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Ah, Record Store Day 2013, finally upon us.  Amongst the many things you could be doing, we here at Song, by Toad will be releasing Beer vs. Records in association with Barney’s Beer. For those of you who don’t know about it, the whole concept is explained in more depth here, or in the following sentence: people will happily spend twelve quid on a single round of beer, but it seems they’re reluctant to spend twelve pounds on a record – why?

Well the 4-packs of Barney’s with the download code and the new Song, by Toad Split 12″ will be available as of tomorrow, in the following places:
Edinburgh: The beers are in Vino in Stockbridge, Morningside, Broughton and that one just off the Meadows, and also The Last Word cocktail bar in Stockbridge. The records are in VoxBox in Stockbridge, Underground Solu’shn on Cockburn Street, Coda on The Mound and Unknown Pleasures on the Canongate.
Glasgow: The beers are available in The Good Spirit Co. on Bath St. just round the corner from LoveMusic who are stocking the record. Those two are going head to head on sales, so choose very carefully as lives may be at stake*. Monorail are also stocking both.
London: Rough Trade East have both the vinyl and the beer, so please go down and buy them so I don’t look like a dick for being the only person in history unable to sell alcohol to the British.

We have made to propaganda videos, representing the sides of GOOD and EVIL, depending on your predilections. Thanks to Gavin White and Ian Greenhill, these look awesome.

Record Store Day 2013 Daytime Funtimes

At Voxbox tomorrow ourselves and the ever-brilliant Gerry Loves Records have partnered with the shop to run a series of brilliant live shows in The Last Word cocktail bar across the road from the shop. Well, I say partnered; they did all the work, I just suggested some bands and provided the PA, but I am keen to take as much credit as possible nevertheless. The running order is below:

12.00-12.30 Wounded Knee
13.00-13.30 Magic Eye
14.00-14.30 eagleowl vs Kid Canaveral
15.00-15.50 Mike Heron Band
16.00-16.30 Rob St. John
16.50-17.20 Honeyblood
17.30-18.00 Adam Stafford

And finally, in the evening we will be hosting the official Beer vs. Records launch night at Summerhall. The price is £8 on the door, £6 if you’ve spent money on anything at all at a Scottish independent record shop during the day, and £4 if you bought our new Split 12″ from a Scottish shop during the day, so spend your money in record shops as you are being encouraged to and we will try to justly reward you.  All four bands on the split are playing, and doors are at 8pm. See you there!

*Then again, they may not.

This week is, of course, the week of Record Store Day where we hopefully remember that record shops are nice places to  spend time and money and resolve to go there more often, rather than just fight for the exclusive scraps scattered like breadcrumbs for pigeons. Understandably, most of the gig action this week is focussed on that very event, and naturally I am going to tell you that *cough cough* our stuff is by far the most awesome.

It is though.

We have the Beer vs. Records launch at Summerhall on Saturday evening, where all four bands on the Split 12″ will be playing. Full door price is £8, but if you spend money in a Scottish independent record shop on Record Store Day you can come in for £6. That goes down to £4 if you buy our new Split 12″ (this record, here) from a Scottish independent record shop.

During the day on the 20th there will be plenty of events as well. Over the road from VoxBox Music on St. Stephen’s Street there will be a whole day of live music in The Last Word cocktail bar. Playing will be all of the following: Mike Heron Band (feat members of The Incredible String Band and Trembling Bells), Adam Stafford, Wounded Knee, Rob St. John, eagleowl, Kid Canaveral (ish), Honeyblood and Magic Eye. I think it’s going to be brilliant. Meanwhile down at Elvis Shakespeare on Leith Walk Saint Max and the Fanatics will be playing, and after seeing them live at Wide Days last week I highly recommend them.

Finally, in non-Record Store Day news, we have two other excellent gigs taking place this weekend. Firstly, on Saturday (again – I know!) Brinksfest will be taking place down in Leith, with craft merchants, zine makers and all sorts, as well as the excellent lineup of Stanley Brinks, The Wave Pictures, Freschard, The Occasional Flickers and Saint Max and the Fanatics. This will all be taking place at Henderson Halls, which is a new one for me, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a gig being put on there before.

And finally, on Sunday we have the eccentric and awesome Thomas Truax coming to Henry’s Cellar Bar, with his homemade instruments which look a bit like something out of Batteries Not Included. It will also be your first chance to catch excellent Edinburgh newcomers Numbers are Futile live too, so I’d go, if I were you.

People will happily twelve quid on a single round of beer, but it seems they’re reluctant to spend twelve pounds on a record – why?

Two Edinburgh independents, Song, by Toad Records and Barney’s Beer, are collaborating on a unique project to explore this question.

On Record Store Day 2013 we will be releasing eight songs on a limited run of 250 clear red vinyl records, in a beautiful sleeve featuring photos of the recording session taken by talented local photographer Nic Rue.

Simultaneously, we will be releasing another eight songs as download codes on bottles of Barney’s Beer.  Two songs per bottle, each one of a limited edition of 250 custom made 4-packs will represent the same amount of music as the record, only delivered on a selection of tasty, tasty beer.

Who will sell out their batch of 250 first? It’s BEER vs. RECORDS!

Do music fans want lasting mementoes of their love for music, or are intangible mp3s and a good pint just as good? Do the kind of people whose enthusiasm has fuelled the renaissance of craft beer and organic food have the same interest in small enterprise craftsmanship and local community when it comes to music and art?

All ingredients and preparation will be local and small-batch.  Barney’s is Edinburgh’s only micro-brewery, and their beer is brewed using traditional techniques; no pasteurisation, no filtration.  The music will all come from emerging bands from the Scottish underground DIY scene, recorded in the living room at Song, by Toad, one of the country’s most exciting* independent record labels.

The locally-sourced, organic movement seems to be doing incredibly well in the world of food and drink, whereas in music the hand-wringing over the possible demise of HMV demonstrates that we are still very much in thrall to old, industrial scale business models.  Can music fans learn from foodies and embrace the independent, the small and the local? Can music businesses learn from their counterparts about how to make a living out of small batches and more modest reach and distribution?

THE BANDS:
Le Thug punctuate hypnotic, shoegazey washes of electronics and electric guitar with beautifully impassive, crystal clear female vocals.
Magic Eye make shimmery dream-pop with a distinctive, twinkling guitar style.
Plastic Animals call themselves ‘atmospheric punk sludge rock’ before admitting that they think that’s a terrible description, but the best they can do.  It’s the best I can do too.
Zed Penguin are a more ragged indie rock band with a distinct, lazy sense of swagger.

THE BEERS:
Le Thug Lager 4.8% – Light straw coloured, smooth and a light fruity zing. A clean, dry, finish.
Zed Penguin Pale Ale 3.8% – Gold coloured, a good honest full-bodied pale ale with a subtle citrus & spicy hop finish.
Magic Eye Red Rye 4.5% – made with 2 types of rye malt & German melanoidinmalz. Copper/dark amber colour, with a crisp, toffee apple & fruity taste.
Plastic Animals IPA 5% – Light straw coloured, assertive bitterness, erupting with US style hop character.

And here, should you be interested, are the results of the print run of carriers for the beer. A Sunday well spent, I think.

Well well, we had an awesome time at the Jonnie Common gig last night, and I am now on my way to SXSW for tequila and fun, and our bloody house is doubtless being turned into an apocalyptic mess of a recording studio by half the bloody bands on the label in our absence. Fuckers.

Anyhow, I’ve been unusually organised with booking Toad gigs this year, and we already have a full schedule of awesome stuff between now and the Festival, at which point I will go into hiding until September.  For now, however, we have a solid four months of excellent gigs ahead of us, including a couple of rather interesting album launches – for Sparrow and the Workshop at the Caves and Mono in May, as well as a launch night for the Split 12″ and Beer vs. Records on Record Store Day in April.

Advance tickets for everything can be purchased from here, and for the Sparrow ones in particular it would make sense, because they are £6 in advance and £8 on the door.

Saturday 6th April
Magic Eye, Fur Hood & Peter
Edinburgh’s finest dreamy pop band are on a joint tour with Fur Hood, one of Glasgow’s more eccentric and elusive guitar groups, and the Edinburgh leg will take place at BAD FUN in April.
https://soundcloud.com/magic-eye-1
https://soundcloud.com/peterbandglasgow

Sunday 14th April
North American War, Furrow & Deathcats
Toad favourites North American War will be on tour with their pals, the slightly more shoegazey Shropshire band Furrow.  They are joined on the bill by Deathcats, a raucous Glasgow guitar pop band rather bravely making their first appearance in Edinburgh the day before their dissertations are due to be handed in.
https://soundcloud.com/northamericanwar
https://soundcloud.com/furrowband
http://deathcats.bandcamp.com/

Saturday 20th April – at Summerhall
Beer vs. Records Launch, with Magic Eye, Le Thug, Plastic Animals and Zed Penguin
This sees the launch of our slightly tongue-in-cheek project Beer vs. Records. Eight songs by the bands performing will be released on a gorgeous 12” vinyl, and eight more as a download on a 4-pack of Barney’s Beer. Both will be limited runs of 250, with a contest to see who sells out first. What do people really want, beer or records?

As the 20th is Record Store Day 2013, we will be letting people in for £2 cheaper if they have a receipt from a Scottish record shop for that day, and for half price if they have purchased our split 12” while they were there!
https://soundcloud.com/magic-eye-1
https://soundcloud.com/lethug
https://soundcloud.com/plastic_animals
http://zedpenguin.bandcamp.com/

Wednesday 8th May – at Mono, Glasgow
Sparrow and the Workshop album launch, with Strike the Colours
Glasgow launch for Murderopolis.

Thursday 9th May – at The Caves
Sparrow and the Workshop album launch, with Magic Arm
Sparrow and the Workshop prepare to release their third album Muderopolis on Edinburgh’s Song, by Toad Records with a gig at The Caves, supported by electronic pop wizard Magic Eye, who are up from Manchester and just so happen to be launching their own album as well.  After the gig there will be drinking until late, with DJs drawn from amongst the bands on Song, by Toad Records.
https://soundcloud.com/songbytoad/sparrow-and-the-workshop
https://soundcloud.com/magicarm

Saturday 8th June
The Leg & Monoganon
This will be an eccentric evening, with Glasgow/Swedish newcomers Flo & Spicey joining the excellent Monoganon in Edinburgh, at a gig headlined by Song, by Toad Records’ The Leg, whose second album for the Edinburgh label, Oozing a Crepuscular Light, is due out this Autumn.
https://soundcloud.com/songbytoad/bake-yourself-silly
https://soundcloud.com/monoganon

As you may know, we have a new Song, by Toad Split 12″ coming out soon (see the pic at the bottom of the page for just how eye-caressingly pretty the vinyl is). I had a whole super-organised promo strategy, designed to end with Matthew Winter in a pair of leather trousers bellowing out his tunes from the roof of Buckingham Palace as fireworks exploded around him, but when DIY got in touch to ask for a premiere of this tune earlier this week I thought fuck it, and decided to deviate from plan. Because, as Doc Brown says, what the hell.

So here is the first song from the 12″, a meandering drawl of a tune by Zed Penguin, all recorded in our living room (which for press purposes I am referring to as Toad Hall Studios) and subsequently mixed by myself and Rory Sutherland. Enjoy! And keep an eye out for the launch night on Record Store Day 2013.

 Don’t ask me why Ron Burgundy, it’s just because, alright? This really is just one of those days, a real blue Monday, and I have no idea why because the sun has been shining, the label is ticking over nicely, we have a fine Toad Session to publish this week, the gig on Saturday went really well, and basically, in short, things are just dandy.

Still, sometimes these things happen I guess. Maybe some Mongrels will cheer me up. Actually, as I’ve been going on about Archer for the last little while, Chris Devotion and the Expectations collared me on Twitter and told me about Frisky Dingo, which I think I might spend my evening watching.

Anyway, musically speaking this week there is some interesting stuff knocking around, although few marquee gigs, such as the Liquid Room or Cabaret Voltaire used to put on, before they gave up on music altogether.

Still, there’s one big shiny show this week, and that is Randolph’s Leap, Snowgoose and Jo Mango at the Queen’s Hall. I assume Randolph’s Leap will give it everything, with full brass section and so on, to accompany Adam Ross’s inspired lyrical meanderings.

In terms of other regular meat and potatoes gigs, Gallops are at the Electric Circus tonight and for a moment I thought they were being supported by Portishead and Birdsound, but it turned out to be Portasound and Birdhead which, er, isn’t bad by any means, but a little different to what I first thought.

Also, there will be Big Ned, Zed Penguin and the Rosy Crucifixion at the Wee Red Bar on Friday. This one might be a tad less hypnotic than the Gallops gig tonight at the Electric Circus, but the abstract noise elements probably have a thing or two in common here and there.

And finally, Paws will be playing the Wee Red as well, but on Sunday as part of their UK tour.  Do I need to tell you anymore about Paws? Probably not.  Here’s their Toad Session if you’re a bit late to the party.

Also, there are a couple of things which might interest music lovers, but which aren’t straightforward gigs.  Two instores are happening – Phil from Paws is playing an acoustic set at VoxBox on St. Stephen’s Street on Sunday, and Steve Adey is at Elvis Shakespeare on Leith Walk on Saturday.

And finally on Friday there is a feature documentary on composer John Fahey being screened at Summerhall.  And there you go, that seems to be about it, although doubtless I will have missed something really obvious because I always fucking do.

Yes, it’s that time of year again, the time when we shower you with bounteous goodness from the vaults of Toad, in the form of our annual label sampler. It is free to download from Bandcamp, with the slight proviso that you sign up to our mailing list, from which you can unsubscribe instantly at any time you choose, if I happen to bore you to tears with my constant entreaties to buy our records. Which I won’t, of course, our newsletters are fucking awesome.

On this edition of the sampler we are taking the opportunity to introduce a couple of new bands to the roster: Adam Stafford and Sparrow and the Workshop, as well as a couple of tunes by old favourites like Meursault, Rob St. John, Yusuf Azak and Lil Daggers.

Adam is known by many guises, as frontman of the late Y’All is Fantasy Island, as a filmmaker, and as the head of the Wiseblood Industries label.  In short, he’s just an interesting guy, and we’ll be releasing his album Imaginary Walls Collapse in conjunction with Vancouver’s Kingfisher Bluez label in June.

Sparrow and the Workshop will be doing two singles with us while they decide what to do with their third album, Murderopolis.  The folky aspect of their early work has all but vanished in favour of a more ferocious, Breeders-style snarl – it’s fucking great, honestly!

There are also four songs on here from our new Split 12″ and our Beer vs. Records project for Record Store Day 2013. We’ll be releasing eight songs on 12″ vinyl, like our last split, and going head to head on RSD 2013 with eight songs released on a four-pack of Barney’s Beer, seeing who can sell 250 units first.

Do people want a lasting symbol of their love of music, or is digital just fine and would they prefer some supremely tasty beers from one of the country’s finest micro-breweries instead? We’ll find out on Record Store Day 2013.

Oh, and I’ve also put some Toad t-shirts and tote bags up for sale on the label site. There aren’t too many available, particularly of the t-shirts, so move sharpish if you want one.

 Welcome to 2013, Toadcast listeners.  As is tradition around these parts, we start the year with a podcast of songs we will be releasing this year on Song, by Toad Records, combined with a few we have released quite recently.

There are a few things I didn’t put on here, because it seemed a shame to spill the beans too early – we have a new Rob St. John single coming soon, as well as a new album by The Leg and that collaborative album between Jill from Sparrow and the Workshop, Neil and Pete from Meursault, Rory from Broken Records and Reuben Taylor and Rob St. John – but it didn’t feel right to play anything from those just yet.

What we do have is new stuff from Trips and Falls, stuff from our next split 12″ with Magic Eye, Zed Penguin, Le Thug and Plastic Animals, as well as brand new and hugely exciting label signings Adam Stafford and Sparrow & the Workshop, who we’ll be doing a couple of EPs with as they prepare their new album.

All in all, this is going to be a fucking amazing year for the label, I think, and I am really, really looking forward to it.  Hopefully by the end of this podcast, so will you.

Toadcast #255 – Song, by Toad Records 2013 by Song, By Toad on Mixcloud

Direct download: Toadcast #255 – Song, by Toad Records 2013

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01. Sparrow & the Workshop – Shock Shock (00.26)
02. Meursault – Lament For a Teenage Millionaire (05.37)
03. LeThug – New Balance (11.21)
04. Plastic Animals – Best Friend (16.37)
05. Adam Stafford – Vanishing Tanks (25.21)
06. Yusuf Azak – Go Native (31.53)
07. Lil Daggers – Faces and Names (33.59)
08. Trips and Falls – Freedom of Homogeneity (45.44)
09. Magic Eye – Golden Circle (52.17)
10. Zed Penguin – Letters (56.17)
11. Rob St. John – Doomino (1.07.43)

Well well well, three bands down and one last one to go – three-quarters of the next Song, by Toad Split 12″ have now been recorded.  The mixes are still being fine-tuned of course, and we still have Zed Penguin to come in and lay down their tracks, so we don’t really know what kind of a record we’re making just yet, but it’s slowly becoming clearer as we motor along.

This isn’t, of course, like a conventional album and we only plan things out so much.  We invite the bands we really want to have on each split, and we try and choose bands who will complement one another, but we don’t make demands about which songs they record nor do we vet them in advance – they turn up, record four songs of their own choosing and three of them end up on the record.

Consequently, the record itself only starts to take shape as we record and we get an idea for what each band has brought to the table. On Friday we recorded the third band on the next split, which was Magic Eye from Edinburgh.  That picture is them recording their vocal overdubs.

Adding these songs to a playlist with the four we recorded by LeThug and Plastic Animals earlier I am starting to get a feel for the record, now, I think.  The recordings all certainly go really, really well together and seem to sit a really nice junction between fuzz and melody, prettiness and experimentation.

Seriously, you are going to love this one.  I am sure of it!

Christ, it’s suddenly Winter!  Never mind Autumn, it’s gone from being sunny and lovely on Saturday, to shitty and cold by yesterday.  Balls.  Ah well, as Billy Connolly (sort of) said, ‘what the fuck do you expect, you live in fucking Scotland for fuck’s sake’.

Anyhow, shitey weather aside, this week see the first of Song, by Toad’s BAD FUN nights, held downstairs at Henderson’s at St. John’s at the foot of Lothian Road. There will be bands, there will be DJs and there will be nice beer as well.  What more could you possibly ask? In fact, with Papi Falso, and a gig at the Wee Red, it’s all kicking off on Saturday night actually, although there is precious little before that.

That’s a good thing, though.  In this kind of weather you really just want a bottle of red wine, a good book, a duvet and a record player.  Now that is Top Fun.  Perhaps a tad lacking in the adrenaline-fuelled rush of certain other types of fun, but exactly what seems to fit when all you can hear is the fucking hurricane outside and rain lashing against the window panes.

Wednesday 26th Sept.: King Creosote & The Last Battle at the Dalkeith Arts Centre.

This, I believe, is going to be a stripped back acoustic set from both bands, held in a rather unusual venue.  I have to confess I think I like King Creosote best when his set is minimal – just acoustic guitar, a bit of accordion and vocals.  Amazing. I’d be tempted to get your tickets in advance for this one if I were you.

Saturday 29th Sept.: Song, by Toad’s BAD FUN with Onions & Birdhead at Henderson’s at St. John’s.

Yes, BAD FUN is finally here!  After threatening to do an all-night thing for a while, we have finally managed it. The Foxx introduced me to this rather awesome venue when they held their album launch there earlier in the year.  So we are returning to the vaults under St. John’s church (entrance at the foot of Lothian Road) for a night of band fun with the phenomenal Onions, who are a Manchester band I’ve wanted to get up to Edinburgh for a while.  They will be joined by the rather harsher Birdhead, who I saw for the first time at Sneaky Pete’s a little while ago and thought were awsome.  And once the bands are over, there will be drinking, as well as Toad vs. Toad and celebrity* DJs until 1am. All in all a top night, I think you’ll agree. Tickets are a fiver, and can be purchased here.

*Kind of.

Saturday 29th Sept.: Plastic Animals, The Scottish Enlightenment, Sex Hands & Zed Penguin at the Wee Red Bar.

This is an absolutely brilliant lineup, featuring the highly welcome return to gigging of the excellent Scottish Enlightenment, the highly welcome return to Edinburgh of the excellent Sex Hands, as well as two bands from the currently-recording second Song, by Toad Split 12″.  If you like your moody guitar music, and you wonder what I think you should be listening to, then go here.

Sex Hands – Chandler in a Box from Song, by Toad on Vimeo.

Saturday 29th Sept.: Papi Falso at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

Quite simply the finest club night in Edinburgh, particularly if you want your club to have enjoyable music instead the usual doof-doof-doof garbage, and if you want to go there to drink and make merry, rather than dodge tonsil-wrestlers at every fucking corner.