Song, by Toad

Mark my words people, you’ve been warned.  When I first heard this album I pretty much brushed it off as somewhat over the top baroque folk.  The next time I listened I found myself thinking ‘What the fuck, really, is this?  What the fuck do they think they’re doing, this isn’t the seventies.’  And then I was hooked.

So, glib and derogatory remarks aside, I present the Trembling Bells.  I was passed their album by Ruth from The Bowery, who has booked an Edinburgh date for them for the 20th February.  And having listened to their album about a million fucking times now I just can’t shake that state of bewildered, joyous fascination.  It’s bizarre, it’s a little bit mental, and it’s absolutely brilliant.

It’s like a madly over the top version of the kind of psych-folk that was around in the sixties and seventies, like Liege & Lief (yes, I know I always mention this album) by Fairport Convention meets Frank Zappa.  It’ll be out on Honest Jon’s in April, I’ve heard the whole thing, I’m itching to leak it but I can’t, and I cannot emphasise how much you all need to hear this.  It’s nuts, it’s out of it’s tiny little mind, and it’s absolutely fucking amazing.  I cannot stop playing this album at the moment.

Trembling Bells – When I Was Young

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Trembling Bells – I Took to You

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There’s a reason that I swear a lot on this site, and mostly it’s because the world reduces me to fucking tears half the time.  People are pathetic; greedy, shallow, vapid, pig-ignorant, jealous and parochial.  I cannot possibly be the only one who saw this desperate Iggy Pop car insurance advert and had to double and triple take just to be sure that it really was the old banjo string himself:

Can my American compadres enlighten me – has he always pimped out his scrawny ass for the meanest shilling?  Is this a new thing?  What the FUCK was he doing appearing in that advert?  How the lizard’s penis did this abomination come into being?  It’s so surreal.  Car fucking insurance Iggy?  Is Iggy your real name?  I bet it’s something like Bernard isn’t it, you dismal black hole of dignity you.  I nearly cried, people, I really nearly burst into tears.

And for some reason my computer has now defaulted to Google Sweden.  Brilliant, that’s helpful.

Deer Tick – Ashamed (Yes, I picked this entirely for the title.  The lyrics have nothing to do with Iggy Pop’s auctioned dignity.)

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Sorry this has been so late coming, but we have spent the day recording the sixth Toad Session with the Pictish Trail.  And now I am off to London to see some friends and speak to people about getting Meursault onto some bills down South.  We’re also going to be talking to Pure Groove and Rough Trade about stocking the record, which should hopefully go alright.

So yes, I’m going to be sitting on a train down to London as you read this, leafing through magazines and trying to find people who might be interested in reviewing future Toad releases.  There’s no rest for the wicked and I don’t even have time to write any more on this post either.  DC will be posting his show tomorrow in place of the Toadcast, and I will be back properly functioning on Monday or Tuesday with a bit of luck.  This week’s five and five songs have been chosen by Johnny Pictish, Fee, Gavin, myself and Dylan at the end of the Toad Session.  I am now going to get pissed and fuck off down South.  Have a good weekend Toadlings.

1. Who put the Ram in a a-ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong?
2. Ideal next Toad Session.
3. Whis is Irn-Bru orange?
4. Favourite daytime TV show for when you have a day off during the week.
5. Chicken or fish?

Grandaddy – Jeez Louise

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The Pictish Trail – I Don’t Know Where to Begin

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The Walkmen – The Rat

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Ryan Adams – To Be Young

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Mercury Rev – Opus 40

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God that was a dreadful headline, I’m really sorry about that.  For those of you whose sense of humour has just filed for divorce and fucked off to Barbados in your new Porsche with the pool boy, you have my sincerest apologies.

What is all this about then?  Well, seeing as on the recent Aberfeldy thread we ended up talking about supporting the Edinburgh music scene, it seemed like the perfect time to mention this.  Found are one of a few Scottish bands playing SXSW this year, and are trying to raise the money to make the trip.

SXSW, for those of you who don’t know, is short for South by Southwest and is pretty much the world’s biggest, most prestigious and most influential indie music festival.  It is held once a year in March and takes place in Austin, Texas, which is a tiny little island of literacy in the middle of the Southern states of America.  So not cheap to attend, especially not for a five-piece flying in from Scotland.

In order to help fund this little excursion, they are releasing a fundraising compilation via their website, which you can buy for a variety of prices, ranging from Skint Friend (£2.50) all the way up to Mysterious Benefactor (£50).  Seeing as a/ Found are superb, b/ Found are really nice guys, and c/ we were just talking about success for anyone in the Edinburgh music scene being good for everyone in the Edinburgh music scene, I ask you to do two things: firstly, go and buy a copy, obviously, and secondly pass this on to as many people as you can think to pass it on to.

Here are a couple of songs from earlier albums, just to remind you that they are a very good band indeed.  And lovely blokes, did I mention that they are lovely blokes?

Found – Admission Number Two

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Found – Synth Like Minds

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A friend of mine called Matt, who runs Bladen County Records in Portland, said to me over the Summer that he thought it completely inevitable that music blogs expand and become record labels as well.  This makes sense I suppose.  Basically, the underlying motivation behind starting a record label is generally: ‘fuck this is so good, everyone has to hear this!’  Generally, this is the precise same motivation behind starting a music blog – it’s all just about ways of expressing your love for particular kinds of music and trying to spread that message as far and wide as you can.

As I have mentioned in the past, entirely unbeknownst to one another, two Edinburgh bloggers, myself and Ed from 17 Seconds, have spent the last year building record labels based on the foundations laid by our respective blogs.  Ed’s first act was to sign up Aberfeldy for 17 Seconds Records, an established band with two good albums behind them and a good reputation in the industry; not bad at all for a novice label without a history – well played!

Well, after vinyl manufacturing nightmares, their first single is now ready for purchase.  Due to Ed’s taste for incredible amounts of excercise it is now in pretty much independent record shop in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and can also be bought online from Rough Trade.

Musically, this is classic Aberfeldy:  sugar-sweet folk pop, with a gentle sixties inflection, showing that their recent quiet has had no effect whatsoever on their knack with a catchy tune – single of the week on NME Radio no less!  I can’t really make a brand new single available for download, but have a listen to a song from Aberfeldy’s debut album below, and pop along to their MySpace page to preview Claire.

Aberfeldy – Heliopolis by Night

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Buy Claire from Rough Trade’s online shop.

Let’s do the criticisms first, shall we, because they are simple and easily tackled.  Basically, I think this album is too long.  It weighs in at thirteen songs and just under fifty minutes, and I really feel that three songs could have been trimmed from the track listing, to leave what I would honestly descibe as being as good a debut as I’ve heard since I heard Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues for the first time.

Jacob’s voice is simply lovely, and for the most part he delivers simple pop songs, tinged with a little wistfulness and bordering on twee.  It’s not that simple though, because half of this album takes that model and subverts it, to the point that some of the songs are downright bizarre.  You Should Really Get Yours is superb, and so far from being a pop song it’s silly.  It works well within the context of the album though, because the whole record shifts on this spectrum, back and forth from the disturbing to the gentle, and this song sets a marker at the far end of the scale.

Even the sweeter tunes on here often have a certain faux-naivety that is mildly unsettling.  Sometimes it’s the flat, impassive vocals, like the smile of a scary child’s toy, sometimes the slightly too crackly rumble of a guitar, sometimes the skittery, off-beat drumming.

Basically, there is a five-song passage in the middle of this record, from In Real Life He Wears Corduroy Pants through to Prelude to a Shark Attack, that is utterly, spell-bindingly brilliant.  After that, the variation tails off a little and although there are still some truly excellent songs, I get the impression a couple could happily be trimmed, resulting in a tight, near perfect record from a group I have never heard mention of before or since.  It is worth noting, of course, that there could be some very good reasons for how this album has been put together, and I really could just be treading on toes it’s not my place to tread on.

Irrespective of this little whinge, He Was Such a Quiet Boy is a superb album, and I strongly urge you to go and buy one immediately.

Trips & Falls – And in Real Life He Wears Corduroy Pants

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Trips & Falls – Damaged Goods

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Trips & Falls on MySpace – buy the album here too

Quite why I have been so slow to review, or indeed to appreciate, this album may be the fault of that staple of 21st Century music listening: the random function.  It’s not entirely my fault but the first half dozen or so times I listened to this album I didn’t do so either in its entirety or in the correct order, and consequently I really didn’t think it was very good.

Maybe it’s different for others, but I only really started to get this album once I had listened to it from start to finish in the order in which it was intended to be heard.  I can enjoy the songs in isolation much more now that I feel I understand them a little better, but until I’d listened to it properly I couldn’t really appreciate them properly.

I’d still say, despite its indie blog darling status, that this album is no better than good.  It starts out with a flurry of pop songs, purposeful electronic beats, some dreamy, distorted vocals and consistently appealing melodies which leak from the songs from time to time, just to remind you that this is still music for humming along to.  This really only lasts for the first half, however, and as the album progresses I still find myself losing a little interest.  The pace of the electronics slows somewhat, losing that abducted trance music feel and slipping into slightly directionless musical collage.

Maybe this is just a band for real fans.  I like what I think are the most accessible pop songs – the easy ones, if you will.  There are plenty of groups who I got into that way, whose more obtuse work didn’t really reveal its qualities until I had progressed through the requisite stages of the easier stuff, and come to understand the dynamics of the music a little better.  This may well prove to be the case with Animal Collective, but for now my reaction is patchy.

Animal Collective – In the Flowers

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Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes

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Website | More mp3s | Buy from Amazon

Well, we have a spot of excellent news here: Toad pals Broken Records have signed to one of the best independent record labels around: 4AD.

This is brilliant news for a number of reasons: firstly, they’re lovely guys and I am genuinely delighted for them; secondly, they have worked their arses off this year, at great cost to themselves, in order to play every damn festival and gig known to man and because of the financial crisis they have been messed about quite a few times, so I’m chuffed it’s finally signed and sealed; thirdly, they were one of the first bands I ever ’spotted’, and indeed gave them their first ever write-up – not that this made any difference in the long term, but it makes me feel good; and fourthly, having them out there and making increasingly big headlines is good for every band in this city as it helps put Edinburgh on the musical map.

It’s very difficult to explain the excitment the first time you hear a brand new band who genuinely, definitely have it, and this was the first time I’d ever felt it.  I remember coming back from that gig absolutely buzzing, and tried really hard to restrain myself from frothing in the review.

They are currently recording their debut album, which is scheduled for release in the Summer.  I couldn’t be happier for the lads and Song, by Toad officially* wishes them the most sincere congratulations.  Can’t wait to hear the album lads, well done.

Broken Records – All So Tired

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*’Officially’?  What the fuck am I talking about?

Christ, it’s going to be like Fred Karno’s bloody Circus in Edinburgh this week (did your Grandma use that phrase all the time too?)  Particulary towards the tail end of the week there are all sorts of good gigs, of which I will be attending… precisely none, unfortunately.  We’re away in London this weekend, and I am in Glasgow on both Wednesday and Thursday nights, would you believe.  Incredibly frustrating.

We are nearly finished work on the Samamidon Toad Session, and a bloody good thing too, because Johnny Lynch, aka the Pictish Trail, will be coming into Toad Hall on Friday to record the next one.  The plan is to get these two recorded and posted by the Fence Collective’s Homegame festival, which is now on the weekend of the 17th, 18th and 19th of April because we should end up generating a hell of a lot of work there, between interviews, live reviews and stuff like that, so it will be important to have the decks clear by the time that comes around.

Wednesday 28th January 2009: Come On Gang, Jesus H. Foxx & Chutes at Cabaret Voltaire.

The first gig of the year from my pals at Fresh Air, Edinburgh’s student radio station.  It’s happy, spiky indie pop all the way, so if you fancy a bit of a dance and a chance to hear the SXSW-bound Come On Gang then swing by Cabaret Voltaire on Wednesday.
Come On Gang – Spinning Room

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Thursday 29th January 2009: Meursault, Y’all is Fantasy Island & Mitchell Museum play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

What a bloody lineup – two of Edinburgh’s finest accompanied by a band who have been going for about a year and whom I have rather shamefully yet to see.  And I can’t go.  Fucking ARSE!  Between the exuberance of Mitchell Museum, the racket of YiFI and the passionate howl of Meursault this should be a really top evening.
Y’all is Fantasy Island – With Handclaps

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Thursday 29th January 2009: SL Records night at Cabaret Voltaire, with Withered Hand, Paul Vickers & the Leg & Lords of Bastard.

SL Records are going to have the very enviable pleasure indeed of releasing a Withered Hand album some time in 2009, the swine.  They’ve been around for a while though, with Paul Vickers & the Leg one of their stalwarts.  Looks like a good night.
Paul Vickers & the Leg – Umbrella Propella

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Thursday 29th January 2009: Popolo play Sick Note at Cabaret Voltaire.

Ever since their appearance on the early Ten Tracks compilations I have been curious so see these lads.  It appears to be entirely intrumental, relying on thumping electronics to create an edgy dancefloor atmosphere.  Fascinating.
Popolo – Or Optimism

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Sunday 1st February 2009: Ex Lion Tamer, Milophobia & Vessel at Cabaret Voltaire.

Another blog in Edinburgh hatches a record label, this on run by my good friend Ed from 17 Seconds – yes the same chap who spent the tail of last year fending off an angry swarm of DMCA complaints after his enthusiastic help in getting Glasvegas a major record deal.  Well, his own label treads rather different territory, with first signings Aberfeldy indulging in the sweetest of pop, and second signing Ex Lion Tamer inhabiting a slightly more 80s electro-disco territory.
Ex Lion Tamer – Life Support Machine

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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

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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)