These will be posted out towards the end of January.
As you know it is the label’s fifth anniversary around about now, and to celebrate we have a Five Years, Five Records box set, which is a super-limited run of fifty box sets of five 12″ albums which I suppose would qualify as ‘obscure gems from the vaults’. I wanted to put together something special, for me as much as anything else, honestly, to commemorate what a crazy project this has been over the last five years.
This comes as five records, all in hand-printed sleeves, with a separate book with artwork and some scribbling about what the albums are and why they are here. It’s pricey, but seriously worth it, I promise. There will also be a couple of special edition sets, some with hand-drawn Toad posters and some with hand-made Song, by Toad gin (both sold out now, sorry).
If you just want the mp3s, then use the link below and I’ll email you a zip file via WeTransfer, but be aware that this will only stay up for a month – after that there will only be digital links to The Leg and Animal Magic Tricks via the usual digital channels.
Digital only:
And these are the albums you get:
SbTR-A-012 Animal Magic Tricks – Sex Acts
It was recorded back in something like 2010, but a major technical fault threatened to destroy this album forever. A couple of breakdowns in communications and general bouts of despair later, however, and it has been meticulously pieced back together from the fragments and can finally be released into the world. Strange and beautiful.
SbTR-A-033 Various Artists – The Toad Sessions
Like the label and the New Year’s House Gigs, the Toad Sessions turned five this year as well, with our first one being recorded in the Spring of 2008 with local band Broken Records. We’ve done over thirty full sessions since then, including some with the biggest names in the music industry, and this is a collection of some of my favourite recordings.
SbTR-A-034 Virgin of the Birds – Abandoned Love
Jon Rooney played our first New Year’s House Gig, and seeing as we are about to host our fifth this year, it seemed fitting to put together an album of his laid back, literate pop from the five EPs he released over the course of 2009-2011. These are all minimal home recordings – some little more than demos – but they’re ace, and a nice prelude to his next full album which we’ll be releasing in the Spring.
SbTR-A-035 The Leg – What Happened to the Shrunken Tina Turner
Our third album by The Leg could really have been our first, as this came out just before they signed with us. It appeared just as their previous label was ceasing operations, so fell between the cracks a little, so we wanted to make sure it got a proper release. It is some of their harshest music too, so perhaps not entirely for the faint-hearted, but it can really stand to be turned up loud as fuck if you’re so inclined.
SbTR-A-036 Meursault – Kissing on Bonfires
A full re-recording of their 2008 debut album. We only had mp3s of this record before, because it was just that DIY, so in order to press it to vinyl at long last Neil has re-recorded the whole record from scratch. It sounds a bit different, but the songs are as strong as ever.
