Song, by Toad Records hereby release into the world what we reckon is going to become an annual free sampler, mostly as a free download, but with a few CDs given to local record shops and available at gigs as well.

The sampler is a combination of things we’ll be releasing this year, mixed in with a couple of things from 2011 and interspersed with a few brilliant moments from the late Kenneth Williams’ reading of the Wind in the Willows. Snippets from this reading litter my own weekly podcast, and inspired the name of the label in the first place, so it seemed kind of fitting to pop a couple on here.

You can download this little parcel of digital fun from Bandcamp for free, and we are sending out a few to our favourite record shops to give away as well, so if you want a CD either come to a Song, by Toad gig in Edinburgh or go to a record shop.

Tracklisting:

02. So the Wind Won’t… by Jesus H. Foxx
I’ve been waiting for their debut album through two years of ‘nearly theres’, but it is finally finished, it sounds brilliant and will be ready for release on 14th May 2012.

03. Twitching Stick by The Leg
Formerly Khaya, then Desc, The Leg are veterans of several Peel Sessions and several releases already, but have agreed to release their next album An Eagle to Saturn with us. Coming out on 30th April, this is abrasive as fuck, but definitely still surprisingly poppy, considering.

04. The Acid Test by Rob St. John
We released Rob’s debut album Weald on vinyl last year, and the response was so overwhelmingly positive we’ve decided to give it a wider release on CD too. Rob being Rob, of course, he’s already planning to record his second album, probably in our living room again.

05. Sorry by Waiters
06. Teenage Bloom by Dolfinz
08. Gay Marriage by Sex Hands
On the subject of recording in our living room, the Waiters, Dolfinz and Sex Hands tracks are from a split 12” (which will also include hotly-tipped* Glasgow band PAWS) all of which was recorded almost entirely live in the living room of our house by myself and Rory Sutherland from Broken Records. It’s sort of a compilation of some of my favourite underground, garagey (and frighteningly young) bands, and we’ve just had it mastered, so it will hopefully be ready for release in late March or early April.

09. A Mother’s Arms (demo) by Meursault
It feels like we’ve been waiting quite a long time for the third Meursault album too, doesn’t it. Well it’s finally done, and we are looking at a release date in mid-July, with a release night pencilled in for Saturday 7th July in the Queen’s Hall.

10. School (Toad Session) by The Black Tambourines
We recorded a Toad Session with these guys last year and immediately offered to release something. I’m not sure what it’ll be yet – probably an EP in the Autumn I would guess.

11. Lay Me Down by Yusuf Azak
From his unspeakably gorgeous second album, due out in 2012 sometime, depending on when I get a final master.

12. That is a Big Door! by Trips and Falls
From their second album, People Have to Be Told, released in September 2011.

13. Dead Golden Girls by Lil Daggers
From their self-titled debut album, which we released on vinyl at the end of last year.

14. Pinkening by Animal Magic Tricks
This was recorded just after 2009’s stunning Cold Seeds album, which was a collaboration between Frances from Animal Magic Tricks, Pete Harvey and Neil Pennycook from Meursault and Kenny Anderson from King Creosote. There still isn’t what you could describe as a finished version, but I am not giving up hope because it is a gorgeous album, even just as it stands at the moment.

15. Pool Attendant by The Japanese War Effort
This is from 2011’s Summer Sun Skateboard, and we hope to release another mini-album with Jamie in the Autumn of 2012.

16. Blue Overcoat by Lach
From 2011 vinyl album Ramshackle Heart.

18. Movies and Magazines by King Post Kitsch
A free dowload from kingpostkitsch.bandcamp.com After a year in Glasgow, Charlie has moved back down to London, and after his awesome debut The Party’s Over in early 2011 I am eagerly looking forward to new material.

*Yes, I know I said ‘hotly-tipped’, but honestly, they are, I’m not just copy-and-pasting from The Big Book of PR Clichés.

So, the new Trips and Falls album comes out tomorrow.  Or possibly today, depending on when you’re reading this. And it will be in lovely hand-printed Arigato packs, as you can see at the bottom of the page, with design by Chris from Brothers Grimm.

We’ve already had really nice support from the likes of Lauren Laverne, Gideon Coe, The Skinny and The List and, of course, because we’re so awfully fucking nice we are giving away a little bit more free stuff as an added inducement for you to buy the album (which you can do here, incidentally).

So as well as the free download of This is All Going to End Badly, which you will find below (direct download here), the band have also put together a fantastic animated video for Marginally More Than Mildly Annoying, the first free single from the album.

Trips and Falls – This is All Going to End Badly by Song, by Toad

The second album by Trips and Falls has already been described by The Skinny thus: “superb debut He Was Such a Quiet Boy was woefully underappreciated, and People Have to Be Told manages to better it”.

Personally, due to the internal machinations of the record industry *cough cough*, I have been sitting on this album for over a year now, and I would agree with The Skinny; it’s fucking brilliant.  It may not be quite as strange as their debut, but there is something more grounded and complete about it if you ask me.

It’s a little like Jonnie Common in spirit, I think, although the sound is totally different: no matter how odd some of the individual components might be, the music still emerges as pure pop.  Slightly creepy, unsettling pop, in this case, but pop nevertheless.  And to kick off three weeks of fevered anticipation* until the album is actually released we are giving away a taster in the form of a free download of the awesome Marginally More Than Mildly Annoying.  Enjoy, share, pass it round your friends and all the other things the internet is supposed to do to actually help music in the age of social media!

Trips and Falls – Marginally More Than Mildly Annoying by Song, by Toad

Oh, and if you want a direct download link for whatever reason, here it is. As I said, please feel free to share this as far and wide as you want to.

*Yes, yes, I know, but piss off, I am trying to create a sense of occasion here!

Snooze!  Yes, a genuine, proper weekend snooze was had this morning and it was fucking amaaaaazing!  I haven’t actually had the chance to lazily sleep in for fucking months and it was an enormous pleasure.  And not even a guilty one, because I genuinely don’t have to rush about being efficient today.  Awesome!

This week’s podcast contains a fair bit of plugging, I have to confess.  Not all for myself though.  I plug the Kurt Vile tour, Jonnie Common’s Deskjob as well as his new album, the new Oates Field album and the new album by The Leg.

Then, just for good measure, I also plug the upcoming Ides of Toad gigs, and two new releases on Song, by Toad Records.  I hope it doesn’t get too much for you, but I don’t think so, because all the songs are very good and hopefully you know me well enough by now to know full well that I don’t plug anything I don’t genuinely like.  So there.  Enjoy.  That’s an order.

Direct download: Toadcast #190 – The Snoozecast

01. Jonnie Common – Infinitea (00.21)
02. The Oates Field – Nae Luck (09.50)
03. Adam Balbo – Just Singing a Song (15.37)
04. The Leg – Twitching Stick (17.22)
05. Kurt Vile – IN/OUT Blues (23.40)
06. Easter – Damp Patch (30.03)
07. Trips and Falls – I Learned Sunday Morning, on a Wednesday (38.41)
08. Rob St. John – Your Phantom Limb (41.39)
09. Sea Pinks – Fountain Tesserae (46.47)
10. Tuesday Glass – Franklin (50.16)
11. John Knox Sex Club – Above Us the Waves (59.23)

The internet works in unusual ways.  I know Jon Rooney because he sent through his music (the excellent Virgin of the Birds) for review on Song, by Toad, then he happened to be in Edinburgh for New Year’s Eve a couple of years back and ended up playing a house gig at our place, and then sent us an email nudging us towards some of the best places in Austin when we were out for SXSW last month.

He also introduced me to Levi who writes Ball of Wax, and also curates the Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly, which is a compilation CD, in beautiful hand-printed packaging, of music Levi is especially enjoying at that particular moment.

He kindly invited me to submit some Song, by Toad Records music for Volume 23, and two of our bands (The Savings and Loan and Trips and Falls) ended up being selected, which is excellent news. So, please go here and purchase a copy, and many thanks to Levi for including us.

Apparently no-one visits websites anymore, because it’s all about the social media and so on and so forth, so I suppose most of you have already seen this.

In case you haven’t, however, I have uploaded a free Song, by Toad Records sampler to Bandcamp, with songs from some of our more recent releases, as well as a healthy dose of new material from the releases we have planned for the rest of the year.

Our release schedule is slowly filling up, as well.  Before a brief break for the Edinburgh Festival we have four-song 7″ releases by King Post Kitsch and Lil Daggers, we have Surrender to Summer by The Japanese War Effort on 10″ vinyl, and we have albums by Lach and King Post Kitsch.  It is going to be very fucking busy indeed.

So, before all that excitement starts I figured I might as well give away some free sweeties to get people excited.  And here it is, downloadable for free from Bandcamp.  Enjoy!

This is my annual World of Song, by Toad Records podcast, where I prattle on a bit about the stuff we have coming up in the new year.  I play a couple of things we released towards the tail end of the year, and some stuff by some of the new bands we’re going to be working with for the first time in 2011.

I also prattle on at immensely tedious length about the ins and outs of running a record label, which may or may not actually interest you at all, but it’s there whether you like it or not.

We’ve got plans for some changes for the new year as well, with a new imprint for the label being launched, and a partnership with the Brothers Grimm for the creation of new lines of merch to go with every release.  It’s going to be a bit exhausting, I think, but immense fun nevertheless.

Direct download: Toadcast #155 – Song, by Toad Records 2011

01. King Post Kitsch – Eggshells (00.21)
02. Animal Magic Tricks – Heavenly Bodies (06.31)
03. The Savings and Loan – The Virgin’s Lullaby (18.45)
04. Inspector Tapehead – Sugar on Your Sheets (22.00)
05. Rob St. John & the Braindead Collective – The Whites of Our Eyes (28.11)
06. Loch Lomond – Elephants and Little Girls (41.36)
07. Trips and Falls – This is All Going to End Badly (52.37)
08. Jesus H. Foxx – Plans (Alt. Version Demo) (54.59)
09. Meursault – Another (61.34)
10. Lach – I Want to Be With You (65.56)
11. Yusuf Azak – Lay Me Down (Demo) (76.49)

Okay, so today we start our lists.  I have made my own list of my top twenty albums of the year, but in all honesty I am still struggling to pare down my Festive Fifty to, er, fifty.  At the moment it’s more like a Festive three hundred and seventy six, which won’t do at all.  It is, as my father (and W.C. Fields) used to say, no use to man nor beast.

This is your chance, however, to put your five favourite songs of the year into the comments, and we’ll see who the readers of Song, by Toad have been loving the most over the course of the year.

And for those of you preparing for the Weekend of Alcoholic Annihilation next week, you might be interested to hear about something just a little bit classier happening tomorrow night, to which my pal Pete Harvey has asked me to give a quick plug.  And he’s a nice chap, so why not.  Besides I still nurture an intellectual inferiority complex about classical music which presumably stems from my traumatic childhood.

Saturday 11th December 2010, 7.30pm at the Canongate Kirk – Macmillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross & Byrd: Motets.

The Rose Street Ensemble with the Calton Consort – Conductor: Jason Orringe.
The Facebook event is here if you would like to investigate further, and a nice handy Google Maps link here.  And no, I doubt it’s that Jason Orange.  And no, of course he’s never heard that joke before.

So, we are all doing our five favourite songs of the year vote this week.  Last year I was quite bad about adding it up, but this year I promise to keep a running total (at least, of everything with more than one vote, anyway).  I can’t add mine because obviously I don’t want to jump the gun on my own Festive Fifty, but I thought I might revisit my top five songs from last year, and then sit back and do my sums while you let me know what has been exciting you the most in 2010.

Looking back at my top five from last year, I do notice a couple of Song, by Toad Records bands in there, and that is one thing which will be different this year: I am banning Song, by Toad Records bands from any of my lists.  It was fair enough to include them when we hadn’t released that much, but we’ve had a very busy year and so there would be a definite danger of the label swamping the list this year, and besides, I could hardly put one of our bands’ debut albums in the top five while another barely scraped the top ten, now could it?

So just take it as read that I love our bands the most and that if it weren’t for this ban, everyone else would be scrapping over tenth place at best.  So anyway, ladies and gentlemen, nerds and nerdettes, your votes please…

Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Shampoo

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Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt.2 (Single Version) (Buy on clear vinyl 7″ here)

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Navigator – Work is Done

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Trips and Falls – And In Real Life He Wears Corduroy Pants (Buy here)

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FOUND – Mullokian (Toad Session)

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Well, two and a half, really.  We recently concluded negotiations with Montreal’s Trips and Falls to secure the release of their second album on Song, by Toad Records.  And by negotiations I mean that there was a conversation on Skype, I said ‘hey I love the second album, can we release it?’ and they said ‘sure, whatever’, or something else equally arcane and hard-nosed.

Record labels are never as professional as people seem to think they are – usually just a couple of jackasses with more enthusiasm than money, soon to be deprived of both by the cold, hard indifference of a market obsessed with the X-Factor and a million shitty remixes of bands with awful fucking haircuts.

Anyhow, the one thing we really have going for us is the support of a really strong local community, and this means an awful lot, but also makes it a little tricky to introduce bands from outwith our immediate neighbourhood.  Trips and Falls’ debut album He Was Such a Quiet Boy would have been there or thereabouts as my favourite album of the year last year, only because they’d agreed to release it on Song, by Toad Records I didn’t think I could put the original self-release version at the top of my 2009 list.  The video at the top of the page (the half a video, because it’s so short) is something incredibly cool that Ian, their drummer, did for the first album, based on the artwork which was done by Chris Bryant, of Brothers Grimm and (formerly) Meursault fame.

Trips and Falls – Breaking Up With My Mormon Missionaries

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By the time 2010 list time comes around I will have decided I have to exclude Toad Records releases from these lists (well, would you like to tell your kids which one you love the best) so they will now never have a top album of the year on this site, which is fucking shite, because their records are superb.  Weird, I’ll admit, but fucking superb.  The new one has been sitting frustratingly in my music library all year, and the two wee home videos at the bottom of the post are nice teasers, but still only teasers.

Trips and Falls – That’s What She Said (Unmastered)

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It might be one of our first releases in 2011 I think, and due to the fact that people won’t be able to see them live, and won’t be able to pick up my enthusiasm as easily, it might be one of our most under-appreciated ones.  But I guarantee you one thing: it will be one of my favourites, for absolute certain.

Fresh Air, after giving its hard-working students an entirely deserved and not at all excessive four months off over the Summer, is back on the interweb airwaves this week.  And you know what that means, don’t you?  Yes, Ruth calling me names for an hour and a half while we play songs!  Hooray!  Kind of.

We’ve been off the air for ages, and I actually haven’t seen Ruth all that much in the intervening time, so it will be nice to have a chat and catch up, although I promise to try and do most of that whilst the songs are playing so as not to bore you too much.

Live from 8pm (UK time) – listen here.

The player on the page linked to above can be a little flaky, so just pause and un-pause it and that should sort it out.  Alternatively I am pretty certain you can find us on iTunes quite easily.  We’ll be updating the playlist live below as we go along, so feel free to chip in with comments during the show and we’ll… well, probably just tell you to piss off, really.

1. Meursault – Crank Resolutions
2. Jackson C. Frank – Blues Run the Game
3. Sweet Baboo – I’m a Dancer
4. Onions – I Want to be a Dancer
5. The Decemberists – Down by the Water
6. The National – Terrible Love (New Version)
7. The Driftwood Singers – Coco Ellis
8. Oz St. Fossils – The Jeweller’s Daughter
9. Trips and Falls – I Learned Sunday Morning, on a Wednesday
10. REM – I Believe
11. Ray’s Vast Basement – The Story of Lee
12. Pet Shop Boys – What Have I Done to Deserve This?
13. Sparta Philharmonic – Devotion
14. Nick Drake – Blues Run the Game