The internet has essentially been conspiring against me this week. I've had to deal with multiple power outages and random connection dropouts, the vast majority of which have occurred whilst doing research for this week's edition of New Music Friday , so that's why my column this week is rather last minute. Even as I type this, I am on the train home from college and doing battle with some dreadful wi-fi. It's just as well that the quality of music in this column is so high as to make all these setbacks entirely worth it. [...]
Don't worry, the chances of me actually playing party music on a Toadcast are about as good as Lana Del Rey getting some semblance of life back into that blank, empty, defeated gaze of hers. No, in reality this is called the Partycast because we are having the label Christmas Party tomorrow at Summerhall, and so tomorrow I shall be running around all day collecting a PA, and shitloads of absolutely awful tinsel and dreadful Christmas decorations. Also, rather tragically. I shall be trying my very best (and probably failing) not to get too utterly obliterated [...]
And from Ian Humberstone to another band we have worked with and think are fucking awesome, but who are not officially signed to the label: Dolfinz. Their scuzzy racket is a world away from Ian's beautifully glacial folk-pop, but for all my taste in music is pretty narrow at times, it is easily broad enough to embrace both of these sounds. You've heard me go on about the excellent Art is Hard Records at some length already this year, and this new song is from their eccentric but brilliantly-conceived bi-weekly pizza club series - a series [...]
After successfully touring with Slowcoaches last year, Stonehaven's (that's proper north, Scotland in fact) lo-fi duo Dolfinz have a new track in "Yeah Right", taken from Art Is Hard's bi-weekly Pizza Club singles. continue reading >>
It's almost 18 months since I first stumbled upon and wrote about Stonehaven noise-monsters Dolfinz. Since the days of those early rough recordings, the two-piece have been fairly busy - touring the UK and Europe with Slowcoaches; releasing a 7" with Tuff Wax; featuring on a Song, By Toad 12" split along with the likes of PAWS and Sex Hands; getting played on Radio 1 and 6Music. But it's been a while since we heard much new stuff from them. So it's good to see that the band have finally unveiled some new(er) material in the [...]
Edinburgh based label Song, By Toad, is out with their early 2012 session release, a split 12” vinyl featuring four Manchester bands Paws, Waiters, Sex Hands & Dolfinz. Recorded mostly live in studio with minimal overdubs, Side A features seven tracks while Side B hosts six, each side showcasing all of the guitar bands. Paws is the best known, with their fuzzy grunge-pop on four of the tracks which include a cover of Big Deal’s “Chair”; yet Waiters bring an atmospheric vibe with their brand of shoegaze, quartet Sex Hands deal out indie pop, and Dolfinz bring [...]
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet. Today's free and legal mp3 downloads: Chris Fairbank : free and legal A Humble Beginning EP [mp3] search for more Chris Fairbank posts at Largehearted Boy Dolfinz : "Kitsch Craft" [mp3] from Song, by Toad Split 12" [...]
Hello, firstly a quick and rather sad announcement. Well, not heart-wrenching, just a little disappointing, that's all: Tonight's Dolfinz/Fantasy Rainbow/Honeyblood gig at Henry's has had to be cancelled for logistical reasons. However, to make up for the crushing disappointment that news will inevitably cause, we have one last cause for celebration before taking a break for the Festival: Friday 27th July: Jo Schornikow (The Shivers), Scott Rudd & Frances McKee (The Vaselines) at Henry's Cellar Bar. This one will be a fiver in, and will be [...]
This is a live video made during the recording of a split 123 on Song, by Toad Records with Waiters, Paws, Sex Hands and Dolfinz*. I don't think I've ever posted the inlay notes for this record, so I thought I should probably do so here because it explains the motivation and inspiration behind the record about as well as I can manage it, I suppose. Firstly, and most importantly, of course: extremely lovely teal-coloured 123 vinyl with download available here . Ever since Sparrow & the Workshop first [...]
Artists : Dolfinz / PAWS / Sex Hands / Waiters Title : Song, by Toad Split 12″ Label : Song, By Toad BUY IT There’s been a good thing going on for a little while now...this thing is known as a “Toad Session” and it’s operated by Mr. Toad (Matthew Young) of the Edinburgh based Song, By Toad blog/label. The artists involved in these [...]
Christ on a fucking bike, it's all kicking off! I am about to start writing newsletters for the label and I have no bloody idea where to start, what to leave out, what to try and emphasise and what to leave for later. So, here is a gigantic long fucking list of all the cool stuff that is happening around these parts at the moment. I think chronological order is probably the best way to handle all this, so umm... here we go: 1. The Song, by Toad Split 123 with Paws, [...]
These lads are amongst many great bands introduced to me by Dolfinz . Every few months I get an email from the Dolfinz lads, announcing that they are on tour with two bands I've never heard of before, and every time they prove to be brilliant. Just before Christmas it was Black Tambourines and Joanna Gruesome , earlier this year it was the awesome Slowcoaches , and now it's Fantasy Rainbow , who will be playing the Ides of Toad at Henry's Cellar Bar on Wednesday 18th July with [...]
GS-33 Plug Adapters. Don't you dare say I don't put any effort into these. Having a wee change of pace today, and killing two birds with one stone. There's quite a lot of good things going on over the next few weeks, and good music out. Rather than revive news & bits, I'll shove a load of it in to this 33 post instead. Stop glaring at me like that. First of all there's GoNorth, taking place in Inverness over the next few days. I'm not going to that [...]
GS-33 Plug Adapters. Don't you dare say I don't put any effort into these. Having a wee change of pace today, and killing two birds with one stone. There's quite a lot of good things going on over the next few weeks, and good music out. Rather than revive news & bits, I'll shove a load of it in to this 33 post instead. Stop glaring at me like that. First of all there's GoNorth, taking place in Inverness over the next few days. I'm not going to that [...]
Shout out to this holiday for making me feel more foreign and overwhelmed by Union Jack bunting & this damn cutout at my work (see the above incredible art I did for this mix) but I did want to celebrate Englishness by putting together a few of my favorite songs by English bands (well, except for Low Cut Connie but they have an English person in the band, so I guess it counts): 01 Low Cut Connie - Right Here 02 Virals - Magic Happens 03 Sealings - Milkshake [...]
Wahey, we have finally confirmed all the bookings for what might be my favourite wee tour so far, in charge of Song, by Toad Records. In January this year, with the help of Rory Sutherland, Nic Rue, Matthew Swan and a handful of video pals, we invited four of our favourite guitar bands round to Toad Hall and recorded four songs by each, all done more or less live with minimal overdubs. The idea was to release a split 123 which harked back to the days when recorded music was more loose and informal, when a release wasn't [...]
As this evening brings us yet another excellent Ides of Toad lineup at Henry's (it's starting pretty much now - run, you might make it!) I thought I should probably write out another one of those lists of upcoming stuff, just so it lodges in the back of your mind now, and then you can all flood down in your droves on the night, filling the bands with joy and making me an unspeakably rich man in the process. Well, it'd be nice if at least a few of you came anyway. This is where I feel I [...]
Hello everyone, I am back behind the desk at Toad HQ once more and, frankly, feeling a little ambivalent about the fact. What do you mean I have work to do, fetch me another fucking Margarita! This weekend we have the next Ides of Toad night at Henry's . We may be short a big-name headliner, but it's an absolutely excellent lineup, with (coincidentally) two Leeds bands. Post War Glamour Girls and Slowcoaches . and Toad favourites Dolfinz from Stonehaven. All our current tickets can either be bought online [...]
I've just had a fucked-up day. It's cold and freezing. I thought, hey, lets check out this gig tonight and cheer myself up coz Azores (ex-members of Cissy) is playing and it's time to check out new bands that I probably would not have come across in my usual circuit. So I packed my camera and other gear in my bag and cabbed it down. It was like, in an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere. Well, no, it wasn't in the middle of nowhere, I'm just being bitter.Why bitter? Well this: So I was met at the gates [...]
Song, by Toad Records hereby release into the world what we reckon is going to become an annual free sampler, mostly as a free download, but with a few CDs given to local record shops and available at gigs as well. The sampler is a combination of things we’ll be releasing this year, mixed in with a couple of things from 2011 and interspersed with a few brilliant moments from the late Kenneth Williams’ reading of the Wind in the Willows. Snippets from this reading litter my own weekly podcast, and inspired the name of the label in [...]
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Record Dept. Music Reviews
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GoldFlakePaint
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[MP3 Playlist] Indie Dojo (May 2013 Round #5)
Dimmed lights on the Sunset Strip
