I must be the last person in bloody Scotland to review this album, but I have never really clicked with Super Adventure Club particularly, so I suppose it was inevitable that I showed very little urgency when it came to really giving Avoid Zombies* a proper, attentive listen.

It’s reminded me, in a slightly by-the-bye sort of way, of the value of labels and collectives too.  Armellodie Records seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment, and the fact that these Edinburgh to Glasgow transplants were working with Al was definitely something I noticed.  If you are generally in good company, I suppose it inevitably reflects on your band as well – Fence, Fife Kills and Bear Scotland spring to mind.

Anyhow, it’s a bit of a back-handed compliment, but I am enjoying this far more than I expected to.  The furious bursts of guitar and percussion in Super Adventure Club’s stuff have generally been bit too frantic and mental for me, but they’ve put this album together really well so you get lulls in the onslaught and shifts in the general atmosphere not just within songs, but across songs.

I suppose I would say that their stuff benefits from being collected together.  This much variation can often become a bit of a morass, contradictory as that sounds.  Basically, when each song can sound like three or four different songs within the same few minutes it can actually be difficult to distinguish between the individual tracks themselves, because it can be hard to tell if you’re on to a new track or just in the middle of a bizarre interlude in the first one.

In the second half of the album Nosferatu, My Other Brain and Think Like a Fish suffer a bit from this, but in general it is actually something which the band get absolutely right.  The changes in pace and attitude across songs tend to throw their neighbours into pretty sharp relief, and this gives the record a really good sense of maturity and confidence.

The pace seems to pick up as things go on, starting with a slap to the chops – Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle – before settling to something a little more laid back and slowly building up to a frenzy over the course of the album.  By the time it collapses, somewhat post-coitally, into album closer Strings I find myself pretty exhausted and I have to confess that at its most frenetic this record is a bit full-on for me, honestly.   However, I am really enjoying most of it and am really pleased to see these guys continue to progress.  Good things good things – now to see them live!

Super Adventure Club – Pick Up Sticks

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Super Adventure Club – Avoid Zombies

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MySpace | More mp3s | Buy direct from Armellodie Records

*This is good advice, generally speaking.

It’s time for some video fun here on Song, by Toad.  It seems that as well as allowing more and more people to record their own music, the relative affordability of digital equipment has also allowed more and more bands and other enterprises to make surprisingly good videos on their own as well, be it music videos, live sessions, video blogs or whatever else.

Above we have the official (*ahem*!) video for Trips and Falls‘ moment of genius ‘And in Real Life He Wears Corduroy Pants”.  This is from their debut album on Song, by Toad Records ‘He Was Such a Quiet Boy’, which can be bought here and which I absolutely love.  But then, I would say that, wouldn’t I.

When we first saw Bombadil play live it was at Pickathon in 2008, and they were brilliant.  For the most part they played songs from their debut album A Buzz, A Buzz but there was one standout which I had never heard before: Marriage, which ended up on their second record, Tarpits and Canyonlands, which was released last year.  Below is a live session with Scott Avett from the Avett Brothers, who were label-mates of Bombadil’s during their years on the wonderful Ramseur Records, before they left recently to sign to Columbia.

Below we have the official Silver Columns video for their new single Cavalier.  I am really looking forward to hearing this album, because far from being a disco-pop novelty act, their new stuff really sounds like it’s going to be a varied, excellent record.  And a video with Johnny Pictish acting all cool like a pop star is always worth a good chortle.

When we started the Toad Sessions I think I might have had something like this video below in mind, if only we lived somewhere as cool as that.  It’s by Adam Arcuragi, and it just looks so incredibly lush, the sound is good and I envy anyone actually being there.  How dare their lives be so brilliant!

It’ll be back to music and the sharing of illegally pirated copyright material next, but for now I thought a wee visual interlude was in order.  Enjoy!

I managed to miss last week’s Fresh Air show because… well I somehow failed to realise that the bloody station was back on the air, which is spectacularly dumb. This week I present Toad and Ruth’s Toad and Ruth Show With Toad and a Little Bit Less Ruth Than Usual, or indeed any Ruth at all because the lovely herself can’t make it tonight, so you will be treated to the wonderful pleasure of listening to me burble on to myself about tunes and stuff and stuff and some tunes and then probably some more stuff just to cap it off.

Live on Air 8.30pm-10pm – Listen live here.

01. Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Goodbye
02. Saint Etienne – Nothing Can Stop Us Now
03. The Left Banke – Evening Gown
04. Bettye Swann – Don’t Look Back
05. Lee Dorsey – My Old Car
06. The Scottish Enlightenment – All Homemade Things
07. Super Adventure Club – Hip Hop Hot Pot Pot Noodle
08. Sam Amidon – Fiddle Mayhem (Toad Session)
09. The Shaggs – What Are Parents
10. Nico Muhly – The Only Tune
11. Phil & the Osophers – Uses of a Man
12. David Tattersall – The Old Family
13. Grandaddy – Fuck the Valley Fudge
14. Elvis Perkins in Dearland – I Heard Your Voice in Dresden
15. Songdog – Obediah’s Waltz

Next week we have the splendid Loch Lomond live in session, and to tide you over until then the videos from Mammoeth’s session on the show are below the jump.  The tracklisting for tonight’s show will appear below live as we go along, and feel free to heckle in the comments.

Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you interested at all in even more of my inane prattling, I have recently done an interview with a certain Mr. Timothy London for his blog, which can be read here.  The interview itself was about a less cynical music industry, and I am not entirely sure I really made a great case in its favour, with some really very cynical remarks indeed.  Still, I tried to answer the questions themselves as honestly and intelligently as I could, so hopefully that counts for something!

This weekend I was down in Macclesfield for Unconvention, a day of seminars, workshops and general chats about the future of music and ways in which we can best try and generate awareness and success on a minimal budget using the myriad weird and wonderful tools the modern world has given us.  It was a really good day, and I heard some very interesting things, and also managed to make a tit of myself at the Managers Are The New Labels panel I was on.

The Scottish habit for constant and furious self-deprecation got a little lost in translation with all the English attendees, so everyone in the workshop got the rather unfortunate impression that I was really down on myself about what we’ve achieved with Song, by Toad and how qualified I may or may not be to be in the music industry and what I do or do not bring to the bands we work with.  After a particular rush of sympathy (“Noooo, it sounds like you’re doing an incredible job”) I did get close to pointing out to them that self-confidence really wasn’t an issue here, it’s just the way you learn to express yourself in Scotland and don’t worry I am well aware of how much we’ve achieved in the last couple of years just that you always have to be aware of how much there still is to achieve and honestly it just doesn’t do to sound even slightly boasty in Scotland but honestly I’m fine don’t worry.  But that might have made matters worse, so I just dropped it.

Iggy Pop – The Passenger

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Monday 10th May 2010: Langhorne Slim at Sneaky Pete’s.

Monsieur Slim is not only great live, Sean Scolnick is a fucking lovely bloke as well.  I know Monday is a shite night to go out, but honestly this will be worth it.  He swings the pace from the mournful ballad to stomping Americana in the drop of a hat, and there are few better voices out there at the moment, in my opinion.

Langhorne Slim – Sunday by the Sea

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My personal pick of the Tigerfest gigs this week would be twofold:

Wednesday 12th May 2010: Jesus H. Foxx & There Will be Fireworks at Electric Circus.

There Will Be Fireworks managed to sell over a thousand of their debut album pretty much on their own and without much press, which I can promise you is no mean achievement. Their Twilight-Frabbitry will be complemented by the emergence, blinking, into the light of Jesus H. Foxx who have been hiding away in some secret Foxxcave somewhere working on their debut album.

Thursday 13th May 2010: 17 Seconds presents Chris Bradley, The Dirty Cuts & The Last Battle at the Roxy Room.

17 Seconds Records’ newest signings The Last Battle join a couple of their more established acts downstairs at the Roxy.  Their debut album should be upon us very soon, so keep an eye out for that.

The Last Battle – Soul of the Sea (Live on FreshAir)

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Friday 14th May 2010: We Were Promised Jetpacks & Three Blind Wolves (both solo acoustic) play the This is Music 4th Birthday celebrations at Sneaky Pete’s.

You wouldn’t necessarily think that quiet acoustic stuff would work all that well at a clubby sort of place like Sneaky’s but it actually does – I’ve seen some really good acoustic stuff there in the past.  This is the latest in a series of gigs marking the fourth birthday

Saturday 15th May 2010: Thomas Truax, 7VWWVW, Wounded Knee & The Blue Wicked Spasm Band at the Roxy Art House.

Stuffs

Saturday 15th May 2010: Conquering Animal Sound, Dead Boy Robotics & Adam Stafford play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

It’s an odd lineup, this one, although in a funny sense I can actually see it working quite well.  Adam Stafford will presumably be playing an acoustic set, and Dead Boy Robotics have just launched an EP of thumping, dirty disco(ish) tunes.  Add that to the strange, shy, loopy experimentalism of Conquering Animal Sound and you certainly have an eclectic lineup, but one which I think will actually work quite well.

Sunday 16th May 2010: Hauschka, James Blackshaw & Nancy Elizabeth at the Roxy Room.

Fatcat Records, innovative composer, plays lots of piano.  Those are about all the facts I have about this one, but I have to get this published before my lunchtime internet window here at Proper Job slams shut, so I am afraid I don’t have the time to find out anything more helpful for you.  There’s always the links above though, and you’re not children, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.

[The Sunday Supplements are your chance to have your thoughts published on Song, By Toad. Email your ideas in to sunday(at)songbytoad.com]

I haven’t had a drink since Tuesday 20th April, when I had two pints at the King’s Wark, and haven’t enjoyed a ‘proper’ drinking session since three days earlier than that. (That was Tomfest, for those that were in attendance)

This brief period of abstinence is not due to any new found sense of piety or temperance, it’s simply down to a course of weapons-grade antihistamines the doctor has put me on. However it has given me a glimpse into how my lifestyle would change if I were to strap myself into a comfortable seat on the wagon in a more committed fashion.

When I gave up smoking around five years ago I found that it was relatively easy to quit by simply not telling myself that I’d “given up smoking”. Instead I decided to simply stop buying cigarettes on a habitual basis, and told myself if I ever felt like a cigarette I could have one. This decision was made easier by returning home from living in India and having to make the adjustment from paying 60p a pack to more than a fiver. That was enough of a shock to the system to securely underpin my decision. I found that avoiding the psychological pressure you can put yourself under by insisting on a rigid and steadfast regime of abstinence and telling yourself that you’ve “given up”, coupled of course with that sudden stratospheric cost increase, was enough to discourage me from continuing with the habit.

Not that I’m planning any sort of similar strategy with the booze, I was born in a pub and have continued merrily marinading myself for the 35 years since; but I might carry on behaving myself for a little while longer after my course of tablets finishes next week. My wallet is certainly appreciating the break, and waking up without a hangover each weekend morning has been a pleasant novelty, too.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been to plenty of gigs, a couple of meals out in restaurants, quiet encounters with drinking partners in pubs, and friends’ rowdy birthday celebrations, and remained ‘dry’ throughout. There is however, a point during a heavy drinking session when the rest of the party attain a certain altitude you simply can’t reach while sober, and you either leave and go home or assume the sensible, and quite boring, ‘designated driver’ role.

The thing is, I don’t actually mind the fact that drink is an ever-present spectre in the cultural space that I inhabit, I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. Nevertheless, the enforced change of pace, a brief “walk on the mild side” if you will, has been an intriguing experience.

Dying for a pint though.

I will be in Macclesfield at Unconvention, pretending to know what the fuck I am talking about when it comes to new music business models when you come to listen to this.

I do get a shiny new pair of Converse, courtesy of the sponsors, which is cool.  But above all, me, the chance to talk shit… well, it’s just a match made in heaven isn’t it.

My Granddad lives in Manchester too, which is rather convenient, so on Sunday I will go round to his house and say hello.  Who knows, it might even shunt me slowly out of the Bad Son status I have been occupying for all these years.

This playlist is largely composed of new stuff which has appeared in my inbox recently, and a couple of bizarre wild cards – two covers,

Toadcast #121 – The Votecast

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01. Yusuf Azak – Turn on the Long Wire (06.23)
02. Micah P. Hinson – 2s and 3s (12.50)
03. Nina Nastasia – Cry, Cry, Baby (17.58)
04. Emit Bloch – Milkshake vs. Passenger (Kelis & Iggy Pop) (23.50)
05. Run on Sentence – Out in the Woods (30.16)
06. eagleowl – Morpheus (33.43)
07. David Tattersall – The Old Family (39.15)
08. Los Hombres – Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) (41.36)
09. Male Bonding – Year’s Not Long (46.12)
10. Willie Nelson – Smells Like Teen Spirit (49.22)
11. Super Adventure Club – Pick Up Sticks (57.03)

Because of electiony things and my trip down South this weekend I am writing this after an evening out drinking gin, and a night spent watching the election and drinking wine whilst Mrs. Toad snoozes on the couch.

Voting for the fucking Tories, honestly what a bunch of idiots this country has turned out to be (see graphic).  If you’re minted, you can afford to vote with your conscience.  If you’re less than wealthy then voting Conservative is basically just voting for aggressive, hostile rhetoric over self-interest, which is just weird.

I am getting sick of this ‘voting for change’ pish which is being dropped into chat all over the place.  Change?  Change?  Seriously?  Are you fucking kidding me?  Change would have meant the Lib Dems becoming a serious third party, which I actually think would have been good news.  Multiple parties implies something closer to proportional representation, and it happens and works across Europe.

Adversarial two-party politics is a weird concept, when you look at it.  You end up with Celtic v Rangers, United v City, God Bless America vs Evil Communist Russia – it’s just such a simplistic and superficial narrative to apply to a question which is actually quite nuanced and complex I am not sure how we ended up here.

Anyway, delurking, that’s the message for today.  Delurk, unlurk, exlurk and say hello.  That’s what these Friday posts are for, and I will be on a train all afternoon and eager for some sort of entertainment so please come out with some bollocks.  Any old bollocks will do!

1. Name your independent political party.
2. Make a spurious election promise.
3. Suitable insult for your opponent.
4. Something vs what?  Name a new deathmatch!
5. What the fucking fuck happened to the fucking Lib Dems?  Eh?  Fucksake.

Blur – Death of a Party

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Supergrass – In it for the Money

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Pulp – Pencil Skirt

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Belly – Gepeto

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The Bluetones – The Fountainhead

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Time again for bit of a Song, by Toad Records and Various Other Bollocks update, because there are several little bits of news in which you may all be interested.  No, make that very interested.

I’ll start with the tour stuff, I think.

Meursault get back from their European tour this weekend, and I am generously going to give them about half an hour to rest and recuperate, before getting the lazy fuckers’ noses back to the grindstone.  They are playing a homecoming gig at next Friday’s (21st) This Is Music birthday party at Sneaky Pete’s.  This will be packed, noisy and sweaty, so I recommend you get your tickets early because Sneaky’s just ain’t that big.  Tickets here.

The following night, Neil will also be playing some solo acoustic bits and pieces to open Toad and Ruth’s Toad and Ruth Gig With Toad and Ruth and Sam and Ritchie and Leif and Neil (which is a damn snappy title, if you ask me).  That night will take place in the brilliant Queen Charlotte Rooms in Leith, and is also part of Loch Lomond’s Night Bats EP launch tour.  Leif Vollebekk is playing as well, the amazing Sam Amidon is headlining, and because this is a Bowery night there will also be poetry readings and crafts.  There are only eighty tickets available, so I’d get them in advance if I were you – from here.  If everyone from the Facebook thingies actually comes, we’ll need the room twice.

Loch Lomond‘s Night Bats tour has been fleshed out with a couple of London dates.  As well as playing the first ever Song, by Toad Night in Glasgow (Mono, Wednesday 19th May, tickets here) they will be playing:
Tuesday 18th: Electroacoustic at the Slaughtered Lamb, London.
Wednesday 19th: Mono, Glasgow, with Meursault.
Thursday 20th: The Tunnels, Aberdeen, with The Tim and Sam Band.
Friday 21st: The Barrels Alehouse, Berwick, with The Tim and Sam Band.
*Saturday 22nd: Avalanche Records instore, Edinburgh, 5.30pm* – TENTATIVE.
Saturday 22nd: Queen Charlotte Rooms, Leith, with Sam Amidon.
Sunday 23rd: The Black Heart, Camden, London, with The Ghost Bees.

Loch Lomond – Tic

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Next, we have three definite releases scheduled before the end of the year, and two slightly more uncertain ones.

Inspector Tapehead‘s debut album, Duress Code was scheduled for release in Summer 2008 and is, er, finally finished. I’ve been a fan of theirs for ages so I am bloody thrilled that they want to release it with us, and the album itself is fucking great.  They’ll be booking a bit of a tour for September to promote it, with the release date currently down as being August 17th, if I remember correctly.

Inspector Tapehead – Sugar on Your Sheets

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Yusuf Azak has also finished his album, which he has rather unimaginatively titled ‘Yusuf Azak’s Album’.  I don’t know if that’s final or not, but in any case, it too is bloody gorgeous, and is scheduled for release in September/October or so.  I’ve been hassling Yusuf about this record for ages now, and I think I may have finally bored him into submission.

Yusuf Azak – Eastern Sun

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The Savings and Loan album was due out around Christmas last year, and will now be out at Christmas this year.  I reckon early December, it’s that kind of album.  Anyhow, Andrew and Martin have been tinkering with their original EP and have now fleshed it out to a full album.

The Savings and Loan – Her Window

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As well as those three, we have Animal Magic Tricks in the studio*, recording an album with Neil Meursault, and Jesus H. Foxx working on their full length debut.  Until this stuff is actually finished I can’t really give you much more detail, but they are both going to be on Song, by Toad Records and I am really excited to hear both records.

Further to that – yes, there’s more – Rob St.John has written an album’s worth of new songs, and we are trying to find a good time to get him up to record with Neil in the Summer some time.  Whether he wants to release it with us, as a self-release, or with someone else I don’t think he’s decided just yet, but as far as I am concerned that album has to happen, so anything we can do to make sure it does will be done, irrespective of how he wants to release it.  Oh, and you can bet your arse that Meursault will come up with some stupid project or other before the end of the year, knowing them.  There are rumours of another collaboration in the offing, but that’s all still up in the air.

Jesus donkey-fucking Christ I am going to be fucking busy in the second half of the bloody year.  It hurts just to look at that bloody list.

* By ‘studio’ I really mean our living room.  It sounds better if I say studio though.

With vocals reminiscent of The Cave Singers, but with miles more emotional and textural variety and an odd mix of musical styles, this does sound familiar from the word go, only to prove a little bit more elusive when you start really trying to pin it down.

Initially I found myself thinking ‘Ooh, that’s a nice bit of the usual gothic folk noir stuff I frequently listen to’.  And it is.  But the instrumentation is a lot richer than that description would probably lead you to believe – more akin to the likes of Elvis Perkins than Timber Timbre.  There certainly are some of Perkins’ funeral jazz moments here and there, and only very occasionally I even find myself thinking of the likes of Rufus Wainright.

This album has a subtle knack of wrongfooting me as well – just as I expect it to get big, it doesn’t.  Then, just as I am settling into a lovely, mournful number there is a crash of cymbals and a burst of brass.  The mood shifts around a lot as well, from the foreboding to the reckless, meaning that despite being a little long (only forty-eight minutes though – hardly an epic) I never stop enjoying this record.

There are times when the vocal style can be a bit dramatic and up-and-down for my personal taste, but in general I like the silghtly over the top aspect to the arrangements actually.  It gives the album bombast and drama, and emphasises the other-worldly quality which infuses the whole thing.  If there are eccentric, sinister characters from old folk tales here, there is just a touch of flamboyance to them, which makes for an odd, compelling listen. Definitely recommended.

Run On Sentence – Lay Your Words Down

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Run On Sentence – Water

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Website | More mp3s | Buy from Hush Records

[This was supposed to be this week's Sunday Supplement, but because we're lazy (and hungover) bastards Mrs. Toad and I didn't get out of bed all day, not even to go downstairs and turn on the computer.  Nevertheless, it's rare that she bothers her arse to rattle out anything for this tawdry little rag so I thought I'd better publish it at some point - thank you darling!]

This week, we all have to decide to whom we would like to grant the stewardship of the country to for the next four years.  I use the word stewardship for a reason.  The definition : a person who manages another’s property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others sums up politicians’ role for me.  Basically, they work for us, a point that the laudable website theyworkforyou.com tries to make alongside making it pretty easy to contact your local MP.

However, despite all our fulminating, tutting and headshaking, very few of us contact our MPs on a regular basis to tell them what we want from them.  And fewer and fewer of us actually vote ,  Scotland is a particular laggard.  Despite the advent of leaders’ debates, the level of interest in this election seems pretty low given the extraordinary circumstances we find ourselves in. But whilst we may well end up with a different government, the reality of it is that whoever gets in will have to cut the budget (and services) drastically.  Your sole choice on election day this year is pretty much to select which proposed set of cuts you are happiest with, the source of misery that least affects you or those you care about.  Hardly a cause to chain yourself to the railings over.

None of the parties are being fantastically upfront about how they will achieve these cuts and all err on the optimistic side (the Tories proposal to cut $10bn of Westminster “waste” is particularly fatuous. As can be seen from this graphic that would constitute the entire budget of the Ministry of Justice.  One might expect a tad more detail on just where these cuts will fall). Read the rest of this entry »