eagleowl Toad Session from Song, by Toad on Vimeo.

Video: Vimeo – YouTube
Photos: Flickr – Blueback Hotrod
Audio: below

A large part of me thinks there should be an Eagleowl Interviewers’ Support Group.  They are some of the loveliest people you will ever meet, but getting them to talk is like trying to learn Kung-Fu in an afternoon.   I’ve been down the pub with these guys, so I know it’s not like they don’t have anything to say for themselves, it’s just that teasing it out of them with cameras and microphones present requires a black belt in interviewing people which I quite simply do not have yet.  Next time I will be prepared.  Possibly no more successful, but prepared nevertheless.

The music has come out beautifully, recorded by Neil Pennycook and Gavin Tarling, and mixed by Neil – eventually.  Dylan took the pictures, and I have a Song, by Toad set on our Flickr page, but Dylan’s full set can be found on his own site at Blueback Hotrod.  I’ve made videos of the songs themselves and there is of course the main video at the top of the page which gives a not-entirely honest and rather heavily edited impression of what the whole day was like.

The playlist for the interview podcast is at the bottom of the page and as per usual all the Toad Session recordings are available for free for you to download and generally do as you please with.  Hope you like it.

Toadcast #112 – eagleowl Toad Session

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eagleowl -Into the Fold (Toad Session)

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eagleowl -Blanket (Toad Session)

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eagleowl – Laughter (Toad Session)

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eagleowl – Sleep the Winter (Toad Session)

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Toadcast Playlist:

01. eagleowl – Into the Fold (Toad Session) (07.03)
02. Rob St. John – December & Whiskey (Live) (16.26)
03. Silver Jews – How to Rent a Room (19.31)
04. eagleowl – Blanket (Toad Session) (30.25)
05. Spokane – Proud Graduates (36.12)
06. eagleowl – Laughter (Toad Session) (49.21)
07. Adrian Crowley – Bless our Tiny Hearts (54.54)
08. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – The Willow Garden (57.34)
09. eagleowl – Sleep the Winter (Toad Session) (66.42)

Fear not, this isn’t quite as horribly overbearing as it could have been. The ranting is actually fairly under control, and the self-important pontificating not quite as reckless as it could so easily have been, partly because I wasn’t quite as liberal with the gin as I have been in the past.

The reason it’s called the Popecast is because of this amazing little story about Catholics in the States issuing death threats to a kid who took a communion wafer out of the church with him.  The hilarious PZ Myers then got involved, threatening to show them what real desecration would look like, and the pandemonium reached all new levels of shrillness.

The thing that really got my goat about all this was not so much that Catholics took offence, but more the level of the hysteria and the language of persecution.  It was honestly described as kidnapping and as a hate crime by various loonies, and there was nothing like enough ‘Oh fucking grow up and get the fuck over it’ being said.  People seem to be seeking all sorts of odd legal protections for their crazy superstitions these days, and I am flabberghasted that a particular kind of idea is being so fucking mollycoddled as to be deemed immune from criticism and contempt.  Come on, people, fuck your religious convictions and learn to deal with the fact that most of the planet thinks they’re crazy – and that applies to atheists as well.

Anyhow, I promise this doesn’t take over too much of the podcast, and that the music is given plenty of space to breathe.

Toadcast #33 – The Popecast

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01. Half Man Half Biscuit – Vatican Broadside (00.07)
02. Beck – Profanity Prayers (02.27)
03. Punch & the Apostles – Nouveau Gypsy (10.20)
04. I Said Yes – The Town Crier (15.07)
05. Albert Hammond Jr. – GFC (20.47)
06. Bonnie Prince Billy – So Everyone (23.51)
07. Tom Lehrer – Vatican Rag (33.53)
08. The Savings & Loan – Catholic Boys in the Rain (37.12)
09. Derek Meins – The Gin Song (42.57)
10. Holly Golightly & the Broke-Offs – Devil Do (48.47)
11. Ghostkeeper – Solid Gold (56.02)
12. Forest Fire – Fortune Teller (60.44)
13. Silver Jews – Strange Victory, Strange Defeat (70.22)
14. Sparrow & the Workshop – Magic Tricks (77.55)
15. The Just Joans – Hey Boy, You’re Oh So Sensitive (79.43)
16. Roy Zimmerman – Ted Haggard is Completely Heterosexual (85.41)
17. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Evening Mass (97.16)

And just for the fun, here are the two silly songs for you to download:
Tom Lehrer – Vatican Rag[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/TheVaticanRag.mp3]
Roy Zimmerman – Ted Haggard is Completely Heterosexual[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/RoyZimmerman-TedHaggardIsCompletelyHeterosexual.mp3]

I feel a little trepidatious reviewing an album by a group with such a pedigree, given I really know very little about them. I remember buying Bright Flight back in 2001, but I really never got into it so I kind of forgot about them, if I’m being honest. Groups like this, with their reputations and their all-star cast, are the sort that despite my generally reactionary nature, I feel I should like. It’s the kind of thing that tends to rear its head every time a new release comes around, and I find myself feeling compelled to feel something. Beck is a bit like that for me, as well.

So for all I’ve largely ignored the Silver Jews for years now, it’s always felt like a bit of a failing on my part, so I’m glad to be enjoying this new one. I’m not overwhelmed with joy or anything, but it’s a pretty good album. I suppose everyone knows better than I do what they sound like, but just for the record it sounds like classic alt-country, so archetypal in fact that it could be used as the epitome of the genre. There’s some rumbling Johnny Cash in the vocals and a lighter, more sunny roll to the music itself.

I wouldn’t describe it as jaunty, per se, nor is it particularly leaning towards that sort of West Coast pop that some people in this territory seem to employ. There’s just something satisfied and confident about the sound of it. I suppose when you’ve been on the scene as long as the likes of Malkmus and Berman then that might just come quite naturally. It’s nice though, and I’m sort of pleased I finally found a way to start to appreciate this band.

Silver Jews – Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer
Silver Jews – Strange Victory, Strange Defeat

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