I do try and avoid shilling for the label on this blog, because no-one wants to read a twice-daily sales pitch, but I reckon it’s okay to have a look forward at what we’ve got planned for the year.  That’s what the new year is for, really, isn’t it?

So I’ve got a nice big release schedule drawn up, just like real record labels do, and honestly it scares the shite out of me.  I can pretty much plan out my free time for the whole of the next twelve months just looking at it, but there are some great releases in there.

By the end of 2010 we are going to have a back catalogue to be bloody proud of, honestly, especially when you consider that we had only been a record label for about a month at this time last year.

That picture, incidentally, is a somewhat butchered (sorry Annie) version of one of four gorgeous photos on this blog taken of the two new Meursault 7″s.

Toadcast #102 – Song, by Toad Records

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01. Trips and Falls – We Were Like Strangers Today (05.30)
02. Maxwell Panther – My Ex-Identity (09.02)
03. Cold Seeds – Leave Me to Lie Alone in the Ground (17.19)
04. Jesus H. Foxx – This is Not a Rental Car (26.43)
05. Animal Magic Tricks – Smallish Hooves (29.35)
06. The Savings and Loan – Virgin’s Lullaby (36.36)
07. Inspector Tapehead – Sugar on Your Sheets (40.02)
08. Loch Lomond – Holiday (48.25)
09. Meursault – What You Don’t Have (Live on Fresh Air Radio) (58.34)
10. Nightjar – Sweet Annie Lee (66.56)

This is the second of today’s introductions to other projects by people in Song, by Toad Records bands.  Nightjar’s The Moth Trap, Toad Records’ first full release, was the work primarily of Andy McKay of the now sadly deceased Celebrity Chimp, and an Edinburgh gentleman by the name of Jack Richold.  Nightjar itself was just a one-off project, but Jack of course has continued to work on his own things since Andy moved to London.

One such project is The Sea is Salt, which is a partnership between Jack and a young lady called Faith, whose voice I found so incredibly beautiful on Jack’s own recording of Lady of the Calico, which I originally knew as a Nightjar song.  She sang backing vocals on that particular song, but with The Sea is Salt her voice is front and centre, and fucking hell she can bloody sing.

The musical backing is so spare as to be barely there half the time.  There is a little acoustic guitar, some piano, a little fiddle, but not much else really.  Jack accompanies on harmonies as well, but again, not all that much.  In general this music takes things out, rather than leaving them in there, to leave Faith’s vocal as by far the dominant feature.

For someone who is as talented a violin player as Jack there is surprisingly little violin on The Sea is Salt stuff, but I always like a band who can resist the temptation to throw the kitchen sink at recordings.  I’ve included Bears below, because it’s really rather different from the rest of the songs on their MySpace.  I’ve heard earlier recordings on there which were also quite abrupt departures from the dramatic vocals of the likes of Deloris and Kennoway and Star, so I thought I’d pop it in here to give you more of an idea of their range.

If I were to look for slight caveats to my enthusiasm, it would be that there are times when they threaten to become just a little too dramatic for my personal taste, but I don’t know enough about their wider repertoire to really say.  It’s not the most significant of quibbles though, because even at their most grandiose I still really like their songs.

Whatever way you look at it, this is a very long way from Nightjar, but it’s really good, and I am somewhat surprised not to see these guys on a few more bills around the capital.  But then, to do that bands often need to be a bit pushy and forward and I don’t know Faith all that well, but Jack is such a quiet, easy-going guy that I can’t see him exactly being a master of self-publicity.  It’s a shame though, because I think a lot of people would like this.

The Sea is Salt – Vinegar Hill

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The Sea is Salt – Bears

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And for those of you who have forgotten the version of Lady of the Calico mentioned above, it’s here.  And fucking gorgeous it is too:

Jack Richold – Lady of the Calico

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When we were out in Italy on our holidays Mrs. Toad and I had very few CDs with us but one of them was an Uncut compilation of prison blues and murder ballads which, amazingly, given the very promising subject matter, really wasn’t very good.  In fact, it was rotten, so I’ve made a podcast based on the self same concept, but with what I personally think are vastly better songs.

Most  obviously, to my mind, there were very few contemporary songs in there, and I thought that was a little weird.  Now, I actually think that the level of political commentary in popular music is just a little weak at the moment, but there are nevertheless some amazingly good prison and criminal justice-related songs to be had, and certainly some exceptional murder ballads, although I must confess that the most recent bit of genuine social commentary here pre-dates the 1990s by a couple of years.  There was probably more recent material I could have used, it just didn’t spring to mind at the time I’m afraid.

So here we have the Jailcast, complete with some largely incoherent ranting about politics and my own stupid fucking jail story which Mr.s Toad takes such delight in sniggering about at every available opportunity, the bitch.  It’s not that exciting, really it isn’t.

Toadcast #80 – The Jailcast

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01. Tom Waits – Jockey Full of Bourbon (02.05)
02. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Drunkard’s Prayer (08.37)
03. Pulp – Down by the River (16.14)
04. Bob Dylan & the Rolling Thunder Revue – The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (Live, 1975) (19.42)
05. The Pogues – Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six (31.36)
06. Bruce Springsteen – Vigilante Man (Woody Guthrie Cover) (39.33)
07. The Radiators – Prison Bars (43.34)
08. Enfant Bastard – Compilation Tapes (50.10)
09. Nightjar – The Hanging Tree (55.30)
10. Pete Wylie – Stay Free (Clash Cover) (60.49)

In advance of the official release dates for Song, by Toad Records things there has been a slow and steady trickle of good news from the media outlets to whom we have submitted our stuff.

We just found out last night that both Stuart Maconie and Gideon Coe have played songs from the Meursault album which is, frankly, fucking brilliant.

Is This Music? have given both Meursault and eaglowl records fantastic reviews, so massive thanks to both Ed and Brian for those.

Crack Magazine gave the Meursault album a really positive review (scroll down a bit) and eagleowl’s Sleeptide was featured in Word Magazine as one of the favourite songs on the office stereo this month, and were also featured by the Scotsman as one of Scotland’s best unsigned bands.

Apparently the Nightjar record is going to be the Single of the Issue in the next edition of Beatmag – ie at the top of this page – but I don’t want to jinx it by being prematurely delighted. Big thanks to Thomas for his enthusiasm – it’s much appreciated.

We’ve had some really positive blog reviews for the eagleowl stuff from The Next Big Thing, for Nightjar from Landcroft House, and for Rob St. John from Eaten By Monsters, so thanks to Brother Randall, Rob and Tom respectively for those.

I have to point out that the eagleowl and Rob St. John records are not Song, by Toad releases, just friends who we helped with their promo effort, in terms of mailing lists, envelope stuffing, some format advice and things like that. So I really don’t want to give the impression that I am trying to steal their thunder because I haven’t made a particularly big contribution to the success of either record. They’re both just friends, so I’m pleased for them, that’s all.

So, we’re nearly ready for the official release date of the Meursault album (at the Toad Christmas Party on the Friday 5th), complete with new, super minimal art packaging as designed by the band themselves (fucking art students), I reckon we should be a cool couple of million in the black by the end of… oh, stop it, you know what I mean.

Rob St. John – Paper Ships (Live Demo)
Nightjar – Poor Man’s Son
Eagleowl – Know By Now
Meursault – Nothing Broke (Demo)

Well we know that Andy – one half of the Nightjar songwriting team – is currently banjo-bothering in London’s finest satirical drums and banjo combo Celebrity Chimp, but what of The Other One?  The Other One is a certain Mr. Jack Richold and he was responsible for the more delicate songs on that album.

Well I met up with Jack for the first time the other night to discuss the Nightjar release and he gave me a four song demo CD of the stuff he’s been working on in the past year, including two re-recordings of songs on The Moth Trap.  I don’t know much about Jack or his music beyond the Nightjar stuff, but these are absolutely gorgeous.  It’s a similar gently hushed folk music to his contributions to The Moth Trap, so perhaps not for the punk rockers in the audience, but for those of you who appreciate this sort of thing you won’t find much better.  The re-working of Lady of the Calico is utterly beautiful, and that little bit of female vocal he’s added is a masterstroke.

Without having seen him play live there’s not much more I can tell you, but I promise to sort that out as soon as I possibly can.

Jack Richold – Lady of the Calico
Jack Richold – Mary Morri

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)

Just about the best band you’ve never heard of? Well unless you’re fans of the old Toadcast I would say almost certainly. Night Jar aren’t even a band, really, just two mates who locked themselves in their room for a fortnight and came out with a six-song EP that is, honestly, unbelievably good.

Andy Mackay is a friend of mine, assuming he’s forgiven me for being a drunken twat the night we were introduced, and was originally in an Edinburgh Bluegrass group called the Green Mountain Bluegrass Boys. They had a residency at The Left Banke, now Octopus Diamond, shortly to be defunct once more but The Bluegrass Boys decided to pack it in a while back and Andy teamed up with his pal Jack to record these six songs. Subtler than the Bluegrass Boys, presumably partly due to not having to consider the interests of a drunken late night audience, this is still a Bluegrass CD really, but also a terrific exploration of all of the staples of American folk.

Lynchings, lost loves, cowboys, ne’erdowells and small-town dancefloors are all evoked and the music is very much in the traditional vein. Ultimately though, with such strong songs it never sounds like a rote regurgitation of standard forms, just the latest additions to a classic genre from a geographically surprising place. They have no real inclination to try and make a living out of this to the best of my knowledge, and they may not thank me for sharing this with everyone, but I think it’s fucking brilliant stuff and if there are any label chappies out there willing to persuade them to go for it I think we’d all be very grateful.

“This old thing? Oh yeah, just something me and me mate knocked together last week, back at the flat.” There are professional musicians for miles around who’d sell their first-born for songs this good.

Night Jar – The Hanging Tree
Night Jar – Sweet Annie Lee

Night Jar on MySpace

It’s all gone a bit American this week, Toadlings. I have no intention of putting out a series of strictly themed podcasts, but it’s still early days and there are so many massive chunks of my music collection I want to poke about in that this may happen a couple of times before things settle down. So I started with a couple of vaguely American-sounding tracks this week and before you know it I ended up with a podcast with a definite Americana theme.

I’m quite happy with how it’s all turned out though, I must confess – a nice combination of classics and small, small bands, so the playlist is working quite well by itself. And actually handling the microphone is getting easier as well. I am quite liking this podcasting business, I’d say!

Toadcast #3 – With added Americana

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1. The Band – The Weight (02.16)
2. Hem – Half Acre (09.18)
3. Elvis Perkins – While You Were Sleeping (12.38)
4. Cherry Ghost – Mathematics (20.27)
5. The Holy Modal Rounders – Hey Hey Baby (25.30)
6. Night Jar – Sweet Annie Lee (28.30)
7. Caramel Jack – Lincoln Jackson Incident (33.45)
8. The Builders & the Butchers – Spanish Death Song (39.27)
9. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Ballad of a Thin Man (49.51)
10. Rick Redbeard – Blood (54.06)
11. Billie Holiday – Georgia on My Mind (59.26)
12. Night Jar – Big Black Horse (64.05)
13. Broken Records – Lies (71.45)
14. DeVotchka – The Enemy Guns (77.57)