Song, by Toad

Toadcast #62 – The Pictish Trail Toad Session

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.

Toadcast #55 – Samamidon Toad Session

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

And the downloadable, shareable, huggable mp3s from the session:

Samamidon – 1842 (Toad Session)

Samamidon – Pretty Fair Damsel (Toad Session)

Samamidon – Fiddle Mayhem (Toad Session)

And the videos:

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)

Toadcast #46 – Sparrow & the Workshop Toad Session

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 sit Blueback Hotrod, 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)

First we have the overall video, and then a couple of videos for individual songs:

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 – Into the Valley (48.51)
11. Sparrow & the Workshop – My Crime (Toad Session) (58.25)

Toadcast #35 – Meursault Toad Session

It’s been a while since the last Toad Session, but this one is a bit good and thoroughly worth waiting for. Meursault’s debut album is one of my favourite of the year, and their acoustic set is easily as good. This is the first session to be held in our house too, which brought its own challenges and then some. Mrs. Toad’s preposterous cat makes an appearance at one point, and the videos look very, very, erm… green? Blue? Whatever fucking stupid colour it is we’ve painted our living room.

Anyway, the recordings have come out really nicely, and I think the videos are good too. I’ve posted a few here, but the whole lot can be found on the Song, by Toad YouTube page. The photos turned out rather well too, so go to the Flickr page for the ones we liked. And, without further ado, here is the Meursault Toad Session podcast (the track listing is at the bottom of the page):

Toadcast #35 – Meursault Toad Session

Here are the individual songs:

Meursault – The Furnace (Toad Session)

Meursault – Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues (Toad Session)

Meursault – The Dirt & the Roots (Toad Session)

Meursault – Nothing Broke (Toad Session)

And here are the videos, first the overall video and then the ones for the individual songs:

Meursault Toad Session

Toadcast #35 – Meursault Toad Session Playlist:
01. Meursault – The Furnace (Toad Session) (06.14)
02. Meursault – A Few Kind Words (09.33)
03. Eef Barzelay – Ballad of Bitter Honey (14.54)
04. Withered Hand – Religious Songs (18.22)
05. Meursault – Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues (Toad Session) (30.11)
06. The Postal Service – Nothing Better (34.29)
07. Meursault – The Dirt & the Roots (Toad Session) (37.52)
08. Tenniscoats – Baibaba Bimba (40.40)
09. The Cave Singers – Seeds of Night (47.11)
10. Samamidon – Wild Bill Jones (55.41)
11. Casiotone For the Painfully Alone – Young Shields (60.56)
12. Meursault – Nothing Broke (Toad Session) (68.49)

Toadcast #30 – Alela Diane & Mariee Sioux Toad Session

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.

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!

At Last, the Final Broken Records Videos

Well finally, finally we’ve found the time to finish these. This is the Broken Records interview from the session I recorded with them a few weeks back. It’s taken ages to get these finished, partly because we’re lacking a little for good footage, partly because getting everything into the right format has taken ages (both down to our lack of experience actually making movies, inevitably) and also because, erm, well we have lives too, so fuck you.

If any of you listened to the podcast, then you’ll be familiar with a lot of this – it’s basically chunks of the interview interspersed with some clips of the session tracks. YouTube only allow ten minutes per video these days, so it had to be broken into two bits, with two songs in each.

Part 1:

Part 2 – This one is a bit thin in terms of footage, but we’re learning and will put that right in future:

And just in case, here are the session tracks in mp3 format.

Broken Records – If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It (Toad Session

Broken Records – And They All Fell Into the Sea

Broken Records – Wolves

Broken Records – Out On the Water

Toadcast #26 – Broken Records Toad Session

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 (07.27)
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 (39.07)
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.