This is called the Slowcast because there are so many songs and, more commonly, whole albums out there which I took ages and ages to get into, and for no really obvious reason.

There are several reasons, I guess: how familiar a sound is, your emotional state at the time, what your mates are listening to, how popular something is and stuff like that.  I know I’ve admitted plenty of times in the past that I have a habit of refusing to like things if they get too popular.  That sounds ludicrous, but it’s not exactly a conscious decision, more an instinctive recoiling.  I never have liked much popular stuff, although I do certainly go through phases.  Maybe that’s one of the reasons that, with the label, I am not looking to sign or work with the modern equivalent of a Top 40 band – I have never much liked Top 40 music.

Anyway, that’s not really the point of the podcast.  This is dedicated to those albums which for some reason you have to hear about a million times before you eventually, out of nowhere, realise that you love them.

Toadcast #72 – The Slowcast

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

01. Billy Bragg – Honey I’m a Big Boy Now (04.36)
02. Tom Waits – Goin’ Out West (08.37)
03. Radiohead – My Iron Lung (14.14)
04. The Mutton Birds – Envy of Angels (23.42)
05. Mancino – Definition of an Accident (32.26)
06. The Mabuses – I’m the Greatest (36.09)
07. Interpol – Obstacle #1 (43.31)
08. My Latest Novel – Wolves (49.30)
09. The Wedding Present – 2, 3, Go! (55.29)
10. Yo La Tengo – Big Day Coming (59.56)

What would have happened if Modest Mouse, The Arcade Fire and all their grand, experimental ilk had gone pop instead of indie? Well Mancino wouldn’t be far off it. They seem to take similar kinds of eccentricities and apply them to the sort of upbeat power pop (I really don’t like this term, but it seems to fit here) that can go so far as to even remind me of the likes of Ben Folds at times. They could even be what Architecture in Helsinki might have turned into if they hadn’t become quite so tense and shouty.

Basically, if you have the Arcade Fire/Architecture in Helsinki lot holding up one side of a bridge, and then the circus barker lunacy of Ice Cream Socialists and Man Man holding up the other, and then parachuted Mary Poppins into the middle of the bridge sporting a colourful, happy ELO-shaped pop umbrella then you may sort of get the picture. Or you may think I’ve completely lost it, either would be fair enough.

It’s not as full-on as any of the aforementioned acts, more a smoother more chilled out appropriation of similar influences, but it still takes a surprising time to get into. I heard the first track, thought I like it, didn’t, had a disappointed phase and then finally settled on really enjoying this. Greatest album in the universe? Well, perhaps not, but it is very good indeed and well worth a listen.

Mancino – Hetchie Hutchie Footchie
Mancino – The Anvil And Me

website | myspace | buy the album