Winchester may not be a common topic of interest, or a particularly well known town outside the South of Britain, but nevertheless during the Y Generation boom of the 1980's it bore an alarming amount of talented musicians: amongst others, Frank Turner, This is the Kit, and lady of the moment Rachael Dadd all hail from the area. What devilry went on there during my childhood years is not known, but as Dadd's new studio release Elephee confirms, we should all be grateful for it. The EP begins with tall-tales of leather [...]
Firstly, the flurry of posts yesterday, from my rather tardy podcast to radio show post, meant that my brother's Sunday Supplement - a rant about classical music - was buried rather too fast, so please do go back and check it out if you have a little time to waste this afternoon. Secondly, the Edge Festival goes bloody nuts this week, and if I listed all the gigs then I'd be here all day, and there really is no need for that, so you can have it in paragraph form instead: on Monday 23rd we have Field [...]
Contrary to what you might suspect from my location this week and the steady stream of silly videos from Anstruther , this podcast is not anything to do with the Fence Collective or Haarfest. Actually, apart from a few brief intrusions from my pile of audio cassettes (a lot of time in the van, you see) this is generally just the usual stream of music news and new bits and pieces from my inbox. Actually, I am way behind my inbox at the moment, due to a week of holiday and now a week in Anstruther, [...]
Mondegreen I caught this three piece supporting we're only afraid of NYC last Friday, bloody great they were too. You can have a listen for yourself by downloading their 'Headless' EP for free on their Bandcamp page. Marthas & Arthurs The first band to take me up on my newly embeded link to email me any Freebie suggestions, and a wee cracker it is too. They're partly Scottish and they make some gorgeous wee tunes, a fine start if ever I had one. You can download their new [...]
Scotland's Broken Records have today announced details of their new album Let Me Come Home, which will be released on October 25th, 2010.
Broken Records have announced a new album. Let Me Come Home will be release on 25th October. Jamie Sutherland has this to say about the inspiration behind their second album: "An idea started to form about the direction of the new record based on several films and albums that I became gradually obsessed with at that time. Watching the widescreen emptiness of films Badlands, Rumble Fish and East of Eden, as well as records such as Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, Nick Cave's Murder Ballads, Calexico's Feast of Wire and REM's early back catalogue all [...]
Vic will be hosting the live TV coverage of T in the Park on the BBC next weekend, but before then he has our weekly listing of Scottish bands on tour outside the UK and more on Edinburgh's Broken Records who will be in the Netherlands with Brooklyn's The National. Broken Records with The National in [...]
Music and art. It's no real surprise the two go hand in hand so often, both disciplines borne of brains which buzz with creativity and a constant desire to make something new. The festival scene is an open expanse where liberal, infinite imagination thrives and the KELBURN GARDEN PARTY at Kelburn Castle near Largs is a prime exponent of such free-spiritedness - graffiti painting is as much a symbol of what the weekend stands for as guitar strumming. Band-wise, it's one of the most eclectic festivals in [...]
Well, I am now eight working days away from shiftless unemployment becoming a wildly successful entrepreneur, and as mental a move as this might be I am very, very excited to get going. I am an obssessive type, as you probably know by now, and I need projects to get just a little bit too focussed on, so this should be perfect. Anyhow, the inital lineup for the Edge Festival has been announced. So far so moderately interesting, with bands like Eels, The Low Anthem, Broken Records and Beirut on the bill. These things [...]
The Great Arcade Fire Hoax? It is this: "The prevailing belief amongst j0urnalists that the Arcade Fire invented music. They invented bands with actual instruments, and anything vaguely epic. None of these things existed before Funeral, and therefore any band exhibiting these characteristics must necessarily sound like the Arcade Fire. " When Broken Records first emerged they were a lot folkier than they are now, and of course Rory does regularly play both violin and accordion, so I can see how it would have been confusing for journalists, but the 'Scottish Arcade Fire' tag applied to [...]
It's just a pity I can't play the bass guitar, or mine too could be a life of not having as cool a beard as Ian, being a bit scared that Andy Keeney actually might be dangerous, wishing I could play as many instruments as Rory or getting that stare from Jamie when I did something wrong. What the fuck am I talking about, you ask? Well our dear friends Broken Records are looking for a new bass guitar player. Gill (the nice man in the picture above) has departed to set up his own business, [...]
Around this time of year Mrs. Toad has developed a strange habit of getting off her lazy arse and actually doing something for a change. That something is collecting for the Royal National Lifeboat Association . The RNLI is a spectacular dodge of responsibility by the government in that they allow such a crucial rescue service to remain entirely dependent on charity and on the work of volunteers. This is frankly unbelievable if you ask me, but certainly increases the urgency of supporting the people with the courage to volunteer and the commitment to do the work. [...]
Like many expat Scots, I find myself talking about Scotland a lot. And aside from the standard conversations about golf, whisky or Braveheart the subject of Scottish music frequently arises. In the past, when band names alone were not enough to impress certain people, I would end up making them a mixtape or cd. These days [...]
[ In this week's Sunday Supplement, our favourite raconteur and bon vivant Campfires & Battlefields talks us through his experiences at this year's South By Southwest festival, which included meeting a certain infamous amphibian acquaintance of ours. Don't forget, if you'd like to contribute to the Sunday Supplements, just email your article in to sunday(at)songbytoad.com ] Well that was fun. I flew into Austin pretty late on the Tuesday night, but my SXSW experience really began a few hours earlier, while I waited for my connecting flight out of Dallas. Anyone who has passed through the [...]
Last week Vic Galloway and Matthew Young joined me and 13 Scottish bands at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Video highlights from all four days are below including new clips from Twin Atlantic, The Law, Fangs, St Deluxe, Trembling Bells, Broken Records and one of the last WOXY Sessions featuring The Jetpacks. Video [...]
Tracey Thorn - Oh, The Divorces! Love and Its Opposite ( Merge - 2010) www.traceythorn.com A Weather - Third Of Life Everyday Balloons ( Team Love - 2010) www.myspace.com/aweathermusic Wye Oak - I Hope You Die My Neighbour/My Creator ( Merge - 2010) www.wyeoakmusic.com [...]
Well I am sure that any of you who really give a shit what's happening at South by Southwest this week will have found out from one of the more dilligent blogs who have been writing daily updates. Honestly though, I doubt anyone who regularly reads this site would have really expected me to be one of those blogs. I got to Austin at about ten or eleven at night on Wednesday and stumbled into town to find Peej , who kindly offered to put me up, and Vic Galloway , who along with Peej is [...]
H-T-A is lucky enough to be receiving the inside scoop on the Austin shenanigans courtesy of music lover/writer/glutton for chaos Darci Spiker . Day 1 was a frantic rush from the plane into Texas, so how did a full day for Thursday go off? There's only one way to find out: [...]
As tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and I like to pretend that I'm part Irish, let's celebrate with a new digital single from Scots Broken Records . This track, "Lies", actually appeared on a single a few years ago, but has just now been made available for free online. You'll find that it fits right in with the themes of tomorrow's heralded day. If you dig, you could also check them out on Wednesday at one of the following free SXSW parties: Rare Party @ 4th Street Fort (216 E 4th st.) - [...]
So we're less than a week away from another edition of South by Southwest. Soon the entire music world will descend on Austin for a week of endless drinking, party attending, and music viewing, all while failing to get an appropriate amount of sleep. An overwhelming thought to say the least, but we figured we'd get in a few more moments of normalcy before chaos ensued by putting together another hot edition of our Friday Mixtape. This week's collection features several of this year's SXSW attendees, as well as few heavy hitters. We hope you enjoy! [...]
The Line Of Best Fit
Song, by Toad
Peenko
Addict Music
Dear Scotland
The Pop Cop
Music Arcade
Heavier ~ Than ~ Air
Austin Town Hall
Consequence Of Sound
Another All-Star In The Studio With Daft Punk
J-Ax Meglio Live Tour 2012: la scaletta della data zero a Rovereto con l'omaggio ai Beastie Boys
Sound of Summer (v. 3.1)
Childish Gambino – Black Faces (Ft. Nipsey Hussle) : Sick New Rap Single
