Song, by Toad

Well here we go.  The new year is yet to quite take hold or take off, but I promise you that things will kick back into gear this weekend.  There are some fine love shows appearing on the calendar, slowly but surely, and eventually 2009 will get going.  No rush though.

This Toadcast is a bit of a mix.  I’ve got some of this year’s favourites, I look back at some of last year’s favourites, and I also poke away at a couple of the bands I hope will make their mark in 2009.

In that sense, examining last year’s favourites makes a lot of sense.  I’m always curious about how well our fads and fancies bear up to the passage of time.  I’ve not been too fickle in recent years, which is sort of nice, so I don’t mind looking back like this.  There aren’t too many embarrassments to be had, so it’s kind of nice to take the chance to look backwards, look forwards a little and generally just take the opportunity to pause for breath and enjoy the new year.  As should you, toadlings, as should you.  Happy new year, folks.

Toadcast #52 – Let’s Go

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01. Bombadil – Cavaliers’ Har Hum (02.24)
02. Gerry Mitchell & Little Sparta – The Ragged Garden of Your Eye (08.57)
03. Aidan John Moffat – The Boy That You Love (12.19)
04. Mitchell Museum – Extra Lives (18.11)
05. The Savings & Loan – The Virgin’s Lullaby (24.36)
06. The Builders & the Butchers – When it Rains (28.06)
07. Elvis Perkins – It’s Only Me (34.30)
08. Mother & the Addicts – Are Others (38.21)
09. The Pictish Trail – Winter Home Disco (46.27)
10. The Low Lows – Dear Flys, Love Spider (54.49)

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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Grumble grumble. Every time I go out with those fuckwits I end up fucking hammered.

The biggest problem with bloody musicians is that none of the fuckers have fucking jobs. Consequently concepts like 9am and ‘time to go to fucking work’ have no bloody meaning for the pillocks. Nor does ‘if you get home after 4am stinking of beer your wife might just go mental’. Nobody ever fucking warns me about these things.

Anyhow, I am less than an hour away from my Friday pub lunch down at the King’s Wark. Apart from being the workplace of the rather lovely Izzy, who comments here from time to time, it is also one of the finest scoffing establishments in Edinburgh. Yum. And did I mention that they have beer?

Oh, and I got into another fucking row at a gig, you’ll be amused to hear. During Eagleowl’s show last night some silly Aussie tart came in and started jabbering away, and clearly wasn’t enjoying the music. This is fine, of course; you can’t demand that anyone likes anything, but then again if you aren’t enjoying it then Edinburgh is hardly devoid of other fucking pubs in which you might drink. If you don’t like it, sweethert, then instead of talking through the bastard thing, why not just Go Away. Eventually I suggested, in my usual diplomatic way, that she might wish to enjoy her recreation in the other fucking room if she wasn’t enjoying herself. Unfortunately, in the usual manner of vacuous bimbos, she continued to want to discuss the matter endlessly and wouldn’t just piss off and leave people to enjoy themselves.

To make matters worse, it then turned out that the grotty old mare was there with Matt, who is a friend of mine and a really lovely bloke, and who managed to stay remarkably calm whilst I insulted his pal. I do open my mouth occasionally, people, but it is usually just to change feet.

The worst thing was that later on we bumped into a couple of other plastered members of the Edinburgh music community and they confirmed that they had also heard me shush people a gigs before. So I am becoming known as the Edinburgh Gig Wheeshter which is not, I have to confess, terribly rock and roll. Honestly though – just shut up or go the fuck away. No-one is forcing you to enjoy it, but no-one is stopping just bloody sodding off either.

Grrr. Anyway, friday, bunch of favourites, de-lurk, etc etc…

You will be pleased to know that Roni Brunn from From sent me an email last night and given the monumental ripping she got from everyone, she was incredibly gracious. So whether or not you like her music it seems like she is a nice lass. Feel bad yet? You should.

1. Best Indiana Jones movie.
2. Custard or rice pud?
3. Painful comedian you actually like (NOT Adam fucking Sandler).
4. Drew Barrymore deserves to die. How should she achieve this?
5. Silliest sports kit – with pictures please.

Gerry Mitchell & Little Sparta – Nocturne in C
Neil Young – Heart of Gold
The Wallflowers – Josephine (For those of you who don’t know, this is Dylan Jr.)
Ghostkeeper – Solid Gold
Marcy Playground – All the Lights Went Out
That last song is one I used to listen to a lot when I first met Mrs. Toad. I lived a long way away at the time and we only saw each other every couple of weeks, and I was so dazed and in love I used to sit at my desk and hum along to this all the time… ♫yes today, all the lights went out…♪ I was developing a soft spot for the girl even then, it seems.

Ian from Broken Records sent me this, by the way. The Luminaire fucking rocks.

Back at long last, would you believe. After the abortive attempt at a Christmas podcast and then the IT disaster in Toad Hall – when my retarded computer ground to a halt and had to have its entire operating system reinstalled – I have finally managed to record the 19th Toadcast. Sorting out the IT department was not at all as easy as it should have been, so it’s taken ages to get to the point where I could record one again.

So, excuses over and done with, what am I going to inflict on you this time? The bloody Scots, that’s who. The Scottish music scene is an amazingly fertile one, so I thought I’d review 2007 and have a bit of a look forward to 2008. So I’ve pulled together some of the big guys like Malcolm Middleton, Emma Pollock and King Creosote and interspersed a few of the lesser known acts from around here to give you a nicely rounded look at what’s going on musically in the land of Buckfast and deep-fried Mars bars.

Toadcast #19 – The Scotchcast[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo19.mp3]

01. Sons & Daughters – Gilt Complex (1.01)
02. Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gone (5.55)
03. The Low Miffs – Also Sprach Shareholder (13.58)
04. Malcolm Middleton – We’re All Going to Die (17.24)
05. Aidan John Moffat – The Boy That You Love (23.37)
06. Gerry Mitchell & Little Sparta – The Empress (28.00)
07. The Pendulums – Greenhat (34.38)
08. Broken Records – Kathy (40.49)
09. Rob St. John – Wooden Rose (45.44)
10. Found – Some Fracas of a Sissy (53.28)
11. Kid Canaveral – Smash Hits (58.49)
12. Popup – Lucy, What are You Trying to Say? (61.38)
13. Emma Pollock – A Temporary Fix (68.28)
14. King Creosote – Church as Witness (76.04)
15. Mother & the Addicts – Roll Me on Over (79.37)
16. Frightened Rabbit – Be Less Rude (88.09)
17. The Twilight Sad – Walking For Two Hours (94.37)