I’ve long supported and, frankly, been pretty envious of the Song, By Toad label and Blog. Mr. Toad works pretty hard on it, and he’s been responsible for birthing some awesome records, and for what it’s worth I have tried to cover as much of it as possible on here.

Back in 2010, I very much enjoyed the debut from Yusuf Azak, Turn On The Long Wire. It featured some gorgeous low-key moments, and picked up some nice reviews. Now, two years later, his next record Go Native is almost with us.

It’ll be released on November 12, and it’s seemingly (on the basis of what I have heard so far) an even more gorgeous and more accessible and stripped down record than his debut. In the words of Head Toad, Matthew Young ‘Yusuf tends to keep himself to himself, only to emerge with a finished album from time to time, so I doubt we’ll ever be able to make him all that famous, but this is a truly gorgeous record and I am delighted he wants to release it with us.’ Can’t say any more than that, really. I would have loved to post ‘Swim’ but ‘Smile Tactics’ is doing the rounds as a free download/single (is there much of a difference between them these days?) and it’s pretty lovely too.