Hello, and welcome back to the slowly restarting new year of swearing and complaining here on Song, by Toad. Don't be too perturbed by the look of the thing. This is not the final design, but as I am not a web designer it will have to do until I can figure out exactly what I want, lay it out properly, and then ask someone to code it for me. That won't be for a month or two though, so settle in for now and just ignore some of the crapper elements of the design - they won't be permanent. [...]
Here's my year end list... of my faves, and it's just that dear readers. You'll find an eclectic mix here, what else should you expect from a musical dilettante? It reflects my love of three major genres; indie/pop, folk, punk/industrial. All of them are on heavy rotation here at chez Tart and please do go out and support these artists! I have many, many bloggers to thank for turning me on to these fine artists, you all know who you are, xoxoxo! Meursault Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing with [...]
Oklahoma native Samantha Crain released one of my favorite EPs of 2008 on the Ramseur Records label, and is back in 2009 with The Midnight Shivers (great band name) for her debut full-length. Called her "account of excavation," the new album was recorded in five days at the gorgeous Echo Mountain Studios with producer Danny Kadar (Grizzly Bear, My Morning Jacket, The Avett Brothers). With a setting like the one pictured above, it's no wonder those bands have all made such sweeping, amazing recordings there. This first single [...]
Here's to the best shorties of the 2008! I'm really in love with this batch of albums and we've shown lots of love for all of these artists over the year. Joe Pug was the biggest surprise, arriving as a submission in the mail. The songwriting on Nation of Heat just flat out blew me away. I don't think we can say anything more about The Avett Brothers or Fleet Foxes without breaking some guy codes. We were also lucky to have Joe Pug , Dead Confederate , and Samantha Crain all [...]
[Edit: Just confirmed, Samatha and The Midnight Shivers will be at the Double Door here in Chicago on Oct. 17 with Will Hodge, the everybody fields, and McCarthy Trenching] If you've never been to O.K., well... that's the best introduction I can think of for it. And Samantha Crain might become the best singer to come out of it since Woody Guthrie. I say become because this tiny person with this great big voice that echoed all the way up to [...]
If you've never been to O.K., well... that's the best introduction I can think of for it. And Samantha Crain might become the best singer to come out of it since Woody Guthrie. I say become because this tiny person with this great big voice that echoed all the way up to my seat in the balcony tonight is only 21. Now to you who've seen the YouTube vid above that's not so shocking, but if you've only heard the songs, well, you'd be as shocked as I was. [...]
I actually know very little about Samantha Crain. Campfires & Battlefields, one of my regular readers and frequently a kind babysitter of the site when I am absent, emailed me a couple of her mp3s a while back and that was the first time I'd even heard of her. C&B's excitement was was obvious, and I have to confess my own pretty much matched his the second I heard her gorgeous, soulful voice break out across the bluesy foundation of the wonderfully sad songs which she writes. [...]
I've been waiting for this for a while, and it is bloody lovely. Campfires & Battlefields, perhaps one of my oldest readers (in both senses), introduced me to Samantha Crain a few months ago, and I've been waiting for this to make an appearance ever since. It's quite an old album actually. Samantha recorded it herself and made it available as a self-release a couple of years ago, but since she is now signed to Ramseur Records they thought a formal re-release would be a good thing. Since then the band has stabilised a little and there are [...]
This is the podcast to accompany all the Portland and Pickathon things I've been slowly but surely writing up over the course of the last couple of weeks. With all the video to edit it may take a while to get it all sorted, but just follow this Pickathon search and you'll find it all. My full review of the festival is here . This is a musical journey through our trip, from the Shaky Hands and The Builders & the Butchers who got us out there, to Eef Barzelay who we saw in Portland, [...]
It takes a debut with a captivating vantage to introduce yourself by flooding the singles charts and magazine articles. As an Artist of the Week for Paste and a member of the CMJ Top 100 list in July, Samantha Crain has exploded onto the independent folk scene with an emphatic EP, The Confiscate , now available on Ramseur Records (The Avett Brothers, everybodyfields). But who is Samantha Crain? A 21-year-old from Shawnee, Oklahoma, Crain embodies grounded roots music and Southern charm with The Confiscate , a five-song "musical [...]
DC is giving away all sorts of goodies on The Waiting Room this week. In fact, he's giving away all sorts of things that I would rather like to win myself, bar a couple of things which I have already. I was supposed to write this last week, but given it appears I have some sort of Black Belt in Fuckwittery, I managed to miss it by a week. Idiot. Anyhow, all you have to do is listen to last week's episode and email DC with the weight, pounds or kilos, [...]
I am off for the weekend, going to the Fence Collective Homegame Festival up in Fife, with the shining light at the very centre of my universe, the lovely Mrs. Toad. Normally under such circumstances I'd write a pile of posts beforehand and set them to appear at regular intervals so that it appeared that I [...]
In effort to raise awareness about upcoming releases as well as finding a place for the numerous submissions we get, this post continues our weekly purging of free and legal MP3's for your listening enjoyment. The number of tracks will fluctuate each week depending on the songs uncovered or sent. It's our hope that you'll find a new favorite or another release to keep your eyes on. MP3: Destroyer - "Dark Leaves Form A Thread" [from Trouble In Dreams ; due 03/18/08 on [...]
Following are mp3s by Samantha Crain, The Whitsundays, Widespread Panic, Jeffrey Lewis, Basia Bulat, and Devastations. With the exception of Widespread Panic, I have not yet heard the entire albums... **Click on the link to read the full post, download mp3s, and comment.**
Song, by Toad
Love Shack, Baby
I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS
HearYa: An Indie Music Blog
Consequence Of Sound
Muzzle of Bees
Muruch
Loreen - Euphoria
Listen: Summer Camp – Always
Albums We Love: D'Angelo - "Voodoo"
Bobby Womack ft. Lana Del Rey – “Dayglo Reflection”
