Song, by Toad

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 »

Here’s a bit of 7″ pleasure that no-one with any vaguely folky inclinations should permit to pass them by. The Left Outsides were born in the fallout of the demise of brilliant London psych-folksters The 18th Day of May. Alison and Mark played viola and guitar respectively in that much-lamented band, and have since continued to play together, forming The Left Outsides fairly hot on the heels of the breakup.

There are times when their music is a little glacial of pace for my liking, but they are capable of doing some really brilliant things at times too. Their new single is out on Hi Beat Records, a small London imprint from the looks of it, and contains two sides of genuine brilliance.

I really, really want to play you the song, but even an internet fundamentalist like myself knows it would be a bit self-defeating to ask you to go and pay £3.50 for a single I’ve just allowed you to download for nothing. It’s frustrating though. I can be previewed here, at their MySpace page, however and I recommend you do so because it’s an excellent track. The b-side is a Found remix of Deep Rivers Move In Silence; Shallow Brooks Are Noisy; Found’s trademark glitchery is very subtly applied, and as remixes go this is about as effective as I’ve heard.

All in all then, a bag of boyish enthusiasm from this amphibian. I have ordered one myself and I bloody well expect you lot to as well.

The Left Outsides – Fallen by the Wayside (from And Colours in Between)
The Left Outsides – The Ballad of Jim Jones(from Leave the Frozen Butterflies Behind)

There’s not much of a unifying theme to this podcast, but there are a healthy number of breaking tracks in the playlist, so I guess calling it the Newcast will suffice for want of anything more inspired.

There’s new tracks from the impending singles by Kid Canaveral and The Left Outsides, a good few new bands you’ve never heard of, a couple of JC’s selections for the Toad Records Launch Night and some of the tracks from the sampler that I gave away at the party itself.

There’s also the first Recorded and Produced by Toad song in the world: Fearing Lothian by Uhersky Brod.  The band are friends of mine and we used the Toad Sessions recording equipment to put togethera demo for them.  It’s the first time I’ve ever recorded anything, so I presume there must be all sorts of issues with it but, well, you’ve got to start somewhere.  It’s a cracking song, whatever I’ve ended up doing to it.

So I hope you enjoy this rather disjointed collection of songs, because for all the lack of any real coherence it’s a good collection of songs nonetheless.

Toadcast #31 – The Newcast

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01. Cinerama – Health & Efficiency (03.57)
02. David Cronenburg’s Wife – My Ukrainian Girlfriend (12.39)
03. The Ukrainians – Batya (Bigmouth Strikes Again) (16.14)
04. The Lucksmiths – T-Shirt Weather (21.34)
05. Porlolo – There is No I in Athens (26.22)
06. Uhersky Brod – Fearing Lothian (33.17)
07. Sparrow & the Workshop – Grizzly Bear (38.46)
08. The Futureheads – The Beginning of the Twist (43.24)
09. Kid Canaveral – Teenage Fanclub Song (47.11)
10. The Left Outsides – The Third Light (53.15)
11. King Creosote – Ear Against the Wireless (61.34)
12. Eagleowl – Blanket (64.50)
13. Rob St. John – Domino (72.22)
14. Les Enfant Bastard – Plastic Bag (79.27)
15. Dinosaur Pile-Up – My Rock ‘n’ Roll Demo (85.43)
16. Computer vs. Banjo – Give Up on Ghosts (95.06)

I’ve written about these guys before, and they made an appearance on the old podcast this week. They were a London psychedelic folk group whose brilliant self-titled debut album sounds uncannily like it could have been cut from the undiscovered sessions for Fairpost Convention’s Liege & Lief masterpiece.

Anyhow, they packed it all in about a year or so ago now and, having loved their stuff and seen them a couple of times in concert where they were also excellent, I was rather gutted. Still, they had a couple of extra songs from the aborted sessions for their second album and these are now available on their website. I’ve posted them here as well, because I have every confidence in human laziness, so I thought taking a step out of the process might get more folk listening to the songs.

18th Day of May – Seven Dials
18th Day of May – Stone Cold
18th Day of May – Tell Me Tomorrow

Two of their former members, Mark Nicholas and Alison Cotton, have gone on to form a new group, called The Left Outsides. They explore similar territory but with a far dreamer and more ethereal sort of sound. I’ve included a couple of tracks here, and there are two more on their MySpace page for download. If this all tickles your fancy then they have a lovely album – perhaps a bit folky for my punkier readers – which can be bought for about six quid from their website, here.

The Left Outsides – Fallen by the Wayside
The Left Outsides – The Third Light