Song, by Toad

Oh for fuck’s sake. It just wouldn’t be a normal week without me making a colossal dickhead of myself would it? Well never fear, it may be late but it’s happened. I’m more reliable than the fucking sunrise in this respect, it would seem.

What have I done this time? Oh just gone and put my foot in my mouth again. Or, more accurately, clad myself in moonboots and jammed both feet in as far as they would go. The other week I was sent a PR email by a company called Sneak Attack, promoting the merits of a group called Computer vs. Banjo. It’s an odd name for a band, but the song was a good ‘un, so I asked for a copy of the album to review. I always ask for digital copies, because it seems more sensible in case I don’t like them. Deleting some files seems a lot better than throwing a CD in the bin, or even bunging it to your local charity shop.

Anyway, what I was sent, instead of a zip file or the much less common but occasional rar file, was something with an .sitx file extension. Eh? Well it’s frustrating, but what I had to say about it in the last podcast was perhaps just a teensy-tinsy bit over the top. Just maybe. Listen below:

Toad Being a Dick

Materially, it is true: if you send a song, send it as an mp3, if you send a compressed file send it as a zip file because these things open on any system, pretty much irrespective of software or setup. But I wasn’t, erm, charming was I? And what arrives in my inbox today but the following email from the poor lass in question:

I just listened to your podcast where you featured Computer vs. Banjo. First off I’d like to thank you for featuring them!
I have to say I’m a bit confused because the format we use to send music out in our emails is an MP3 link. And I didn’t send you a compressed file for the album — I offered to send you a physical copy and one is on the way to you, if you haven’t received it yet.
But I’m glad you like the track — and please let me know if there is anything I can do in the future to improve things.
Happy Friday!

Not a single remark along the lines of, say, ‘you fucking supercilious prick’ or anything even remotely admonishing me for, erm, well, acting like a complete penis, basically. In fact to read that email you’d think I’d got in touch by way of a polite phone call wouldn’t you? Don’t I feel like an arsehole. And, let’s face it, don’t I deserve to.

The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again

So, given my ranting tirade and her gracious-above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty reply, I think it is safe to say that I have had my arse handed to me on a plate on this occasion people. Ah well, time for a pint. And an absolutely enormous slice of humble pie. You, on the other hand, should be listening to the song that started all this off in the first place. Rather good, isn’t it:

Computer vs. Banjo – Give Up on Ghosts

There’s not much of a unifying theme to this podcast, but there are a healthy number of breaking tracks in the playlist, so I guess calling it the Newcast will suffice for want of anything more inspired.

There’s new tracks from the impending singles by Kid Canaveral and The Left Outsides, a good few new bands you’ve never heard of, a couple of JC’s selections for the Toad Records Launch Night and some of the tracks from the sampler that I gave away at the party itself.

There’s also the first Recorded and Produced by Toad song in the world: Fearing Lothian by Uhersky Brod.  The band are friends of mine and we used the Toad Sessions recording equipment to put togethera demo for them.  It’s the first time I’ve ever recorded anything, so I presume there must be all sorts of issues with it but, well, you’ve got to start somewhere.  It’s a cracking song, whatever I’ve ended up doing to it.

So I hope you enjoy this rather disjointed collection of songs, because for all the lack of any real coherence it’s a good collection of songs nonetheless.

Toadcast #31 – The Newcast

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01. Cinerama – Health & Efficiency (03.57)
02. David Cronenburg’s Wife – My Ukrainian Girlfriend (12.39)
03. The Ukrainians – Batya (Bigmouth Strikes Again) (16.14)
04. The Lucksmiths – T-Shirt Weather (21.34)
05. Porlolo – There is No I in Athens (26.22)
06. Uhersky Brod – Fearing Lothian (33.17)
07. Sparrow & the Workshop – Grizzly Bear (38.46)
08. The Futureheads – The Beginning of the Twist (43.24)
09. Kid Canaveral – Teenage Fanclub Song (47.11)
10. The Left Outsides – The Third Light (53.15)
11. King Creosote – Ear Against the Wireless (61.34)
12. Eagleowl – Blanket (64.50)
13. Rob St. John – Domino (72.22)
14. Les Enfant Bastard – Plastic Bag (79.27)
15. Dinosaur Pile-Up – My Rock ‘n’ Roll Demo (85.43)
16. Computer vs. Banjo – Give Up on Ghosts (95.06)

The missus and I got pished and did a podcast! Huzzah! It was a lovely Summery day on Wednesday and we sat out and had a meal in the back garden and then when it got chilly we came inside and did a podcast.

There’s not much of a theme this week because I can get a little bored of them, and from time to time it’s nice to just throw some tracks together that you like. And then get hammered and ramble on about them at interminable length. Sorry about that.

Toadcast #29 – The Summercast

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01. Lemonjelly – Nice Weather For Ducks (01.47)
02. Elbow – Station Approach (10.47)
03. The Eighteenth Day of May – Cold Early Morning (19.07)
04. Aberfeldy – Tom Weir (25.56)
05. Tiny Tim – Tiptoe Through the Tulips (27.47)
06. Uncle Moon – Pepper (34.41)
07. Lo-Fidelity Allstars – On the Pier (41.32)
08. The Boo Radleys – Find the Answer Within (48.17)
09. The Libertines – The Good Old Days (56.41)
10. The Undertones – Teenage Kicks (65.51)
11. The Von Bondies – C’Mon C’Mon (68.11)
12. The Builders & the Butchers – Spanish Death Song (76.41)
13. The Walkmen – The Rat (82.59)
14. Calexico – Corona (93.33)
15. Lloyd Cole – You’re a Big Girl Now (106.46)

Here we go folks, here’s the chance to get stuck in and give the blowhard a taste of his own medicine. You probably all know I record podcasts once every ten days or so, and I would imagine most of you don’t listen to them for the obvious practical reasons that a/ they are about an hour and a half long and b/ they are big files which take ages to download and a lot of space to store.

That said, they get plenty of downloads, so some of you must listen, although I have little idea why or what for. So here we go – I’ve been wondering some time quite how or why these things either do or don’t work for you so are there any things about the Toadcasts you either do or don’t like? Anything you’d change? Basically I am wondering about many things, but here are a couple of questions to prompt some thinking:

1/ Drunk or sober?  (Actually, I’m not sure how much say you’ll have in this one.)
2/ Balance of new music to more established stuff – about right or would you prefer more of one or the other?
3/ Would you prefer a fixed length of about an hour, or just see how it goes when I lay out the playlist?
4/ Is the chatter excessive?
5/ Themed/non-themed/do you care?

Erm, anything else? Not sure. Anything you can think of I guess – just throw it all into the comment section.

The Strokes – Ask Me Anything

Yes, another one. Mwah hah haaa. Lock up the kids, Campfires & Battlefields, because the Song, by Toad musical cuss-o-rama is back on air for more blethering, swearing, slurring and first class tunery.

Actually, I don’t think this one is anything like as good as the first, if I’m honest. It’s a bit over-long at fifteen songs so I think in future I’m going to limit myself to ten or twelve at the most, not least because my shitbox of a computer starts having a panic once I’ve stuffed that many audio files into a single project. So, fifteen songs then, with a bit of an emphasis on late 80s jangly indie guitar and containing one of the most brilliant ever drunken fuck-ups about three-quarters of the way through. Beware the horrors of letting your children turn into indie kids, people! So a bit too long, and occasionally too much inconsequential chatter, but we live and learn and the next one will be better, I promise.

Toadcast #2, the 80s English Indie One

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1. My Teenage Stride – Terror Bends (01.00)
2. Honeytrap – Let’s Do Naked Dancing (03.37)
3. The Mutton Birds – The Queen’s English (09.38)
4. The Veils – The Wild Son (17.38)
5. The 63 Crayons – Devils (21.40)
6. The Smiths – I Started Something (26.05)
7. Honeytrap – Death Before the Silver Screen (31.03)
8. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions – Morning is Broken (36.14)
9. The Indelicates – New Art For the People (41.57)
10. The Indelicates – Stars (45.51)
11. MJ Hibbett & the Validators – The Lesson of The Smiths (50.32)
12. The Specials – Guns of Navarone (55.02)
13. Echo & the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon (57.20)
14. Honeytrap – Mussolini’s Son (66.06)
15. Frank Turner – Heartless Bastard Motherfucker (73.25)