Song, by Toad

I feel really weird this morning.  Partly I am whizzed off my tits on painkillers, which at least makes the back pain manageable, and partly I took the advice from this thread a little too seriously last night.  Ouch.  Pills, Caol Ila and Ardbeg: not a winning combination by the time the morning after comes around.

So there’s no chat this week, you’ll be pleased to know.  Here are some gigs.  Go to them.  But good luck picking what to do on Wednesday, because I’ve no fucking idea myself.

Wednesday 23rd September 2009: David Thomas Broughton and several other chaps at Sneaky Pete’s.

Actually David Thomas Broughton is being supported by Debutant, Twi the Humble Feather and Ross Clark, I just liked the phrasing of that little place marker, so I left it in.  ‘Several other chaps’ – spendid.  See, I told you the pills were working.  Anyhow, David Thomas Broughton is mental and brilliant.  He has a black belt in the use of loop pedals, a gorgeous voice and a strange knack for peculiar physical theatre to accompany his musical performances.  He’s sufficiently eccentric, actually, that he is a good one for sorting the men from the boys because a lot of people really don’t like David Thomas Broughton.  These people are wrong, it is as simple as that.

Wednesday 23rd September 2009: Withered Hand Album Launch at the Leith Dockers’ Club, with special guests.

You know I like this album, don’t you?  You also know I have an awful lot of time for Dan, don’t you.  And I’ve not read a bad review for the record anywhere – not even a merely lukewarm one.  So expect a big old hairy metal-hippie love-in at one of Edinburgh’s more idiosyncratic venue choices.  I would tell you who the Very Special Guest is, but I am not allowed.  You’ll just have to keep your Ear Against the Wireless.

Withered Hand – Cornflake (Demo)

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Wednesday 23rd September 2009 (or Thursday): Jesus H. Foxx & the Pineapple Chunks at the Wee Red Bar.

The Wee Red website seems to think this is on Thursday 24th, whereas I am pretty sure the bands think it’s on the 23rd.  I don’t know – personally I would go along on Wednesday if I were you because the venue is there all week and it’s probably best to turn up when the bands are actually intending to play.  Besides, at least if you go on Wednesday and you’re wrong, there’s time to put it right.  There will be lots of guitars and drums at this gig,

Friday 25th September 2009: Julie Doiron, Construction & Destruction and Former Utopia at the Bowery.

Julie Doiron is folky, quiet, French Canadian and stuff like that.

Saturday 26th September 2009: Occasional Flickers, French Wives & Cancel the Astronauts at Sneaky Pete’s.

The Occasional Flickers are probably best and most lazily described as pleasant twee-pop.  Which is nice.  My head hurts too much to write anything more about this.

The Occasional Flickers – A Medal Won in ‘84

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Saturday 26th September 2009: The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross at Cabaret Voltaire.

The Low Miffs are a fucking great live band, and their album is excellent.  It’s art rock, to a degree, old school indie to a degree and camp as tits in some senses.  I’ll be here with bells on, depending on certain potential Manchester-based excusions.

The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross – Cressida

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Sunday 27th September 2009: Strike the Colours & Zoey Van Goey at Electric Circus.

Zoey Van Goey are another band I have inexplicably yet to see, for no really obvious reason.  They have an album out and an increasing national profile, so I really should get my shit together and check them out.  Strike the Colours is the vehicle for Malcolm Middleton’s fiddle player, and a band I kind of like, but perhaps no more than that.

Strike the Colours – Strangernight

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This is the last Song, by Toad show on Fresh Air for this term – so the last one until about October time, basically.  As the band are long time Toad friends, and as their long (loooong)-awaited debut album is being released on Monday, it seemed only fitting that Broken Records pop into the studio and have a chat about things, talk through the album itself (read: TOAD EXCLUSIVE!!!1!1 or something like that), and generally shoot the breeze.

To tune in, go to the Fresh Air homepage and click on the big Listen Now button on the left hand side, from about 6.30pm-8pm, UK time.  As per usual, I’ll fill in the playlist below, and you can take the opportunity to leave compliments, questions and abuse in the comments section as you see fit.

01. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – Hard to be a Saint in the City (Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1975)
02. White Antelope – Wild Mountain Thyme
03. Broken Records – Wolves (Toad Session)
04. Linfinity – Holy Rain
05. Ambulances – Come With Us
06. Broken Records – Lies
07. Sparrow & the Workshop – Last Chance (Toad Session)
08. The Lovely Eggs – Have You Ever Heard a Digital Accordion
09. The Low Miffs – Dear Josephine
10. Broken Records – Nearly Home
11. Bruce Springsteen – Dancing in the Dark

Whee – pub!

Oh the busyness just doesn’t subside, does it. And there’s nothing quite so life-affirming as being in the office on a Bank Holiday Monday. The way things work around here they just lump Bank Holidays into your overall holiday allowance, so you can take the days when you want. This makes a lot of sense for plenty of reasons, but it falls short in one crucial way: every once in a while it is nice to be forced to take some time off and just waste a day with your other half.

Mrs. Toad is at home by herself, no doubt drinking a cuppa in our south-facing, sun-drenched garden. Or proto-garden more like, as it was all planted from scratch last year and is only slowly growing into itself.
As much as I like where I work, I would dearly love to be at home with my silly missus and her preposterous cat, drinking tea in the sunshine and cursing my silliness at failing to dead-head the fennel before the bastard went to seed and caused an explosion of miniature fennel plants in the little bed in front of the shed. Or something like that. Rats.

So, coming down from Nick Cave in Glasgow last night with JC and Mrs. Villain, what can we find to try and fail to live up to that experience this week? And what the fuck is going on on Thursday for crying out loud?

Tuesday 6th May: Frightened Rabbit at The Hive.
I don’t know what the venue is like, but The Hive’s website is so monumentally shit and clunky to navigate that I sightly resent plugging their gigs. And actually, Frightened Rabbit’s new album isn’t exactly blowing my socks off either. Mind you, I’ll be busy doing radio things, so what do I care. Ross Clark is supporting, and he’s pretty handy.
Frightened Rabbit – The Modern Leper

Thursday 8th May: King Creosote & Slow Club at Fence Club, the Caves.
Another excellent Fence Club lineup, with good ol’ KC and the excellent Slow Club – another Moshi Moshi band, I have serious Label Envy! There’s also an exclusive vinyl treat (that sounds kinky) if you come along, so what more incentive could you want? These parties are brilliant fun.
Slow Club – Me & You

Thursday 8th May: Attic Lights at Cabaret Voltaire.
I keep hearing these lads mentioned as the Next Big Thing, and highly complimented by plenty of very reliable people. Honestly though, I have never heard anything that gets me all that excited. Still, I have yet to give the time necessary to qualify that kind of negativity, so I will make more effort before I shrug my shoulders once and for all.
Attic Lights – Never Get Sick of the Sea

Thursday 8th May: The Kays Lavelle & The Mannequins at Limbo, the Voodoo Rooms.
The Kays Lavelle will presumably be shit, once again*.
Anyway, once the humour subsides, expect some rather dark, generally piano-led indie-rock. The Mannequins are new to me, but a cursory listen to their MySpace sounds pretty promising. Sort of punk-croon, if you can imagine that.
The Mannequins – Little Black Book

Thursday 8th May: Dave Graney, The Low Miffs & the Bum-Clocks in the Speakeasy at the Voodoo Rooms.
This is a superb lineup. I don’t know much about the headliner, but the Low Miffs are fantastic, and as for the Bum-Clocks… well, can you imagine Robert Burns’ poetry performed against a backdrop of Malcolm Ross’ indie guitar riffs? This is really, really worth going to.
The Bum-Clocks – A Tale o’ Twa Dugs

Friday 9th May: MGMT at the Liquid Room.
I’ll admit I’m being a bit of a pop slut by going to this, but Time to Pretend is just brilliant and although the rest of it slides a little closer to the Scissor Sister than I might personally choose, I expect this to be a load of fun. Someone told me they were shit live, but I’ll withhold judgment on that until after Friday. I’m bloody well committed now anyway.
MGMT – The Youth

Friday 9th May: Rachel Unthank & the Winterset at the Voodoo Rooms.
If I’m being honest I would say that this is a little bit too folky for me, really. There’s a lot to like in the music though, and some of my readers may well love this, so it’s definitely worth considering. And her rendition of Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk is just brilliant.
Rachel Unthank & the Winterset – Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk

[Edit: an irate Bart, who couldn't even be arsed to list this gig himself, insists I mention the following gig. They're so good they don't feature on his own listings page, but hey, they're presumably good enough for me, eh? Fucksake.]

Saturday 10th May: The Second Hand Marching Band, Skeleton Bob & Woodenbox at the Wee Red Bar.
Apparently this lot are all very good. For more complete descriptions, complete with a girly ginger hissy-fit, see the comments below. Good grief.
The Second Hand Marching Band – Dance to Half Death

*Sorry, that’s an in-joke. Lead singer Euan is a regular reader of this site and so my first review of the band was a one-liner: The Kays Lavelle were shit. Side-splitting, eh? Yes, I know, sometimes I wonder how I do it.

You all know I’ve been doing a regular slot on DC’s radio show, The Waiting Room, of late, don’t you? Well this week’s slot saw me picking a track by Sky Larkin, as well as three wonderful songs from the splendid Happy Realease Records from darn sarf*. I may have been a little rude about their sound actually, but it was inadvertent. I was trying to head off the criticism from indie snobs – What? Who? None of those round here, surely? – about the fact that they are just plain enjoyable indie-pop for the most part, and ended up implying that I thought they were lightweight. The Genius of Tact strikes again. I should teach courses in this shit.

Anyway, swing by The Waiting Room to download this and past episodes, and Error FM to see what sort of crazy fools agree to put this sort of rubbish on the airwaves. The, er, internet airwaves. Interwav… oh never mind, you know what I mean.

The Waiting Room, Wednesday 12th March 2008

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* Darn sarf, for my non-British readers, is the phonetic spelling for how a cockney might pronounce the words ‘down South’. Which is where they are from. Yes, I know, hilarious wasn’t it.

And here’s a sneaky little bonus podcast from myself:
Toadcast #23½ – The Freshcast

A week or so ago, I recorded a demo show for Fresh Air FM, the local student radio station, with a view to applying for a slot during next term, only the computer ate the bastard thing. Fucking technology. Anyhow, Sunday was Mrs. Toad’s birthday, and for some reason she was keen to get plastered and do a podcast with me, so we re-did it together. It wasn’t played quite as straight as I’d hoped, and by the time I’d had time to reflect on submitting it I was pretty certain Fresh Air would chase me out of the building with sticks. Fortunately for me, however, they didn’t hate it, didn’t seem to think I was a smart-arsed twat and didn’t dispatch me from the building with a boot print in my arse.

As this show is just a pre-record and will be going out randomly over the night when they stop broadcasting, I thought I’d pop it up here for you to have a listen. I won’t be doing this with any more Fresh Air things because, well, you need to go over there and listen for yourselves really, don’t you. But for this once I thought you might like it seeing as you shower of treacherous fuckers all seem to love Mrs. Toad so very bloody much. Be warned though, because it was made for a different audience, so there may be a bit of duplication from previous podcasts, and it’s rather long, as apparently there is a lot of time to fill overnight when there are no presenters in the building.

The Fresh Air plugs themselves were enough to see us kicked out.

Toadcast #23½ – The Freshcast

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01. Shout Out Louds – Tonight I Have to Leave It (03.09)
02. The Shaky Hands – Whales Sing (06.41)
03. The Cave Singers – Thinking of Heaven (13.05)
04. Preston School of Industry – Straits of Magellan (17.23)
05. Adam Balbo – Talkin’ Bush (27.11)
06. Donnan Linkz feat. Baje One of Junk Science – The N Word (29.18)
07. Riff-Raff – Romford Girls (36.44)
08. The Pogues – Dirty Old Town (38.58)
09. Nicole Atkins – Neptune City (46.44)
10. Edith Piaf – Elle Frequentait la Rue Pigalle (50.11)
11. Dusty Springfield – You Don’t Own Me (53.34)
12. AA Bondy – Vice Rag (59.12)
13. Relatively Clean Rivers – Hello Sunshine (68.09)
14. The Eighteenth Day of May – Lady Margaret (71.05)
15. Celebrity Chimp – Pornstar (81.27)
16. Nightjar – Poor Man’s Son (84.01)
17. Ravens & Chimes – General Lafayette, You Are Not Alone! (93.03)
18. Eels – Love of the Loveless (95.59)
19. Glasvegas – It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry (106.49)
20. Flashguns – St. George (111.01)
21. Elle S’Appelle – Little Flame (123.09)
22. Elk City – Cherries in the Snow (125.58)
23. The Low Miffs – Also Sprach Shareholder (130.41)

Back in the 80s that soulful-yet-rock ‘n’ roll sax solo was just about the pinnacle of any song’s achievement, and the uppermost point of its emotional trajectory.  It was, one might say, the vinegar stroke.

I know 80s sax was for the most part risibly, splendidly awful, but it certainly wasn’t considered so at the time.  Even the ubercool likes of David Bowie had a go: he’s listed as the sax player on a number of early albums, although this was largely in the 70s. It was a weird mix of soul and what was laughably considered to be rock that brought the two together at the time, if I remember.  Even the toughest rockers seemed to want to show their emotional underbelly, and that comically earnest, eyes-clenched, blouson-sporting, big-haired, backlit solo was quite frequently the way they did it.

Apart from slight bafflement at how this was ever considered cool in the first place, I am surprised it got left behind in the 80s revival – it’s not like we’ve had much of a quality filter on what has been dragged back into popular culture.  The man satirised so dismissively, and brilliantly, as Mr. Sensitive Ponytail in ‘This is Definitely Now the Nineties’ zeitgeist flick Singles would not have been seen dead without a considerable collection of albums by assorted posturing milk-toast soft rockers looking tough.  These albums almost by definition contained a portfolio of comedy sax solos, and we shouldn’t underestimate how actually, genuinely cool Mr. Sensitive Ponytail was in the 80s.

So here we are approaching 2010, and the inevitable 90s revival, and it looks like the sax has been forever consigned to the rock ‘n’ roll dustbin which is, erm, well probably no bad thing.  I can’t think of many current groups who do decent sax stuff really.  The Dave Matthews Band had some good sax moments about ten years ago, and that’s about it except for one: The Low Miffs.  Brilliant, brilliant sax.  It’s a one-group revival, and not the least bit Mr. Sensitive Ponytail, thank god.  If anyone needed to be left in the 80s and never ever revived again, it is him.  Probably liked fucking world music and jazz as well, the slippery cunt.

The definitive 80s saxophone solo:
Hazel O’Connor – Will You
Not far behind:
Bruce Springsteen – Jungleland
David Bowie – John, I’m Only Dancing
Huey Lewis & the News – The Power of Love
Dave Matthews Band – Two Step
The Low Miffs – Where Are Your Songs Now?

What a frustrating week in gigs – both Monday and Wednesday have overlapping shows I would love to go to, and sadly I can’t do both. Although according to Rob himself I could perhaps nip from the Wee Red Bar just in time to catch him onstage at 10.30 at Henry’s. Depends on your priorities of course.

Monday 11th February: Monkey Swallows the Universe at Cabaret Voltaire.
The Casket Letters was a low-key masterpiece, and this will be the last chance to see these guys play as they have called it quits for reasons as yet unknown. Lush, gorgeous, folky indiepop and absolutely not to be missed.
Monkey Swallows the Universe – Chicken Fat Waltz

Monday 11th February: Art Brut at The Hive.
Fucking arse. MStU on the same day and unfortunately something had to give, and it was Art Brut. Their slightly bizzare brand of fit-pop is oddly fascinating, deeply patchy and occasionally brilliant. I’d be there in a heartbeat if not for the bloody clash with the above gig. Arse.
Art Brut – Bang, Bang, Rock & Roll!

Wednesday 13th February: Broken Records at The Wee Red Bar.
Who? I hear you ask? Broken Records? Why’ve you not mentioned them before? Okay okay, I get the picture. But they’re great, they’re playing live and they have a single on the way – what’s not to love? Thanks again to Euan and Bart from Trampoline for another great lineup too – I don’t know anything much about support acts The Sweetheart Revue or Dead Beat Club, but I will be there early and make sure I find out!
Broken Records – Slow Parade

Wednesday 13th February: Rob St.John at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
There are a few others playing as part of the Hollow Heart Parlour monthly acoustic night, which I know nothing about, but really think I should investigate. Rob’s gorgeous EP of hush-folk was one of the highlights of (late, late, late) 2007 and there are only a couple of copies left. Because of the dash from the Broken Records gig I will miss the support, but if you are more acoustically minded get there early for Lindsay West, Ainslie Henderson and Anna K. Jarosz (who is, with all due deference to my glittering princess Mrs. Toad, rather fit. Sheesh sometimes I wish I wasn’t quite so shallow and predictable. Unfortunately I don’t wish it quite enough to actually stop being shallow and predictable, it seems.)
Rob St.John – The Acid Test

Thursday 14th February: The Phantom Band at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
I know nothing about The Phantom Band apart from the fact that they have just been signed by legendary Glasgow label Chemikal Underground, and that acoustic genius Rick Redbeard plays guitar for them. They sound nothing like him unfortunately, so here’s a wee reminder of how bloody great his music is. That’s his sister on backing vocals – what a bloody gorgeous voice.
Rick Redbeard – Blood

Saturday 16th February: The Low Miffs at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
You have to see these lads. Literate (very literate in fact) spiky, ambitious, and a wee bit retro. I have very, very high hopes for The Low Miffs this year.

The Low Miffs – Cressida

If a week like this doesn’t get me a fucking divorce then nothing will – especially when you factor in the fact that I am dragging Mrs. Toad through to Glasgow on Friday to see Frightened Rabbit and Popup, and then trying to talk her into recording an anti-Valentine’s podcast on Tuesday evening. Oh yes, that reminds me: apparently it’s bloody Valentine’s Day on Thursday. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

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)

I introduced The Low Miffs to Blogfresh Radio last week, and that episode is now up on their site. There are a couple of minor factual errors – I really don’t think they come from Edinburgh, for example – but it’s a good episode all in all. It includes a contribution from one of my favourite bloggers, Rich from Cable & Tweed, so get over and have a listen. I don’t think I swear once. Or, more likely, I did, but they cut it out. Bastards.

Erm, so, the gig. I have to confess I was three sheets to the wind for this one, so perhaps apologising to everyone I inflicted my company upon on Sunday might be in order. Particularly the very patient Low Miffs! Unfortunately I’d been at the pub since early afternoon watching the football with some mates, and then arrived at the Bongo Club at normal gig time – i.e. about eight-ish – only to discover that nothing was happening until eleven. So what was there for it but to go to the pub for three more hours.

The plus side of this inebriated condition was that I was in a right good mood by the time the lads came on stage, and wasn’t in any way let down. They’ve not played for a while due to practical reasons so they were raring to go, despite being slightly apprehensive. It was bloody brilliant, too. They’re really rather theatrical on stage and Leo Condie truly goes for it in all his be-suited fervour.

Their songs suited this full-on delivery I reckon, and the saxophone showed through a lot more live than it does on record. I am waiting for their 7″ singles to arrive, but from the looks of it we should expect a lot more good things from these lads in the future.

The Low Miffs – Cressida
The Low Miffs – Where Are Your Songs Now?

website | myspace | buy earl grey & also sprach shareholder

This lot are from Glasgow and there’s barely any information about them to be had anywhere. Therefore, condescending to fulfil the barest and most meagre of requirements of anyone who might describe themselves as any sort of journalist I sent the lads a quick email asking for any more info and how things were getting on.

Leo sent back a response pretty sharpish that was refreshingly free of the sort of self-conscious arsing about that can be really quite irritating in many groups when doing what I suppose amounts to promotional work. Plain speaking and no bollocks – I do like Scotland sometimes. The music is a sprightly, jumpy indie-pop with plenty of pep and hook. At times in Also Sprach Shareholder they sound like the sort of band The Zutons wish they could have been. Newest song Cressida is pure joy – tortured indie wail without the tortured indie glumness.

They’re another one of those groups that lurch in and out of rhythms in a moment, incorporating rock ‘n’ roll, pure indie pop and a little bit of glam at times. The sound is embellished by saxophones and synths but the punchy guitar rhythms tend to dominate. It’s all excellent stuff and I really hope they get their album together because I for one will be buying it if they do. In the meantime there are a couple of 7″ singles which I have bought, and I recommend you do too.

The Low Miffs – Cressida
The Low Miffs – Also Sprach Shareholder

website | myspace | buy earl grey & also sprach shareholder

Here’s what Leo Condie has to say about the coming year:

Just recently we have been working with Malcolm Ross, we’re currently applying for funding (like, at this precise minute the form is printing!) to record an album with him. Originally we were going to release it through a london label but they have run out of money so we are looking for alternate ideas. The past 6 months has been mostly us writing new songs and relearning stuff since we changed bass player (something i forgot to change in the biog actually – James Murdoch is now Mike Fowler), listening to a lot of Phil Spector, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, generally just far too much 50’s music for our own good, as well as messing about with EMS Synths and being obsessed with Bowie’s Berlin trilogy (for only about the 100th time in my life).

The new material sounds really good and it’s very exciting working with Malcolm who is a legend and a gent, and makes a damn fine cup of coffee (black as a moonless night!). I think there are copies of both 7″s available (he said, knowing full well there are) from either the record label’s websites, so check them out. The singles did alright but neither label really had the money to promote them, though both did an admirable job in the circumstances.

We are getting a bit poppier these days, Cressida is our newest song and you will hopefully notice it is a bit more commercial (not in a bad way, i hasten to add) than stuff like Earl Grey, which is grand too, but I think we’ve always been trying to find the balance between commerciality and experimental and that is no bad thing, as i’m sure you’ll agree.

Best wishes
Leo

Now if ever someone seemed like a thoroughly nice chap and eminently deserving of success I think you will agree that it is this gentleman. And if you don’t go out and buy their singles then you should bloody well be ashamed of yourselves.

As an adjunct to my other post about being well and truly ready to finish for Christmas and basically being unable to concentrate at work, I thought I’d let you know what I actually am spending my time doing: Toad sketches!  How come I can concentrate on these but not real work?  Well these are fun and something new and for me, I suppose.  And when I am supposed to be doing something sensible it’s surprising how fascinating even the silliest things can become.   Anyway, I’ve not coloured them in yet, but I thought I’d share these with you because I am finding this all rather enjoyable.

1. Toad playing with his records:

2. Toad has an accident with his gramophone.

3. Toad opens his Christmas present.

4. Toad makes time for his nearest and dearest.

5. Toad gazes rapturously at a picture of the lovely Mrs. Toad.

See, told you I’d been wasting my time.  Actually, I did most of those yesterday evening anyway, so it’s not too bad.  I quite like these though, now I just have to find a way to integrate them into the site.  Official Song, by Toad wallpaper anyone?

A couple of recent MySpace discoveries, with happy links:

Maxwell Panther I know I’ve only just posted about him, but I am really, really liking his rough demos.  There’s a really satisfying grumble to them, and the songs are superb.
Maxwell Panther – Down and Insideout

Jake Flowers You might remember my review of his EP with the Carol-Anne Showband earlier this year.  Well I loved that and by the sounds of it I am going to love his new EP Fireworks, which will be available in the new year.
Jake Flowers – There’s a Storm Coming

The Low Miffs Only just found out about these guys today, but they’ve got some Drowned in Sound love and been on Vic Galloway, so I appear to be a little slow once more.  Good though.
The Low Miffs – Cressida

Kottarashky Bulgarian dance music.  I kind of like this.  I have no idea why, because it really isn’t my kind of music, but it’s pretty cool I think you’ll agree. The mix of traditonal music with the dance stuff rather does it for me.
Kottarashky – Chetiri