Day two and I've got another cracker for you, none other than Glasgow four piece Mitchell Museum. In my eyes they're the most exciting and innovative band to emerge from these shores in ages. Trying to pigeon hole their sound certainly isn't easy, they take elements of pop, folk, psych and electronica and blend it into something truly special. I managed to get a few words from the band, so get reading then check the links below. Would you care to introduce yourself? Hello my name is Cammy, and I'll [...]

Mrs. Toad and I held our annual Christmas party on Saturday and I still feel wrecked. Fucking hell, that was some bash. I think the last gin and tonic was poured at something like half eight in the morning; I was like a zombie yesterday. Funnily enough, the cleaning up wasn't really too bad, because basically most of it just went in bin-bags and the rest in the dishwasher. Still, I still have that kind of dazed feeling you get after these things. Mental. I think we deserve some sort of prize for truly epic parties after this one. [...]

First up, if you fancy a night on the tiles this Friday (the 27th), then why not head along to Pin Up Nights 6th Birthday Party at The Flying Duck. Where you can catch The Dirty Cuts , We're Only Afraid Of NYC , Mitchell Museum (really liking these guys) and Always, Me, Me, Me . With the added bonus of a special birthday edition fanzine and badge for the first 100 to arrive, plus a birthday party wouldn't be the same without cake (and er free toast?!). For further details [...]

Well this is a bit of a big week for Song, by Toad Records. Apart from the fact that the Loch Lomond/Builders & the Butchers split 123 is now officially available to buy, we also have the Meursault single launch on Saturday, with three of my favourite bands. We're releasing four A-sides on two 73 singles, on clear vinyl: new recordings of William Henry Miller Parts One and Two are going back to back with A Few Kind Words and the Dirt & the Roots from Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues. Officially, neither single is being released until the first [...]

So why not send our former intern, Jenny Booth, to a festival in the UK, right? Heck, if it helps her with a press pass, we feel pretty damn good about it. -Ed. Having studied my degree in Cardiff—and always longed for a music festival on my doorstep—it was downright mean of Swn Fest's organizers to start it up the year I left school. Three years on, though, and I'm finally in the right place at the right time—if a little apprehensive as to how one of the world's smallest capital cities will rival last months [...]

It's busy week, in the absence of Mrs. Toad, and ends with me actually DJing twice in the space of two nights towards the end of the week as well once at some point on Friday, although I'm not all that sure where - Cabaret Voltaire I think - and then the following day at the Bowery at MarchéMarché , which should be good fun. I have been promised that on no account am I expected to motivate people to dance, which probably helps matters considerably. Oh, and I've just realised that I am approaching a hundred kilos [...]

Ab out six months ago I succumbed to the slagging I was getting and 'upgraded' the tape player in my car to a CD player. Upon reflection this was one of the worst decisions I have ever made, mainly cause I bought a cheap piece of shit CD player that will play a song for about 20 seconds, then I'll hit a pothole and off the CD player switches. I pine for the heady days of my trusted tape player and it's ability to play albums in their entirety. WTF does this have to do with the [...]

Greetings my Summery flock of Toads, how are we all doing this fine morning? Or afternoon of course, depending on where you might be located. I was advised once by Johnny Pictish not to put on gigs during July or August because getting people out to them was a near-impossibility. I don't know if this is just Edinburgh or if it applies universally, but certainly the promoters of this fair city seem to have taken it heart because there is really is sweet Fanny Adams happening in the next couple of weeks on the live circuit. [...]

Track Listing 1. Extra Lives 2. Paper Planes (MIA cover) Download

Well well well, Saturday was what I think can only be described as a truly epic party. It started at about two or three in the afternoon when Found came round to record their Toad Session, which sounded absolutely lovely, continued into the back garden for a barbecue, turned into the Honeytrap Toad Session, repaired once more to the garden for further gluttony, returned to the house once night had descended, then turned into some sort of deranged music/cavorting session until the early hours accompanied by some truly heroic feats of drinking. Quite how the whole house didn't [...]

Well, after a bit of a lull last week there's all sorts of crap going on in and around Edinburgh this week, so choose wisely because trying to attend everything could just be the end of you. As well as the usual recommendations there are a couple of half-recommendations this week; gigs I feel I should want to go to, but am actually not that fussed about. Crystal Antlers (I mean, come on, they have Crystal in their name, they have to be good, almost as guaranteed as having Fuck in your name last year, or Bear the [...]

The two-day Glasgow bar crawl that is Hinterland will be kicking off in a few of weeks and for just £42 you will have access to a long list of performing golden nuggets. The 405 have gone panning for them and picked out the ones that you might want to consider not missing. Dead Kids Synthesised indie power! www.myspace.com/youaredeadkids [...]

Sorry this is so late, but well... oh fuck it, never mind. If you want a timely and professional service you can wait three weeks for the next issue of Q magazine to come out. I was warned that this gig would be 'quite an experience' and various other non-specific things beforehand, but in actual fact it was nothing of the sort: it was simply a straightforward pop gig. And a very good one. Front man Cammy leaps around like a loon, to the point that you can actually find yourself wondering whether or not he might be [...]

Christ, it's going to be like Fred Karno's bloody Circus in Edinburgh this week (did your Grandma use that phrase all the time too?) Particulary towards the tail end of the week there are all sorts of good gigs, of which I will be attending... precisely none, unfortunately. We're away in London this weekend, and I am in Glasgow on both Wednesday and Thursday nights, would you believe. Incredibly frustrating. We are nearly finished work on the Samamidon Toad Session, and a bloody good thing too, because Johnny Lynch, aka the Pictish Trail, will be coming [...]

I am putting Mitchell Museum down as unsigned at the moment, but I doubt that will be the case for much longer. Labels are sniffing around them like flies round a honeypot, apparently, so I don't think it'll be long before we see them on a label; independent, boutique, major or otherwise. I know that Beggars Group are intending to scout one of their upcoming shows, but then Beggars comprises so many record labels that could mean almost anything. Personally I'd love to work with them myself on Song, by Toad Records , apart from the fact [...]

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 [...]

Hmm, whilst researching yesterday's mammoth 'What's On In Edinburgh post, which seems to have turned into a 'What's Wrong With Frightened Rabbit' post, I happened across these chaps, whose name I have heard before but about whom I know basically nothing. They are called Mitchell Museum and I am pretty sure they just changed their name from something else, although I'm not entirely sure. Whether or not the band changed at the same time I have no idea, but what they're doing now is whetting my appetite so it seems to be working. [...]

Christ on a bike, after nothing at all last week, all of a sudden things are going bananas this week. You could pretty much be at a good show every night if you wanted. I'm not going to write much in this intro because, frankly, there are so many gigs to bloody write about that the post would run on far too long otherwise. Suffice to say that Friday's party was, from my perspective, a massive success. The open mic bit at the beginning was not an idea many people were overly convinced by, but I think pretty [...]
It's funny the first thing that popped into my head when I heard this was 'Time To Pretend'. The two are pretty different but they both single-handedly boost the happiness index wherever they are played so that must be it. If anything I prefer 'Warning Bells' and given it was recorded in Glasgow you've got to award extra points to the foursome for making it sound so tropical and cosy (like the