Song, by Toad

I have been itching to write about a release on net label Rainboot Records for some time now.  They are a really nice label to deal with, but they’ve just sent me stuff which has been teetering on the verge of being featured here.  Somehow, though, I’ve never quite liked anything enough to feature it for some reason.  It’s weird how that happens, because it’s clear that our respective tastes are millimetres apart in the grand scheme of things, just for some reason that last little gap has seemed oddly difficult to traverse.

With I Am Oak, however, I think we’ve finally clicked, because I am really enjoying this.  It reminds me of a slightly less crackly Gobble Gobble in that the electronics seem to flirt with pop at times, and the overall feel of the song can often verge on sounding like Far Eastern musical theatre, but it’s all been slightly subverted in a notable, but still quite subtle way.

What I mean by that it that this isn’t just all-over-the-shop mentalism by any means, it’s just that while all the familiar bits are present and accounted for, they are out of place enough to be a little disconcerting, whilst still being close enough to their usual spot that the overall picture is still recognisable.  It’s a bit like looking at a jigsaw puzzle where none of the pieces are in the right place, but no single piece has been moved more than two spots from where it belongs.

There are times, particularly on songs like Coats Coat, for example, where I can almost picture actors dressed as wolves peering from behind cardboard trees as they stalk some innocent young child lost in the woods.  That classical theatre association is somewhat at odds with the everso digital makeup of the music itself, but that’s just the contradiction this record conjures up.  It is basically an EP of experimental electronica, full of weird noises and interrupted rhythm, but nevertheless at its heart it seems to have grown from seeds planted firmly in the soil of narrative drama.  If you told me there was a play to go along with this music I would not be in the least surprised.

I Am Oak – Western Springs

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I Am Oak – Ohayo

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Mrs. Toad has been away in China for the last week or so and, frankly, I am jealous.  I am wedded to Edinburgh now, for fairly obvious reasons, but I have always been something of a gypsy, as have my parents, and as such China has held a pretty significant fascination for several years now.

I spent three years in Singapore between the ages of eleven and fourteen and I absolutely loved the place.  Not just Singapore, but all the travelling we did in South East Asia – I was absolutely captivated.

Honestly, if it were not for you musical muppets I would be pestering Mrs. Toad for us to move to China already.

Toadcast #106 – The Sinocast

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01. T’Pau – China in Your Hand (5.12)
02. I Am Oak – Ohayo (10.49)
03. Django Django – Love’s Dart (13.27)
04. Django Reinhart – China Boy (22.49)
05. Clem Snide – Wal-Mart Parking Lot (31.22)
06. Frightened Rabbit – Fun Stuff (33.51)
07. The Shop Assistants – Somewhere in China (41.07)
08. David Bowie – China Girl (46.26)
09. Lincoln – Great Wall of China (51.47)
10. Snapline – S2 (65.31)