This is called the Tapecast because last night, for the first time in about ten years, I made a mixtape.  Because of the van having a tape player there is actually a point to making these bloody things now, so we got hammered and listened to records all night (again), only this time I recorded them all onto a C-90!

There is something so stupidly fascinating about making tapes in the first place, but there is certainly something surreal in resurrecting what genuinely was dead technology.  It is far from easy to actually buy blank tapes these days.  I ended up recording over a shite old one I had to hand, and there is only a limited supply of ones hanging around which I would be happy to tape over.

It was bloody fun though, so I think it might well happen again!

Oh, and as I am now hosting these podcasts on Mixcloud as well, I have a new streaming widget thingy.  Mixcloud are PRS registered, which means the artists get money when you listen using their doo-dah, which is something we should all think about.  I am not convinced about doubling up the post images so I may have to give a bit more consideration to how to integrate it into the page, but there it is anyway for the time being.

Toadcast #133 – The Tapecast by Song By Toad on Mixcloud

Direct download: Toadcast #133 – The Tapecast

01. The Humms – Blood Sucking Vampire (02.30)
02. We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves – Put Your Blue Dress On (11.19)
03. Ezequiel Ezequiel – Dear Permafrost (15.03)
04. Small Town Boredom – Apologies for Apathy (22.32)
05. Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights (30.59)
06. The Dodos – Walking (35.59)
07. Trips and Falls – I Learned Sunday Morning, on a Wednesday (41.57)
08. Br’er – Whitewash (48.41)
09. Efren – Stay High (53.22)
10. Donny Hue & the Colors – Wild Again (59.22)

11. The Cave Singers – Invitation Songs

Screeched vocals, and stomping, percussive guitar playing give this a kind of noirish, raucously foreboding atmosphere.  It’s simultaneously raging and simmering, with an old-fashioned murder balled style, and absolutely brilliant.
The Cave Singers – New Monuments

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12. Gerry Mitchell & Little Sparta – The Ragged Garden

Sounding a lot like the Dirty Three, Little Sparta give a tortured backdrop to the spoken word ramblings of Gerry Mitchell.  It’s part poetry, part interior monologue, dark and obsessively introspective, almost exactly what you might expect at 5am from a drunken Glaswegian who was most of the way through a bottle of whisky and somewhat given to self-pity.  It is a spectacularly good album, but not for those prone to complaining about music that is slightly morose.
Gerry Mitchell & Little Sparta – Widow Dressing

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13. Micah P. Hinson – Micah P. Hinson & the Red Empire Orchestra

It doesn’t have the same feral howl of rage that much of Hinson’s earlier work has spilling from it, but the beauty and intimacy are still there.  If he keeps this up, Micah Paul Hinson will become one of the greats.
Micah P. Hinson – Tell Me it Ain’t So

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14. The Dodos – Visiter

Having talked about the percussive guitar on The Cave Singers’ album, I find myself scrabbling around for something else to describe this record.  It’s not Gothic folky Americana, but the guitar is used like a drum kit, and the constant use of the drumsticks on one another gives this record an irresistible pace.
The Dodos – Ashley

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15. Aidan John Moffat – I Can Hear Your Heart

I’ve swung back and forth on this one a little.  After my initial review Beth pointed out in the comments that it is actually an extremely self-indulgent record.  She’s right, but the emotional impact of half of the songs on this record is so far ahead of pretty much anything else you’ll hear that you just can’t tear yourself away from it.
Aidan John Moffat – Good Morning

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Part 1: 1-10
Part 2: 11-23
Part 3: 24-36
Part 4: 37-50

The next installment of late year list-o-rama brings us up to date with the first half of the Toad Festive Fifty. Slightly more, in fact, because I’m gearing up for a top ten, so I’ve cheated slightly on numbers here are there. For those of you who want to make your own lists, see this post for the rules, and get stuck in. The more who take part the better.

One of the things that struck me with this part of the list is the inclusion of a song from the Broken Records Toad Session. Basically, Broken Records would be all over this list, apart from the fact that they were all over last year’s list, as submitted to the Contrast Podcast, and all the songs they released this year are songs I knew from last year. So instead of where they belong, on this year’s list, they are on last year’s list. Later on there are also songs by bands which were released last year, I’m pretty sure, it’s just that I only discovered them this year.

So as well as not being in rigid Order of Toadly Merit they aren’t even in accurate chronological order either. Ah well. You’ll live. Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s anything this album reminds me of it’s probably Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s moment of genius: Howl. Whilst there are forays into The Magnetic Fields and even Sufjan Stevens territory – both, oddly enough, on Winter – the bulk of this album is gripped by the kind of furious acoustic blues that made Howl so brilliant.

As a record it is definitely more varied, however, more in emotional trajectory than anything else. The clatter and rage are still present and intact, and the sound of a slide guitar being tortured to within an inch of its existence rides this album like a veteran horseman.

Whenever I read about the Dodos I hear about the virtuoso musicianship of main man Meric Long, but this duo are an equal split. Logan Kroeber’s relentless assault on his poor drum kit is as crucial as the finger-punishing work of Meric. The rhythm is fearsome and feral – not just a rock rhythm, more a demonic possession. In fact, more than melody, it is really rhythm that this music is most about. Even the slower, lovelier songs have a non-stop, clackety-clack beat to ride along with.

Ultimately it may not all be successful, but this album contains some of the most remarkable moments I’ve heard in quite a while. It’s almost a physical experience listening to it, it’s got such momentum. You may not love every last second, but you should well love most of it and Visiter is very, very much recommended.

The Dodos – Jody
The Dodos – Fools

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I am literally falling over myself for new music at the moment. There’s barely even been any time for my incoherent, ill-informed rambling insightful social commentary this last week – it’s all been about cranking out the new posts about new things and getting newly overwhelmed by all the God-damned NEWNESS! And it ain’t going to stop there either, because there’s more. Today I present The Dodos.

Recently signed to French Kiss Records, home to all sort of cool bands like The Hold Steady (whom I love) and Les Savy Fay (whom I really do not) they should be approaching albumhood shortly and I am really rather looking forward to it.  The debut single Fools has been offered up for download and is truly excellent in that wonderfully warm way that strummy folk-pop can be.

The superbly named Meric Long is a bit of a virtuoso guitarist by all accounts and although I am nothing like technically knowledgeable enough to be able to tell, I can certainly confirm that the guitar sounds gorgeous – rolling in a way that just cries out mildly introspective West Coast contentment.  The constant rhythm is decorated with bursts of growl, the starburst of a single slow strum or a sudden flurry of picked intricacy.  It is all brilliantly underpinned by Logan Kroeber’s relentless, yet easy drum rhythm which is heavy on the clack of sticks.

This is another of those bands whose sound rolls along at real pace, but is so lovely and dreamy in its own way that it seems always to be intimate and relaxed.  Fans of The Shaky Hands and The Folk Implosion should really enjoy this – I think it’s excellent.

The Dodos – Fools
The Dodos – The Ball

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