The Toadcast - The Weekly Podcast From Song, By Toad

Today I am angry at Capitalism.  Partly, funnily enough, I am angry at Capitalism because in many ways I myself am a Capitalist.  The problem I have with Capitalism is not really the theory, but the practise.  So many people and companies who chant the free market mantra simply are not free marketeers.  They want isolationism and protectionism as much as the most paranoid Marxist when it will protect their interests, but they won't for a second entertain the economic theory behind that sort of behaviour - gosh no! So there is plenty of paranoid ranting in this week's podcast, railing against people who talk all Capitalist whilst not actually being Capitalist, people who are moral and honorable in their personal lives but who turn into voracious whores as soon as they put on a suit and, erm, well generally there's lots of pish to be talked, sorry. Still, at least it's marginally better than last week. Podcast #66 - The Greedcast 01. Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities (03.27) 02. Billy Bragg - NPWA (16.27)

As you might expect from the title, this is one ungodly clusterfuck of a podcast.  It was recorded well into the early hours of the morning with Dylan, Neil and DC who were all in the house by virtue of Homegame being imminent (happening already by the time you hear this) and the Meursault EP being in the final stages of completion.  DC stopped by the house on his way to Fife, Neil was around to put CDs into card envelopes and Dylan, er, just likes beer I think. There's was also some heinous Norweigan anus cheese being eaten as well.  Toffee-flavoured cheese.  Fucking toffee-flavoured fucking cheese.  Honestly, it is the most disgusting substance known to man and looks just a little bit like brown plasticine. Anyway, please don't expect anything coherent or, frankly, even anything listenable.  Four of us sat around and bellowed incoherently into a microphone for a couple of hours, and frankly that's exactly what it sounds like.  There are some good songs, though, and somereally good new music but, erm, honest

It's been a longish week, but believe me this weekend is going to be worse.  I am offering up my poor old Volvo for sale, which breaks my embittered little alcoholic heart, so it does.  I am going to miss that car, we've had some wonderful times pottering about in her and I am going to miss the silly old girl, really I am. This is a joint podcast, seeing as how I was in the pub with Dylan and the poor whelp seemed to have nowhere else to go, I invited him back to the house to add his own particular brand of incoherent nonsense to this week's podcast.  Because lazy racial stereotyping is something of a stock in trade around here, I find myself making several lame attempts to bring up Welshness and national identity and all that pish, but ultimately this is just two drunk people chattering about music.  More or less the usual, then. Toadcast #64 - The Welshcast 01. Billy Bragg & Kirsty MacColl - A New England (05.12) 02. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Miniature Kingdoms (14.54) 03. Manic Street Preachers - From

Spring makes a fucking colossal difference, doesn't it.  People have been tripping around Edinburgh with a spring in their step for the last week, when the sun has come out and the air, whilst it may still be a little chilly, is notably warmer.  It's gentler, I suppose, is the main difference.  There's something of a release about Spring, as if all the uncomfortable restraint of Winter no longer has to be acknowledged.  Does anyone remember that episode of Northern Exposure when the ice melted?  Everyone went nuts, and the relieved exhalation we all express on the coming of the sunshine does remind me in many ways of a tame version of the exact same mania depicted in that episode of, erm, a serialised drama from the, er, mid ah nineties...  anyone still reading?  Never mind. In any case, this is a purposeless but musically excellent podcast which is something of a lazy one, if I'm honest.  Frankly though, I think I deserve it after the effort put into the Pictish Session, so fuck you if you have an issue with

This Toad Session has been a wee while coming, but frankly I think it's fucking superb.  The videos have turned out wonderfully, Neil and Gav have done an amazing job with the sound, Fee and Dylan have taken some great photos.  I'm happy as a pig in shit, quite frankly.  Johnny Lynch (Mr. Pictish Trail) had plenty of time to kill, so we drank some beer, took our time and talked a monumental amount of shite.  The podcast is really strong this time around, I think.  We talk a lot but I think it's pretty decent stuff for the most part, not random blather, so I really think it should be an enjoyable listen.  Hopefully, anyway. Johnny picked really nice songs, too.  He's recorded a couple of unreleased ones, and a Lone Pigeon cover, as well as his Top of the Pops hit single Winter Home Disco.  It makes for a really nice mix.  As per usual the songs are all available for downloading, hotlinking and sharing around, the videos can be watched below, on our YouTube (yeuch) page or our Vimeo page, and the photos are all

Well, as DC pointed out on Five Friday Fatwas, the 90s revival is not quite upon us yet.  It's both totally inevitable and somewhat due, so it will be here sooner rather than later, but for the time being it has yet to entirely arrive.So in anticipation of the inevitable, I thought I might just make a podcast which partly tried to anticipate the revisionism and partly talked just a little about what I myself might remember when the 90s revival hits full swing in a couple of years. I wouldn't describe myself as a child of the 90s, but I think that I might be wrong in neglecting to do so.  When they started I was 15, just moved from Singapore back to Vienna and very much a kid.  By the time they ended I had finished my Master's degree and spent a long time pouring pints waiting for a proper job, which in some ways I suppose might just make you an adult. It was an interesting era for me personally and when the revival arrives , as it inevitably will, I am downright fascinated to know what the younger generation

This week I welcome you to the absolutely 100% guaranteed non-controversial podcast.  Nothing to see here. Move along.  Although, it might be slightly controversial, just possibly, around two thirds of the way through if you are excessively religious or perhaps if you have some objection to pointing and laughing as Jade Goody dies of cancer or Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse slowly expire in the full and relentless gaze of the public eye. Has anyone seen the film Deathwatch?  It's set in Glasgow in the 1980s and almost entirely obscure, despite an amazing cast: Romy Schneider, Harvey Keitel and Max von Sydow.  What it amounts to is that a woman discovers that she is going to die, and then a TV company ask to buy the rights to film her last weeks.  It's a bit over the top at times, but a pretty visionary movie nevertheless.  It's always disconcerting where something like that makes a prediction which proves to be so uncannily true.  I think the scariest thing about 1984 is how utterly determined the species see

Live recordings - in fact, specifically, live albums - came up in a recent post on Song, by Toad and the idea of doing a podcast composed entirely of live recordings really appealed to me because there are so many great ones.  That said, on the post in question there arose a debate, one voice expressing my deepest hatreds of the genre, and another being perhaps over-generous in the other direction.  Frankly, I despise the vast majority of live albums.  Mostly they are shit recordings of songs we already know, released for the sole reason of fleecing fans whose devotion has already been established, and whose wallets can clearly be plundered for a few more empty sheckles.  Despite that, of course, there are some truly stunning live recordings.  In fact, I'd argue that some of the most memorable, legendary recordings of all  time are in fact live ones.  Bob Dylan live at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1966.  Bruce Springsteen pretty much any time in the seventies.  Basically, for all live recordin

After a week spent debating it, how about a podcast embodying the discussions we've been having about production values I thought a podcast which sort of pulls all the disagreements and moans and whingeing and so on into one big mp3 of joy would be a good idea. So we've got some Big Production, some demo scratchy stuff and a few bands who have dabbled with both.  I fart on about production values as if I have the faintest idea what I'm talking about, which of course I don't. I'm not sure how well it works as a playlist - it might be a bit disjointed - but in general I like it.  I like the debate in general, I like the thought process we've all gone through together this week, and in general, by association, I like this podcast. Toadcast #57 - Production Values 01. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (Original Nebraska Sessions Demo Version) (04.31) 02. Radiohead - Everything in its Right Place (11.13) 03. Enfant Bastard - Vessel (20.19) 04. Half Man Half Biscuit - 1966 and All That (22.37) 05. U2 - Red H

We both hate Valentine's day and have no desire to take part in its consumerist pantomime.  It seems to have created its own little rituals in our house though: we have an annual Valentine's hate-fest, which lasts a couple of days, where we pour scorn on both the event itself and anyone who takes part in it.  The problem is, in doing so, we have sort of made ourselves part of what gets on our own nerves.  Fucking people and their fucking stupid valentine's traditions like, er... this one. This is probably only the second in what will probably become an annual Valentine's Scorn-o-rama, but it already feels like a time-honoured tradition.  So if you're single, generally antagonistic, miserable, lonely or just plain indifferent then this is the podcast for you.  We even have an odd conversation where we wonder what the point of marriage is - a slightly bizarre thing for a married couple to start wondering about.  But that's the Toadcasts for you. Toadcast #56 - Valentine's Schmalentine's 01. Nirvana - Rape Me

The day after his amazing live set at the Bowery, Sam Amidon came round to the house to record a Toad Session.  He didn't have all that much time, and I don't think he quite knew what he'd let himself in for either, so this one is pretty brief.  Still, between this and the footage from the live show I think we have a really nice portrait of the guy, who is so different in person from his recordings.  Whilst the latter may be beautiful, and whilst All Is Well is an amazingly lovely album, his personality dominates his live show so much it gives you such a different perspective on his music. As per usual, we have the session podcast below, and after that the Toad Session mp3 files, which you are free to pass around as you please.  The videos are posted below that, and can all be found on the Song, by Toad Vimeo page (recommended) as well as the YouTube page (shit, but popular, so I have to put them there too).  There's also a series of photos from the session, which can be found on our Flickr page.  The tr

The Spacecast is yet another podcast dreamed up in the pub, this time between myself and Dylan, the official Song, by Toad photographer.  And again it's one of those podcast which could have gone on for over two hours quite easily, but we don't do that anymore, not around here, we're disciplined these days goddammit. So I've missed off about a million other suggestions and come up with a combination of songs genuinely about space, and few that use space as some sort of metaphor and then a few which just stick a few spacey words in the title.  And of course, it starts with something rather splendid... but you'll have to listen to find out what it is.  Alright, it's not that special.  Just mildly amusing. Toadcast #54 - The Spacecast 01. Me First & the Gimme Gimmes - Rocket Man (03.52) 02. David Bowie - Space Oddity (07.06) 03. Bob Geldof - Thinking Voyager 2 Type Things (15.09) 04. Inspiral Carpets - Saturn V (24.49) 05. The Only Ones - Another Girl Another Planet (28.30) 06. Shirley Bassey - In Oth

This is just an overspilling of all the shiny new things I have in my inbox this week.  It's so fabulously up to the minute that there are songs in here which only landed in my inbox yesterday.  There's a slightly sneaky legend making an appearance as well, in the shape of Jason Lytle.  Jason was the lead singer of Grandaddy, a legendary group who disbanded back in about, erm, 2006 or so, leading to Jason moving to a house out in Montana and apparently giving up on the idea of making a living out of music altogether. The thing is, music is an art form, and no-one makes a fucking living out of making art.  The only exceptions are deplorable cunts like Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and fucking Bono, so please can we dispel the idea that art is a profession.  It's not a job, nor a career, it's a fucking calling; an obsession.  Of course, the good news for us fans is that, because it's a calling rather than a job, Mr. Lytle was never likely to stay away forever.  If you care about something it's almost impossible to

Well here we go.  The new year is yet to quite take hold or take off, but I promise you that things will kick back into gear this weekend.  There are some fine love shows appearing on the calendar, slowly but surely, and eventually 2009 will get going.  No rush though. This Toadcast is a bit of a mix.  I've got some of this year's favourites, I look back at some of last year's favourites, and I also poke away at a couple of the bands I hope will make their mark in 2009.  In that sense, examining last year's favourites makes a lot of sense.  I'm always curious about how well our fads and fancies bear up to the passage of time.  I've not been too fickle in recent years, which is sort of nice, so I don't mind looking back like this.  There aren't too many embarrassments to be had, so it's kind of nice to take the chance to look backwards, look forwards a little and generally just take the opportunity to pause for breath and enjoy the new year.  As should you, toadlings, as should you.  Happy new year, folks.

Oh thank fuck it's Christmas.  Or, any holiday really.  I am so fucking incredibly tired I could pitch face first on the tarmac and sleep for six months without so much as coming up for air. I have been reading, with some amusement, the bickering over the religious nature of Christmas which seems to take place in the American press with monotonous regularity.  Apparently the Christians are adamant that we remember the religious nature of a pagan festival, which seems a little odd considering that the Christianisation of Christmas itself was basically the Christian colonists' acceptance that they could never defeat local pagan religions.  So basically they adopted Yuletide and tried to wedge their amusing Biblical myths into a story that their conquered people would never give up, and then waited a few years for it to degrade into some sort of carnival of aquisitiveness which they could have a tantrum about. So it's a pagan festival which has turned into an unbridled celebration of Western consumerist greed...

Ah, mates.  Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.  Mrs. Toad's best friend from her reckless yoof is visiting us here in Edinburgh with her gentleman friend, and consequently I got to thinking about my own old friends, and all the people who, over the years, have introduced me to so much brilliant music.  So I started to patch together a playlist of all the important friends who have added a lot of music to my life.  The problem is that it became way too long for my one hour restriction, so for this week I cast that aside, and allowed myself an extra ten minutes. Honestly though, old friends are so important, this could have gone on for two hours, easily.  Every one of the people I mention here has a whole story of their own, and it was quite difficult to resist telling all of them in proper detail.  It seems such a shame, actually, to reduce all of these people to a two-minute link.  I could almost do a whole podcast for any one of these scenarios really, and maybe I'll do that in future.  For now, though, yo

By the time this is published I will be lying in bed in Toad Hall with a hangover like a nasty case of death warmed up.  The Song, by Toad Christmas Party was on Friday 5th December, and given how exhausted I am at the moment I would imagine that about two or three gins into the evening I will be whistling Waltzing Matilda out my fucking ears. Still, the Meursault album will be out, the party will be sorted, the Song, by Toad Records publicity juggernaut will be chuntering along comfortably and I will be able to begin the gentle slide into Christmas relaxation.  Finally finally finally.  I am so fucking exhausted from all the bloody time I've thrown into this since the Summer, and over Christmas there will be two weeks off with little to do but move this site all over to self-hosting and tinker a little with the design.  I'll be trying to make the sessions and Toad Records things a little more prominent, and generally poking about in general.  The problem is that my CSS is so piss-poor that I really am limit

This may be the limpest of all excuses I've ever had for naming a podcast.  You know why it's called the Jeffcast?  Because I kinda mention Jeffrey Lewis a couple of times.  Oooh, yes, that makes sense.  Still, sorry, I couldn't think of anything else really, off the top of my head. I suppose I am off to see Jeffrey Lewis directly after recording this, so I guess it sort of counts.  He is playing a secret gig at Henry's Cellar Bar after sneaking out of the Beggars Banquet Christmas Party at the Picture House over the road.  It's one of the things I love about the anti-folk crowd: you genuinely get the impression that they'd rather be playing to an appreciative crowd of their mates, rather than a bigger crowd of anonymous punters who may stand there and demand entertainment. So there you go, that's the deal for tonight.  For the rest of the weekend we're putting together Meursault albums, ready for the official (re)launch of their record next Friday at the Song, by Toad Christmas Party.  So, after folding and

I know it's a bit obvious to do a podcast like this so shortly after my birthday, but it gives me the opportunity to ramble a bit and play some classics I might not otherwise have played. There are so many wonderful songs about growing old, and I actually think I may have missed most of them.  I have no fear of being old, but for some reason it feels a little more immediate this year but I don't know why. So goodnight people, it's been a pleasure.  Sleep well and don't be too rough on yourselves.  Take Kirsty's advice and don't be too rough on my cold, cold heart; it's all I've got left to me now." That may be the smart-arsed line, but the most important line in this song is the bit where she says that 'there's a light in your eyes tells me somebody's in and you won't come the cowboy with me'.  It's such a crucial judgment, isn't it.  You take a bet on someone, you throw in your chips and you hope for the best.  So if you're feeling brave, good luck to you.  Look after her, I'll be there anytime soon. Toadcas

Christ this has taken me ages. We recorded this in late August after myself and Mrs. Toad came back from the States, but the intervention of the End of the Road Festival and an unspeakable disaster with video tape has delayed this beyond the bounds of pretty much everyone's patience. I eventually had to give up trying to extricate video from chewed tapes and make do with the video we actually had, which has been bloody frustrating. As per usual we have the videos all posted either on the Toad Vimeo page (the best quality) and YouTube (more accessible). We also have pictures taken by both my friend Morgan, who is also the official Song, by Toad camerman, and Dylan as well. Dylan has all his pictures, including these, on his own site, and we've also uploaded them to the Song, by Toad Flickr page as well. So, firstly, here is the podcast, with the tracklisting at the bottom of the page: Toadcast #46 - Sparrow & the Workshop Toad Session Here are the session tracks themselves as downloadable, shareable a