The Toadcast - the weekly podcast from Song, by Toad

So, after a couple of slightly misnumbered podcasts - 245 coming after 243, and then 244 having to come after that to try and correct the mistake, hoping two wrongs might , if not make a right exactly, at least gloss over the original wrong somewhat - we are back on track with #246.  In the right order and everything.

There's no real theme to this week's podcast, although we have a fair bit of new stuff in there - some by The Walkmen, The Douglas Firs, The Spook School, Monster Island and a couple of others.

Next week I was thinking of doing The Ivorycast, with loads of piano music, and then perhaps one about freak folk next, assuming I manage to successfully tie down what the fuck that is.  Dirty, psychedelic folk music, as far as I can tell, is about the easiest way to approximate it.  Ah well, a bit of digging should do the trick easily enough. In the meantime, however, this:

01. Yusuf Azak - Smile Tactics (00.22)
02. Glass Animals - Cocoa Hooves (07.16)
03. Stoney and Meatloaf - Jessica White (14.44)
04. Elbow - On a Day Like This (17.35)
05. The Walkmen - Vermeer 65 (26.00)
06. Silkies - Red (32.07)
07. The Douglas Firs - Backroads (37.01)
08. The Spook School - Here We Go (39.44)
09. Professor Lafferty - A New Definition of Love (Part 1) (46.47)
10. Monster Island - Ferris Wheel (52.46)
11. Zucchini Drive - Gospel Oak (58.47)

Ah yes, the Hypecast, so called because some of the discussion on the Chvrches thread made me think about what it is I really dislike about the concept of hype, and why I mistrust it.

It's an area where I struggle to be consistent, honestly. I abhor hype, but I seem to recall being very much caught up in the mystery and excitement around Silver Columns, for example. And I spend most of the Rough Guide to Self-releasing an Album exhorting bands to be more prepared and more organised, and yet I get funny when bands are too organised, and start wondering if they're really there to be a band or just want to get famous. And then I get annoyed at people getting too excited about the excitement itself, but would still accept that it's probably the most effective way for a DIY band on a tight budget to actually generate basic levels of awareness when they can't afford to carpet-bomb the world into submission with PR like major label bands often do.

And then there's always the far more traditional and straightforward old chestnuts that I hate feeling press-ganged into liking something because I just a bloody contrarian, whether the crowd are right or not, and of course that I am always mortally offended when other people are Wrong About Music.  So many opinions out there, and none of them correct except mine - it's a heavy burden to bear, I promise you!

01. Silver Columns - Warm Welcome (00.10)
02. Gene - Sleep Well Tonight (09.12)
03. Voxtrot - Soft and Warm (17.47)
04. Vampire Weekend - Walcott (Insane Mix #2) (21.52)
05. Broken Records - Dia Dos Namorados (30.14)
06. Village - Nowhere (36.00)
07. Darkstar - Timeaway (40.00)
08. The Bluetones - Bluetonic (45.37)
09. Blur - Yuko & Hiro (53.13)
10. Lana Del Rey - Video Games (59.41)

Today I rediscovered toast.  Yes, let it be proclaimed that toast is an awesome snack and that I deserve to be booed and hissed for neglecting it for so long.  At university I pretty much subsisted on cups of tea, toast and tins of Heinz Big Soup, but for some reason despite working from home, I haven't resurrected the toast habit.  Well today I put that right, and it was awesome.

Toast goes so well with jam, with marmite, with cheese and with just plain butter, and it takes a second to make and it's just so darn tasty.  So yes, there you have it, this week I shall be mostly eating TOAST! Or Toadst, if you will.

Anyhow, after a couple of fine slices of toast I sit down to bring you this week's installment of songs which have been making me happy this week, starting with a new and vastly, vastly overdue single from Magic Arm.  And, well, I suppose you'll have to listen to find out where we go from there.  Toast!

01. Magic Arm - Put Your Collar Up (00.27)
02. The Magnetic Fields - Love is Lighter Than Air (08.32)
03. Calexico - Black Heart (11.44)
04. Old Earth - Less Words (18.17)
05. Trapped Mice - Mona Lisa (22.56)
06. Woodpecker Wooliams - Gull (30.50)
07. Immigrant Union - My Heart's a Joke (33.54)
08. Sealings - Face Basement (39.16)
09. Hot Panda - One in the Head, One in the Chest (45.46)
10. Monster Island - Pilot Whales (49.20)
11. Juffage - My Weakness (56.50)

The recovery in the title of this podcast is down to the fact that I actually managed to spend a full, undisrupted week in the office last week.  Whilst that is a ludicrously banal thing to be celebrating, getting things back on the rails, or at least moderately close to being back on the rails, does feel like something of a relief at this stage.

The accounts desperately need doing as well, which is another little rock 'n' roll tidbit for you.  I can keep this up all day - there's loads more fascinating little insights where this came from. Did I tell you the one about how I need to move a pile of our stock from the downstairs hall to the new shelving I've assembled in the office?  Fuck me it's going to be thrilling.

Actually, after all this I really do feel the need to go out and inject heroin into my eyeballs or punch a tiger in the face or something, just to resurrect some pretence of excitement for anyone (myself included) who might expect the coal face of new music production to be a slightly more exciting place.

01. Cold Pumas - Fog Cutter (00.26)
02. The Lemonheads - Malo Cup (08.11)
03. Pillars & Tongues - Dogs (10.25)
04. Shelter Point - Braille (19.29)
05. Nadine Shah - Aching Bones (27.25)
06. R. Ring - Fallout & Fire (32.35)
07. Playlounge - Sweet Tooth (36.14)
08. Fear of Men - Mosaic (38.33)
09. Blur - Strange News From Another Star (45.10)
10. Hiva Oa - These Hands (51.36)
10. The Twilight Sad - Nil (Liars Remix) (57.17)

Given how little time I've had to do anything recently, I certainly haven't been able to make time for new music.  So this means that this week's podcast is a little backward-facing really, looking at some of the 80s and 90s music I was into at the time - not the most famous stuff, just some of the stuff I personally liked the best, of course.

Back when I was at Uni in the 90s, when 80s music was utterly reviled, I remember making a tape of 80s music I thought was good, and really, really enjoying it.  Had I made a similar tape for the 90s a few years back, when they too were taking their turn at the bottom of the pile, then bands like Arnold, The Delgados (although they straddled the 90s and the 00s), Yo La Tengo, Eels and Clem Snide would have been right in there.

I can't quite bring myself to do the same for the early 2000s just yet, but they too will inevitably be hated in their turn. If you doubt me, just mention The Killers, Razorlight, The Ordinary Boys, Hard-fi or The Libertines to any self-respecting music snob!

01. Morrissey - You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side (00.57)
02. Yo La Tengo - Big Day Coming (10.20)
03. The Delgados - Pull the Wires From the Wall (19.17)
04. LeThug - Lux (25.03)
05. Magic Eye - Holy Male (30.25)
06. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - From the Hip (35.27)
07. Eels - Not Ready Yet (42.04)
08. Clem Snide - 1989 (46.35)
09. Arnold - Fleas Don't Fly (52.09)
10. Hazy & the J's - It's Fantasy Man (57.48)

The Stagcast is a confused, late and distinctly creepy podcast.  There are a few reasons for this, and they all sound vaguely like the making of inadequate excuses but umm… well, I hope you'll hear me out.

Firstly, and most creepily, this was recorded in a small flat in Holland surrounded by sleeping people.  So to avoid waking anyone up I ended up speaking largely under my breath.  The result, instead of the tact and sensitivity for which I was hoping, was pretty much the radio debut of the Toad Paedo Voice.  Hooray.  Super.

And on top of that, just to make things even more awkward, there is some Bon Jovi.  I think - or at least I dearly fucking hope - that this is a first for the Toadcasts, but nevertheless you can believe me when I say that this makes me as uncomfortable as it does you.  Want to know who to blame?  The fucker getting married next weekend who will probably prevent me getting next week's podcast done punctually as well.  What a bastard.

01. The Pixies - Where is My Mind (00.16)
02. Ryan Adams - Come Pick Me Up (07.42)
03. The Reservations - Dogs in the Day (19.12)
04. Manners - Will Pt.1 (22.22)
05. Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built (28.21)
06. The Wilderness of Manitoba - The Ark (34.31)
07. Apostille - Wrong (41.00)
08. Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark (49.06)
09. Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer (53.17)
10. The Lemonheads - Style (59.33)

Yes, mosherama!  This podcast draws its name, slightly sadly, not from the fact that I have been in one insane moshpit after another this week, which might have been quite cool, but from the rather more mundane circumstance that I have simply been to quite a lot of gigs.

I did mosh, in a sense. In the fat, sad old man sense that I stood sort of in the middle and nodded my head vaguely in time to the music.  I know, I know, who will save society from such excess? This must be a job for Carol Vorderman.

Defeatist self-mockery aside, I genuinely did see three fantastic gigs one after another this week, so the podcast is going to reflect this.  Once again we have multiple Grandaddy songs, which means my fandom is probably tipping the balance into sad, slavering fanboy territory but umm... well, it's too late for me to make a last-minute scramble for dignity anyway, so fuck it, they were absolutely fucking amazing and you are just going to have to sit through it and pretend to love them as much as I do.

01. Grandaddy - Stray Dog & the Chocolate Shake (00.21)
02. Mark Lanegan Band - Strange Religion (07.21)
03. Thula Borah - Skye Falling (18.44)
06. Pinact - Into the One (23.33)
05. PAWS - Homecoming (32.49)
06. Eagulls - Moulting (36.21)
07. Noun Verb Adjective - Inside of You (42.52)
08. Dalton - Wood Frames (47.42)
09. Mark Lanegan - The Winding Sheet (52.10)
10. Grandaddy - For the Dishwasher (1.01.32)

The Curiocast because there are indeed some odd little bits and pieces on this week's podcast.  Listen to it and you might not notice much different - it's not exactly shocking or all that strange or anything like that, but there are most certainly a few odd little things here and there.

Geographically, we have music from Karachi, Vienna and Novosibirsk.  Genre-wise, we have some of the first R&B(ish) music ever to appear on a Toadcast and then we end with seven minutes of choral folk singing performed in Hamilton Mausoleum, reputed to have the longest echo of any building in the world. 

So none of it will knock you off your feet in a 'what the flying fuck is that?' sort of a way, but there's definitely some odd little bits and pieces on this week's podcast.  Which I like.

01. Toy - Motoring (00.27)
02. Angel Olsen - Tiniest Seed (08.14)
03. Bagel Project - Back and Forth (15.44)
04. OverUnda - She Falls to the Floor (17.35)
05. Sun Stains - Fortify Perfect (24.09)
06. Menomena - Heavy is as Heavy Does (28.59)
07. Basheer & the Pied Pipers - Circling Nowhere (36.19)
08. Heatherwood - Insight (47.35)
09. Mile Me Deaf - Troubles Caught (51.17)
10. Daughter - Smother (56.06)
11. Wounded Knee - Hamilton (1.02.22.)

This weekend I was dragged down to the Beacons Festival in Yorkshire because pals of mine had spare tickets and umm... well, I figured why the fuck not.  Also, go to the website and take a look at that lineup. Amazing!

So yes, at five o'clock on Friday morning, five lads all over six feet tall squished  their way into a Ford fucking Focus and pootled on four hours down the motorway into deepest, darkest Yorkshire. We even got the 'Ee, ba gum' treatment in the café we stopped at for a bacon sarnie on the way down.

Anyhow, this podcast features bands we saw over the weekend, and given the hipster-friendly lineup at the festival should prove to be a rather hipster-friendly podcast as well, after the relative (and shameful) lack of interest show in last week's comedy, I reckon this should prove rather more successful.  My inner hipster is certainly excited.

01. Fawn Spots - Spanish Glass (00.05)
02. Juffage - Small Fires (Viola Version) (06.57)
03. Best Friends - Break My Neck (14.22)
04. King Krule - The Noose of Jah City (17.19)
05. Still Corners - Endless Summer (24.55)
06. PINS - Shoot You (35.03)
07. Japandroids - The Nights of Wine and Roses (38.26)
08. The Wave Pictures - I Love You Like a Madman (47.27)
09. Hookworms - Teen Dreams (50.30)
10. Willy Mason - We Can Be Strong (59.22)

This podcast, I suppose I am going to have to accept from the start, really isn't going to be for everyone, is it.  There is plenty of music in here, but not all that much which would make it onto a regular Toadcast.

Mixed in with those few more traditional tunes is a little musical comedy, a genre with which I have a very patchy relationship indeed, and also some outright stand-up. It's the Edinburgh Festival and some friends and I were talking about how we generally avoid the whole boiling pot of shit, but that there were some comedians we would make an effort to see nevertheless.

Because, with the exception of Stewart Lee, I don't have any of their stuff this isn't about people I may or may not see here in August just some stuff by comedians I happen to a/ like and b/ happen to have handy (because I am lazy).  So it may not be the usual cutting edge hipster tunefest, but it's still a very good podcast if you're into this sort of shit.  Plus it's a nice change.  So deal with it.

01. Richard Cheese - Rape Me (00.22)
02. Doug Anthony Allstars - If You're Happy/Waco (05.09)
03. David Cross - Certain Leaders In Government Look Or Act Like Certain Pop Culture References! (08.14)
04. Phil Ochs - Talking Cuban Crisis (14.54)
05. Doug Anthony Allstars - Gilbert & Sullivan (17.36)
06. Half Man Half Biscuit - Surging Out of Convalescence (19.03)
07. Animaniacs - International Friendship Song (26.15)
08. Bill Hicks - Dinosaurs in the Bible (29.17)
09. Doug Anthony Allstars - Gilbert & Sullivan 2 (35.06)
10. David Cross - Women, Please Rinse Off Your Vagina and Anus (36.17)
11. Richard Cheese - Milkshake (43.36)
12. Jeff Foxworthy - Redneck Games (46.20)
13. Doug Anthony Allstars - Gilbert & Sullivan 3 (49.57)
14. Me First & the Gimme Gimmes - Stand By Your Man (51.35)
15. Inspector Tapehead - I am Your Pedigree (54.49)
16. Tim Minchin - Pope Song (1.00.26)
17. Stewart Lee - Top Gear (1.02.41)