Song, by Toad

There’s almost a jazzy kind of ballroom shuffle to this record, the latest in a series of freely downloadable EPs from Seattle’s Virgin of the Birds.  I don’t quite know what I mean by that, but it’s the best way I can think to describe the pace and feel of Banquet Years.

I can almost picture Jon Rooney singing this stuff in a near-empty working men’s club which hadn’t been redecorated since 1972, dressed in a white tuxedo with a cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth.  Again, don’t ask me why, it’s just an impression.

It is indie music though, in the most generic (and hence borderline meaningless) sense of the term, but the laid-back basslines and shaky egg give the music a very louche feel, while the piano played like raindrops brings a little mystery, like the occasional glint of reflection from a badly-lit glitterball.

This series of EPs is an odd one, in the sense that they all retain their own identity, whilst still coming across as a single body of work.  It’s almost like they’re chapters in the same story, because whilst you could easily transplant any song from any EP to another without breaking anything, the way they are arranged definitely has the feeling of being the right way to do it.

Jon was a little despondent, when he played our New Year’s party (see video below), about the prospect of being able to sell enough records for it to be worth even making them, which is one of the reasons why these EPs are all free.  Personally, though, I think it’s a bit of a travesty in all truth, because these knock seven shades of shit out of a lot of stuff I’ve happily paid full whack for in the past and would happily pay for again.  Sometimes all the free this and free that in the internet age saddens me a little, because it seems to force artists into the position where they end up feeling they have to accept that that is all that their work is worth, which is blatantly not the case, particularly not here.

Virgin of the Birds – She’s in the Moon Again

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Hooray for us – possibly the vilest and least romantic Valentine’s Day Podcast yet!  And before anyone whinges about that picture, go to fucking Wikipedia and complain, because that’s where we bloody got it from.  I know!  Scandalous!  Someone should complain.

So erm, yes.  I don’t think we left anyone unoffended this year.  I sincerely hope not because I don’t like to think of people out there nurturing an anticipated false outrage complex only to be let down.

We do not like romance, we do not like being told when to have fun by people who are simply hoping to exploit our disposable income, we do not like it being implied that being single is some sort of failure, we do not like people measuring their self-worth by how much their partner can be emotionally blackmailed into spending on them, we do not like having to live up to commercially defined standards to demonstrate that we love one another, we do not like having to skip the football just cos we’re supposed to behave one some particular day or other, we do not like fucking teddy bears or fucking chocolates, we do not like sitting in tumbleweed-infested restaurants whilst people glance nervously around them wondering if they’ve done it right, and we do not like having a list of things to live up to before our relationship is considered functional thank you very fucking much.

We do like lazy Saturdays in the garden, swearing at the fire for twenty minutes trying to get it to light with damp logs, meals with friends, new places, listening to vinyl so loud the floor shakes, a bit too much to drink with people that we really like, laughing/shouting at films, arguing about the side of the bed, swearing blind it’s not your turn with the chores when you know damn well it is, drinking coffee in the garden when it’s sunny, slagging off almost everyone, shouting at reactionaries on TV, emailing one another stupid stuff all day, insulting the cat, surprise cups of tea, buying shit on the internet when we’re drunk, only coping with the washing mountain when it threatens to start a SARs epidemic, watering the plants mere minutes before death and walking hand in hand through the park and peering at cool old dudes chuntering around at the allotments or sailing model boats in the park pond.

Oh, and getting pished and recording offensive podcasts for Valentine’s Day… enjoy!

Toadcast #108 – The Boabycast

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01. Cracker – Mr. Wrong (03.10)
02. Billy Bragg & Wilco – Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key (09.57)
03. The Smiths – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me (17.11)
04. Eels – Love of the Loveless (20.16)
05. The Clash – Brand New Cadillac (29.40)
06. Bill Hicks – Pussywhipped Satan (31.41)
07. Evan Dando – Hard Drive (44.33)
08. The Coathangers – Nestle in My Boobies (48.11)
09. Virgin of the Birds – She’s in the Moon Again (59.10)
10. David Cross – Your Baby is FUCKING BORING! (65.59)

After Sunday’s Virgin of the Birds videos, these are the Broken Records songs from the New Year’s Eve house gig.  The stunning Aleko, above, is an exclusive (ZOMG!!!1!), and will be the b-side to their next single.

The lads have also begun work on their second album, which will be out on 4AD some time this year, presumably, and we were treated to an exclusive preview of a song from that album, but I am not allowed to show you that on the internet because it’s a secret.  See – that’s why you should come to the house gigs.

This performance reminded me an awful lot of Broken Records’ rather gorgeous Toad Session (the first ever Toad Session, in fact) because it’s not often you see Jamie with no more than violin to flesh out the sound.  In fact, they played If the News Makes You Sad and Wolves on New Year’s which also featured on that session, and I had a lovely little nostalgic moment all to myself.

For those of you who are interested, the rest of our videos (and there are an awful lot of them these days) can be found here.

On New Year’s Eve 2009, instead of fighting the crowds in the centre of Edinburgh, we decided to take it a little bit easier and stay back in the house.  By sheer coincidence Jon Rooney from Virgin of the Birds got in touch to say that he would be visiting Edinburgh and to ask if there was any possibility of doing something, like a live show or a Toad Session while he was over.  We were somewhat restricted by the fact that Mrs. Toad and I were only getting back from visiting the Toads -in-Law on New Year’s Eve itself, so we thought that a house gig would be the perfect solution.

Jamie and Rory from Broken Records also agreed to play, giving us a really strong lineup, and their videos will be going up later in the week.  We actually broadcast the gig itself live on the internet, and have now figured out how to do it using the really posh camera we use for the Toad Sessions, so in future the live stream should genuinely be worth watching.

These are the four videos we made of the Virgin of the Birds set.  The photos used for the titles were taken by Dylan from Blueback Hotrod, and the full set can be viewed over at his site.  Virgin of the Birds’ last two (brilliant) EPs can be downloaded from Abandoned Love Records, and their previous album can be bought there as well.  Enjoy.

Welcome to the live broadcast of the third Song, by Toad house gig.  This will go live from about eight or nine pm UK time on New Year’s Eve 2009, and there’s some sort of chat wotsit to be found here, which Mrs. Toad will be using for the duration of the gig.

To find out more about the bands, go to the respective MySpace pages for Broken Records and Virgin of the Birds.  The player is below the fold, because it slows the whole page down apparently, so to watch the click click on the read more thingy. Read the rest of this entry »

I suspect there’s probably loads of stuff going on in Edinburgh this week, but I am in the middle of France, and I will be cooking mixed clams with some fennel and Pastis and star anise in a moment or so, so frankly I can’t be bothered looking gigs up for you.  You might try this, if you’re really keen.

As far as I personally am concerned, there is only one real gig this week, and that is our New Year’s House Gig on the 31st (no shit, really, the 31st?).  Playing will be Virgin of the Birds and Jamie from Broken Records, both doing solo sets.

We’ll be getting the music on relatively early if we can, so that people determined to wrestle the masses at the fireworks up in town can do so.  Alternatively you can just cross the road from ours and watch them from Inverleith Park if you’re that fussed.   Also, Jon and Jamie are both coming for a bit of a piss up as well, so we don’t really want to keep them on the clock for too long if we can avoid it. Oh, and we’ll have the webcam active again, for those of you who want to watch on the internets.

Because it’s new year and because it’s our house, we’d really appreciate it if you could buy tickets in advance.  We aren’t a venue, per se, so it would help if we could have some idea of numbers and try and keep them under control.  I’ve no idea if it’ll turn out to be jammed or not, but we won’t let more than forty people in so do try and let us know if at all possible.

Broken Records – Wolves (Toad Session)

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Virgin of the Birds – Lessons Learned in Turkish Valleys

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36.Wild Beasts – All The King’s Men
The vocals are weird, but there’s something about a large chunk of this record which I find absolutely compelling.  I love Ben’s voice, for starters, and this song probably highlights it better than any other.

37.Virgin of the Birds – Ilona, You Should Still Be My Vampire Attendant
Quite apart from the weird start, this is just a song based around a single, simple, brilliant hook.  So infectious I simply can’t stop humming it to myself.  And he’s playing a gig at our house on New Year’s Eve, if you fancy seeing him live.

38.Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt.2 (EP Version)
Meursault releasing their singles so late in the year has really fucked with my lists.  I love Nothing Broke, and both of the Williams Henry Miller on it, but the single version just blows this clean out of the water and the poor little acoustic version has ended up exiled to No.38.  It’s non-lyrical vocal bits which make this – the sort of deflated sigh of dismal unhappiness in between verses – just brilliant.

39.Withered Hand – Providence
Erm, nothing to say about this actually.  It’s just ace.  Dan’s slightly peculiar lyrics, the borderline-Hawley guitar strums, the vocal harmonies… who knows what makes this song so good.  Like all his music though, it just makes you like the guy.

40.Timber Timbre – Magic Arrow
Spooky and weird.  That kind of describes the whole album, but the repeating bassline and the insistent rhythm give this one a sort of sinister purpose of its own.  One of the discoveries of the year, as far as my ears are concerned.

41.Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard – To be Ojectified
There are a lot of songs about ageing and mortality on Em Are I, but this is one of the saddest and most resigned.  It’s like a cross between a stream of consciousness and the gradual deflation of an airbed, and ends up being both maudlin and comforting.  Which is to say that the lyrics are a bit on the horrible side, but the delivery is sympathetic and warm.

42.Broken Records – Wolves
Broken Records (and many of my other friends, like Sparrow & the Workshop and Withered Hand) suffer a bit in this year’s Festive Fifty because many of my favourite songs on their album, like A Good Reason, were actually featured in demo version on previous year’s lists.  This song, however, did not, and is one of the highlights of their album for me.  By the time everything gets going it’s just a fury of a song, and cannot fail to remind of how brilliant these guys are on stage.

43.Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Tom Justice, The Choir Boy Robber
It’s an odd subject, and the story is almost as compelling as the music itself.  There was a bit more full band stuff on vs. Children, and I’ve heard older fans complain about this, but the drum beat and the repeated, yet unintrusive chime of the piano in the background of this song are both lovely.

44.Alela Diane – White as Diamonds
This is fucking stunning and would have been in the top five had it not been for those goddamned bastard cymbals, which time has done nothing to soften.  The acoustic Daytrotter version of this song is one of the loveliest things I’ve ever heard.

45.Broken Records – Out On the Water
Hmm.. am I allowed to include this, given it was out last year?  Fuck it, I love it when a band whose live set is mental and reckless suddenly slow it down and play something surprisingly gentle. Here this is performed live at the Bedlam Theatre early last year – bloody great:

46.Wild Beasts – Hooting And Howling
A bit like other songs of theirs on this list, I don’t know whether I love the vocals, the laid back but nevertheless quite danceable beat or that really nice guitar sound they have.  Cracking album.

47.The Leisure Society – The Last of the Melting Snow
The Leisure Society made a bit of a rod for their own backs with this song.  By virtue of its Ivor Novello Award nomination it shot a tiny band on a tiny label right into the limelight, and infortunately the rest of their material just didn’t cut the mustard.  The album was just plain weak, and I found myself forgetting about this song because of it, which is criminal because it is absolutely brilliant.  There is a reason it got them so much attention.

48.Jesus H. Foxx – I’m Half the Man You Were
For a band with two drummers and four guitarists to make such nuanced and subtle music is downright weird.  This is probably ‘the pop song’ from their fantastic Matter EP, and that head-nodding rhythm and the gorgeous vocal lead out make this one of my favourite songs of the year.

49.Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers – Beating St Louis
Shilpa Ray’s voice plus accordian.  Job done.  Honestly, for someone with pipes like these to be accompanied by the macabre accordian moaning which dominates this song is simply a cast-iron recipe for Toad-pleasing.

50.The Smiles and Frowns – Mechanical Songs
Another song which sound like it would be drifting around the abandoned site of a funfair which had gone horribly wrong, this song is from the band’s excellent debut, and also available on eminently desirable white vinyl 7″.  Buy one, and make your friends slightly nervous by playing it all the time.

Download the all these songs as a zip file by clicking here.

1-10 / 11-20 / 21-35 / 36-50

This new year Mrs. Toad and I will be avoiding the crowds in the centre of town.  We will be doing this for two reasons: firstly, because we’re a pair of antisocial misanthropes and second, because we will have a guest from the States who would like to do something musical.

The result?  The third Toad House Gig, this time going head to head with the nation’s most powerful promoters on the biggest party night in the world – bring it on, bitches!  Actually, we just wanted to avoid the mayhem in the centre of town, and this seemed to be a much more relaxed and congenial way to spend the night.

The gentleman in question is Jon Rooney of the excellent Virgin of the Birds, who have released two free EPs so far this year on Abandoned Love Records.  He will be playing, we will be filming, and it will all be broadcast over the internet as with the other house gigs, although hopefully in somewhat better resolution this time.

Also playing will be Jamie from Broken Records, with a solo acoustic set.  I’ve not seen Jamie play a stripped down set since he very kindly played a couple of songs at the first Toad Christmas Party last year, so I’m really looking forward to this.We’re going to make sure the music goes on fairly early, so anyone who wants to go on somewhere else for the fireworks (which you can see really clearly from Inverleith Park, just near ours, assuming the weather’s nice) can get there in plenty of time, and also so our musical pals can do some serious drinking of their own if they want to.

As usual, we’ll be asking for a fiver from each of you in order to pay the artists.  All of this goes straight to them, so you needn’t worry about your hard-earned cash being siphoned off by an unscrupulous parasite like myself.  And we’ll even treat you all to a glass of champagne at midnight too, if you like.  As it’s New Year, and as we really have no idea of numbers, I’d really like it if you could buy your tickets up front on this one.  It could be really busy, but I’ve really no idea, although if we do sell out (40 tickets, max) then there will be no exceptions.  It is our house after all, and it could turn into chaos if we’re not careful.  Purchase link below, please shop responsibly.

Broken Records – Wolves (Toad Session)

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Virgin of the Birds – Lessons Learned in Turkish Valleys

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Just a meandering, pointless, chatty post, this one, bringing up some bits of news and so on and so forth.

Did everyone know that eagleowl have a new 7″ single coming out in December?  They’re having a launch party at the Bowery on Friday 11th December which we in Edinburgh should make sure we give the most fantastic send-off you can imagine.  Bring the Bowerettes flowers and postcards and letters and drawings and photos and anything you can think of to show them how much the place meant to you.  We should bloody well do that constantly for the next two months actually – fill the walls with messages which show how much we appreciate the work they did for us all.  There you go, there’s a mission for you that should keep you out of (much) trouble for the next little while.

As for eagleowl, they played a couple of new songs at the Withered Hand album launch, and they were gorgeous, so I am really looking forward to getting my grubby little mitts on this particular vinyl treat.

eagleowl – Sleeptide

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We have a few Toad gigs coming up over the next couple of months as well.  Maxwell Panther’s album launch will take place in the form of a house gig as soon as I can persuade him to get on a train and come on up to Edinburgh.  I am hoping to persuade Dan from Withered Hand to play too, but the swine hasn’t answered his phone for a while, and his phone seems to have voicemail turned off.  Bloody caller ID, if only mobile phones were more anonymous I could ambush him unexpectedly.

Maxwell Panther – Lost Soul on a Roll (That’s Me)

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Then there’s the Toad Christmas Party at the Bowery on the 12th December, with Meursault, Jesus H. Foxx and the usual open-mic nonsense beforehand.  Rory from Broken Records has promised some violin-and-loop-pedal madness during that bit, which I am well looking forward to.

And finally, a gentleman called Jon Rooney who records as Virgin of the Birds is going to be in Edinburgh over New Year and we will be arranging a house gig for him around the 31st or the 1st.  Personally, I think it’s likely to be on New Year’s Eve, but planned to be over early enough for people to get off to other places for the actual New Year itself if they want to.  I’ve invited Rob St. John to play as well, as he’ll be around, but he’s still sorting out his plans for that time of year, so it’s not sorted just yet.

Do you think a house gig/New Year’s party is a good idea?  Or would everyone rather go up the town and get smashed?  I like the idea personally, but I’m flexible if everyone reckons it would be terrible.

Virgin of the Birds – Baby Let Me Trace You

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More really good stuff from Virgin of the Birds, whose previous EP I reviewed only recently.  The plan is to release regular free EPs over the course of the next year or so, which is bloody good news for the likes of you and I.  Once again they flirt with pop songs early on, whilst keeping the rest of the EP fairly downbeat and bare-bones.

It’s funny to note that once again he starts with the pop stuff, before slowly easing matters back to a more measured stroll.  Spanish Accusations has a nice and simple, carefree piano rhythm running through it, giving it a bit of a gentle skip, but by the time The Serpent Plume brings things to a close everything has dissolved into the lazy haze of Summer afternoon.

The interplay of the organ, piano and shuffling guitar is beautifully judged on this EP.  The piano makes rare forays to the surface, becoming prominent only here or there after the first song, but the eccentric little dance it plays at the end of You Love it Loud is a delight.  I would say that it was the crucial instrument on this album, but that would be insulting to everything else.  The gentle rhythm of the shaky egg and acoustic guitar in tandem is really nicely done too, and the organ is just as carefully used, which makes for a really well-balanced recording, in my opinion.

If there’s one thing I have to say about this it’s that I’m really surprised it’s being given away for free.  Add a nice hand-printed sleeve, and this is easily worth five pounds to anyone.  It may not be insistent or aggressive, but it’s really good stuff, and manages to be a lot more effortless than a great many other bands who are a good bit more famous.  This is one of those records, much like Every Rival, which just exudes confidence and solace, the kind of comfort which waits for the hysteria to die down and then quietly steps in a sorts you out when you most need it.

Jon himself will be visiting Edinburgh around New Year, so if anyone would be able to book a live performance, I think that would be a really good idea.  I’d do it myself, but Mrs. Toad and I will be away unfortunately.

Virgin of the Birds – Baby, Let Me Trace You

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