The Toadcast - the weekly podcast from Song, by Toad

 This is another chatty podcast, recorded in the hostel room of the lovely (and somewhat creepy) Lloyd from Peenko and Ian from Have Fun at Dinner on Friday afternoon at GoNorth.

In terms of creepy, we were all kind of  creeped out by the industry reacharounds which seemed to be going on left right and centre though.  Who do you know, who likes who best blah blah blah blah blah.

I think that me and everyone I know have all decided to just fuck all this industry bollocks and do what the fuck we please.  Honestly, it's all just far far too much eating of crow for me.  Fuck.  Right.  Off.

01. Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers - Draw a Line (03.49) 02. Fiona Soe Paing - Deep Song (14.45) 03. The Seventeenth Century - Roses in the Park (17.40) 04. Kid Canaveral - And Another Thing!! (24.58) 05. Miaoux Miaoux - Snow (34.23) 06. Admiral Fallow - Subbuteo (38.18) 07. Mitchell Museum - Tiger Heartbeat (48.45) 08. Randolph's Leap - Squeamish (57.53)

This is a not entirely accurately-titled podcast, in that the whoring only takes place over a couple of songs at the tail end and does not at all influence any of the rest of the playlist.

What am I talking about, you ask?  Well when I played a few trendy songs a few months back the listership of the podcast doubled over the course of a few weeks.  I noticed this back when I was a bit more rigorous about the blog in the early days: if I reviewed high-profile new releases in the week of release it generated a large spike in readership.

So I've dropped a couple of very hype-friendly songs into the end of this podcast to see if that actually has any influence on anything at all.  I found nice ones - ones I actually like, I mean - so don't worry, your normally glittering listening experience will not be tarnished one bit.  But bear in mind that this week we are all the guineau pigs in a silly internet hit-whoring experiment.  Sorry.

01. Burnt Ones - Sunset Hill (03.46)
02. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat (09.34)
03. Girls Names - You Should Know by Now (18.32)
04. Pagan Wanderer Lu - Banish Negative Thoughts (20.26)
05. The Cure - Pictures of You (28.01)
06. Echo & the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon (35.37)
07. Taken by Trees - Watch the Waves (42.12)
08. Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday (49.21)
09. The Beets - What Did I Do (53.20)
10. Silver Columns - Warm Welcome (56.17)
11. Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs (62.41)

This is called the Dolecast for... well, for obvious reasons.  I am on the downward slope to imminent joblessness, with my last day at Proper Job now pencilled in for the 23rd of June - the day before Glastonbury, rather handily.

Actually festivals are something of a feature this Summer, as there's that one, Kelburn, Rockness, Fusion out in Germany, and then Knockengorroch, which I will be driving out to the very second I hit 'post' on this.  We're also looking at going out to Musicfest Northwest this year as well, and of course the rather splendid Fence Away Game.

So erm, yes, maybe I should have called this the Festcast or something like that.

01. The Wave Pictures - I Shall be a Ditchdigger (03.09)
02. Fur Hood - Tweetle Beetle Battle Beetles (12.27)
03. Fear the Fives - Devil's Tongue (15.39)
04. Southern Tenant Folk Union - South Ythsie (20.19)
05. Benni Hemm Hemm - Retaliate (29.11)
06. The Douglas Firs - Grow Old and Go Home (33.09)
07. Magic Bullets - Lying Around (37.12)
08. Perfume Genius - Lookout, Lookout (41.25)
09. The Effort - Adjust (46.54)
10. Tusk Tusk - Crazy Little Birthmarks (55.56)

Having spent the week driving Loch Lomond around the country I figured that some sort of driving-themed nonsense would be in order for this week's podcast.

Driving music (NOT in the Top Gear sense) tends to stick in your head, probably because when listening to it there is nothing else to do but sit and absorb the whole album.  I know most musicians would probably blanche somewhat at the idea of having their work enjoyed over the thrum of wind noise, tyre noise and a grumbling engine, but a long drive is still probably one of the best places to listen to music.

Oh, and the 'character'is supplied by all the fuckers outside having fun while I DO FUCKING WORK FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF YOU UNGRATEFUL INTERNET BASTARDS.  Erm, sorry.  I'm tired.

Toadcast #123 - The Drivecast

01. The Twilight Sad - The Wrong Car (01.53)
02. Bear Driver - A Thousand Samurais (09.12)
03. The National - Terrible Love (14.37)
04. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms (19.11)
05. The Wedding Present - Drive (25.07)
06. The French Wives - Me vs Me (28.54)
07. Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Davy's on the Road Again (Live) (35.01)
08. Foon Yap - Gabriel Moody (41.49)
09. The Goodnight Loving Supper Club - The Pan (50.14)
10. The Men They Couldn't Hang - A Map of Morocco (54.27)

This podcast is called the Greencast because we have the most hobbled government in recent memory - Cameron has kinda, sorta, maybe won, in the sense that he is actually the PM.

On the other hand Clegg, having been butchered at the polls, after a promising campaign, is now in a position of more influence than he was ever likely to gain from the election alone.

And yet Labour, despite being deposed, seem to have come out of it all better than anyone.  They may be out of power, but they are free from the millstone of the next few years of cuts, they can sit back and watch the Tories and the Lib Dems squabble for a couple of years and achieve nothing at all, and once the coalition has made fools of themselves for a couple of years Labour can pop up again with a new, smooth, television-friendly leader and trade on the inevitable failure of the preceding government.

So, as read in the Guardian, Labour may actually have won by losing.  And here are some tunes.  Utterly unrelated tunes!

01. Loch Lomond - Spine (05.49)
02. The Man From Delmonte - Drive Drive Drive (13.00)
03. The Magnetic Fields - Drive On Driver (15.24)
04. Modernaire - Bloodshed in the Woodshed (21.27)
05. Rats With Wings - Hungry Like the Wolf (29.27)
06. Pet Shop Boys - Rent (36.09)
07. David Bowie - Let's Dance (40.59)
08. Huey Lewis & the News - The Power of Love (54.50)
09. Glaciers - Brooklyn (61.15)
10. The Moulettes - Bloodshed in the Woodshed (71.25)

I will be in Macclesfield at Unconvention, pretending to know what the fuck I am talking about when it comes to new music business models when you come to listen to this.

I do get a shiny new pair of Converse, courtesy of the sponsors, which is cool.  But above all, me, the chance to talk shit... well, it's just a match made in heaven isn't it.

My Granddad lives in Manchester too, which is rather convenient, so on Sunday I will go round to his house and say hello.  Who knows, it might even shunt me slowly out of the Bad Son status I have been occupying for all these years.

This playlist is largely composed of new stuff which has appeared in my inbox recently, and a couple of bizarre wild cards - two covers,

01. Yusuf Azak - Turn on the Long Wire (06.23)
02. Micah P. Hinson - 2s and 3s (12.50)
03. Nina Nastasia - Cry, Cry, Baby (17.58)
04. Emit Bloch - Milkshake vs. Passenger (Kelis & Iggy Pop) (23.50)
05. Run on Sentence - Out in the Woods (30.16)
06. eagleowl - Morpheus (33.43)
07. David Tattersall - The Old Family (39.15)
08. Los Hombres - Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) (41.36)
09. Male Bonding - Year's Not Long (46.12)
10. Willie Nelson - Smells Like Teen Spirit (49.22)
11. Super Adventure Club - Pick Up Sticks (57.03)

We have been collecting for the lifeboats today and as usual we have had a massive, lovely meal prepared by my darling Mrs. Toad.  It was fucking awesome, I have to tell you, and anyone who wasn't here truly did miss out.

We, and the RNLI, owe a massive debt of thanks to Sharon from the Wirral, Euan from The Kays Lavelle (and many other things), Peter from next door, Matthew from Glasgow (as of last week), Ella from the Last Battle, Lucy and Catherine from Mrs. Toad's Finance Corp., Jamie from Broken Records, and Dylan and Ed who turned up and were nice but didn't really do much.

In terms of actually making a difference, it's worth pointing out that the collection in Stockbridge has hovered around the £200 mark for about the last thirty years, but since us young 'uns have been involved that number has almost tripled, which is sort of nice.  It actually does make a big difference when you all turn up and show some enthusiasm and commit even just a few hours to helping out.  Charity people can be a bit pushy at times, so it gets a bit of a bad rap, but it really does make an important difference.  So thank you.  And hopefully we'll see you all again next year.

1. The Bonzo Dog Band - No Matter Who You Vote For, the Government Always Gets In (5.35)
2. Billy Bragg - The Marching Song of the Covert Battalions (13.27)
3. Wham! - Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do) (22.23)
4. Pet Shop Boys - Opportunites (28.59)
5. The Dead Kennedys - Kill the Poor (41.00)
6. Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City (44.04)
7. REM - Ignoreland (52.33)
8. Pearl Jam - Bu$hleaguer (60.39)
9. Gao Yuqian, Liu Changyu, Qian Haoliang - The Party Has Taught Your Son to be a Man of Iron (80.01)
10. Erase Errata - Another Genius Idea from our Government (81.44)

Tomorr... yesterday I flew out to Paris to see Mrs. Toad, who has been stuck in God Bless America for the last two weeks because of Iceland's seismic indiscipline.  We are going to have dinner and walk together and hold hands and generally act like a couple of idiots.  More or less like we always do.  For a couple of curmudgeonly old fuckers who spend their entire lives swearing at one another, we are a pretty sentimental pair, really.

This podcast is mostly based around my Dad and his music.  For my early years I was well into my Mum's stuff, but as I got older I got more into my Dad's kind of stuff - Tom Waits, Dylan, Neil Young and all that.  When I really, really got into music it was never into contemporary, modern or trendy stuff, it was always the old shite my parents were into.

I repay them the favour nowadays, or at least, I try to, but I never really picked up on music from my peers, it was always from my folks.  Hence this podcast.

01. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road (05.16)
02. The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (13.27)
03. Willie Nelson - Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys (16.53)
04. Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Walking Song (24.12)
05. Tom Waits & Thelonious Monster - Adios Lounge (32.54)
06. Elton John - Ballad of a Well Known Gun (41.21)
07. Bob Dylan - Days of 49 (46.07)
08. Elvis Perkins in Dearland - I Heard Your Voice in Dresden (53.49)
09. The Builders & the Butchers - Barcelona (57.51)
10. Jackson Browne - Fountain of Sorrow (66.15)

Mrs. Toad has been stranded in God Bless America by that infernal cloud of Icelandic ash, so I am home alone for the last week and all of the next one.  This is very much Not Fun, because as much as she's a mean old bitch, I do seem to have developed a grudging affection for the silly old mare so a fortnight apart is very much unappreciated.  It's about time those Icelanders re-established some bloody discipline, honestly.

Anyhew, there is some excellent stuff on this podcast, even though it really doesn't hang together around a particular theme as they sometimes do.  In actual fact, I don't think I've done a themey one for a while - might give that a go next week.

01. Johnny Flynn - Kentucky Pill (4.11)
02. Burnt Island - A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (10.51)
03. Draw Me Stories - Becomes the Hunted (18.25)
04. Haunted Stereo - Lock the Doors (22.29)
05. Ragged Claws - Lamed Wufniks (30.44)
06. Fleet Foxes - Silver Dagger (36.07)
07. Hezekiah Jones - I Love My Family (40.13)
08. Cocorosie - Lemonade (42.14)
09. Br'er - Crocus (50.41)
10. Devolver - Promise (56.24)
11. Giant Sand - Anarchistic Bloshevistic Cowboy Bundle (58.44)

Video: Vimeo – YouTube
Photos: Flickr – Blueback Hotrod
Audio: below

This was without a shadow of a doubt the most scary level of military efficiency that anything even slightly Toad-related has ever achieved.  Mumford & Sons were playing to a sold-out Queen's Hall in the evening, so we had to have them in and out of the door within an hour and a half, and we actually bloody managed it!  As the like of the Pictish Trail, who left Toad Hall completely plastered after his session, can testify, this isn't really what we're good at around here.

So, not only did they go to extreme lengths to actually make time to record this, they did a fucking lovely job of it as well.  If you watch the video for Untitled, embedded below, you'll see that they rattled our floors so hard that something actually falls off the shelves behind Marcus at the end of the video.  Gavin has done a lovely job of the recording and mixing, and many thanks to Dylan for the photography and Matthew for help with the filming.

As usual with the Toadcasts, there is a full set of pictures on our Flickr page, Dylan's own choices on his Blueback Hotrod page, freely downloadable and shareable mp3s of the session tracks below, a full podcast of the interview, with playlist at the bottom of the page, and videos of the individual songs themselves embedded below.  I've also made a video of the whole day, with bits of interviews and excerpts from the songs, and that is embedded at the top of the page.  Enjoy!

Mumford & Sons - Dance Dance Dance (Neil Young Cover) (Toad Session)

Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page (Toad Session)

Mumford & Sons - Awake My Soul (Toad Session)

Podcast Playlist:
01. Mumford & Sons - Untitled (Toad Session) (04.26)
02. Vampire Weekend - UR a Contra (13.29)
03. Love.Stop.Repeat - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (17.52)
04. Mumford & Sons - Dance Dance Dance (Neil Young Cover) (Toad Session) (21.54)
05. Billie Holiday - God Bless the Child (26.42)
06. Eels - In the Beginning (29.49)
07. Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page (Toad Session) (36.27)
08. My Kappa Roots - It was Rough When the Rain Came (41.19)
09. Mumford & Sons - Awake My Soul (Toad Session) (50.23)