HIYAAAAAAA!  I am a little bit wired this morning, can you tell?  After the onslaught of SXSW (which I will stop mentioning now, promise) I get back to the print press promo work for the King Post Kitsch album, a Josh T. Pearson session at Stereo in Glasgow this afternoon and the Husband, Miaoux Miaoux and Justin Grounds gig at Medina tomorrow.  You are all coming to that aren’t you?  ALL of you!

Oh, and the annual lifeboat collection day has been announced.  With a government seemingly intent on turning us into a third world nation (no social services, massive gap between rich and poor, what other conclusion can there be?) it feels more important than ever that we participate in things like this.  Voting seems to make no fucking difference whatsoever, so more day-to-day stuff looks like just about the only way you can really participate in democracy in this country at the moment.  Christ, I sound like a bitter old Socialist don’t I!

Anyway, on Saturday 30th April any and all volunteers should convene at our house in Stockbridge and we’ll send people out to shake a tin, while Mrs. Toad prepares a big old roast and then in the evening we can eat like pigs and get bladdered.  From experience, the most effective collectors have been anyone wielding a baby (Euan), pretty girls (better not name names here) and pushy bastards (thank you Mr. Sutherland), but we’ll pretty much take anyone, so please do let me know if you’d like to help.

So, as the sun shines on Edinburgh and I contemplate a cup of tea in the back garden, please remember that Friday is de-lurking day, and the perfect time to come out of the intershadows and say hello.  Fill in your five and then talk baws* with everyone else.  Productivity is most severely frowned upon around here, but most especially so on Friday.

1. Which festival are you most looking forward to this year?
2. Name a song for the first warm, sunny day of the year.
3. What do you tend to have with your cuppa?
4. How will you waste time, next time you have the opportunity?
5. How do you take your eggs?

This week’s five songs were all introduced to me by Campfires & Battlefields, with whom I ended up sharing far too few pints in Texas last week.

Bowerbirds – In Our Talons

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Musee Mechanique – Like Home

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Sam Amidon – Little Johnny Brown

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Bodies of Water – We Are Co-Existors

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Salt & Samovar – Swallowed a Pill

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*For non-Scots, baws = nuts, bollocks, rambutans, balls, testicles, etc etc etc.  As in ‘bawsack’ – excellent Scottish vulgarity!

This week marks the start of the Fresh Air broadcast, which is splendid news.  There will be a launch party in the Teviot on Tuesday evening, to which anyone fond of drinking, acting the arse and falling over is invited.  Ruth from the Bowery and myself will be doing a show every week on Wednesday between 7pm and 8.30pm, and are hoping to have a band live in session every week, if we can.  It’ll have to be pretty stripped down – anything which will translate well to really simple acoustic should do the trick – but I think we can make it pretty interesting.  It will be a lot quicker and dirtier than the Toad Sessions, which will be good, because I’ve been wanting to find a way to do something a bit less involved for a while.

The only significant problem I can see is that Ruth has a nasty habit of badly upstaging me.  She did it on my Fresh Air show last year and on the bloody podcast this year, and if she starts doing it on a regular basis this time around I don’t know if my fragile ego will be able to take it.  There may be tantrums, there may be bawling, and there may be a considerable number of toys a very long way from the pram in which they belong.

It’ll make for bloody good radio though!

So, apart from car crash broadcasting and gallons of cheap (state sponsored – woo hoo!) beer, what else is happening this week?  Well I’ll tell you.  Firstly, there’s a couple of gigs happening which I am not personally so keen on, but which might interest you: Miike Snow is playing Sick Note at Cabaret Voltaire, late but free on Thursday 29th, and Cold Cave are on the bill at Playdate at Sneaky’s on Saturday 31st.  Both are really rather trendy, so the cooler amongst you might be interested, but personally they aren’t really to my taste so there you go.  Mandex rating: tight to constrictive, particularly at Stinky’s.

Tuesday  27th October 2009: The Young Republic play in-store at Avalanche Records.

The Young Republic are touring their excellent (and shortly to be given the Toadly Treatment) new album Balletesque and although they were sadly unable to arrange an Edinburgh date, they are playing an in-store at Avalance at 5pm on Tuesday.  Their semi-orchestral, Western tinged indie folk pop has given way to a more dramatic, aggressive sound these days, albeit one which is a little more stripped down.  I definintely recommend this if the timing doesn’t make it tricky.

The Young Republic – Bows in Your Arms

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Friday 30th October 2009: Dry the River, eagleowl & the Bowerbirds at Sneaky Pete’s.

The Bowerbirds are a band I have a slightly up and down relationship with, since Campfires and Battlefields introduced me to them a couple of years ago.  They are certainly rather brilliant, at their best, but can be patchy in their recorded output, as far as I am concerned.  I’d still be interested to see them though, and eagleowl gigs are not to be missed in general.

Bowerbirds – In Our Talons

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Saturday 31st October 2009: Art Fag, The Leg & Our Ladies of Sorrow at Sneaky Pete’s.

Our Ladies of Sorrow play a Halloween Special every year, and I have never been, and there is absolutely no damn chance I am missing it this year.  They are basically an Edinburgh alt-folk supergroup (of sorts) and will dress up specially (but of course!) and soundtrack a compilation of horror movie clips.  I can only begin to imagine how weird that is going to be, but I am really looking forward to it, even if I do have to hop in a cab down to Leith the moment it’s over.

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

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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)

Pleasant folk-pop with some bouncy little tunes and plenty of smiles – gosh there seems to be a lot of this sort of thing around at the moment.  There’s plenty of Andrew Bird in the Bowerbirds, and that makes for a pleasantly-paced, enjoyable listen with just enough casual wistfulness to avoid the saccharine and the overly twee.

When people think of this album they, or I at least, tend to think of the catchy one: In Our Talons.  Fair enough; it is an incredibly infectious tune, with the potential to adorn many an intelligent movie about awkward but nevertheless gifted teenagers.  And in that sentence is, for me, the slight drawback of this album: it slots too comfortably and easily into a niche that is already pretty well inhabited and after the first half of the record, I just don’t hear that much to really differentiate it.

Ultimately I think I have to say that I am enjoying this.  It may not set the world on fire, but there are some genuine moments of sparkle that wink at you from a backdrop that is admittedly a little too familar a lot of the time.  Especially early on though, this album can be a real treat.

Bowerbirds – In Our Talons
Bowerbirds – Dark Horse

Website (buy the album direct from here) | More mp3s

Well I’m off for a bit over the next couple of days.  Once again the splendid Campfires & Battlefields has volunteered to hold the fort while I’m away.  I did think it would be a good idea to get other folk to guest post – regular commenters around here like DC (I assume you’ve not got even close to enough time for this), Bart, Euan, Dylan or folk like that, but ultimately I left it too late to have the time to set someone else up with the basics.  Next time, maybe.  It would be nice to see what other people made of things from this side of the software.

I have to confess I am desperate for the break.  Proper Job has been hectic recently, with new systems causing all sorts of problems and having to teach new employees some really very complicated software, all at the same time as an unrealistically tight deadline looms for a very important new client.  I wasn’t even involved in the project from the beginning either, just parachuted in at the end with enough ignorance to be clueless and enough responsibility for this to be something of an issue.  Oh what fun.

Then there’s the label.  And the launch party (next Saturday, so you’d better fucking be there).  And the floors in the house being sanded.  And the last Toad Session to sort.  And Mrs. Toad’s brother has been rather ill (as of half two this morning).  And on and on and on.  And we don’t even have fucking kids.

Sorry, this wasn’t supposed to be the Great Big Post of Interminable Self-Pity.  Just to say that I’m going away, I could do with a rest, and please be nice to C&B in my absence.  To those lurkers out there: when someone is doing us all a favour by keeping the Good Ship Toad pottering along in my absence, this would be a perfect and very gracious time to de-lurk and say hello and let us know what you think of the music he chooses.

Have fun y’all.  Play nicely while I’m away.

Ndidi Onukwulu – SK Final Don’t ask me why I like this, I just do.  Just steadily turning into a dried up old queen, I guess, but she’s worth checking out and I’ll probably review the album properly next week.
Bowerbirds – In Our Talons
Jon Sonnenberg – DOA