Song, by Toad

This podcast is sort of like the Clustercast should have been.  I haven’t actually listened to it yet, so I don’t know if it’s any good, but it sort of felt better, somehow.  It isn’t anything like that incoherent and garbled anyway, which is a relief.

We spent the day collecting for the lifeboats, along with some excellent help from our pals Dylan from Blueback Hotrod, Neil from Meursault, Ed from 17 Seconds, Dave, Michael and the Stormettes from The Stormy Seas and Morgan from, erm, Glasgow.  I have to point out how important their help was as well.  It’s easy to talk a good game and then to pussy out at the last minute, but despite the fact that both Neil and Ed had other things on today, everyone made the time to come down and help out, which is bloody good of them.  We collected a fair chunk of cash – Mrs. Toad’s pretty blonde colleague collected the most, rather predictably.  Maybe we need fewer beardy alt-folkies and more hot babes next year.

Enjoy the podcast, then; we’ve got a lot of nautically-themed songs this week and could have had even more.  There are loads of songs, and we had far more on the list before trimming.  It’s a bit out of control, this podcast, but actually I think it’s quite good.  Dylan’s roving reporter slots are just… well, they’re just.  They’re just. That’s what they are.  Experience them for yourself.  Good luck.

Toadcast #67 – The Wuzzlecast

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01. The Pogues – The Ship Comes In (05.57)
02. Sad Day For Puppets – Big Waves (09.07)
03. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (17.44)
04. James Yorkston – Sir Patrick Spens (26.22)
05. The Second Hand Marching Band – Not Yet (38.40)
06. The Stormy Seas – The Sea Wind (42.40)
07. Ute Lemper – Little Water Song (50.31)
08. Frightened Rabbit – Floating in the Forth (57.25)
09. Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians – The Wreck of the Arthur Lee (64.53)
10. American Music Club – The Song of the Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship (75.43)

For reference, here are some YouTube videos which inspired this podcast:

Remember my pals Celebrity Chimp who played at the Toad Records launch night, back in July? Well they have a very shiny new video indeed for their song Not a Man. It was directed by Alex Puigcerver – pronunciation guesses, anyone? – and is bloody brilliant. Their Chimp Nights in London look like they’re doing incredibly well, and there are rumours of an EP release in the not too distant future.

MySpace video doesn’t embed on Wordpress unfortunately, so you’ll have to click here to view it, but have no fear – it will not be a wasted trip. For those interested, here is a demo version of the original song:

Celebrity Chimp – I’m Not a Man
Celebrity Chimp – Pornstar

In other videographical news Love.Stop.Repeat, who played a private pre-opening party at the Bowery, Ediburgh’s splendidest new venue, the other week are back to play the actual opening party on Saturday. They have a mini album available from Fence Records (currently sold out, but more available here shortly) about which I was initially a little ambivalent. Their performance at the Bowery was so lovely, however, that I am now revisiting the record, and I think I was far too hasty. It’s really rather lovely and you should buy one as soon as they make some more.

Anyhow, they have a video blog on YouTube about their trip to Edinburgh and Anstruther last week, which includes footage of the Bowery show and an excerpt of an excellent Neutral Milk Hotel Cover. Watch enjoy, then come and see them on Saturday.

Love.Stop.Repeat – Secrets & Slumber
Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

A bit like my recent discovery of Jeffrey Lewis, I get the impression there will be a collective howl of disbelief from my readership that it is only now, in 2008 and at age 32, that I have finally, for the first time, listened to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel.

Virtually every band I have ever liked cites them as a formative influence, Alela Diane put one of their songs on her session podcast, Julian from The Young Republic has waxed lyrical about them to me for about half an hour, and somehow I just never quite got around to listening to them. Don’t ask me why. I think I tried it once ages ago and have some vague memories of music so hushed it was just a little bit featureless, which doesn’t seem to correspond in the slightest to what I am listening to now. Not even close – it’s odd.

More or less everyone I know not only knows but loves this album as well, and do you know the only reason that I finally got my shit together and listened to it? Because Neil from Meursault dowloaded it onto my computer without asking and then insisted.

And, of course, I’m loving it.  Of course I am – if half the bands I love are as influenced by Neutral Milk Hotel as they say they are then it’s almost inevitable that I like them as well.  I don’t know where I got the impression that they were boringly gentle, either.  It’s weird how you get these weird impressions of bands – I’ve been hearing about them for so long that I kind of accidentally built up this little cluster of impressions around them, mostly, it seems, plucked from thin air.

It’s funny to hear an album like this for the first time; ones which have inspired so many of my favourite artists.  I hear so many elements of groups I love drifting in and out of the music – Beirut, The Decemberists, all sorts.  Given the slightly nasal, pained vocal delivery and inflections of trumpet and violin embellishing a  good, direct guitar strum I suppose it is hardly surprising that this sounds so familiar.

Odd how things like this sometimes take so long to finally knock on the door and properly introduce themselves to you.

Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Neutral Milk Hotel – Communist Daughter
Neutral Milk Hotel – Ghost

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Hello and welcome back to the Toad Sessions. I was a little drunk when I noticed that Alela Diane was playing in Edinburgh as part of the Triptych Festival, so the idea of emailing her label and inviting her to do a Toad Session didn’t seem quite so preposterous. In the morning, I thought I was mad and would be laughed at, but amazingly they agreed, and now here it is.

This one was also recorded by Nick at Bananarow and he’s done another amazing job – the songs sound absolutely gorgeous. Dylan’s pictures can be found at the Flickr page, and we have some more videos at the Song, by Toad YouTube page. Here’s the interview podcast, with the tracklisting at the bottom of the page.

Toadcast #30 – Alela Diane & Mariee Sioux Toad Session

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Here are the sessions tracks themselves. The Cuckoo is a traditional song, and Dry Grass & the Shadows is from Alela’s new album which should hopefully be out later this year. Mariee’s songs are Flowers & Blood from her recent album Faces in the Rocks, whereas the gorgeous Icarus Eye is an old song from a home release.

Alela Diane – Dry Grass & the Shadows

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Alela Diane – The Cuckoo

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Mariee Sioux – The Icarus Eye

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Mariee Sioux – Flowers & Blood

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Here are the videos, all hosted at the YouTube page. Again, the interview is going to have to go up later because I seem to have entirely lost Morgan, my resident editing expert, so I’ve had to cobble these things together myself. I am going to work on the interview movies as best I can, so they should hopefully be available in a week or two.

01. Alela Diane – Dry Grass & the Shadows (Toad Session) (04.51)
02. The Shaky Hands – Summer’s Life (08.36)
03. Johnny Cash – I See a Darkness (11.45)
04. The Holy Modal Rounders – Hesitation Blues (20.42)
05. Neutral Milk Hotel – The Communist’s Daughter (24.10)
06. Mariee Sioux – Flowers & Blood (Toad Session) (26.07)
07. Hem – Half Acre (32.29)
08. Bonnie Prince Billy – No Bad News (41.41)
09. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Twistification (46.05)
10. Vashti Bunyan – Glow Worms (53.35)
11. Mariee Sioux – The Icarus Eye (Toad Session) (58.10)
12. Alela Diane – The Cuckoo (Toad Session) (62.56)

Well I hope you like these. The next session is going to be with local band Meursault, and will be the first one to be recorded in Toad Hall. Very exciting!