Sweeping the Nation turns six round about, well, now actually.  For a music blog to last that long is highly unusual; most get to about the two year mark and then posting becomes less and less frequent, and eventually the only updates are rather uncomfortable ‘sorry I haven’t posted in ages’ missives spaced an increasing number of months apart until… silence.

For Simon to keep StN going for six years might just be testament to his mentalism, but I prefer to recognise someone with a familiarly psychotic need to constantly tell people what they should be listening to, and can only admire his endurance.

I don’t know what earns respect for music blogs.  Do you end just respecting the ones whose taste you agree with the most, the ones who are firstest and fastest to absolutely everything (twats), the ones who write interesting, in-depth features, or simply the ones who stick it out the longest?  I really have no idea, but I do know that Sweeping the Nation has always had an aura of respect about it, both from bands and other bloggers, and I would like to congratulate Simon on the work he’s done over the last six years.

To mark the event StN are releasing a charity compilation to benefit Macmillan’s Cancer Support.  It can be downloaded from Bandcamp here, for a minimum of £3 and a maximum of whatever you chose to give, and Simon has written a full run-down of the tracks he chose here. There are a couple of Song, by Toad Records band in there as well – it’s nice to be able to support someone who has given our label so much encouragement over the last few years – as well as donations from the excellent Alcopop and Popty Ping labels.  Please give generously.

No, no, don’t worry this isn’t some sort of chillout special (although we did actually do one of those once upon a time).  The only reason this is called the Chillcast is because on what was a beautifully sunny day for the rest of Scotland, Edinburgh performed its age old trick of drawing a freezing sea mist off the North Sea – the haar, as it’s called – and turning a lovely Spring day into a damp, chilly sulk.  Bastard.

I realised a while back that I don’t actually cover all that much Scottish music, despite the location of this blog being quite a prominent feature of the thing. This week, though, we have something like five Scottish (or Scottish-based) bands on this, and all of them relatively under the radar ones as well.

Anyhow, I am off to play nicely with Mrs. Toad’s colleagues for the rest of the day, in some sort of horrific bonding exercise.  Ah well, it pays the bills I suppose, and it’s not like she doesn’t have to spend an awful lot of time hanging out with my ‘colleagues’.

Direct download: Toadcast #171 – The Chillcast

01. The Sandwitches – Summer of Love (00.11)
02. The Japanese War Effort – Pool Attendant (7.41)
03. King Post Kitsch – Don’t You Touch My Fucking Honeytone (10.42)
04. PAWS – Summer Wipeout (16.22)
05. Marcy Playground – Wave Motion Gun (25.05)
06. The Low Anthem – Boeing 737 (33.40)
07. Horsecollar – Christopher (39.12)
08. Morris Major – In Amongst My Ideas (47.11)
09. Plastic Animals – It Fell Apart (Demo) (50.34)
10. Earth Girl Helen Brown – Girls of My Dreams (59.06)

Apparently no-one visits websites anymore, because it’s all about the social media and so on and so forth, so I suppose most of you have already seen this.

In case you haven’t, however, I have uploaded a free Song, by Toad Records sampler to Bandcamp, with songs from some of our more recent releases, as well as a healthy dose of new material from the releases we have planned for the rest of the year.

Our release schedule is slowly filling up, as well.  Before a brief break for the Edinburgh Festival we have four-song 7″ releases by King Post Kitsch and Lil Daggers, we have Surrender to Summer by The Japanese War Effort on 10″ vinyl, and we have albums by Lach and King Post Kitsch.  It is going to be very fucking busy indeed.

So, before all that excitement starts I figured I might as well give away some free sweeties to get people excited.  And here it is, downloadable for free from Bandcamp.  Enjoy!

It seems like a very long time since I have given you anything like a news update on Song, by Toad Records, and that’s because I usually keep these things restricted to times when I have something to give away, like an mp3 or a new video or something like that.

In this case I don’t have any such thing, but there has been a lot going on so I thought I should probably give you a wee update anyway, because somewhat amazingly, we have no less than five new signings to announce (I hate that word, but you know what I mean).   So, in order of their forthcoming releases:

King Post Kitsch

I have been a fan of Charlie’s for some time, since Lloyd from Peenko very kindly introduced me to his music a year or so ago. He’s just moved up to Glasgow from London and is putting together a new band, if you’re interested and can drum or play guitar.  On the 16th May we’ll be releasing a four-song single Don’t You Touch My Fucking Honeytone on 7″ vinyl, and then his debut album The Party’s Over comes out on the 13th June.

The Japanese War Effort

I hesitate to use words like ‘signed’ with Jamie, because he’s such a creative wee bastard that he’ll probably turn up on things released on half a dozen different labels over the next few years.  Anyhow, he has agreed to let us release the absolutely blinding Surrender to Summer EP on 10″ vinyl, and although we don’t have a date set just yet, I am thinking that the tail end of June makes sense – it is called Surrender to Summer, after all.

Lach

Yes, for some reason the gentleman who invented the New York anti-folk movement which, as well as kind of defining an entire genre of music, nurtured the early careers of the likes of Jeffrey Lewis, Kimya Dawson, The Moldy Peaches, Beck and Regina Spektor, has decided he wants to release his next album on Song, by Toad Records. Ramshackle Heart is coming out on the 18th July, and Lach will be reprising his stellar turn at the Edinburgh Festival again, both as a one-man show as well as bringing back the Anti-hoot.

Rob St. John

Having recorded his album in just two and a half days in February, Rob is going to have to wait until the Autumn to see it released.  I am not sure of the title yet, but we have a release date of 26th September and a plan to put it out as a gorgeous gatefold vinyl 12″, with Rob’s own photography forming the bulk of the album artwork.

Lil Daggers

This one isn’t quite what you would describe as a done deal, although it is agreed in principle, in the sense that we’ve asked if they’d like us to release their stuff over here (the band themselves are actually from Florida) and they said yes.  So that’s about as done a deal as we usually have, here at Song, by Toad Records.  Anyhow, we’ll be putting out their 7″ King Corpse EP over here sometime in July, followed by their self-titled debut album, probably sometime in October or November depending on what we all decide together when they get back form their current tour.

Crucially, King Post Kitsch and Lil Daggers are ‘Approved By Mrs. Toad’, a phrase you can expect to hear a little more of from time to time around these parts.  Basically, it means that she likes them because they make a racket.  And here, because I had to give you at least something to download for free, is the promotional track their US label Livid Records is using to promote the US release of Lil Daggers: Slave Exchange.

Lil Daggers – Slave Exchange

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I’ve been itching to do this podcast for a while, but only now got my arse in gear to do it: record a podcast straight from vinyl.  It’s a bit of a nuisance, because I have to switch back and forth from the mic, for the chatty bits, to the USB input for the records… oh never mind, you don’t care about my logistical hassles do you.

The nice thing about vinyl is that the playlist is not simply going to be an inbox dump of whatever new indie has arrived this week, simply because I don’t have all that much new music on vinyl.  Some, but not lots.

Also, the electicism factor is massively increased, partly because my vinyl collection is downright eccentric, and partly because the very act of leafing through completely unsorted piles of records seems to make me lots more likely to pick something absolutely random which fits with nothing else at all and really has no excuse being anywhere near a haircut indie try-hard hipster podcast.  Which is of course exactly what this is.

Direct download: Toadcast #157 – The Vinylcast

01. Windsor Davies & Don Estelle – Whispering Grass (from It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum) (00.29)
02. Eat Skull – Heaven’s Stranger (06.27)
03. The Shop Assistants – Safety Net (12.50)
04. Beat the Devil – Mr. Ray (15.14)
05. King Creosote – The Right Form (25.47)
06. Seefeel – Faults (34.12)
07. The Japanese War Effort – Ribbit (39.09)
08. Edna McGriff – The Fool (44.29)
09. Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Heart Like a Wheel (51.19)
10. Jimmie Lunceford & his Orchestra – Well Alright Then (62.43)

The player for the live stream slows down the whole page massively, so I’ve put it below the fold so those of you who wish to can watch our house gig.  My guess is that Brits will be out on the piss, so mostly Americans wasting the last of their afternoon in the office or massively hungover Australians will be tuning in. Read the rest of this entry »

And now, drum roll please for the final installment of Song, by Toad’s Festive Fifty for 2010.  Woo hoo!  I am sure Liars, The National and Micah P. Hinson will be breaking out the champagne at the excellent news.  Ah well, at least The Japanese War Effort and Li’l Daggers might give a shit.

01. Liars – Scissor When this song breaks it is absolutely fucking fearsome, and it is absolutely all I can do to stop myself leaping around the room and breaking stuff, no matter when or where I am or what time of day it is.  And this is about all I need to say about the matter.

02. Micah P. Hinson – My God, My God Just utterly, utterly beautiful, with a carefree little string coda rendered completely heartbreaking by the content of the song.  Three albums of sheer genius and one that was pretty damn good – why is this man not infinitely more famous?

03. The National – England It’s not as obvious, but the piano opening of this track is every bit as emotionally gripping as Fake Empire, once it properly sinks in.  And the build is so, so slow that by the time the brass kicks in you feel like you’ve been waiting for an age.  It reminds me of Elbow’s glorious Station Approach in that sense: some of the most euphoric depressing music ever made!

04. The Japanese War Effort – Summer Sun Skateboard First the guitar is really good, then the harmony vocals are fucking lovely, then the massively scratchy lead vocal is fucking great, then the glockenspiel is fucking superb, and then half way through it peaks, and takes the rest of the song to slowly drift into a blissed out coma.

05. Micah P. Hinson – Seven Horses Seen It’s easy to explain this one: just listen to the lyrics.  Hinson can be unflinchingly fucking brutal in his writing, and this is just another example of it.  That it goes, again, hand in hand with some truly beautiful music makes it all the more poignant.

06. Jason Lytle – D.U.I. BBQ Checkpoint Officer number two is talking to the driver of the car who just pulled into the D.U.I. barbecue checkpoint. “Good evening sir, have you been drinking tonight?” “Hell yeah officer!  I cracked my first beer this morning at nine and I’m wasted right now.  Any of you fucking pigs wanna fight?’

07. Songdog – 3.30am (Small Talk) I could fill an entire review with Songdog lyrics which make me do a double-take, but let that not detract from the wry, laid back music, performed as if with one eyebrow raised and here rendered even more lovely by the conversational duet.

08. Liars – Scarecrows on a Killer Slant Erm, this is Liars again, and unlike Scissor, which makes you beg for it, this is just loud and feral.  I don’t really need to justify this choice any more than that, do I?

09. The Walkmen – Blue as Your Blood The rhythm which underpins this has you ready for the song to break, ages before they finally let it happen about two thirds of the way through.  Hamilton Leithauser has one of the most yearning voices I’ve heard, and this is my highlight from yet another great album by one of the more under-appreciated bands around.

10. Li’l Daggers – King Korpze I’ve been loving my scuzzy, garagey guitar pop this year and this four song EP is as good as I’ve heard. Picking this ahead of Ya Tu Sabe or Hungry may be a bit arbitrary, but something from here was always going on.

Click here to download all these songs in one zip file.

1-10 | 11-30 | 31-50

Once again this New Year’s Eve Mrs. Toad and I shall be forgoing the dubious pleasure of stumbling about in the freezing cold city centre surrounded by other people’s sick, and will instead be having a glass or two of wine in the house, like we did last year.

Like last year there will be live music, and like last year you are all invited.  Jonnie Common (Inspector Tapehead), Neil Pennycook (Meursault) and Jamie Scott (Japanese War Effort) will be playing, and the set may well include some collaborative stuff, or just three solo sets, depending how effectively they get their shit together in between now and then.

We’ll get another keg, I think, because that was a great success at the Christmas Party.  Kegs tend to cost us around £1.80 per pint (70 pints, £130) so please come prepared to chip in if you fancy guzzling posh beer all night instead of cans of Tennent’s.  Also, we’d really appreciate if you could buy your tickets in advance, just so we have an idea of numbers.  All the money goes directly to the bands, so it is for a good cause.

Sold out now, sorry.

Many thanks – hope to see you there!

I am not personally going to bother doing a ‘Best of 2010′ podcast based around my own choices.  Over the next couple of weeks you’re going to get more than enough of that in text form anyway, so I think we can all live without a podcast as well.

What I thought I might do, though, was just do a quick rundown of the Song, by Toad Readers’ song and album of the year voting because… well, why the fuck not, I suppose.  As much as anything I felt like doing it because there were a couple of surprises in there, a couple of omissions and a couple of disagreements, so I guess  it gives me something to whinge about when introducing the songs, eh.

Direct download: Toadcast #153 – The Mobcast

01.The Japanese War Effort – Summer Sun Skateboard (00.21)
02. The National – England (06.05)
03. Foals – Spanish Sahara (11.17)
04. Broken Records – The Motorcycle Boy (24.31)
05. Kid Canaveral – Her Hair Hangs Down (29.06)
06. Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (33.51)
07. Micah P. Hinson – My God, My God (41.13)
08. David Tattersall – The Typewriter Ribbon (43.44)
09. Meursault – What You Don’t Have (52.46)
10. eagleowl – No Conjunction (60.54)

Snow!  Awesome!  Actually, we haven’t got that much snow here in Edinburgh but I am sufficiently snow-starved that I am pretty excited nevertheless.  Not as excited as the penguins at Edinburgh Zoo will presumably be of course, but excited nevertheless.

Yusuf’s three album launch shows last week were fantastic, but I am pretty pooped and will be taking it quite easy today.  We’ve the Savings and Loan’s album release to work on for Monday, but apart from that the label is now entering a rather quiet Winter – well, apart from our official Song, by Toad Records Christmas Party of course, which will be anything but quiet.

The Christmas parties start here, in fact, with two this week, a couple of very good gigs and the opportunity to help save the Forest Cafe.  Enough for you to be getting on with for one week?  Thought so.  Welcome to the December eat/drink/hangover cycle which leaves us begging for fruit juice and fresh vegetables by January.

Xavier Rudd and Dar Williams are both (separately) at the Queen’s Hall this week, which might interest some of you.  For myself, the following gigs stand out the most:

Tuesday 30th November 2010: The Wedding Present and Ringo Deathstarr at the Liquid Room.

The Wedding Present’s absolutely brilliant, and now ‘classic’ album Bizarro is twenty or twenty-five years old or something like that, so the Weddoes are out on tour, playing the album in its entirety by way of celebration.  Just as interesting from my point of view are support band Ringo Deathstarr who make an excellent amount of fuzzy noise and whose new single is bloody excellent; I await the album with great interest.

The Wedding Present – No

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Tuesday 30th November 2010: Jenny & Johnny at Cabaret Voltaire.

Jenny Lewis is an excellent live performer with more than a little hint of swagger.  Her album, recorded with snuggle bunny Johnathan Rice, has its bland moments to be sure, but some of it is genuinely excellent, dreamy, harmony-drenched Summer pop.

Jenny & Johnny – Little Fly

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Thursday 2nd December 2010: Yahweh, Emily Scott & Union Canal at Sneaky Pete’s.

Three of the more underground bands on the week’s list of musical funz, but between Yahweh’s sweeping cinematics and Emily Scott’s musical prettiness this should be a good ‘un.  Union Canal I know nothing about whatsoever, I have to confess.

Friday 3rd December 2010: Gerry Loves Records Christmas Party at the Banshee Labyrinth.

Four of the most innovative bands in Scotland play what promises to be a very high early watermark for the tide of Christmas parties this year*.  Expect a lot of beeping and looping and stuff – which, for the less knowledgeable, is a technical musical term.  The Banshee Labyrinth is rather small, so I strongly recommend getting your tickets in advance for this one.  There will be a special guest too – one I promise you really is very thpeshul indeed.

The Japanese War Effort – Fake Tanned Out Yr Tits

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Friday 3rd December 2010: Save the Forest gig at Pilrig St. Paul’s.

This gig has been arranged to raise fund to help save the Forest Cafe, an Edinburgh institution under considerable threat after the collapse of the Edinburgh University Settlement.  Finn Andrews of The Veils will be playing, which is amazing.  The Veils are a fucking great band and although I have no idea what a Finn Andrews solo performance will be like, I would be fascinated to find out.

The Veils – Not Yet

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Saturday 4th December 2010: Limbo Christmas Party at the Voodoo Rooms.

Bands such as Toad favourites FOUND and Enfant Bastard, and Toad Records heroes Yusuf Azak and Inspector Tapehead are joined by Night Noise Team and others.  I think there will be some collaborating and some other Christmas jiggery-pokery too, but I am not entirely sure what to expect, honestly.  Apart from the fact that I am going to get very drunk indeed.

FOUND – Let Fidelity Break

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*Apologies if that analogy was just a little too tortured.  I know it was, and I judge myself.