Song, by Toad

Before you break out into a cold sweat about having to sit through another list of the best albums of the decade, don’t worry, this is not one of those.  Although most of these songs would be there or thereabouts if I were actually compiling a favourite songs of the decade list, that’s not why they’re here.

Basically, rather than try and rank anything against anything else, all this is is a meander through the last ten years and me chattering about how my relationship with music has changed and what sort of stuff I was into at what times of my life.

Basically, this is the soundtrack to a perfectly normal, albeit enthusiastic, music fan’s descent into full-on deranged internet mania.

Toadcast #99 – The Decade

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01. Eels – A Daisy Through Concrete (04.09)
02. Goldfrapp – Pilots (10.04)
03. Grandaddy – The Crystal Lake (14.17)
04. Lift to Experience – To Guard and to Guide You (23.13)
05. Interpol – NYC (30.46)
06. Tom Waits – Kommienezuspadt (34.57)
07. The Decemberists – Red Right Ankle (40.41)
08. The Walkmen – The Rat (44.06)
09. The Mountain Goats – Dilaudid (51.20)
10. Broken Records – Lies (Demo Version) (57.07)
11. The Savings and Loan – Christmastime in the Mountains (64.11)

Well the Funkcast was probably about as gentle a ‘tell me about this genre’ podcast as you’re likely to get.  This, on the other hand, is not gentle.  I suppose it was never likely to be – there’s only so gentle an introduction you can give to this kind of music.

Basically, I was becoming increasingly curious about the number of alt-folkies I know who come from heavy metal backgrounds.  Loads of my friends here who I know because we all listen to indie rock or alternative folk or all sorts of things inbetween seem to have been really into metal when they were young.  This doesn’t entirely make sense to me because I see very little connection between the two kinds of music, and for so many people to have made that transition it must be a strong connection.

Then, of course, it turns out that loads of people whose music I listen to – alt-folk, once again – also grew up listening to metal.  The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie and, more locally, Dan from Withered Hand and Neil from Meursault.  So, having been round at the house doing artwork for their single releases I asked the Neil and Chris from Meursault and Matthew who helps out with the label to put together a metal podcast.  It might not be quite as pleasant to cook your bacon sandwiches to on Sunday afternoon, but erm, well I never made any promises with these bloody podcasts anyway – just deal with it, we’ll probably be back to the alt-folk next week.

Toadcast #91 – The Metalcast

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01. Half Man Half Biscuit – Vatican Broadside (0.00)
02. Withered Hand – Takeaway Food (05.03)
03. AC/DC – Whole Lotta Rosie (13.17)
04. Slayer – Jesus Saves (17.25)
05. Mount Eerie – Wind’s Dark Poem (24.21)
06. Nirvana – School (35.13)
07. Dinosaur Jr. – On the Way (37.50)
08. Lightning Bolt – Ride the Sky (42.59)
09. Richard Cheese – Rape Me (47.47)
10. Children of Bodom – The Trooper (53.50)
11. Meshuggah – Autonomy Lost (57.05)
12. The Mountain Goats – No Children (62.01)
13. Anal Cunt – You’re Old (Fuck You) (73.27)

Hmm, given my slightly patchy relationship with the Mountain Goats (I love some albums, like some, am not that fussed by others, but I don’t really know their music all that well) and given the general mumbles of ambivalence from the faithful which I have heard accompanying this release, I was prepared to like this record an awful lot less than I do.

Heretic Pride and I only partially connected, and I had sort of expected that to be that with this band.  They were very much established by now, they weren’t particularly young anymore and they had scored a couple of borderline mainstream hits recently.  Time, in other words, for squishy, over-produced re-treads of old territory for the next three albums and then a comfortable enough retirement.

Concept albums also give me a bit of a twitch.  They can occasionally be brilliant, but more often are just a little contrived – a point stretched just slightly too far to fit the original idea.  The title of this album and the titles of the songs themselves should tell you all you need to know about the concept underpinning this piece of work.

It doesn’t start particularly brilliantly either.  Samuel 15:23 is a little plodding, with thudding drums which give the song a rather heavy step and seem to hold it back a little.  Psalms 40:2 is good, but then Genesis 3:23 is the sort of annoying Mountain Goats pop-lite sound which publicity people tend to send out to bloggers because they think it’s the obvious pop song.  Which it is, but it’s no way to market a band like this.

No, The Mountain Goats are at their best, in my opinion, when Darnielle’s voice rises to a nasal snarl of anguish.  Even though Sunset Tree was heavily arranged and very produced, that snarl was still in strong evidence on that album, and you can certainly hear it here on a few occasions, which I am really happy with, because it’s been missing for a while.

Then at times he slows to a glacial pace; each exhalation accompanied by the barest touch of piano.  Genesis 30:3 accomplishes this with the most success, I think, although in general this is a pretty slow-paced record, so it’s a prominent technique of the course of the whole forty-five minutes.

I think there are probably just a few too many soft impressions of the Mountain Goats on this record for me to really get too giddy about it, but for the most part it’s pretty good actually, and a lot better than I was expecting.

The Mountain Goats – Psalms 40:2

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The Mountain Goats – Matthew 25:21

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There’s not been a Big Famous Album reviewed on this site in bloody ages.  Partly I’ve become so focussed on what’s going on locally that I have somewhat taken my eye off the ball with regards to bigger releases, even just those which are big relative to the small world of indie music.  And partly there have been very few which have tickled my fancy in the slightest for quite a while.

There are some bits and pieces coming along though which suggest that this might change in the immediate future.  And about time too, all this navel-gazing is no good for anyone.  Look outwards, I say, cast off the Tunnel Vision of the Toad and embrace the wider world.  Alright, sorry, but sometimes I get so deeply into my own stuff I do kind of forget that from time to time.  So what do we have?

The Twilight Sad: I have a naughty copy of this, to which I am not going to confess, and have only listened to it a few times through.  It’s out on the 5th October though and is currently sounding rather promising.  I wouldn’t say I was all that into it just yet, but then I only really embraced their last album a song or two at a time, so I am prepared to take it slowly with this one.

The Avett Brothers: Their sound hasn’t changed much, but then it never did, really.  Out on the 29th September, the title track from I and Love and You has been slipped out in to the world for us to enjoy and it is full of the exact same understated warmth which I love about this band.  I know I am morally obliged to hate them because they are on Columbia these days but if the whole record sounds like this then I may find my indie snobbery very difficult to maintain.

The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

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The Mountain Goats: Alright, I’ll say it: I thought Sunset Tree was their best album abd I have yet to hear anything by this band that I like anything like as much, despite their considerable back catalogue.  Heretic Pride was okay, and the new song Genesis 3:23 is also… okay.  Not at all bad by any means, but I would not describe it as any better than pleasant.  This one’s also out on the 5th October.

The Mountain Goats – Genesis 3:23

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Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs is out on Monday, which somewhat makes up for the fact that they seem to have been a little less generous with preview mp3s than everyone else.  But then, with a cast-iron reputation like theirs, why would they need to?  This sounds a lot like “…I Will Beat Your Ass” and I would say that I am enjoying it, but am yet to be blown away.  There are a few more moody, quiet numbers on this record as well, perhaps a little more in line with the likes of Summer Sun and the like than the previous record was.

Flashy Python: This is a solo project by a certain hand-clapping, yeah-saying gentleman by the name of Alec Ounsworth.  He, like Julian Plenti before him, is rather keen to keep his solo project free from associations with his band stuff, and has put the whole album up for preview here.  It’s less driven than early CYHSY stuff, and generally a bit more weird, but it sounds pretty interesting to me.

Flashy Python – Skin & Bones

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Micah P. Hinson: This just dropped into my inbox this morning, and I know nothing about it bar two things: firstly, that Micah P. Hinson is fucking amazing; and secondly that the artwork, pictured above, is bloody lovely.

Langhorne Slim: His new album Be Set Free isn’t being released until 26th October, but the new song sounds brilliant.  It’s called I Love You, but Goodbye and is a little plusher and more elaborate than his earlier recordings, but unusually, I rather like this.  The piano is especially gorgeous – a times eleborate, at times rich and sonorous and at times deft and twinkly.  This augurs very well indeed – I am excited.

Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Goodbye

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It’s about time the big(ger) boys fought back a little, frankly, but it looks like there could be some very promising recordings from some relatively high-profile artists coming our way this Autumn.

Helloooo people.  This morning the Toadcast comes to you from Leith.  There were beers and there was a fuckload of incoherent rambling, and it ran way over time but, erm, who really cares?

This week I went to visit my crippled friend Steven (v? ph?) Kearney in Leith and we recorded a podcast in his house prattling on about all the usual nonsense.  He got all jumpy about sound quality, omitting to notice the fact that the Toadcasts are the most incredibly badly recorded show on the interwaves.  Honestly, why would this week be the one single week it suddenly didn’t sound like shit?

Still, Steven has recently started his own podcast, leading on from his Fresh Air show Dylan and the Mule.  It’s only one episode down, but it sounds very promising indeed, so with a bit of luck there could be very good things coming from that part of the world this year.  Me, I just desperately need a sleep.  Night night Toadlings.

I will probably be gawping at the wonderful Cybraphon by the time you read this.  With a hangover.

Toadcast #81 – The Mulecast

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01. Withered Hand – No Cigarettes (06.56)
02. Buster Fantastic – Mess of Me (17.57)
03. Mountain Goats – Genesis 3-23 (19.47)
04. Kill It Kid – Send Me an Angel Down (29.07)
05. Joe Cocker – Dear Landlord (33.51)
06. Loch Lomond – Blood Bank (44.52)
07. Micah P. Hinson – Don’t You Forget (Parts 1 & 2) (59.24)
08. The Palace Flophouse – Until My Lungs Hurt (64.52)
09. Tom Waits – A Little Rain (78.17)

Yes, bitches, this Friday is no mercy day.  Not really sure why, but Yarrrgh and so on.  Actually this Friday might finally mark my DJ debut.  I have to confess that a considerable part of me wants to suggest just taking my iPod and sticking the fucking thing on random, but any committed Music Nazi is always going to be happy to force other people to listen to their choice of tunes, the only real question I have is what the fuck everyone else gets out of it.  So if you want to come along and point and laugh whilst I break other people’s equipment, then Sneaky Pete’s this evening is the place to come.

Mrs Toad is away, you know.  Another week of solitude to endure, and then the silly old bag is home again next weekend.  The street lights have just gone off, indicating morning, I believe.  So what, though.  Fuck you and your breakfast.  I actually don’t think I’ve eaten breakfast in about fifteen years.  It’s pretty fucking dark actually, so I’m a little surprised to see the council decided that tomorrow has arrived.

Erm, so I’m going to be at work with a colossal hangover and an air of desperation, hoping for the weekend.  You, on the other hand, are going to illuminate your day by participating in the Song, by Toad Friday Fives.  I don’t care that you’ve never taken part before, and I don’t care that you might not necessarily have anything side-splittingly witty to say.  That doesn’t matter – just chip in and then go for a pint to celebrate the latest in a long sequence of weekends.

1. DJs – can you name a good one, or are they basically just a hairy version of the random function which takes a shit occasionally?
2. What is your normal breakfast?
3. Hve you ever DJd anywhere other than your own party?
4. Do you actually like the music they play in nightclubs or do you just go in order to drink more and maybe pull some pointless old skank?
5. Who do you think actually does like the music in nightclubs?

The Smiths – Panic

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The Pierces – Boring

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Clem Snide – Your Favourite Music

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The Mountain Goats – Dance Music

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R.E.M. – I’m Gonna DJ

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This morning I have no plans.  Nothing to do, no gigs, no chores, no work to do on the house, nothing – it’s great.  I’ve been outside to the garden and had a potter… actually, let me tell you about our garden.  It’s some rock ‘n’ roll shit, babies, seriously.

When we moved into our house our back garden was basically a courtyard.  I have always had lots of plants and my family is full of gardeners, so we saw that courtyard and had only one thought on our minds.  So we bought a ton of compost and a sledgehammer and, of the course of last Summer, took up slabs one at a time, dug in some good stuff and started to take it back.

It’s been a bit backbreaking, but quite fun wielding the sledgehammer, and now we have a couple of pretty decent sized beds and what’s left of the patio in the middle.  It was mostly planted last year with very young plants, largely ordered from internet nurseries, so there’s a lot of bare earth.  Everything’s had a year to bed in and put down some roots though, so this year we’re hoping for a bit more in terms of growth – we reckon we might just have a proper garden.

So every weekend for the past month we’ve woken up on Saturday morning, poured some coffee and wandered out into the back to peer and prod at our ever-increasing number of little shoots and buds.  There’s something so exciting and satisfying about this time of year in a garden.  All the dea, brown stuff starts to sprout tight-wound little buds of new life, and the whole thing just promises so much.

We’ve not done it the right way at all, in the sense that we haven’t planned it properly and we have no real idea what we’ve put in where, but that doesn’t matter.  We’ll see what we get this year and tinker as we go along.  It’s just nice.  There’s something so relaxing about shuffling around the garden with a cup of coffee gazing at the exact same stuff you stared at last week.   I’ll take some pictures this year and post them so you can see what I’m on about.  It’s not all coke and hookers in the world of rock ‘n’ roll, you know.

So, erm, what songs go with that, then?  Saturday afternoon music, I suppose.  You know what I mean: cup of tea, pyjamas, slightly weak March sunshine, flicking through a book, but not really paying much attention.  Bliss.

The Mountain Goats – You Or Your Memory
The Mabuses – Dark Star
The Smiths – Frankly, Mr. Shankly[
(The Real) Tuesday Weld – At the House of the Clerkenwell Kid
The Innocence Mission – I Haven’t Seen This Day Before (Live)
Adem – Everything You Need

I am but a casual Mountain Goats fan, so this review might end up sounding like depressingly vacant populism to hardened fanatics. I have no desire to fall foul of the hard-core fans actually, because this happened to my pal Coxon from To Die By Your Side and they are clearly a bit mental. Apparently Mountain Goats fanatics refer to themselves as Goaties, and oddly enough the direct translation of the Dutch slang for goatee – as in the beard – is ‘talking cunt’. I don’t know why I mention this. (It’s worth reading his post actually, because Coxon deals with the crazy comments better than I think I’ve ever seen. “Are you flirting with me?” Priceless!)

Actually, as a long time Mountain Goats fan he finds the album kind of disappointing. I, as a more casual fan, do not.  I first encountered John Darnielle when The Sunset Tree was released in 2005.  It took a while to sink in, but I love that album.  After that I dug back into earlier releases, but I never found Tallahassee or We Shall Be Healed to be as musically varied or, ultimately, as satisfying.  Get Lonely, released a year after Sunset Tree was so low-key and melancholy that I found it tricky to actually dig the individual songs out.

So actually, I find the renewed vigour of this record to be a massively welcome change.  The musical playfulness of Sunset Tree isn’t quite matched, but matters are far less one-paced than can occasionally be the case with Mountain Goats records.  Tracks like In the Craters on the Moon and Lovecraft in Brooklyn are downright venomous, which is a relief.  Darnielle is a very wounded, emotional songwriter and the crackling loneliness can be a little overwhelming, so these releases are much needed.

Funnily enough, I went to San Francisco for a day or so for work reasons a couple of years ago and as I walked the city all I could think was that this was John Darnielle contry.  It seemed odd, but I almost looked at the city through his eyes, as if it were actually his, somehow.  I know that’s a slightly meaningless aside, but his music is like that.  It’s so unprotected and so open that you barely get the impression there is so much as a sliver of a barrier between the writer and the listener, which makes his presence so much more dominant in his songs and perhaps explains the slavering devotion of the sort of fanboys who made a nuisance of themselves at Coxon’s site.

I’ve sort of lost track of myself a bit, there, haven’t I?  Well suffice to say that although I don’t quite elevate it to the status of Sunset Tree, I think this may be one of Darnielle’s best albums and if you give it time to seep in then you should genuinely love it.

The Mountain Goats – How To Embrace A Swamp Creature[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/TheMountainGoats-HowToEmbraceASwampCreature.mp3]
The Mountain Goats – In The Craters On The Moon[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/TheMountainGoats-InTheCratersOnTheMoon.mp3]

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