The Toadcast - the weekly podcast from Song, by Toad

The Toadcast - the weekly podcast from Song, by Toad

By Mr. ToadMusic
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The Toadcast - the weekly podcast from Song, by Toad episodes

  • Toadcast #86 - The Deathcast
    DO NOT WORRY!  This is not a podcast stuffed full of tedious
    moralising and empty pontificating and generally depressing garbage
    about a subject far too weighty and philosophical for this sort of
    half-arsed internet enterprise.  In fact, towards the end it really
    gets quite chipper.

    Basically, there are so many extraordinarily good murder ballads

    that that particular aspect could so easily have entirely overtaken a
    podcast ostensibly about prison, crime and criminal justice.

    This week, however, I have still managed to marginalise the role of

    the murder ballad, because the concept of death incorporates so many
    disparate emotions and aspects that simply doing a whole podcast about
    murderous folk tales and their musical counterparts seemed
    unnecessarily narrow.  So you get this.  Which starts out a little
    heavy but becomes positively gleeful by the end, I promise you.

    Toadcast #86 - The Deathcast

    01. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Painter Blue (03.01)

    02. Samamidon - O Death (12.33)
    03. Eels - Going to Your Funeral (22.31)
    04. Melanie Rivaud & Strange Weather - The Fall of Troy (Tom Waits Cover) (25.05)
    05. Bob Frank & John Murry - Jesse Washington 1916 (31.53)
    06. Bruce Springsteen - Dead Man Walking (37.02)
    07. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Up Jumped the Devil (41.15)
    08. The Men They Couldn't Hang - The Green Fields of France (48.26)
    09. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Tramp the Dirt Down (57.02)
    10. Chumbawamba - Passenger List for Doomed Flight 1471 (66.35)

    1 hr 10 min
  • Toadcast #85 - The Ruthcast
    Hello, welcome to the Ruthcast.  Why the Ruthcast?  Because my friend Ruth who runs the Bowery with Jane came round to the house last week to thoroughly upstage me on my own podcast.

    Last yearRuth was a guest on my Fresh Air

    radio show and completely and utterly upstaged me, and in this podcast
    we agreed that she would come on every week this year.  And that,
    frankly, sounds like a bloody good idea to me.

    I mentioned on the Friday Five a couple of weeks ago that Ellie Greenwich had died, and as this is something which upset Ruth rather a lot, so the podcast is absolutely chock-full of Ellie Greenwich songs

    Toadcast #85 - The Ruthcast

    01. The Ronettes - Baby I Love You (05.51)

    02. Golden Ghost - If You Are in Love Then Why Are You Asleep? (13.36)
    03. The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me (16.07)
    04. Parenthetical Girls - A Song for Ellie Greenwich (23.25)
    05. The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack (34.25)
    06. Jeremy Jay - Beautiful Rebel (37.10)
    07. The Blank Tapes - Listen to the One (41.41)
    08. Dusty Springfield - What Good is I Love You (43.59)
    09. Julie Doiron - Last Night (56.52)
    10. Mount Eerie - Between Two Mysteries (69.06)

    1 hr 14 min
  • Toadcast #84 - The Playing With the Pastcast
    Playing With the Past is an annual (we hope) event at the Edinburgh
    Film Festival where contemporary bands are invited to write new
    soundtracks for old films.  Last year was the first of these, when the
    superb British Sea Power wrote a brilliant score for Man of Aran, a (slightly fake) documentary about the lives of the inhabitants of a remote island off the West Coast of Ireland (extract here).

    This was such a success that the band have been performing it all

    over the place ever since.  This year David Drummond, who put the event
    together, decided to invite three different bands to work with roughly
    half an hour or so of footage each, and he started off by inviting eagleowl, who suggested a number of other bands, from which David chose FOUND and Meursault.

    We decided not to include more than a few excerpts of the music in

    this because the bands were a little uncomfortable about listening to
    too much of their stuff in the absence of the film to which it
    belongs.  So a big thank you to Tommy, Bart and Neil for coming in to
    talk about their music, and to David and Theresa from the Filmhouse who
    came by to chip in at the beginning, before having to rush off.  It may
    not be the catchiest of podcasts in a musical sense this week, but I
    think this is easily one of the best podcasts we've done - one of the
    most interesting, certainly.

    Also, although I haven't tracked down all these films on the

    internet, I have got some bits and pieces for you to give you an idea
    of what was going on.  Confusingly, they all have the original scores
    on these clips, but erm... well, hopefully you'll find them instructive.

    The Films:

    1. eagleowl: Granton Trawler
    2. eagleowl: Begone Dull Care
    3. Meursault: Stan & Ollie
    4. Meursault: Night Mail (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3)
    5. FOUND: Camera Makes Whoopee (Sorry, couldn't find this one anywhere - here's a Google search though if you want to have a go yourself. And a bit more about Norman McLaren, here.)

    Toadcast #84 - The Playing With the Pastcast

    01. British Sea Power - Oh Larsen B (06.17)

    02. eagleowl - Granton Trawler (Excerpt) (17.16)
    03. eagleowl - Begone Dull Care (Excerpt) (24.46)
    04. Six Organs of Admittance - Eighth Cognition/All You've Left (27.34)
    05. Meursault - Night Mail (Excerpt) (35.46)
    06. Meursault - Stan & Ollie (Excerpt) (43.24)
    07. The Books - All Our Base are Belong to Them (46.25)
    08. FOUND - Camera Makes Whoopee (Excerpt 2) (56.43)
    09. Marvin Gaye - T Plays it Cool (68.39)
    10. FOUND - Camera Makes Whoopee (Excerpt 1) (72.56)

    1 hr 15 min
  • Toadcast #83 - The Funkcast

    Would you believe that this podcast is finished and ready and done

    and I am ready to go to bed by 10pm.  This is a fucking scarily strange
    occurrence.  I've only had about four beers too, which is also a little
    unsual. The only organisational task at which I have abjectly failed is
    keeping the length of this podcast down to an hour.  Basically, having
    different people co-present is really nice, and I think it makes the
    podcasts miles better, but I am still coming to terms with the
    discipline of keeping the talky talky down to a manageable level and
    sticking to that hour which has made these weekly swear-morsels so
    digestible in the last few months.

    At the Wickerman Festival

    Callum from Meursault made the highly contentious statement that not
    all funk music was buttock-clenchingly awful and, whilst I mocked him,
    I decided that someone with that kind of crazy recklessness must be
    brave enough to bring a Toadcast full of funky classics to an audience
    of sulky, morose indie kids with art school fringes.  So good luck to
    Callum - I am going to be listening to this with the same curiosity as
    the rest of the audience I would think.  It's hard to get a handle on
    what a podcast sounds like as you record it, so I guess if I am going
    to absorb the lesson of the funk then I will have to have a cup of
    coffee, put my feet up on the couch and listen to it the same as
    everyone else.

    Toadcast #83 - The Funkcast

    01. Parliament - Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) (06.23)

    02. Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information (17.21)
    03. Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band - The E-Street Shuffle (25.55)
    04. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (30.15)
    05. The Come Ons - Strangelove (37.00)
    06. Charles Mingus - Boogie Stop Shuffle (49.39)
    07. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Mr. Brown (54.33)
    08. Sly Stone - Can't Nickname the Truth (63.09)
    09. Funkadelic - You Scared the Lovin' Outta Me (74.53)

    1 hr 22 min
  • Toadcast #82 - FOUND Toad Session

    The most enormous difficulty with recording this podcast was that it

    was monumentally, wonderfully, amazingly sunny and hot outside.  So
    there we were, stuck in our house, trying to play songs and conduct an
    interview while we were all secretly (and not so secretly) longing to
    just be out in the back garden.  Mrs. Toad was making burgers, you
    know.  Gaaaaah!

    I remember when FOUND

    recorded a show with Marc Riley recently and I got plenty of emails
    saying that they really weren’t very talkative.  Which is odd really,
    because I didn’t entirely get that kind of impression as we recorded
    this session or about them in general, but then I listen back to it
    again and the first few interviewy segments really do take a while to
    get going.  I guess it took a while for Ziggy (who I’d never met
    before) and myself to figure out exactly how to talk to one another and
    whether or not we really got on.  So that whole dynamic makes for a
    really good podcast, which gets more and more interesting, from my
    point of view anyway, as the thing progresses.

    As usual, all the videos are embedded below and can be seen at the Song, by Toad Vimeo on YouTube pages, along with a portfolio of photos by Dylan from Blueback Hotrod, and Fee on Flickr here. 

    The session tracks can all be downloaded below, and the main interview
    podcast itself is immediately below.  Have fun Toadlings.  I am going
    to sleep like a freshly-slaughtered corpse.

    Toadcast #83 – FOUND Toad Session

    FOUND – Mullokian (Toad Session)

    FOUND – You’re No Vincent Gallo (Toad Session)

    FOUND – Medley (Toad Session)

    FOUND – Anti-Climb Paint (Toad Session)

    FOUND – Gifted (Toad Session)

    Now we’ve got the main session video below, followed by the videos

    we made for the individual songs (Vimeo are being fucking useless at
    the moment, but eventually that main video and Gifted won’t be on
    YouTube).

    01. FOUND – Mullokian (Toad Session) (05.11)

    02. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (09.27)
    03. The Avett Brothers – The Greatest Sum (Acoustic) (13.26)
    04. FOUND – You’re No Vincent Gallo (Toad Session) (20.39)
    05. Animal Collective – Brother Sport (20.32)
    06. FOUND – Medley (Toad Session) (36.00)
    07. Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight (44.20)
    08. Lambchop – Your Fucking Sunny Day (49.11)
    09. FOUND – Anti-Climb Paint (Toad Session) (64.29.)
    10. FOUND – Gifted (Toad Session) (72.25)

    1 hr 16 min
  • Toadcast #81 - The Mulecast

    Helloooo people.  This morning the Toadcast comes to you from

    Leith.  There were beers and there was a fuckload of incoherent
    rambling, and it ran way over time but, erm, who really cares?

    This week I went to visit my crippled friend Steven (v? ph?) Kearney

    in Leith and we recorded a podcast in his house prattling on about all
    the usual nonsense.  He got all jumpy about sound quality, omitting to
    mention the fact that the Toadcasts are the most incredibly badly
    recorded show on the interwaves.  Honestly, why would this week be the
    one single week it suddenly didn't sound like shit?

    Still, Steven has recently started his own podcast, leading on from his Fresh Air show Dylan and the Mule.  It's only one episode down,

    but it sounds very promising indeed, so with a bit of luck there could
    be very good things coming from that part of the world this year.  Me,
    I just desperately need a sleep.  Night night Toadlings.

    I will probably be gawping at the wonderful Cybraphon by the time you read this.  With a hangover.

    Toadcast #81 - The Mulecast

    01. Withered Hand - No Cigarettes (06.56)

    02. Buster Fantastic - Mess of Me (17.57)
    03. Mountain Goats - Genesis 3-23 (19.47)
    04. Kill It Kid - Send Me an Angel Down (29.07)
    05. Joe Cocker - Dear Landlord (33.51)
    06. Loch Lomond - Blood Bank (44.52)
    07. Micah P. Hinson - Don't You Forget (Parts 1 & 2) (59.24)
    08. The Palace Flophouse - Until My Lungs Hurt (64.52)
    09. Tom Waits - A Little Rain (78.17)

    1 hr 22 min
  • Toadcast #80 - The Jailcast

    When we were out in Italy on our holidays Mrs. Toad and I had very

    few CDs with us but one of them was an Uncut compilation of prison
    blues and murder ballads which, amazingly, given the very promising
    subject matter, really wasn't very good.  In fact, it was rotten, so
    I've made a podcast based on the self same concept, but with what I
    personally think are vastly better songs.

    Most  obviously, to my mind, there were very few contemporary songs

    in there, and I thought that was a little weird.  Now, I actually think
    that the level of political commentary in popular music is just a
    little weak at the moment, but there are nevertheless some amazingly
    good prison and criminal justice-related songs to be had, and certainly
    some exceptional murder ballads, although I must confess that the most
    recent bit of genuine social commentary here pre-dates the 1990s by a
    couple of years.  There was probably more recent material I could have
    used, it just didn't spring to mind at the time I'm afraid.

    So here we have the Jailcast, complete with some largely incoherent

    ranting about politics and my own stupid fucking jail story which Mr.s
    Toad takes such delight in sniggering about at every available
    opportunity, the bitch.  It's not that exciting, really it isn't.

    Toadcast #80 - The Jailcast

    01. Tom Waits - Jockey Full of Bourbon (02.05)

    02. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Drunkard's Prayer (08.37)
    03. Pulp - Down by the River (16.14)
    04. Bob Dylan & the Rolling Thunder Revue - The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (Live, 1975) (19.42)
    05. The Pogues - Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six (31.36)
    06. Bruce Springsteen - Vigilante Man (Woody Guthrie Cover) (39.33)
    07. The Radiators - Prison Bars (43.34)
    08. Enfant Bastard - Compilation Tapes (50.10)
    09. Nightjar - The Hanging Tree (55.30)
    10. Pete Wylie - Stay Free (Clash Cover) (60.49)

    1 hr 5 min
  • Toadcast #79 - The Wickerman

    This is our first attempt at a stunt podcast, live from a festival. 

    We go to festivals and I am trying to figure out how much work I can
    make for myself without taking the fun out of the festival for myself,
    or just generally trying too hard.

    I didn't really set up any interviews this time around - no, not

    even Billy Bragg - but I did manage to grab Mark from emerging Glasgow
    band The Seventeenth Century for a chat.  The audio is terrible, I'm
    afraid, but it should be just about audible.  If I'd been able to
    locate the keys for the Toad van at that point we'd have gone in there,
    just for a respite from the wind noises on the recording and the
    colossal amount of bleed from the main stage.

    In any case, it should be entertaining enough, I hope, and with a

    bit of luck subsequent attempts at the same thing will be a lot better.

    Toadcast #79 - The Wickerman

    01. The Cave Singers - Beach House (04.04)

    02. Julian Plenti - The Fun That We Had (07.31)
    03. The Second Hand Marching Band - Mad Sense (15.37)
    04. The Seventeenth Century - Mid October (22.59)
    05. Celebrity Chimp - Pornstar (35.37)
    06. The Lemonheads - The Outdoor Type (40.00)
    07. The Human League - All I Ever Wanted (47.11)
    08. The Go Team! - Feelgood by Numbers (50.25)
    09. Meursault - Lament For a Teenage Millionaire (59.16)

    1 hr 3 min
  • Toadcast #78 - The Uncast

    Uncut Magazine and I had a pretty amazing relationship between the

    turn of the millennium and about 2004 or 2005.  Basically, I would buy
    it every month and turn straight to the reviews section and the cover
    mount CD of what they considered to be the best of new music released
    that month, and devour both simultaneously, taking notes about what I
    wanted to spend that monthís meagre wages on.

    Those cover mount CDs were amazing, at the time, and almost

    invariably related to that monthís new releases, but in the last few
    years they have become way, way more concepty, and I have started to
    enjoy them less and less.  For some reason, Uncutís relationship with
    contemporary music seems to have come adrift even faster than my own,
    even as I approach my mid-thirties.

    Even if I am exaggerating that particular claim - maybe blogging is

    keeping my tastes young(ish), you never know - it seems a shame that I
    have drifted away from what was one of my major sources of new music
    for years, so this podcast is something of a retrospective  and also a
    salute to all the stuff I picked up from Uncut and in particular their
    amazing cover mount CDs over the years.

    Toadcast #78 - The Uncast

    01. The Magnetic Fields - I Donít Want to Get Over You (03.36)

    02. Ismael Lo & Marianne Faithful - Without Blame (10.01)
    03. Gemma Hayes - Over & Over (14.19)
    04. Elliot Smith - Memory Lane (19.01)
    05. The Woodentops - Well Well Well (26.59)
    06. Lift to Experience - To Guard and to Guide You (31.07)
    07. Heather Nova - Iím On Fire (39.55)
    08. Roddy Frame - I Canít Start Now (46.36)
    09. The Flatlanders - Going Away (50.10)
    10. The Acorn - Crooked Legs (59.37)

    1 hr 5 min
  • Toadcast #77 - The Grouchcast

    Sorry, I know this is going up late, but I have been working on the

    promotional material for the Jesus H. Foxx EP release.  There's a fair
    bit still to be done, but for the time being I am cautiously optimistic
    that it is going to look fucking brilliant.  There will be a lot of
    painting to be done though, so putting the final touches on the thing
    is going to take bloody ages, but I think it is going to be easily
    worth it.

    In other news, this week's podcast is a prolonged chat

    with Euan (of Kays Lavelle, Trampoline, Steinberg Principle and
    Woodenbox fame) as a way of rounding up the excellent fortnight he
    spent feeding and changing Song, by Toad whilst Mrs. Toad and I were
    off gallivanting.  So, rather than make his usual grouchy, joyless
    comments on posts I thought I might invite him to make his grouchy
    joyless comments on a podcast.  So he came round and complained and
    complained and generally sulked his way through the whole thing, which
    was nice.

    Oh alright, of course he didn't. But it just wouldn't

    be fun for me if I didn't make fun of Euan for being grouchy long past
    the time anyone else has ceased to find it funny. 

    Oh stop sulking.  You're turning into him.  All of you.  Shame on you, people, shame on you.  Cheer the fuck up for God's sake.

    Toadcast #77 - The Grouchcast

    01. Wilco - Bull Black Nova (06.39)

    02. The Kays Lavelle - Scars From the City (15.14)
    03. There Will Be Fireworks - We Sleep Through the Bombs (27.37)
    04. Beerjacket - Father (31.46)
    05. iLiKETRAiNS - Terra Nova (39.36)
    06. Andrew Bird - The Giant of Illinois (50.10)
    07. Finn - The Fourth the Fifth (61.47)
    08. Fleet Foxes - Oliver James (65.29)
    09. Tom Waits - Temptation (74.12)

    1 hr 19 min

About The Toadcast - the weekly podcast from Song, by Toad

From the publisher's feed

Every couple of weeks I sit down with a couple of gins and talk you through the new music that's caught my ears in the last fortnight. There'll be a few classics and a few mainstream bands but the…