's done another amazing job - the songs sound absolutely gorgeous. Dylan's pictures can be found at the Flickr page, and we have some more videos at the Song, by Toad YouTube page. Here's the interview podcast, with the tracklisting at the bottom of the page. Toadcast #30 - Alela Diane & Mariee Sioux Toad Session Here are the sessions tracks themselves. The Cuckoo is a traditional song, and Dry Grass & the Shadows is from Alela's new album which should hopefully be out later this year. Mariee's songs are Flowers & Blood from her recent album Faces in the Rocks, whereas the gorgeous Icarus Eye is an old song from a home release. Alela Diane - Dry Grass & the Shadows Alela Diane - The Cuckoo Mariee Sioux - The Icarus Eye Mariee Sioux - Flowers & Blood Here are the videos, all hosted at the YouTube page. Again, the interview is going to have to go up later because I seem to have entirely lost Morgan, my resident editing expert, so I've had to cobble these things together myself. I am going to work on the interview movies as best I can, so they should hopefully be available in a week or two. Alela Diane - Dry Grass & the Shadows movie. Mariee Sioux - The Icarus Eye movie. 01. Alela Diane - Dry Grass & the Shadows (Toad Session) (04.51) 02. The Shaky Hands - Summer's Life (08.36) 03. Johnny Cash - I See a Darkness (11.45) 04. The Holy Modal Rounders - Hesitation Blues (20.42) 05. Neutral Milk Hotel - The Communist's Daughter (24.10) 06. Mariee Sioux - Flowers & Blood (Toad Session) (26.07) 07. Hem - Half Acre (32.29) 08. Bonnie Prince Billy - No Bad News (41.41) 09. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Twistification (46.05) 10. Vashti Bunyan - Glow Worms (53.35) 11. Mariee Sioux - The Icarus Eye (Toad Session) (58.10) 12. Alela Diane - The Cuckoo (Toad Session) (62.56) Well I hope you like these. The next session is going to be with local band Meursault, and will be the first one to be recorded in Toad Hall. Very exciting!

The missus and I got pished and did a podcast! Huzzah! It was a lovely Summery day on Wednesday and we sat out and had a meal in the back garden and then when it got chilly we came inside and did a podcast. There's not much of a theme this week because I can get a little bored of them, and from time to time it's nice to just throw some tracks together that you like. And then get hammered and ramble on about them at interminable length. Sorry about that. Toadcast #29 - The Summercast 01. Lemonjelly - Nice Weather For Ducks (01.47) 02. Elbow - Station Approach (10.47) 03. The Eighteenth Day of May - Cold Early Morning (19.08) 04. Aberfeldy - Tom Weir (25.56) 05. Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Through the Tulips (27.48) 06. Uncle Moon - Pepper (34.41) 07. Lo-Fidelity Allstars - On the Pier (41.32) 08. The Boo Radleys - Find the Answer Within (48.18) 09. The Libertines - The Good Old Days (56.41) 10. The Undertones - Teenage Kicks (65.51) 11. The Von Bondies - C'Mon C'Mon (68.11) 12. The Builders & the Butchers - Spanish Death Song (76.41) 13. The Walkmen - The Rat (82.59) 14. Calexico - Corona (93.33) 15. Lloyd Cole - You're a Big Girl Now (106.46)

The 28th Toadcast is all about the Fence Collective. People who read this site regularly must know them, I assume, but I’ve been intending to do this post for a while as they might be my favourite label in music at the moment. After Kenny Anderson’s last band fell apart about ten years ago or more, he started releasing his own stuff on hand made CD-Rs under the name of King Creosote and between him and his brothers and some of the other local musicians he’d grown up with in Fife, a collective started to form which has grown and grown. Now, thanks to the spotlight cast their direction by Kenny’s brother Gordon’s involvement with The Beta Band and The Aliens, the success of King Creosote and James Yorkston, and the rising of KT Tunstall (also a Fence alumnus, believe it or not) Fence Records have turned into one of the most beloved record labels in the country. And actually, I think their approach of building a community rather than just pimping product might just have the potential to make them one of the success stories of Music 2.0, although that’s another story. So this podcast is all about Fence Records and the bands I have discovered due to their hard work, and why I think they’re great. What an arse-kisser I’ve turned into. (Warning: I’m drunker than I sound and there is way too much talking in this one.) Toadcast #28 - The Fencecast 01. Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra - Our Last Needle (03.17) 02. King Creosote - You’ve No Clue Do You (09.21) 03. James Yorkston & the Athletes - St. Patrick (16.33) 04. Art Pedro - Joanne (21.19) 05. MC Quake - It Feels Good to Be In Scotland (27.57) 06. Down the Tiny Steps - Handstand (36.44) 07. Adam Beattie - Bank Street (46.39) 08. Player Piano - Mercy (AC Mix) (49.35) 09. Candythief - A Good Day (56.47) 10. Rob St. John - Tipping In (60.06) 11. Adrian Crowley - Star of the Harbour (65.11) 12. Eagleowl - This is Not Your Lucky Day (67.47) 13. OLO Worms - Fingers & Thumbs (77.04) 14. HMS Ginafore - You Built a City Inside of Me (85.41) 15. Gummi Bako - She’s the Carrot & I’m the Stick (87.44) 16. The Pictish Trail - Words Fail Me Now (94.39) 17. Rich Amino - Chicken & Chips (99.02) 18. Sara Lowes - Uniform Days (104.22) 19. Magic Arm - Outdoor Games (108.11) 20. King Creosote - I’ll Fly By the Seat of My Pants (115.32)

Well, perhaps Europop isn't quite the right term. Eurindie perhaps. This podcast is stuffed full of splendid tracks from the rest of the European continent which we, as marvellously parochial and narrow-minded Brits, seem to forget exists half the time. I have no real idea how much this music actually intersects with any of the local scenes to which it might belong, but it is certainly nicely in tune with the British scene as I know it at the moment. Scandinavia is inevitably rather over-represented, but I have managed to track down a Belgian, a little Dutch and something (tangentially) Italian to throw into the mix as well. And a special secret bonus surprise for right at the end, but wait for it patiently and don't ruin it for yourselves by peeking. The big thing I can't get over is just how much I had to leave out of this podcast actually.  I'd lazily assumed that it might be a little tricky to fill an entire playlist, but I could just as easily have filled two.  So don't whinge about what's not on there, because I know, I know!  Toadcast #27 - Europop 01. The Divine Comedy - Europop (00.06) 02. Mikrofisch - The Kids Are All Shite (05.52) 03. A Classic Education - Stay, Son (10.40) 04. Wolfkin - These Are Illusions (14.14) 05. Tafra - Cheesy Epic View (19.47) 06. Kottarashky - Chetiri (21.32) 07. Teitur - Catherine the Waitress (29.40) 08. Jens Lekman - No Time For Breaking Up (35.44) 09. Shout Out Louds - Parents' Living Room (40.01) 10. The Tellers - Hugo (45.34) 11. Cats on Fire - Born Again Christian (49.47) 12. Yann Tiersen - Ginette (57.21) 13. Air - Alpha Beta Gaga (61.44) 14. The Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound (70.33) 15. Die Ärzte - Quark (73.41) 16. Bettie Serveert - I'll Keep it With Mine (77.19) 17. Snake & Jet's Amazing Bullit Band - Doom City (82.46) 18. Röyksopp - Remind Me (87.36) 19. Sigur Rós - Untitled (?lafoss) (90.50) 20. Snapline - S2 (102.59) Song, by Toad

Here we go folks: the first ever Toad Session, with local band and all-round Toad pals Broken Records. These sessions are generally going to take place in my living room, but seeing as these guys were quite keen to record one and their single release is imminent, it seemed sensible to rush things a little. So given my equipment has yet to arrive, we went down to Banana Row Studios and recorded four session tracks and had a bit of chat, and this is the result. There's a full podcast, mp3s of the individual songs, a Flickr photo gallery and couple of videos of the whole business, so there's lots and lots of stuff to play with. I think in terms of workload I can possibly manage about one of these per month, so keep an eye out in the future. Toadcast #26 - Broken Records Toad Session The mp3s include their forthcoming single If the News Makes You Sad Don't Watch It, a couple of new tracks, Wolves and They All Fell Into the Sea, and a special Toad request, the truly beautiful Out on the Water. Broken Records - If the News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It Broken Records - And They All Fell Into the Sea Broken Records - Wolves Broken Records - Out on the Water The videos are all posted on the main Song, by Toad YouTube page. There are session videos of Out on the Water and Wolves, but the video of the whole session will be posted a little bit later. We're new to this, so the video editing is taking a little bit of time. It should be up in two weeks', hopefully, so you'll have to gird your loins until then I'm afraid, but I promise to let you know as soon as it makes an appearance. Toadcast #26 Playlist: 01. Broken Records - If the News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It (03.34) 02. Broken Records - A Good Reason (07.28) 03. Micah P. Hinson & the Gospel Of Progress - Don't You Forget (14.33) 04. John Cale - Paris 1919 (24.32) 05. The Moulettes - The Cannibal Song (29.40) 06. Yann Tiersen - Comptine D'un Autre Ete - L'apres-Midi (39.08) 07. Broken Records - And They All Fell Into the Sea (40.21) 08. Beirut - Elephant Gun (45.24) 09. The Waterboys - Sweet Thing (52.11) 10. Broken Records - Wolves (63.23) 11. My Latest Novel - When We Were Wolves (66.34) 12. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Love Letter (72.39) 13. Broken Records - Out On the Water (83.16) If I have one slight issue with these it's that they're a little too polished and sensible, really. Not enough of the rude, random style I tend to think gives this site its character. Maybe recording them in the house will change this, but then the recordings won't be as good. Thoughts?  Too shiny?  Good like this?  Let me know what you think.

This is a real quickie this week as I am working my hairy little buttocks off on the Broken Records stuff at the moment. Still, in your insatiable thirst for pointless, self-indulgent rambling I was sure you'd want to listen to something splendid in the meantime.There's no underlying theme to anything this week, just me rattling on about some current and very interesting music, as well as a couple of confessions so shocking you may never come back here again. Looking at the playlist, I'm sure you can guess what they are.So good luck with this, and I am already looking forward to the next one. Toadcast #25 - The Quickcast 01. The Futureheads - Broke Up the Time (02.02) 02. Tapes 'n' Tapes - Hang Them All (05.05) 03. Meursault - Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues(13.21) 04. The Byrons - Azerbaijan (19.13) 05. The Fire Engines - Candyskin (26.04) 06. The Close Lobsters - Firestation Towers (28.53) 07. Mighty Mighty - Law (34.21) 08. Kim Carnes - When I'm Away From You (41.14) 09. Meat Loaf - Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (44.32) 10. Dirty Summer - War is Bad, Bono is Great (50.02) 11. The Low Lows - Dear Flies Love Spider (53.40) 12. Sargasso Trio - It's Hot in Hell (58.32) 13. The Extraordinaires - High Five the Cactus (63.11) 14. Modernaire - Distraction (69.40) 15. The Indelicates - Point Me to the West (75.47) 16. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Night of the Lotus Eaters(83.47) Yes, you did read that correctly. Meat Loaf. Fuck off. Song, by Toad

A week or so ago, I recorded a demo show for Fresh Air FM, the local student radio station, with a view to applying for a slot during next term, only the computer ate the bastard thing. Fucking technology. Anyhow, Sunday was Mrs. Toad’s birthday, and for some reason she was keen to get plastered and do a podcast with me, so we re-did it together. It wasn’t played quite as straight as I’d hoped, and by the time I’d had time to reflect on submitting it I was pretty certain Fresh Air would chase me out of the building with sticks. Fortunately for me, however, they didn’t hate it, didn’t seem to think I was a smart-arsed twat and didn’t dispatch me from the building with a boot print in my arse. As this show is just a pre-record and will be going out randomly over the night when they stop broadcasting, I thought I’d pop it up here for you to have a listen. I won’t be doing this with any more Fresh Air things because, well, you need to go over there and listen for yourselves really, don’t you. But for this once I thought you might like it seeing as you shower of treacherous fuckers all seem to love Mrs. Toad so very bloody much. Be warned though, because it was made for a different audience, so there may be a bit of duplication from previous podcasts, and it’s rather long, as apparently there is a lot of time to fill overnight when there are no presenters in the building. The Fresh Air plugs themselves were enough to see us kicked out. Toadcast #23½ - The Freshcast 01. Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have to Leave It (03.09) 02. The Shaky Hands - Whales Sing (06.41) 03. The Cave Singers - Thinking of Heaven (13.05) 04. Preston School of Industry - Straits of Magellan (17.23) 05. Adam Balbo - Talkin’ Bush (27.11) 06. Donnan Linkz feat. Baje One of Junk Science - The N Word (29.18) 07. Riff-Raff - Romford Girls (36.44) 08. The Pogues - Dirty Old Town (38.58) 09. Nicole Atkins - Neptune City (46.44) 10. Edith Piaf - Elle Frequentait la Rue Pigalle (50.11) 11. Dusty Springfield - You Don’t Own Me (53.34) 12. AA Bondy - Vice Rag (59.12) 13. Relatively Clean Rivers - Hello Sunshine (68.09) 14. The Eighteenth Day of May - Lady Margaret (71.05) 15. Celebrity Chimp - Pornstar (81.27) 16. Nightjar - Poor Man’s Son (84.01) 17. Ravens & Chimes - General Lafayette, You Are Not Alone! (93.03) 18. Eels - Love of the Loveless (95.59) 19. Glasvegas - It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry (106.49) 20. Flashguns - St. George (111.01) 21. Elle S’Appelle - Little Flame (123.09) 22. Elk City - Cherries in the Snow (125.58) 23. The Low Miffs - Also Sprach Shareholder (130.41)

In preparation for applying for a slot on Edinburgh's student radio station Fresh Air, I thought I would challenge myself to get through an entire podcast without actually swearing because, on public access radio, you can't use naughty words.  A Toad without swearing, you say, what the fuck has the world come to? Well to make sure I don't disappoint you in your noble quest for dissolute anti-culture I thought I'd compensate by playing a collection of the filthiest and most sweary songs I could lay my hands on.  Thinking about it, I've managed to forget Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot's truly foul 'Je T'aime, Moi Non Plus', but there you go.  I could have improved just about every playlist I've ever done in retrospect, I think, so at some point I have to draw the line. So, I use bad words when I quote other people and when I give you the names of the songs but I don't think I let a single naughty word slip during my own chat on this one, but let me know if you catch me out.  Toadcast #23 - The Filthcast 01. Aidan John Moffat - Cunt (01.09)02. The Pogues - Boys From the County Hell (05.24)03. Adam Balbo -Let's Make a Porno (10.03)04. Celebrity Chimp - Pornstar (13.06)05. The Tacticians - Hardcore Porns (15.37)06. Billy Bragg - St. Swithin's Day (21.05)07. Grinderman - No Pussy Blues (26.05)08. The Libertines - I Get Along (33.10)09. Carbon/Silicon - What the Fuck (35.47)10. Frank Turner - Heartless Bastard Motherfucker (42.03)11. Les Enfant Bastard - U R My Fucking Sunshine U Cunt (44.52)12. Plans & Apologies - Tony Blair Fucknut (49.50)13. The Libertines - What a Waster (57.00)14. Lambchop - Your Fucking Sunny Day (60.49)15. The Ex-Men - Suck Her (67.35)16. Micah P. Hinson - Patience (73.04)17. Eels - It's a Motherfucker (76.59)18. Doug Anthony Allstars - I Fuck Dogs (80.07) Song, by Toad

Yoo hoo Toadlings, welcome to Toadcast No. 22.  This one is a sort of natural follow-on from the series of movie soundtrack posts we ran on the site a week or so ago.  I can't believe we managed an entire series without mentioning either Ennio Morricone or Quentin Tarantino. So I've tried to put that part right here, as well as throwing in some corkers by the likes of Nick Cave & Warren Ellis and a few others.  It may come across slightly as a novelty podcast, what with the Darth Vader theme music and so on, but I still think it makes an interesting listen.  It actually made an interesting listen for me this morning too, because I was so utterly shanghaied on gin by the end of it that I actually don't remember half of the introductions to the songs towards the end.  So join me on a voyage of discovery and find out exactly what on earth I found to say about Nick Cave whilst pickled out of my tits on a Friday evening. Toadcast #22 - The Cinecast 01. John Williams - The Imperial March (00.00) 02. Barry Adamson - 007, A Phantasy Bond Theme(05.37) 03. Ennio Morricone - The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (11.44) 04. Hans Zimmer - True Romance (16.20) 05. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Rather Lovely Thing (23.37) 06. The Divine Comedy - Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds (28.10) 07. The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink (32.21) 08. Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me (36.12) 09. Andrew Lloyd Webber - Everything's Alright (45.04) 10. The Divine Comedy - Les Jours Tristes (51.43) 11. R.E.M. - Leave (58.31) 12. The Shins - Saint Simon (62.27) 13. Eels - Your Lucky Day in Hell (70.52) 14. Tom Waits & Crystal Gale - Take Me Home (77.49) 15. Barry Adamson - Mitch & Andy (80.30) 16. Andrew Lloyd Webber - King Herod's Song (88.53) 17. John Williams - Cantina Band Theme (93.01) 18. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand (Scream 3 Version) (97.01) 19. The Pogues - Night on Bald Mountain (105.22) 20. Ennio Morricone - Once Upon a Time in the West (Deborah's Theme) (109.01) Song, by Toad My Odeo Channel (odeo/03301a3286442766)