In many ways this actually feels like the first Young Republic album. Their debut, 12 Tales From Winter City was essentially a compilation of earlier self-recorded EPs and as such was more of a cobbled together Best of So Far.

Then they released the Idiot Grin EP which just never really floated my boat, despite some excellent songs.  That mirrored a band going through something of a rough time – losing members, internal strife and all sorts – which didn’t seem to stall them as much as it might have.

They kept touring through all this, and it was on seeing them live in Edinburgh last year that it became clear that for all the pain of the transition itself, these ructions would probably prove to be good for the band in the long run.  If you want to hear their take on, just listen to Tough Year (Hard Waltz) at the end of this album.

So, a year and a new album later, where are we?  Well it all feels right, that’s for sure. Unlike with Idiot Grin, they sound like a band in the right place, just for themselves as much as anyone else.  This album has a unity and a purpose which suggests that they have embraced the band they have become, rather than the band they might once have been.  Having seen them excel live I am tempted to suggest that they probably worked that out on stage as much as anywhere else; they are a great live band, after all.

It’s difficult to describe it in many ways, given it’s sort of a roustabout collage of various strains of Americana and rock ‘n’ roll all stuffed into the same package.  There’s definitely a  rock sound to the backline, there are gourgeous dramatic flourishes added by Kristin on violin, and Julian’s singing is bolder and more forceful than before.

The overall direction of the songs drift about between country and rock and some bits and pieces of other stuff as well, giving an album which is, as I said, something of a mish-mash of rock ‘n’ roll Americana with lots of different nuances to the overall flavour. Some of the songs stray too much into that rock sound for my personal taste, I must admit, because it’s just not a style of music that I’m all that keen on.  But then there are brilliant songs on here like The Alchemist, Sam Clemens, Tidal Wave and the superb title track.

It’s a really enjoyable album though, and for all it may have been a rough road for the band in getting here, I hope they think it’s worth it because it certainly seems that way to me.

The Young Republic – The Alchemist

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The Young Republic – Sam Clemens

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The Excast is so named because I am playing a lot of people’s former bands.  There’s Shane MacGowan’s Nipple Erectors, Phil Chevron’s Radiators, Shilpa Ray’s Beat the Devil and Billy Bragg’s Riff Raff.

I concentrate so much on new music these days that I often decide whether or not I like a band on the basis of a handful of demos, maybe a single, sometimes a debut EP, stuff like that.  And of course, bands don’t stumble into the world fully-formed, it takes some of them ages to become brilliant, and a lot of the time the initial forms of a band can be really strange, presumably because the people in question were still casting around a bit for their sound.

So there’s a bit of that here, but it’s not all that rigid a theme, and the playlist is a bit messy but, erm, well never mind.  There are some great songs, so enjoy!

Toadcast #96 – The Excast

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01. Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers – Beating St. Louis (04.07)
02. Beat the Devil – Plea Bargain (11.09)
03. Bright Eyes – Neely O’Hara (19.56)
04. Richard Hawley – Naked in Pitsmoor (26.16)
05. The Young Republic – The Alchemist (33.20)
06. Construction & Destruction – The Signal (41.24)
07. The Nipple Erectors – Nervous Wreck (48.34)
08. The Radiators – Walking Home Alone Again (50.39)
09. The Pogues – Lorca’s Novena (56.37)
10. Riff Raff – You Shaped House (63.33)

This week marks the start of the Fresh Air broadcast, which is splendid news.  There will be a launch party in the Teviot on Tuesday evening, to which anyone fond of drinking, acting the arse and falling over is invited.  Ruth from the Bowery and myself will be doing a show every week on Wednesday between 7pm and 8.30pm, and are hoping to have a band live in session every week, if we can.  It’ll have to be pretty stripped down – anything which will translate well to really simple acoustic should do the trick – but I think we can make it pretty interesting.  It will be a lot quicker and dirtier than the Toad Sessions, which will be good, because I’ve been wanting to find a way to do something a bit less involved for a while.

The only significant problem I can see is that Ruth has a nasty habit of badly upstaging me.  She did it on my Fresh Air show last year and on the bloody podcast this year, and if she starts doing it on a regular basis this time around I don’t know if my fragile ego will be able to take it.  There may be tantrums, there may be bawling, and there may be a considerable number of toys a very long way from the pram in which they belong.

It’ll make for bloody good radio though!

So, apart from car crash broadcasting and gallons of cheap (state sponsored – woo hoo!) beer, what else is happening this week?  Well I’ll tell you.  Firstly, there’s a couple of gigs happening which I am not personally so keen on, but which might interest you: Miike Snow is playing Sick Note at Cabaret Voltaire, late but free on Thursday 29th, and Cold Cave are on the bill at Playdate at Sneaky’s on Saturday 31st.  Both are really rather trendy, so the cooler amongst you might be interested, but personally they aren’t really to my taste so there you go.  Mandex rating: tight to constrictive, particularly at Stinky’s.

Tuesday  27th October 2009: The Young Republic play in-store at Avalanche Records.

The Young Republic are touring their excellent (and shortly to be given the Toadly Treatment) new album Balletesque and although they were sadly unable to arrange an Edinburgh date, they are playing an in-store at Avalance at 5pm on Tuesday.  Their semi-orchestral, Western tinged indie folk pop has given way to a more dramatic, aggressive sound these days, albeit one which is a little more stripped down.  I definintely recommend this if the timing doesn’t make it tricky.

The Young Republic – Bows in Your Arms

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Friday 30th October 2009: Dry the River, eagleowl & the Bowerbirds at Sneaky Pete’s.

The Bowerbirds are a band I have a slightly up and down relationship with, since Campfires and Battlefields introduced me to them a couple of years ago.  They are certainly rather brilliant, at their best, but can be patchy in their recorded output, as far as I am concerned.  I’d still be interested to see them though, and eagleowl gigs are not to be missed in general.

Bowerbirds – In Our Talons

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Saturday 31st October 2009: Art Fag, The Leg & Our Ladies of Sorrow at Sneaky Pete’s.

Our Ladies of Sorrow play a Halloween Special every year, and I have never been, and there is absolutely no damn chance I am missing it this year.  They are basically an Edinburgh alt-folk supergroup (of sorts) and will dress up specially (but of course!) and soundtrack a compilation of horror movie clips.  I can only begin to imagine how weird that is going to be, but I am really looking forward to it, even if I do have to hop in a cab down to Leith the moment it’s over.

The Young Republic have been pretty quiet since the release of their debut album a couple of years ago.  That record was less of a coherent whole and more of a greatest hits collated from several years of self-recording, so it’s actually a miracle it hung together as well as it did, frankly.

In the intervening period the band have lost three members, released an EP and fairly comprehensively changed their sound.  It’s not been a smooth process, honestly.  They had already begun to drift away from the whimsical indie-pop which dominated their early sound before the departure, for a variety of reasons, of their flautist, drummer and pianist.  Since then they have continued to move further towards more of a classic rock sound, a sound dominated, for ease of explanation, by Bob Dylan’s legendary Rolling Thunder Revue.

The disruption in the band itself caused a fair bit of turmoil, because it wasn’t entirely amicable, and come the release of last year’s Idiot Grin, there was a definite sense of uncertainty about the band.  The new lineup seemed to have slightly unsettled them and the EP itself, despite containing some really good bits, was a little bit hit and miss – basically they were a band in flux and it came across very clearly in their work.

This is a year on, and that all seems to have changed.  I’ve been listening to the new album and although I can’t review it yet (not until it’s released is the guideline I generally follow) I can confirm that after casting around just a little, they seem to have found where they were going.  I’m not, as I said, going to get into a review of the whole thing, but there’s a real coherence about it as a piece of work which I really welcome.

So, in short, it looks like this could be a really good year for the band which, given I like them all a lot as people as well as musicians, is something I think is really good news.

The Young Republic – Black Duck Blues

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The Young Republic – The Wolf

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Hello, and welcome back to the slowly restarting new year of swearing and complaining here on Song, by Toad.  Don’t be too perturbed by the look of the thing.  This is not the final design, but as I am not a web designer it will have to do until I can figure out exactly what I want, lay it out properly, and then ask someone to code it for me.  That won’t be for a month or two though, so settle in for now and just ignore some of the crapper elements of the design – they won’t be permanent.

In other news, we have some splendid plans for 2009, so it should be another exciting (exhausting) year.  We are trying to get Meursault moving and arrange a couple of tours for them, which will be tedious.  We have a whole list of new releases for this year, including two Meursault 7″ singles, a split 12″ with the The Builders & the Butchers and Loch Lomond, the Loch Lomond album Paper the Walls is getting a UK release, Maxwell Panther and The Savings & Loan will be releasing records… and that’s just the ones we already know about.

In news more related to this site, rather than the label, we have Samamidon and The Pictish Trail now firmly booked in to record Toad Sessions before the end of January, there are plans to expand our coverage of Pickathon, Homegame and the End of the Road Festival, and of course increase the number of interviews and get a bit more video onto the site, as discussed in the previous thread.

So, I am not one for new year’s resolutions, but I am also incredibly lazy, so that’s what you’re getting for this Friday’s Favourites, as pinched from GUT.  If you want to suggest a Five at any point, just email me.  The music is taken from five of my favourite EPs from last year, as a sort of apology for not having a list on which they could be included.  I’ll try and put that right in 2009, but… ah, fuck it, that’s ages away.  Enjoy the new year, Toadlings.

1. Give us a new year’s resolution.
2. Recommend one for someone else.
3. Most anticipated 2009 release.
4. First gig of the year.
5. Suggest a quote for Toad t-shirt of the week.  T-shirt of the week you say?  Why yes, that’s just what I said.

Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – The Last Stanchion Goes Belly-Up

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The Avett Brothers – Murder in the City

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Passion Pit – Sleepyhead

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The Young Republic – Shiloh

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Over the Wall – Thurso

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Greeetings once more, folks, it’s that time of the week once more. At 7pm UK time I will be making my final appearance of the year on Fresh Air, Edinburgh’s student radio station. It’s my final one because I’ve been banned for all the swearing broadcast shuts down during the holidays, presumably because students have other things to do, such as go home to their families and such like.

I’ll be back on next year I would hope, and will make more effort to have guests on and generally make some interesting shows instead of just blathering on about bollocks, as I have been doing this term.

I will not be being over Christmassy, but I might mention a couple of my favourite albums of the year, and play a couple of very vaguely Christmas-related songs (like No Christmas in Kentucky – thanks DC!) and stuff like that, but basically this will still just be a normal Toad show, except without all the swearing with which you are all so familiar.  Below, just for fun, are two songs that will not be on this evening’s broadcast, but which very nearly were, just to whet your appetites.

That image, incidentally, when I fished it from a Google image search, was titled christmasballs which, for no really sensible reason whatsoever, made me snigger like a child.  Christmasballs.  Tee hee!

The Young Republic – Oh Snow

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Willard Grant Conspiracy – Christmas in Nevada

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Yes, another podcast dedicated entirely to the End of the Road Festival. I did the very same last year because I do rather love this festival, and the sheer quality of the lineup easily merits a podcast to itself.

Unlike last year, Mrs. Toad actually came with me this time around. We drove this stupid old 1960s VW camper van down there, and Christ knows how we didn’t die in the process. The fucking thing steered like a bathtub full of water, there were no brakes at all and the only crumple zone was us. The other disconcerting thing is the fact that VW campers are something of a community, so everyone who passed us in one would flash their lights and wave with the sort of sincere enthusiasm that made us mortally ashamed to be mere renters – mere passengers in a club full of such obviously devoted members, Christ we felt like charlatans.

Anyway, ignore our guilt and enjoy the podcast. There’s some fucking great music on this one. And why is it called the Deathcast? Because that blasted camper van we drove down in was an absolute death trap. Honestly, want to die in a nasty accident? Try driving a 60s VW camper van around the English countryside in the middle of the night in the pissing rain.

Toadcast #38 – The Deathcast

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01. Micah P. Hinson – Patience (03.17)
02. Nick Cave & the Dirty Three – Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum (09.41)
03. The Young Republic – Shiloh (20.19)
04. Over the Wall – Thurso (23.22)
05. British Sea Power – Carrion (29.40)
06. The Pictish Trail – All I Own (36.50)
07. Shearwater – Levithan, Bound (41.31)
08. Jeffrey Lewis – Do They Owe (45.50)
09. The Wave Pictures – Leave That Scene Behind (50.39)
10. Richard Hawley – Coming Home (53.21)
11. Calexico – Minas de Cobre (For Better Metal) (59.55)

Hmm, there are some interesting bits and pieces of Young Republic news floating about that I thought I might pass on, seeing as they are both a top band and really nice people.

You remember how I mentioned a while back that the move to Nashville had interrupted their flow somewhat and brought about some changes in the band.  MJ the pianist couldn’t settle in Nashville and losing their flautist resulted in the drummer going with her, so things were a little rocky for a bit.  Well Dusty Jensen has been on board for a little over six months, I think, playing the pots and pans and they have a new EP approaching quite soon.  They and the label are still deciding whether to put out the most obviously commercially appealing EP first, or its companion, a slightly darker, less jaunty affair.

So what do you do – there’s no point being willfully obtuse with the music press because their concentration span just isn’t that long.  But then, why not just release things how you would prefer to do it and commercial stategy be damned.  Let’s face it, who likes what and why is a pretty random equation and not one that is really all that easy to second-guess.  My advice would be to fuck it and go with what you’d rather do, but then if anyone gave a shit about my advice then they’d be paying me to give it to them, wouldn’t they.

Anyway, there’s a recent session with the band up on The Futurist at the moment, which is the blog associated with WOXY.com.  There’s an interview and a couple of session tracks to download, one of which I have reposted below.  I’ve only re-hosted it because I am guessing that the WOXY chaps would prefer that to hotlinking, but if you’re from WOXY and want me to take it down then just say so.

The Young Republic – Third Night Balcony (Live on WOXY – full session here)
The Young Republic – Blue Skies

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It’s been a great year for The Young Republic.  They’ve gone from three years of constant gigging through their university years, to being signed to a small but fairly upwardly mobile record label in End of the Road Records, to a well-received debut release, to touring across the States and the UK.

But despite the shiny exterior there have been hiccups, and recently rather a lot.  They parted company with their flautist, which led to the somewhat acrimonious departure of the drummer, although they don’t really want me to go into the details on either of these things so that’s about all I can tell you.  The move from Boston to Nashville brought another casualty: pianist MJ just couldn’t settle and has also packed it in.  The disruption and unpleasantness seems to have shaken the group a little.  They’ve been playing together for quite a while and I get the impression they regard one another as friends rather than colleagues.  Julian and Chris, who I spoke to at the gig, still seemed upset about it all, despite their determination to make the new lineup work.

To make matters worse, the replacement drummer had to be found at such short notice that there wasn’t time to properly sort out his UK visa and he was turned back at the border.  Such preparations hardly make for smooth sailing, but the guy who eventually took charge of the pots and pans has played with them before, so they were confident going into the show.

But was it over? Was it bollocks.  They broke a string in the soundcheck, Chris broke one on his bass guitar within the first song, every guitar needed tuning pretty much every song and eventually Julian seemed to break his acoustic guitar as well.

They themselves can’t have been happy, but it made for an excellent gig in an odd way.  They dealt with the adversity confidently and never lost their humour.  Julian is a truly excellent front man: relaxed, engaging and a really good laugh, he never seems fazed by anything and keeps the evening rolling over really nicely.  Given the recent turmoil and the technical nightmare, The Young Republic come out of the whole thing looking very much the business.

Musically, it’s interesting.  The pruning of instruments seems to have given the others a little more room to breathe.  Kristin Webb delivers an amazing violin performance, from the Scottish reel she played to introduce the show to the demented classical interludes in some songs, to the long slow sad parts in others.  Bob on guitar also seems to have a little more room to make his mark on songs, and does so to excellent effect.  It’s possible that this could turn out to be a very good thing for the band.

Currently working on two new albums, there was a lot of new material in the set.  Given my familiarity with their back catalogue it’s surprising how few of the songs I actually recognised.  More familiar tunes like the superb Girl From the Northern States, Girl in a Tree and Paper Ships were there, as were the usual covers (Tom Waits this time – yikes!), but it was the new songs that caught my attention the most.  Basically, for all I have no idea what they were called, they were pretty much all brilliant.  They’ve lost none of their genre-related ADD, leaping about from one style to the next without ever pausing for breath, but it was strangely coherent despite this.

It sounds to me like the next two albums should be ones to look forward to – this really was an excellent show, whether you feel you need to consider the circumstances or not.

The Young Republic – Isis
The Young Republic – Girl From the Northern States
The Young Republic – Paper Ships

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Plenty of things going on this week, as per usual, although I am trying not to just prattle on about the same old groups week after week – all too easily done when reporting on any local music scene.

If I was going to all of these gigs I’d have a marriage and a liver in tatters by the end of this week.  I’d also have to carve myself into four equal slices on Friday in order to go to everything I want to go to.  Funnily enough though in a week of such riches I am not going to be at all that much.  Tuesday is my last show on Fresh Air Radio, Wednesday is the Champion’s League Final and Friday I have to go to something related to Mrs. Toad’s work.  She doesn’t demand much of me, the old lass, so I can’t very well insist on this one and, frankly, it spares me having to choose between four different gigs, all of which I want to attend.  So maybe no bad thing after all.

Tuesday 20th May 2008: Feist at the Queen’s Hall.
I am not sure if I would go to this one, myself, were it not for my last Fresh Air show rendering that question somewhat academic.  I did enjoy her album, and I do like her sound in general, although it can become a little bland after a while.  Maybe if the show was priced affordably I would have gone, but in any case, very much worth considering.
Feist – 1234

Wednesday 21st May 2008: Caribou at Cabaret Voltaire.
For those not watching the Champions’ League final, Caribou have finally arrived in Edinburgh, months after their last gig was cancelled.  Math rock, it gets called occasionally, so
Caribou – Sandy

Wednesday 21st May 2008: Glissando, Meursault & The Kays Lavelle at the Wee Red Bar.
I’ve never heard of Glissando, but Euan’s Trampoline nights never fail to deliver, so pop along for a couple of local favourites and some epic miserablism from Leeds.
Glissando – Floods

Thursday 22nd May 2008: My Tiny Robots & Babybones at the Voodoo Rooms.
My Tiny Robots are a group I’ve had recommended to me on numerous occasions.  Good indie guitar stuff from the sounds of it, along with a suitably tortured vocal.  Babybones I don’t know at all, but this looks like another good lineup from Limbo.  It’s my only free night this week, so will Mrs. Toad let me go?  Hmm, touch and go, but I rather fancy this one.
My Tiny Robots – Haircut Song

Friday 23rd May 2008:
There’s so much going on this Friday that I could sprain my wanking hand just typing it all out, so here’s a list instead.  Either go and see Black Diamond Express at The Ark, or pop along to Henry’s for St. Jude’s Infirmary, who have a new album approaching, and are supported by Come On Gang, or alternatively there’s Times New Viking and Meursault at Studio 24, or finally there’s also The Declining Winter at the Stills Gallery on Cockburn Street.  I know nothing about this last lot, but they sound rather good.  Any of these gigs would be worth your time, frankly, but guess what – I’ll be at none of them.  I have to schmooze with Mrs. Toad and be a good wife at a dinner thingy of some description.  No swearing there, and no rock and fucking roll either.  Christ I’ve sold out.
Black Diamond Express – Jack
The Declining Winter – Summer Turns to Hurt
Saint Jude’s Infirmary – The Church of John Coltrane

Sunday 25th May 2008: The Young Republic at Cabaret Voltaire.
When I first started writing about their often country-tinged, genre-hopping indie pop I remember exchanging emails with Julian Saporiti that when along the line of ‘If we ever get to Edinburgh you’ll have to come along to one of our shows’ and was said with such heavy irony that we were both acknowledging just how unlikely that was to ever happen.  Well fair bloody play to ‘em, because since signing to End of the Road Records and the really positive reception given to their debut album 12 Tales From Winter City, here they are.
The Young Republic – Mary Ellen (Live)