Song, by Toad

Hmm, one of the key points of the blogosphere is not that any one particular blog may or may not be good, or that individually one site might wield a lot of influence, it is that collectively blogs wield a lot of influence.  This is at its most effective when bloggers cooperate and interact, and I’ve been doing a fair bit of that recently, but committing the cardinal sin of collaborative blogging: failing to cross-link.

Apart from being really rather bad manners, it renders the whole scheme a little pointless if I go to all the effort of writing these posts and stuff like that and then fail to nudge you muppets in their general direction.  So here’s a general breakdown of the bits and pieces people kindly invited me to make a contribution to at the tail end of last year.

Slowcoustic Review of 2009 – Basically this is a review of the year where I get a little bit sidetracked and end up ranting about the irrelevance of the major labels and the rise of the DIY movement.

Sweeping the Nation UK Music Bloggers Poll – Simon has been a constant support not just for this blog for for the record label as well, and compiles  an annual UK bloggers’ best of the year list, and here is this year’s.

Saam from Faded Glamour has conducted a UK blogger’s album of the decade poll, and has posted the main countdown here, and then the individual top three lists by the participating bloggers are assembled here.

Finally, the Contrast Podcast’s Festive Fifty reaches its finale here, and Neil from Meursault and myself introduce William Henry Miller Pt.1.  Sadly, two songs from that Decemberists toss-fest made it on there, as well as one from The Allen Creature, but that’s the problem with democracy: none of us is as stupid as all of us.  Still – Withered Hand in the top three means there must be something fundamentally right with the list, so it must be forgiven its aberrations.

Hmm, some scrappy bits of news to add this week, and no better place to do it, so here it goes.  Firstly, some quick podcasty things, and then some new award stuff.

The Contrast Podcast have begun their Festive Fifty countdown, with this week’s episode announcing 34-50 in the list, and you may notice a couple of familiar names in there – namely, Aidan Moffat and Meursault.  Keep an eye on the forthcoming episodes as they count down to number one.  The Contrast Podcast is so called because it is assembled from intros and songs sent in by bloggers and podcasters from all over the place, so there is no one single presenter, although Tim deserves a massive debt of gratitude for herding this great big flock of digital cats.

I have been asked to introduce a song a little later in the countdown, so I can promise you that there will be plenty of Toad favourites featuring higher up this list.  It’s quite an honour actually, because the Contrast Podcast represents a pretty impressive cross-section of the internet-based music chatterati and given this is voted for (obviously) by contributors and listeners then you must be doing something very right to end up on it.

In other podcasty news, Jesus H. Foxx will be making an appearance on The Waiting Room this weekend.  DC recorded a session with them ages ago (although I still don’t think he beats my record for procrastination) and it will be broadcast on WOXY on Saturday at one in the afternoon UK time, I think, and then re-broadcast on Sunday at nine.

This was recorded during their tour earlier in the year and frankly I have no idea what to expect.  The Foxx were recently included in some torrent playlist thingy of new indie so it’s, er, nice to see them moving up in the world.  Next stop – Limewire!

And finally, the 2009 BAMS have been announced!  Hooray!  What’s that?  No fucking idea what I’m talking about?  Thought not.  Lloyd from Peenko decided to poll Scottish Bloggers and Music Sites (see, B.A.M.S., get it?) to see what our favourite album of the year was.  And the results are now in, and read as follows:

1. The Phantom Band – Checkmate Savage (61)
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion (54)
3. De Rosa – Prevention (53)
4. King Creosote – Flick the V’s (51)
5. Withered Hand – Good News (45)
6. The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead (43)
7. We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls (40)
8. Beerjacket – Animosity (38)
9. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (32)
9. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career (32)
11. My Latest Novel – Deaths and Entrances (28)
11. Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous (28)
13. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – s/t (25)
14. You Already Know – s/t (24)
14. Broken Records – Until the Earth Begins to Part (24)
16. The XX – s/t (23)
17. The Antlers – Hospice (21)
18. Sufjan Stevens – The BQE (19)
18. And So I Watch You From Afar (19)
20. Wilco – The Album (18)

Personally, not all that close to my own list, I must confess, but I really like the idea in general, particularly given the general lack of respect the Scottish music scene appears to be getting from the London glossies at the moment.

The Phantom Band had this to say about their triumph:

“This makes us feel very honoured because the opinion of people out there giving opinions is what matters most, rather than the financially influenced press.

It always amazes me that people would take it upon themselves to go out and champion a band or an album or a band for no material gain, but it gives me faith in human nature. Blogs and reviews have been the only advertising we’ve ever had. Apart from all those people who got online and promoted us, we’d like to thank those little almost-stale doughnuts you get in big tubs from Sainsburys for keeping us fat during the recording.

We obviously also have our Producer Paul Savage and the wonderful people at Chemikal Underground to thank for letting us do what we want. These guys are the quiet heroes of Scottish music for sure.”

And everyone who voted can be found here:

17 Seconds, AyeTunes, Dear Scotland, Earz Mag, Elba Sessions, Glasgow Podcart, Hooligans Lament, Jim Gellatly, JocknRoll, Jockrock, Kowalskiy, Last Years Girl, Love Shack Baby (wait, what?) Manic Pop Thrills, My Portiswasp Says, Off the Beaten Tracks, The Pop Cop, Products of a Gaseous Brain, Song By Toad, The Blues Bunny, The Daily Growl, The Spill, The Steinberg Principle, The Vinyl Villain and Under the Radar.

Yes indeed, I don’t care about your actual opinions, all I want you to do is vote for my friends, thank you very much.

It is time for the Contrast Podcast’s annual Festive Fifty vote, and you have until the end of Monday to get your votes in, and there are a couple of local gentlemen who you might want to assist in scoring as highly as possible: Withered Hand and Meursault, both of whom are nominated more than once.

Music bloggers from around the world have nominated songs, from which Tim has created a shortlist, which I am including below the jump because it’s rather long.  All you have to do is read the list, pick your top ten in order and email them to Tim before the end of tomorrow, Monday 23rd December at: contrast.podcast *at* gmail.com

In case you don’t know any of the songs in question, Tim’s also put together a handy player so you can have a listen, which can be found here.  Read the rest of the post for the full list of songs, and please do vote. Read the rest of this entry »

I know, it’s a shocking thought, isn’t it – the idea of me spouting tedious garbage on the World Wide Superhighways in the faint expectation that anyone might take the time to listen.  Anyhow, recently I have been involved in two such enterprises, both eminently listenable, but for entirely different reasons.

Firstly, I made my debut appearance on Hype Machine Radio this month, talking about Julian Plenti.  Given that Hype Radio is supposed to be at least loosely related to their charts I think the chances of my making regular appearances on this thing are pretty slim, although I’d love the chance to go on and slag off The XX, who are fucking dismal, but I’m not sure that faux-hipster sneering is quite what they intend to be about so that chance probably won’t come my way.

Anyhow, the episode I am on is September 2009, which is currently at the top of this page, here.  My friend Dev who runs Hype Radio and comments here from time to time was drinking whisky the other night and was not impressed with his tipple.  He emailed me this plea for help:

I am currently sipping a single malt from Islay, the maker is Bowmore (clearly a mass producer posing as a small producer) and it kinda sucks.  Wine is really my thing these days (or, you know, beer, or margarita, or gin & tonic, of course, depending on the occasion) but I have been every so slowly endeavo(u)ring to develop my Scotch palette over the years… and this stuff sucks.  You have any favorites?

My personal favourite is Laphroaig, but I am so new to whisky that I’m in no position to offer advice or suggestions at all, so I thought I might throw this one open to the readers.  And Dev is a nice guy, so don’t offering the poor man cleaning products just for fun.  Suggestions in the comments, please.

And secondly, do you all listen to the Contrast Podcast?  Well if you don’t, you should.  Every week for the last 180-plus weeks Tim has put together a podcast assembled from songs and intros emailed in from music people around the world, all centred on an ever-changing theme.

I chipped in two weeks ago on the topic of darts, not because I know any songs about darts, but because I know one which mentions them somewhat tangentially and also contains the stupendous line ‘Is your child hyperactive, or is he perhaps a twat?’ which is, in its supremely brilliant delivery as much as its rather brutally hilarious content, one of the funniest things I have ever heard in a song anywhere, ever.

Half Man Half Biscuit – Surging Out of Convalescence

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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Rye Whisky (I know, I know, he doesn’t want a rye, but I like this song so fuck off.)

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…and don’t spare the horses.

Yes, we are back. What an enormous relief, I hear you all cry. How did you ever get by without me. Well before I get back to my usual crisp, clear and perfectly formed blog posting* I have some bits and bobs to round up, so this will be a bit of an all-over-the-place post.

Christmas lists:
Yeah, I’ll probably be making at least one. Top 20 albums perhaps, but not much more than that because I just can’t quite be arsed. A lot of people are making Festive 50 lists in honour of the great John Peel, but I am not sure I could face it. The avalanche of new songs in 2007 reduced to fifty? I doubt I could whittle them down, but I may yet have a go.

The Contrast Podcast is doing one, and listeners and participants are invited to take part. It’s a great project, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about then bugger off and have a listen. Just email Tim your top five songs of the year, in order, by November 27th and you’ll be counted. The whole lot will come out as a series of podcasts over the Christmas period, which sounds rather jolly. Details on participating can be found at the bottom of this post.

Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Leftovers

The Waiting Room will also be doing a big old Christmas Special, with special listener requests. It doesn’t have to be at all related to Christmas, so if there’s something in particular you’d like to hear then leave a comment on the site or email DC direct and let him know. My vote was for No Christmas in Kentucky by Phil Ochs which, if you know it, is a relentlessly depressing song about poor people not being able to afford the sort of stuff everyone else takes for granted at Christmas time, and just how bleak Christmas must be if you are living in poverty and abandoned by your nation. I couldn’t find an mp3 though, so the festive spirit has been given a temporary reprieve.

Decoration – Only a Plague Can Stop Us Now

Other Shit:
Mike at Manic Pop Thrills reckons we should try and engineer a Christmas #1 for Malcolm Middleton in the UK charts. Given that the song in question is entitled We Are All Going to Die, I think you’ll agree that there could be no better choice. Given that the likely winner is some ratty old transvestite from The X-Factor, I think we owe it to ourselves as a community to get Malky in there if at all possible. Help save Christmas for the misanthropes! ‘We’re All Going To Die’ gets a digital only release on 17^th December and I’m not sure where to buy it just now, so I’ll try and remind you all closer to the time.

Blogfresh Radio has been scraping the bottom of the barrel once more and invited me to talk about Found, one of last week’s reviews. Click here for the appropriate episode.

The Sequins – Treehouses

The Daily Growl – or Tim, as he’s known to his mates – took me on a pilgrimage to the new Rough Trade record shop when I was down in London, where I spent almost a hundred quid on vinyl. What a moron. And before you ask, no I can’t afford it – not anything like. Still, I have accumulated enough singles recently that record companies have sent me as promos that I figured I might as well give in and buy a record player. Some fifteen years after they became obsolete. Genius.

Phil Ochs – Talking Cuban Crisis
*Anyone sniggering at this is barred.