Mrs. Toad and I do NOT approve Valentine's Day, and I have to say the fact that she genuinely seems to hate it (rather than just saying so, but secretly still expecting flowers) is a very liberating thing. It means I can know finally forget about the whole bloody nonsense once and for all, and never ever have to figure out exactly how much I am expected to spend in order to demonstrate my affection for someone. There is, after all, very little that can be less romantic than obediently making protestations of love for no other reason [...]
After enjoying the Vinylcast I recorded a couple of weeks ago, I'm afraid I wasn't able to resist the temptation to come bacl to my record collection for this week's podcast as well. In fact, I think I can safely say that this is now something which is going to become a regular feature of Song, by Toad podcasts because... er, well just because it's fun I suppose. This week I went to the Shelter charity shop on our street and bought about half a dozen records: some Bessie Smith, Shirley Bassey, Ella Fitzgerald, Kid Thomas and his [...]
I think I have figured out why Fence Records hate the internet. Or at least, I feel like I am starting to get some insight into what is an intensely troubled relationship. The two of them just don't get along at all, and the mutual antipathy has boiled over into outright hostility this afternoon, with the rush to buy Homegame tickets from the Fence website actually breaking the whole internet. So while I wait for normal service to be resumed, and with it the opportunity to buy tickets for Homegame this year, I thought I might record a [...]
I've been itching to do this podcast for a while, but only now got my arse in gear to do it: record a podcast straight from vinyl. It's a bit of a nuisance, because I have to switch back and forth from the mic, for the chatty bits, to the USB input for the records... oh never mind, you don't care about my logistical hassles do you. The nice thing about vinyl is that the playlist is not simply going to be an inbox dump of whatever new indie has arrived this week, simply because I don't have [...]
It's not going to surprise anyone at all that I am being an absolute slob today, is it? Mrs. Toad got back from Australia around lunchtime, and after a few hours of pottering about she crashed out with jetlag, so I snuck off to record the podcast. I am sure that soon enough she will wake and start demanding attention and general servitude soon enough, so I better get this over with quickly. After that I am going straight back to bed to watch stupid films while my sweetheart dozes by my side, awaking occasionally to tell me [...]
This is er… well, "one of those podcasts". You know, the ones where you're half pissed before lunch and basically mumble your way through an hour or so of incoherent rambling? Yes, one of those. I even try and do something of a Cloud Sounds tribute by playing two songs available on 73 single from Cloud Sounds Records and then by playing two songs from bands I got into by listening to Cloud Sounds' podcast but unfortunately the fact that I am joined in this podcast by Andy and Paddy from Gerry Loves Records means that more [...]
I seemed to forget why this was called the Fallcast until the very end, so it clearly isn't a very central concept to the podcast itself. Basically, I just rattle on about some new music for a bit, which means there's hardly an excuse to call this bloody podcast anything , really. Still, next week we have the Inspector Tapehead Toad Session, which is nearly finished, and then after that I was thinking about doing podcasts from vinyl. I reckon I can probably just run a lead into to the microphone jack of the computer, straight from [...]
The Fishcast? Yes, because the fishmonger opposite our house is today auctioning off for charity the largest lobster ever to be fished out of the Firth of Forth, and the fucking thing is ma- hooo -sive! Honestly, if that little bastard ever got its claws on you I don't think you'd stand a fucking chance. Anyhow, yes, I do know that a lobster isn't a fish, don't worry, but the Fishcast just had a better ring to it than the Fuckinggreatbiglobstercast, and the word Crustacean didn't seem to have an obvious way of crunching down into the Somethingcast. [...]
Hoarse. Horse. Hoarse. Horse. Geddit geddit, see what I did there? Yes, another tedious pun, but I know you know to expect no better from me these days. Anyway, it's only called the Hoarsecast because I have a bit of a phlegmy flu which, whilst not fun, is hardly very debilitating so there is no need for me to moan really. Not that this usually stops me, but anyhewww... It's a funny old mix, this playlist. I rearranged the songs time and again, swapped a few in and out here and there and just couldn't find a way [...]
Despite the title (and the first song) there is very little ranting about the fucking Pope on this podcast, I promise. He may be a vicious, decaying old scorpion in charge of one of the most corrupt and evil institutions on Earth, but after a little bit of gentle joshing at the beginning I promise I do let it drop and carry on with the music. We have a fair bit of new stuff this week, such as Belle & Sebastian, Broken Records, Li'l Daggers and various other bits, and then a brief detour into Mrs. Toad and [...]
I may only have lived in the Wiltshire village of Seend for about four or five months about ten years ago (seriously, ten?) but the fact that I had no job, nor was able to find one, meant that the music I listened to ended up with an extra resonance. Apart from looking for jobs I didn't know how to find, I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing through copies of Uncut magazine, back before it turned to shit, and buying albums based on how well I liked the songs they chose for their covermount CDs. [...]
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, [...]
Recorded for you from the sunny, blazing hot mountains of Andalucia, this one is a little late being uploaded because we only just got back to Scotland and I decided I might as well wait until we got home before uploading it rather than charge all around Spain trying to find somewhere to upload from and then sitting around for ages waiting for the damn thing to... well, you get the picture. I actually spent much of the week editing Toad Session videos, which seems just a tiny little bit pathetic, even to me. Still, editing video whilst [...]
So, the Festival descendeth upon Edinburgh once more, and once more we are beset by London-based Home County Yahs braying their zany way through the city until finally someone snaps and sets fire to their stupid fucking stilts once and for all. Actually, as I confess pretty sharpish, I am the classic Edinburgh Festival hypocrite, if I'm being honest with myself. I love it as much as I loathe it and I enjoy moaning about it almost as much as I enjoy the Festival itself. As a native you really do have to have the right [...]
This is called the Tapecast because last night, for the first time in about ten years, I made a mixtape. Because of the van having a tape player there is actually a point to making these bloody things now, so we got hammered and listened to records all night (again), only this time I recorded them all onto a C-90! There is something so stupidly fascinating about making tapes in the first place, but there is certainly something surreal in resurrecting what genuinely was dead technology. It is far from easy to actually buy blank tapes these days. [...]
This wasn't particularly supposed to be all fuzzy and noisy, and in actual fact is probably isn't, except for in bits. I have been listening to the Male Bonding album a lot this week, and then the split single from Thee Ludds and The No-Brainers dropped into my inbox, and then I became fascinated by the splendid mess that is I'llfinishyrfinish and suddenly I realised I had a podcast which was pretty much all over the place. So I decided to embrace it, go for it and just appreciate the noise. There is some acoustic fuzz [...]
My brother heads off today, so I figured we'd take one last chance to do a podcast while we can. This is mostly new stuff and inbox though, so I am not sure how he'll react. Actually, he was in the room last week while I went through my inbox, played stuff, replied to emails, deleted things, and so on and so forth. I think his response was that he simply wouldn't be able to handle the avalanche of shit I have to get through, and that it would simply turn him off music completely. I [...]
My little brother is in town visiting, and he is the sound designer for the Boston Ballet, and on Wednesday night (I think) we got obliterated on gin and had something of a musical duel; each taking turns on the stereo, me playing some of the weirder stuff I listen to and him playing bits of classical music. Honestly, it was fucking ace. As a DJ set it would have absolutely delighted me anyway, even if everyone else ended up fucking off, but nevertheless, that evening was what music fandom is really about for me. So this podcast [...]
Housecast? Well, yes. One of the things I have been trying to do since I left my grown up job is get our house vaguely under control. I have mananged to get the boxes of albums out of the hallway and into the office now, but there is still all manner of paperwork and assorted other shit all over the place. Also, my folks are visiting at the end of next week, and you know what that means: the famous Mother-in-Law Clean. Mrs. Toad isn't exactly a domesticated young lady, but she will be setting about the house [...]
Song, by Toad
MP3: Daft Punk – “Horizons” (RAM Japanese Bonus Track)
Daft Punk – “Doin’ It Right” ft. Panda Bear
Javelin – Light Out
