What the fuck am I doing calling something a Currycast, I hear you ask. Music cannot be curry-themed, and nor is it. This is called the Currycast simply because I am visiting my Granddad in Manchester and he has just asked me to cook a curry for him tomorrow night. I have never cooked curry before, and Mrs. Toad makes such a fine one that I have never really been motivated to have a go, myself. Why bother making the second-best curry in the house, after all. However, I made a gigantic leg of roast lamb today, so [...]
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 [...]
With the New Year fast approaches, here's the last in my series of Artists Albums of the Year for 2011. To finish off the year we have some pretty fine choices from the likes of Aerials Up, Inspector Tapehead, Miaoux Miaoux, Woodenbox, The Seventeenth Century, Edinburgh School for the Deaf, Ghost Pants and Sojourner. Villagers by Becoming a Jackel chosen by Debbie Kate ( Aerials Up ) On a bored [...]
Well fuck me this is brilliant. Having been a fan of Down the Tiny Steps - Jonnie's previous band - as well as Inspector Tapehead (of course!) I was both certain this would be good as well as entirely uncertain as to what it would actually sound like. He's a funny fucker, Jonnie Common, equally at home as a producer of glitchy electronica, whimsical pop or gently plucked acoustic music. He slips so seamlessly between these incarnations that I found myself being confused by something which shouldn't have been confusing, really. The multi-faceted nature of his [...]
If you're reading this for tips, I'm afraid you've already missed the best gig in Edinburgh this week: Yo La Tengo at the Queen's Hall, tonight. Sorry about that. There's not much else, unfortunately, although Sneaky's have Talons , Lady North and Jackie Treehorn on Wednesday , followed by Thomas Tantrum , New Fiction and Acrylic iQon the following day . Both of those look pretty interesting, but I can't honestly claim to know much about any of the bands. We also have a [...]
Anyone managed to avoid my relentless plugging of this weekend's Ides of Toad gig? No, thought not, there's nowhere to hide when I start riding the spam train down the middle of the information superhighway. Or er... something like that, anyway. Anyhow, the Ides of Toad gigs are now booked up all the way through to the Summer, at which point they will take a break over the Edinburgh Festival as I get a bit more involved in Lach's Antihoot , which will be returning to the Teviot (I think they call it the Gilded Balloon over [...]
Apparently you people like music and stuff, right - that's why you're here? Well this week I like gardening. Yes, as if to demonstrate that I am taking all these accusations of being too old and too middle-class extremely seriously, this week I am far more excited about the back garden that I am about music, sorry. We've had a lot of rain this spring, so inevitably when we get a sunny week, as we did last week, everything blooms. This, I have to confess, as someone relatively new to gardening, is incredibly exciting. Any teenagers [...]
Apparently no-one visits websites anymore, because it's all about the social media and so on and so forth, so I suppose most of you have already seen this. In case you haven't, however, I have uploaded a free Song, by Toad Records sampler to Bandcamp, with songs from some of our more recent releases, as well as a healthy dose of new material from the releases we have planned for the rest of the year. Our release schedule is slowly filling up, as well. Before a brief break for the Edinburgh Festival we have four-song 73 [...]
I'd always thought the old adage of 'good things come to those who wait' was actually a load of old b******s, in fact I guess I still do. That being said I am chuffed to bits to have finally managed to get Inspector Tapehead to do a wee interview for me. I think it was [...]
I'd always thought the old adage of 'good things come to those who wait' was actually a load of old bollocks, in fact I guess I still do. That being said I am chuffed to bits to have finally managed to get Inspector Tapehead to do a wee interview for me. I think it was around October last year just after their debut album, 'Duress Code' was released on Song By Toad, that I wanted to feature them. Having finally met the band in person at the Randolph's Leap EP, I was really taken by their live set and made [...]
This is my annual World of Song, by Toad Records podcast, where I prattle on a bit about the stuff we have coming up in the new year. I play a couple of things we released towards the tail end of the year, and some stuff by some of the new bands we're going to be working with for the first time in 2011. I also prattle on at immensely tedious length about the ins and outs of running a record label, which may or may not actually interest you at all, but it's there whether you like [...]
Once again this New Year's Eve Mrs. Toad and I shall be forgoing the dubious pleasure of stumbling about in the freezing cold city centre surrounded by other people's sick, and will instead be having a glass or two of wine in the house, like we did last year. Like last year there will be live music, and like last year you are all invited. Jonnie Common (Inspector Tapehead), Neil Pennycook (Meursault) and Jamie Scott (Japanese War Effort) will be playing, and the set may well include some collaborative stuff, or just three solo sets, depending [...]
This week there will be fuck all happening in Edinburgh, or at least there better be, because I will be participating in none of it. Apparently there's some pagan bollocks going on at the end of the week related to a fat man and some reindeer, but I wouldn't bother paying that too much attention if I were you. Actually, there is the Christmas Songwriters' Club down in Leith on Thursday which looks rather excellent. I have been trying to buy tickets, but am finding WeGotTickets to be an unspeakable shitfest of password requirements and expired [...]
So, a day late with this, sorry. I blame a combination of Virgin Media and vast amounts of drinking. I woke up yesterday, still slightly hungover, and found that Virgin have managed to break our internet. Here I am today a day and a half later and it is still fucking broken. They offered us a fiver refund without me even asking for it, so I assume they must have fucked up something pretty significant, but I felt too shitey to venture out to find an internet cafe to write this, sorry. All of this meant that I [...]
So, a day late with this, sorry. I blame a combination of Virgin Media and vast amounts of drinking. I woke up yesterday, still slightly hungover, and found that Virgin have managed to break our internet. Here I am today a day and a half later and it is still fucking broken. They offered us a fiver refund without me even asking for it, so I assume they must have fucked up something pretty significant, but I felt too shitey to venture out to find an internet cafe to write this, sorry. All of this meant that I [...]
Snow! Awesome! Actually, we haven't got that much snow here in Edinburgh but I am sufficiently snow-starved that I am pretty excited nevertheless. Not as excited as the penguins at Edinburgh Zoo will presumably be of course, but excited nevertheless. Yusuf's three album launch shows last week were fantastic, but I am pretty pooped and will be taking it quite easy today. We've the Savings and Loan's album release to work on for Monday, but apart from that the label is now entering a rather quiet Winter - well, apart from our official Song, by [...]
Monday - the week kicked off in style with some Fresh Meat action from the Lost Generation Tuesday - Broken Records recorded an amazing wee session for 6Music, Wednesday - Esperi charmed us all with his gorgeous tunes, he also became the 41st entry into the Scots Way-Hay club Thursday - Edwyn Collins was in doing a wee session for 6Music Friday - this weeks Freebies was slightly delayed due to the Tea Party the night [...]
Well well well, this should be fun. And messy. And fun. But probably mostly messy, I should imagine. I've booked out both floors of the Queen Charlotte Rooms down in Leith, so we are going to have two stages. The downstairs room will be with a full PA, with Jesus H. Foxx, Inspector Tapehead and Meursault playing. And the upstairs room will be a bit more acoustic, with Yusuf Azak, Rob St. John and The Savings and Loan. It won't be entirely acoustic, but the room itself has no sound-proofing so we'll have to keep things relatively quiet [...]
Videos: Vimeo - YouTube Photos: Flickr Audio: download for free below... Every time a drum kit comes into our house I am kinda worried that the cafe downstairs is going to have a tantrum about the noise, but we've been lucky so far, and long may it continue. More worrisome in this instance was probably Jonnie Common's incredible box of tricks. In a slight change to the usual lineup, my wee brother happened to be over from the States visiting when [...]
Song, by Toad
Peenko
Dear Scotland
Listen to Arctic Monkeys’ new single, “Do I Wanna Know?”
Song Of The Day: David Grubbs – The Plain Where the Palace Stood
Listen to White Lies new single "There Goes Our Love Again"
Escucha el ruidoso regreso de M.I.A.
Kanye West x DJ AudiTory – Yeezus [Chopped & Screwed]
