Song, by Toad

[This week’s Sunday Supplement has been provided by Euan ‘Steinberg Principle’ ‘Kays Lavelle’ ‘Trampoline’ McMeeken, and turns Matthew’s own review of an important local release on its head. Don’t forget if you’d like to see a Sunday Supplement of your own published here, just email us at sunday(at)songbytoad.com. All contributions welcome!]

Before you all get a weird sense of déjà vu, no, you are not caught in time warp.  You’re not going back to the future.  You’re simply reading my review of ‘The Winter of Mixed Drinks’ by Frightened Rabbit as opposed to Matthew’s review that he wrote the other day.  We spoke about this idea the other night and thought it’d be an interesting thing to do: I’d be reviewing this record for my blog anyway so we thought, if my opinion varied greatly from his, it’d be interesting for me to write a review which, in a way, responded to his.

I should make it clear that in undertaking this exercise I’m not just looking for a fight.  I personally think Matthew is one of the most engaging and best music writers out there in Scotland at the moment.  That’s the main reason that I continually read his blog and shun the lifeless and soulless drivel published in many music magazines these days.  However, at the end of the day, what makes music, and indeed a music blog, so interesting is when a piece of music can divide opinion so greatly.

Unlike many on the blog the other day I point blank refuse to pat Matthew on the back for his review of this record.  Sure, it takes balls to say what you think, but I’d expect more from him than “this is awful.”   I think, and hope, what he meant by that statement was that, in the context of Frightened Rabbit’s previous 2 albums, and what his hopes were for this record, this record is awful.  Not that he genuinely thinks this record falls into the awful category because simply put: this album is far from awful.

But is it good?

My answer to this is, in terms of song quality, yes it is.  ‘Things’, ‘Footshooter’, ‘Not Miserable’, ‘Living In Colour’ and ‘Yes, I Would’ are as good as anything that they’ve done before in my opinion.  I believe there’s enough quality songwriting on this record to justify a much more positive review than it received from Matthew earlier in the week.  With the exception of ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’  – which I do believe is awful commercial garbage –  this is a really good record.  It feels more like ‘Sings The Greys’ in terms of style and, for me, that can only be a good thing.  Whilst The Midnight Organ Fight captured the hearts and minds of most people who love this band, it’s their debut that still makes me smile most.  The frantic pace and rawness of that record is, at times, just sublime.  And there are moments on this that remind me of that record.  The ending of ‘Skip The Youth’ echoes, in a way, the end of ‘Square 9’ – Matthew, if you don’t hear that then please play them together and realise your wrong about this tune.

Sure, there’s a much lusher sound to this record.  A much bigger production.  But really, what do you expect from a band on their 3^rd album and with the resources available to them?  Of course more money will be spent.  Their music has always lent itself to a sweeter, lusher sound – just compare albums 1 and 2.  I would have preferred if this record had the rawness of their debut as it is what got me hooked into them in the first place but the same applies to TMOF.

Anyways, I’m determined not to let production affect my opinion of the record.  It’s not something I ever used to bother about – until I started reading this blog actually – and it ruined my enjoyment of the Broken Records album, even though the quality of songs on that record clearly speak for themselves.   I guess ultimately everyone has personal taste when it comes to production and it’s easy to let the production of a record distract you from the overall quality of the songs.  It is important to many, I’m not denying that for one second, but, and I never thought I’d say this, I completely agree with Rampant Chutney Consumerism (it really does hurt to say that) in that, if the songs are good then they are good and will shine through no matter what.

There are no instant hits on this record, like there were on The Midnight Organ Fight, but as a piece of music I genuinely think it’s a good follow up and a strong record.  It’s certainly not awful.  I guess at the end of the day you can’t please everyone though.  They didn’t please Matthew.  They have pleased me.  Like he said though, I’m sure they don’t care either way.

[There were a couple of songs to be included in this post, but give I already have two tracks from this album available for download I didn't think I could include these - don't want to give too much away for free, sorry - Matthew]

Right, I know this is list season, and I know that an overload of lists tends to result in distinct list fatigue, as well as spontaneous cries of  ‘Who FUCKING CARES if you think Amnesiac is better than Rocket DIY or not?’ but fuck it, why not.  It’s like making mixes for my parents around Christmas time.  Yes it’s predictable, but fuck it, it really has become part of the season by now so why not.

Anyhow, I will be compiling my own lists, and releasing them over the Christmas week, give or take a bit.  I’ve even taken up Euan’s gauntlet and decided to have a go at a Best of the Decade list, primarily because things have been awfully light at Proper Job recently and I suddenly found myself with the time.  It’s far from deeply thought-out, but even in its current form it seems like a fair enough representation of which albums have made the most impact on me over the last ten years.

So, just to give you a bit of advance warning, the Friday Fives for the next two weeks are going to be your chance to chip in with your five favourite songs of the year (this Friday) and your five favourite albums of the year (next Friday).  I’ll compile them all and add them up and announce the official winners at the end, so if you care enormously about your opinion being validated on the internets, it might be worth getting your mates to vote too.  Otherwise, just have your own say and be done with it.  Honestly, I will be very interested in the results.

So there you go, that’s three days warning.  Get listing, people, and lets hope that music is the big winner on the day, eh. Barf.

Crash Test Dummies – There is No Final Winner

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I know it’s the run up to Christmas and the New Year, but there will be no Best of the Decade lists on this blog, no sir.  The reason?  Well, for fuck’s sake, I’m just far too fucking lazy!  Christ almighty, no disrespect to the people who have the energy to do it but I wouldn’t even know where to begin raking back through all the albums released in the last ten years, never mind starting to filter them into some kind of sensible order.  Madness!

So if anyone wants to ask me I’ll shrug and say ‘I dunno, fuck it, probably Kid A or A Ghost is Born or Funeral or Lyre of Orpheus or summat like that I guess’.  Probably.  I think.  Perhaps.  I mean, I find it hard enough to balance my year end lists as it is, trading off the immediate glow of enthusiasm still retained by albums released in the last month versus the more distant memories of those out in January.

Spread that over ten years and Christ Al-fucking-mighty what a task.  I mean, I was a totally different person back in 2000.  And again in about 2002, and 2004.  I moved up here halfway through the decade and suddenly became not just a fan but a reviewer and a promoter as well – fuck’s sake my whole relationship with music has been completely changed over the course of the decade.

The albums I listened to whilst working in a shitty gangster nightclub in Manchester in 2000 did something totally different for me than the ones I listened to in the giddy excitement of my first days with Mrs. Toad where I was thinking ‘fucking hell, this really is it, isn’t it’.  Imagine comparing Withered Hand’s superb Good News, which has been in existence for a mere handful of months, to a record like And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out by Yo La Tengo, which I have listened to in good times and bad for the last ten years.

I know this is the case over the course of a single year as well, but the magnitude of it seems a little more manageable.  It also seems less grandiose a statement, too ‘my favourite album this year’ seems a little more hedged and modest than ‘the best album of the last decade’, which seems like it should be in capital letters or italics or have a load of bloody exclamation marks after it or something.

I know that’s missing the point somewhat, of course.  Lists are just for fun, really, and largely for the entertainment of the people writing them, although also to a lesser extent for other people too. It’s just a bit of fun, and kinda fascinating to look at how, say, Wilco’s A Ghost is Born and the Willard Grant Conspiracy’s Regard the End would probably be on my list, despite never being an ‘album of the year’, whereas Nux Vomica by The Veils might not make the list at all, despite being my top pick in 2005.  It’s also fascinating to try and figure out where albums by your friends, like the Meursault record for example, might stack up when held up against the likes of Kid A or The Sunset Tree by The Mountain Goats or Clem Snide’s Your Favourite Music.  How do you even make that comparison fairly?

I don’t mean to criticise anyone who has compiled such a list of course – Euan has done a fascinating one over at the Steinberg Principle for example, and fair bloody play to him (page 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5) – but I genuinely don’t think I would even know where to begin.  I have my lists of course, but what about the records which didn’t make those lists?  I think I may just have to write off the last ten years as the decade in which I became the person that I am today, which had a lot of good music, and which will forever remain in a memory rather than a list.

Eels – Guest List

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[After his highly successful stint Toadsitting while we were away on holiday, Euan returns to write what is going to become a monthly column in our new Sunday Supplement section.  You can find more of his stuff on his blog, at his gigs or with his band, so please go and have a sniff.]

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.”

This quote is taken from the film Almost Famous about a young music fan who, by accident, ends up on the road with a rock band, documenting their every move for Rolling Stone magazine and living out his wildest dreams. It’s still one of my favourite films, if for nothing else, the legendary Tiny Dancer moment, possibly more to do with Kate Hudson though. Anyways, the quote above is at a point in the movie when Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character Lester Bangs is giving advice to a naïve and young William Miller about music, musicians, journalism and ultimately life. It became quite an important statement in my life, firstly because I am highly uncool. And secondly because sharing music and wanting to involve everyone in the music I love has, over the years, become the currency in which I deal most. Mix tapes for the ladies that I had a fancy for. Mix CDs for friends, force-feeding them the music they didn’t know, or love, but in my head should. Sharing a love of music. It was important when I was 15 and is as important today as it was back then. Fuck, lets be honest, we’re all using this site ultimately because we share a love of music and not for the witty remarks of the likes of Matthew and Dylan! It’s one of the best feelings when you share music and people get it. It’s what makes it great being a musician and also writing about music which you love.

Recently Mr Toad (another highly uncool individual I should add) reviewed a gig by Willard Grant Conspiracy. I made a comment on his site that I had never heard anything by this artist, though I knew of them and felt that he was an artist which I would love and should know more about. As a result, Matthew made me a cd of what he considers to the finest moments of Willard Grant Conspiracy or, if you prefer, an introduction the music of the artist. Whilst I was babysitting songbytoad during Matthew’s holiday to Italy I did an “introducing” piece on Elliott Smith as Mr Toad had little knowledge of the man. I guess the Willard Grant Conspiracy cd was his way of returning the favour. And I’m glad he did. There’s a bit of Richmond Fontaine in there, a large chunk of Nick Cave and a nice little touch of Sparklehorse. All mixed together to produce Willard Grant Conspiracy.

But ultimately, this is not a review of Willard Grant Conspiracy or the mix cd Matthew made me. No, this is more about the brilliance that is sharing music. Sharing musicians you love. Just sharing. So, I’m going to encourage you all to write a piece about your favourite artists. How you came to love them. What it is that makes them so special to you. Anything you want, about anyone you want. And I’m going to ask you to send them to me at trampolinemusic@gmail.com Whilst I don’t write full time for Matthew, I do have my own blog over at The Steinberg Principle and I would like to publish the pieces sent to me as a series of “Introducing” pieces. So yeah, if you find a spare 5 or 10 minutes in your day, if you’re bored at work, or if you actually just like this idea, send me your thoughts and I will post them on my site from time to time.

As pretty much all of you know, Mrs. Toad and I have been away on holiday in Italy for the last couple of weeks.  In our absence Euan (from The Steinberg Principle, Trampoline and The Kays Lavelle) very kindly agreed to write Song, by Toad for me (and for you) to make sure things kept ticking over in our absence.  In this he was ably assisted by Bart (from, erm, eagleowl* and pretty much every other band in Scotland), assisted by Dylan (from Blueback Hotrod) and rescued by Tart (from Love Shack, Baby).

Apart from merely thanking them, which I genuinely do, I wanted to say what a fucking great job they did.  I knew Bart would do a fine job of the Monday listings because, before he packed it in, his Magic Marker listings page was always the first page I checked before writing my own.  Dylan’s general oversight was much appreciated as well, particularly as he wrote Toad himself for two weeks last year, so it was really nice of him to supervise generally, and provide training and the Friday Fives.  And Tart, thanks for stepping in and sorting out the filehosting issue, it really is much appreciated.

Most of all, though, it really has to be said and said again what a fantastic job I think Euan did with the site.  He and I agree on a lot of music, and disagree on a lot as well, and I think he was a little concerned that he might in some way alienate my readers by posting slightly off-message stuff.  Honestly, I think that was actually the strength of his choices.  From my perspective, and hopefully from yours, it felt a little like a fresh breeze in a dusty room – I actually thought it was brilliant that he posted slightly different stuff and gave everyone a change.

I also appreciate how much of a community we seem to have, that people are willing to donate their time for no real benefit to themselves and help out, and that really the whole site didn’t skip a beat in my absence.  I’ve been trying to think of ways to broaden the participation a little on this site, but have always been a little nervous of loosening the reins, and this was a really good sign that this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

So thanks so much guys, Euan in particular, it really was appreciated and I thought you did a superb job.  And for those of you who want to read a little more, please go and check out Euan’s blog, because it really is worth reading.

And while we’re at it, congratulations are in order to Dylan, who has parlayed what began as ‘helping out with some pictures for the Toad Sessions’ into a first paid photography gig.  Go here to have a look.  They aren’t all his, just “most of the good ones” to quote the man himself.

Maximilian Hecker – Sunburnt Days

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And just to show you that things really are back to normal:

* Bart, you should know that it pains me every single time I have to respectfully decline to capitalise the name of your bloody band.  Every damn time.