It’s Christmas Day, we have had our breakfast of smoked salmon and poached eggs, and I decided I might as well settle down with a bottle of fizz and talk shite on the internet. Â Given we opened all our presents and had a big meal when my parents were visiting last week, I figured I was obliged to do no more than get pissed and slowly waste away the day today, stopping only to gorge myself on roast lamb at some indeterminate point in the evening – whenever Mrs. Toad gets over last night’s hangover I suppose.
I am lining up my stupid movies for tonight, as well, because that is all I intend doing this evening: watching intellectually vacant films whilst lolling about on the couch like a beached whale. Â This, as far as I am concerned, is the True Meaning of Christmas (TM).
01. Stephen Malkmus – Baby C’mon (00.16)
02. Sylvain Chomet – L’Illusioniste (05.02)
03. Bloody Cassette Boy – Nigella’s XXXmas (12.03)
04. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Cold White Christmas (13.50)
05. Kung Nai vs. Cambodian Space Project – Women (22.16)
06. King Koyote – La La La (27.33)
07. LY and SO – One Day This’ll All be Fields (33.55)
08. Tommy Perman – Drive My Car (36.19)
09. Stoney & Meat Loaf – Jessica White (42.30)
10. The Wind-up Birds – In a Yorkshire Call Centre I Knelt Down and Wept (49.19)
11. The Mountain Goats – Tyler Lambert’s Grave (54.35)
Cotes du Rhone is our default red wine of choice in this house, and after yesterday’s birthday celebrations being cut rather short due to my feeling shitty, we are having a quiet evening in with a couple of bottles of red wine, a bacony, beany stew and we are going to light the fire for the first time this Winter as well.
There is nothing remotely related to that on this podcast of course, but then these titles have become increasingly unrelated to the actual podcasts themselves recently so I doubt that’ll surprise anyone.
In fact, given I’ve been talking about how when the weather gets cold I tend to listen to less new music and less raucous music, the lo-fi, rackety nature of this playlist is probably a total self-contradiction, but then, this is the fucking internet, what do you really expect?
01. Cerebral Ballzy – Insufficient Fare (00.12)
02. Male Bonding – Crooked Scene (05.53)
03. White Wishes – Hold Your Hand (13.36)
04. Johnny Reb – Nine on the Line (21.11)
05. The Dead Kennedys – Kill the Poor (25.03)
06. The Louche FC – Back Bedroom Casualty (32.14)
07. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Destroy the Evidence (38.49)
08. Carnivores – Dressed for the Rain (42.26)
09. Waylon Thornton & the Heavy Hands – Sixteen Dreams (48.17)
10. Heavy Hawaii – Teen Angel (56.36)
Before seeing the band perform for the last time ever at Sneaky Pete’s last week, I had the chance to sit down for a chat with Owen Ashworth from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. This is his last tour as Casiotone, but this is not for the purposes of retiring from music, more so that he can put to bed a project which has dominated the last thirteen years of his life and start work on new projects with relative freedom.
It was interesting listening to him talk about it, because for all he repeated the reasons he’s given about not being the same person anymore, and it feeling a little false to sing songs in his thirties which were written when he was in his twenties and in a completely different place emotionally, it seemed that the actual constrictions and demands generated by the success of the band played an equally important role in his deciding it was time to move on to new projects.
Have a watch of the video above for edited highlights from the interview, and below we have a couple of live videos from the performance. I’d forgotten, I have to confess, just how much I love the Casiotone material, until I heard about this tour and went back to listen to it all over again. It really is incredibly intimate and organic for music made entirely on machines, and I ended up buying three of his records on 12″ before end of the show. When the live element is being retired, all we’ll be left with will be the artifacts.
Whee, back on the radio. And for some reason tonight’s playlist is going to consist of lots of pretty well-established artists. There is no reason for this at all, it just worked out that way when I was selecting the playlist.
Nevertheless, I find myself focussing so much on new music that the old stuff kinda gets neglected these days. I have actually stopped listening to my digital music collection for pleasure, and now only listen to vinyl when I am actually listening for the pure enjoyment of it. This isn’t an ideological stance against digital music, more a logistical one. The drive with all my music on is now upstairs, and I haven’t been arsed to set up a link to the stereo yet.
As per usual I will update the playlist live below as I go along, so feel free to chip in with any suggestions and comments and assorted smart-arsed remarks you might have.
1. Sleepy Horses – Lubbock Love Song
2. Paul Simon – Graceland
3. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Optimist vs the Silent Alarm
4. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Graceland
5. Paul Simon – Adios Hermanos
6. The Scottish Enlightenment – Necromancer
7. Jesus H. Foxx – Elegy for the Good Times
8. Droney Mitchell – An Empty House (Droney may actually be Rob St. John. Just perhaps.)
9. The Savings and Loan – Pale Water
10. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow
11. White Antelope – Silver Dagger
12. Saint Etienne – Like a Motorway
13. The Maladies of Bellfontaine – Black Biro
After a weekend of alcoholic liver-punching with the awful cunts from Gerry Loves Records I find myself back in Edinburgh with Mrs. Toad off in Australia and nothing between me and an entire week spent on the internet in my pants with a jar of pickled onions and a jumbo packet of pork scratchings.
In fact, that sounds like a pretty good plan, all told. Balls to dignity, self-respect and hygiene.
If ever a band’s music were better described in their band name than anything any reviewer could write it is Casiotone. And if you don’t come along on Wednesday you will never see them again, ever.
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This gig was very nearly a casualty of the collapse of the Settlement, but quickly found a home at the Caves, fortunately. My Tiny Robots played smart acoustic pop songs the last time I saw them. That was some time ago though, and I am looking forward to giving their new EP (for which this is the launch night) a good listen this week.
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The Scottish Enlightenment aren’t far from being my new band of the year, I think. And I’ve only seen them once, which is a bit stupid. St. Thomas is a fantastic piece of melancholy guitar music, and one which always seems to retain a sense of optimism and belief, and I am really looking forward to this gig.
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Over the Wall also have a new album on the way, although far from the brooding of the Scottish Enlightenment, I imagine theirs will be just a little bit more bouncy and cheerful. How to Swim may not approach their music with the same instruments, but that sense of manic exuberance is very much still there – perfect for wishing the Limbo lads happy third birthday.
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Before the mentalism kicks in, some nice things. Firstly Los Podcartos have been extremely Toad-friendly this week, with two very generous pieces on what we’re getting up to at this end of the M8. On Thursday they published an interview with my good self in which, as ever, I talk rather too much. Fortunately, liberated from my own waterfall-tongued contributions, they were able to be just a little more disciplined in their podcast this weekend, during which they are incredibly nice about Toad things and plug the Wednesday Toad Night at Mono for all they’re worth.
Personally, I hugely appreciate that, because I am not very Glasgowy these days and am not entirely sure how full Mono is going to be on Wednesday, so if you are a Glasgow-based Toad person reading this then please feel free to spread the word and get as many of your mates there as you can – tickets here if you want ‘em.
On the subject of Glasgow, we have a special treat to start this Friday Fives, namely Adam Stafford and Emily Scott covering the Twilight Sad’s Walking for Two Hours. Apparently Adam has finished an album of covers and was just a little too excited by this one to keep it under wraps.
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Right, the mentalism. Well, Loch Lomond get here on Sunday and they have what can only be termed a hectic schedule ahead of them: Fresh Air Session on Monday, The Slaughtered Lamb in London on Tuesday, Mono in Glasgow on Wednesday, The Tunnels in Aberdeen on Thursday, The Barrels in Berwick on Friday, The Queen Charlotte Rooms in Leith on Saturday, The Black Heart in Camden on Sunday and then a Toad Session and an Off the Beaten Tracks Session on Monday. Well, it’s their own bloody fault – they kept wanting more gigs and now they’ve got ‘em!
I’m on holiday and will be driving the bastards though, so I’ll be fucking destroyed by the time we get through all that lot. The Monday Toad Session will be hilarious “So erm… oh, whatever, just play some songs”.
Next week will start with a bit of famousyness too, with LCD Soundsytem and Band of Horses reviews pencilled in for early in the week. I haven’t really been paying much attention to major label releases recently, but as I said to the nice lady from Island Records recently: “They’ve no idea what they’re doing, the music they release is fucking shit, and they want total control of absolutely everything, so fuck them.” I didn’t realise she was from Island at the time, of course.
So, at last we come to the de-lurking part of the week, where you the people get to take back the conversation on this site from the same old muppets who spend their week bickering on here like a bunch of teenage girls. Except me. It’s all good sense when I’m doing it of course – I just meant everyone else.
1. The last time you spectacularly put your foot in it.
2. Favourite dessert.
3. Favourite desert.
4. Person you have actually met with a name to kill your parents for.
5. Your shoe size, as measured by any units you please.
Only four songs now, because you’ve already had one:
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11. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – vs. Children
Owen Ashworth has a sort of shambolic charisma to him which translates pretty neatly to his music. Â It’s unhurried, thoughtful and has the air of a good friend, right from the first moment you hear it. Â This may be a fuller sound than his older fans are used to, but I think the extra instrumentation is used very carefully, and never smothers his songwriting.
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12. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
This record suffers from a bit of earnestness and the distinct whiff of adjectives like ‘soaring’, but nevertheless there are so many great songs, so much much energy and such euphorically infectious tunes that you just can’t help but love this album. Â It is folky, but if anything there’s more of a gospel-style, rousing feel to this record than anything I would call folk.
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13. Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
Childish Prodigy is a rough, loose album which I pretty much liked right from the start. Â It swings from rough garage rock to plucked acoustic music, always full of grumble and distortion though. Â For an album with little extra instrumentation, this is still really varied both of pace and mood, and manages to keep shifting all the way through the record.
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14. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part
This album received some of the most scathing 3/5 reviews I’ve ever read, but I still think it’s fucking great. Â The old songs like A Good Reason and Eilert Loevborg are raucous as fuck and some of the newer material gives us hints of new directions for the next album. Â Maybe the production wasn’t all that sympathetic and maybe the album could have done with some quiter moments to offset the louder ones, but that doesn’t matter because Jamie has a great voice, and this record just thunders along at pace from start to finish and that’s how I enjoy it best.
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15. The Van Allen Belt – Meal Ticket to Purgatory
Erm, well, this is just a bit weird. Â It stops and starts, leaps all over the place and is generally just a weird and wonderful box of treats. Â It’s been a really good year for Indiecater Records, but this is probably my favourite of the lot.
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36.Wild Beasts – All The King’s Men
The vocals are weird, but there’s something about a large chunk of this record which I find absolutely compelling. I love Ben’s voice, for starters, and this song probably highlights it better than any other.
37.Virgin of the Birds – Ilona, You Should Still Be My Vampire Attendant
Quite apart from the weird start, this is just a song based around a single, simple, brilliant hook. So infectious I simply can’t stop humming it to myself. And he’s playing a gig at our house on New Year’s Eve, if you fancy seeing him live.
38.Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt.2 (EP Version)
Meursault releasing their singles so late in the year has really fucked with my lists. I love Nothing Broke, and both of the Williams Henry Miller on it, but the single version just blows this clean out of the water and the poor little acoustic version has ended up exiled to No.38. It’s non-lyrical vocal bits which make this – the sort of deflated sigh of dismal unhappiness in between verses – just brilliant.
39.Withered Hand – Providence
Erm, nothing to say about this actually. It’s just ace. Dan’s slightly peculiar lyrics, the borderline-Hawley guitar strums, the vocal harmonies… who knows what makes this song so good. Like all his music though, it just makes you like the guy.
40.Timber Timbre – Magic Arrow
Spooky and weird. That kind of describes the whole album, but the repeating bassline and the insistent rhythm give this one a sort of sinister purpose of its own. One of the discoveries of the year, as far as my ears are concerned.
41.Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard – To be Ojectified
There are a lot of songs about ageing and mortality on Em Are I, but this is one of the saddest and most resigned. It’s like a cross between a stream of consciousness and the gradual deflation of an airbed, and ends up being both maudlin and comforting. Which is to say that the lyrics are a bit on the horrible side, but the delivery is sympathetic and warm.
42.Broken Records – Wolves
Broken Records (and many of my other friends, like Sparrow & the Workshop and Withered Hand) suffer a bit in this year’s Festive Fifty because many of my favourite songs on their album, like A Good Reason, were actually featured in demo version on previous year’s lists. This song, however, did not, and is one of the highlights of their album for me. By the time everything gets going it’s just a fury of a song, and cannot fail to remind of how brilliant these guys are on stage.
43.Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Tom Justice, The Choir Boy Robber
It’s an odd subject, and the story is almost as compelling as the music itself. There was a bit more full band stuff on vs. Children, and I’ve heard older fans complain about this, but the drum beat and the repeated, yet unintrusive chime of the piano in the background of this song are both lovely.
44.Alela Diane – White as Diamonds
This is fucking stunning and would have been in the top five had it not been for those goddamned bastard cymbals, which time has done nothing to soften. The acoustic Daytrotter version of this song is one of the loveliest things I’ve ever heard.
45.Broken Records – Out On the Water
Hmm.. am I allowed to include this, given it was out last year? Fuck it, I love it when a band whose live set is mental and reckless suddenly slow it down and play something surprisingly gentle. Here this is performed live at the Bedlam Theatre early last year – bloody great:
46.Wild Beasts – Hooting And Howling
A bit like other songs of theirs on this list, I don’t know whether I love the vocals, the laid back but nevertheless quite danceable beat or that really nice guitar sound they have. Cracking album.
47.The Leisure Society – The Last of the Melting Snow
The Leisure Society made a bit of a rod for their own backs with this song. By virtue of its Ivor Novello Award nomination it shot a tiny band on a tiny label right into the limelight, and infortunately the rest of their material just didn’t cut the mustard. The album was just plain weak, and I found myself forgetting about this song because of it, which is criminal because it is absolutely brilliant. There is a reason it got them so much attention.
48.Jesus H. Foxx – I’m Half the Man You Were
For a band with two drummers and four guitarists to make such nuanced and subtle music is downright weird. This is probably ‘the pop song’ from their fantastic Matter EP, and that head-nodding rhythm and the gorgeous vocal lead out make this one of my favourite songs of the year.
49.Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers – Beating St Louis
Shilpa Ray’s voice plus accordian. Job done. Honestly, for someone with pipes like these to be accompanied by the macabre accordian moaning which dominates this song is simply a cast-iron recipe for Toad-pleasing.
50.The Smiles and Frowns – Mechanical Songs
Another song which sound like it would be drifting around the abandoned site of a funfair which had gone horribly wrong, this song is from the band’s excellent debut, and also available on eminently desirable white vinyl 7″. Buy one, and make your friends slightly nervous by playing it all the time.
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I confidently sat down to write my Friday Fives this week and to introduce the Candy Claws‘ virtual tour video only to realise that I have managed to fuck things up. I am a week late. For some reason I had it absolutely fixed in my head that it was supposed to be this Friday, so all I can do is apologise profusely to the band and to Kev from Indiecater Records and hope that playing it this week will serve the purpose at least reasonably well. Honestly lads, for some reason I was convinced it was supposed to be this week, I’m really sorry.
Your job, as readers, is to may up for my idiocy by taking extra time out of your day to listen to Candy Claws’ music and hence try and make my apologies for me. And buy the album too, while you’re at it – the whole thing can be previewed here and it really is very good.
In other news did anyone see pictures of the Queen getting on a train this morning? Christ she looks like a fucking bag lady. I alternate between tolerance of and annoyance with the royal family. They can be hugely entertaining, and of course they bring money into the country, but we pay for the cunts and frankly I think it’s time we started demanding a little more for our money.
Shortage of teachers or nurses? Send in a minor royal for a few months to cover. Traffic lights out in London town, get Phil the Greek to pop round and do the hand signals thing for a while. Let’s face it, apart from buggering the servant and beating up foreigners he’s not going to be doing anything else with his time.
We could even save the NHS money by insisting that Charles follow his own guidance on alternative medicine. Deny the stupid old fucker actual medical care and see if his sugar pills and anticlockwise kidney massages cure him of fucking cancer. No? Good, now we can stop wasting money on them and he’ll be dead so we won’t have to keep repairing him in his dotage like we did the Queen Mum. Actually, with her belligerence and monumental gin habit, she and Phil the Insulter are the only two I have any real affection for.
So, this is the last Friday Five before Christmas. I promise to put one up on Boxing Day too, just for those of us who will need the internet to escape the gluttony. Honestly, how many sherries with boring Uncle Brian can you really handle anyway – you know you’ll need your Five Fix!
1. What use could the Royals be best put to?
2. Favourite Royal (from any nation, past or present).
3. How much of your Christmas shopping remains to be done.
4. At what point does the self-loathing of gluttony kick in for you around Christmas time.
5. Fuck it, link to a silly picture on the internet just for shits and giggles (just paste the URL into your comment – WordPress will do the rest).
Here is my one and only concession to the world of Christmas. I tend to avoid Christmas songs, except for Phil Ochs (miserable) and Tom Lehrer (caustic) but for the last Friday Five before the day itself I thought fuck it, why not. So happy fucking Christmas you fuckers, that’s all you’re getting.
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Well, we are nearing the end of our time in Puglia. We’re spending a couple of days in or near Napoli before we fly back on Sunday, presumably troughing like total pigs, rather than paying all that much attention to culture and all that bobbins.
Mrs. Toad is doing Sudoku and complaining about the ‘wrong sort of paper’. I kid you not, it’s just like British fucking Rail and their ‘wrong type of snow’, but she insists it’s just for that reason that she can’t solve them, not because they’re too hard. Personally I find myself wondering if ‘evil’ is used to describe the comments one’s spouse will inevitably make when you fail to complete it, rather than the actual difficulty of the Sudoku puzzle itself.
So yes, we have done the lazing about and there are now a few days of actually doing shit in between us and a return to the damp splendour of the British Isles. I suppose this is what you’re supposed to do on holiday – pay attention to the country you’re in and return, eventually – but honestly, another week of doing bollocks-all wouldn’t hurt anyone would it?
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01. Snow Patrol – An Olive Grove Facing the Sea (04.14)
02. Beck – The Golden Age (12.33)
03. Belle & Sebastian – Simple Things (19.32)
04. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Tom Justice, the Choirboy Robber (21.00)
05. Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues (29.10)
06. Navigator – Work is Done (NOT Change, as we announced, sorry!) (34.44)
07. Lord Cut Glass – Holy Fuck! (40.19)
08. Son Volt – Sultana (46.46)
09. Smog – Drinking at the Dam (56.30)
10. Alela Diane – Age Old Blue (60.17)
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It’s Christmas Day, we have had our breakfast of smoked salmon and poached eggs, and I decided I might as well settle down with a bottle of fizz and talk shite on the internet. Â Given we opened all our presents and had a big meal when my parents were visiting last week, I figured I was obliged to do no more than get pissed and slowly waste away the day today, stopping only to gorge myself on roast lamb at some indeterminate point in the evening – whenever Mrs. Toad gets over last night’s hangover I suppose.
