http://songbytoad.com Exploiting vulnerable young musicians since 2004 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:28:01 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/07/toadcast-76-the-presscast/ Coming back from holidays is traditonally a bit more rough than I had realised.  Apparently post-holiday blues is a common phenomenon, but this is the first time I've really experienced it before.  I've been really fucking down this week for some reason - probably the hot weather outside and the ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/07/five-fine-funks-on-friday/ It's weird for me to be reviewing a record which is released on my own label, but inasmuch as it feels a little strange, it would in many ways be even stranger for me not to be reviewing Nothing Broke just because it's on Song, by Toad Records.  So, erm, ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/07/meursault-nothing-broke/ When I first started playing this album around the house Mrs. Toad's series of reactions were instructive.  'What the fuck is this discordant shite?' was the first.  By the third time around she was asking 'Who are these guys?'  Then where they were from.  Then she was looking them up ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/07/navigator-bad-children/ I've been wrong about My Latest Novel in the past, and consequently I am a little wary of pronouncing any sort of definitive judgment on this album, but there's only so long you can dodge a review, so I might as well inscribe my line in the sand here as ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/07/my-latest-novel-deaths-entrances/ It's funny, you really can hear so much of the Delgados in this.  Given that, after Emma Pollock's solo album last year, this is the product of the other half of that split, that's no surprise of course, but as a fan of the Delgados it is quite strange to ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/07/lord-cut-glass-lord-cut-glass/ As pretty much all of you know, Mrs. Toad and I have been away on holiday in Italy for the last couple of weeks.  In our absence Euan (from The Steinberg Principle, Trampoline and The Kays Lavelle) very kindly agreed to write Song, by Toad for me (and for you) ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/07/thanks-guys/ I've been humming and hawing about actually penning this review for some time and the reason is basically this: I thought the single Where My Fortune Lies was a stunning piece of work - beautiful artwork and, most importantly of course, a truly great song.  Midnight Folly, on the other ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/06/auld-lang-syne-midnight-folly/ Gobble Gobble come out of Edmonton in Canada, part of a small but apparently quite determined experimental music community down there under the Hydeaway umbrealla who seem to be doing some very good things.  I was sent a CD sampler by this group a while ago, and it was interesting ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/06/gobble-gobble-neon-graveyard/ So Matthew's plane crashed on the way back from Italy, after a rather nasty accident apparently involving a trainee pilot, gin and a difference of opinion on the work of Tom Waits. Only kidding, folks. Matthew's alive and well, but figured he'd be trawling through unread e-mails all day, so you ... http://songbytoad.com/2009/06/live-in-edinburgh-this-week-29th-june-2009/