Hiya!

I’d just like to add that Withered Hand headlining the Bongo Club on Sunday night (after the Alela Diane show) is probably the most exciting thing that’s ever happened. And only three pounds.

Also also, Robin Williamson and John Renbourne at the Pleasance on Wednesday night.
Bearded folkies all over the country will be choking on their mead at that line-up.

I imagine.

And it’s nice that someone is keeping up this blog posthumously. After not seeing him at the Wave Pictures show last night, I can only assume that Toad has passed on.

Mrs. Toad was sick and I had to skip it to play nursemaid unfortunately. I was gutted.

And why are you advertising bearded folkies on my blog? We’re all coke & whores here, Bart, none of yer beards and Real Ale bollocks on this website matey.

Nothing wrong with a good drop of ale - it’s just a shame you can’t get a good drop of ale up here.

If there’s one thing they get right in the South of England that they seem to balls-up royally everywhere else (Or at least in my experience; Scotland and Wales) it’s serving a pint of ale.

My beard has fallen off in disgust at this conversation. I am going to buy a nice shiny suit and a new Mondeo if this keeps up.

And start liking The Kooks.

you can’t like the kooks - hating that band as much as I do, I was surprised to really like the first single off the second album - y’know sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say “good tune” - but then they named their second album konk - why would you do that??? why?????

Because they are Kunts.

You know, no matter how predictable and easy that joke was, it was still amazingly satisfying.

Ah great news about landing the lovely Ms. Menig for your second Toad Session. If her Daytrotter session from last year is any indication, this should be an absolute gem. Any news on Mariee Sioux? Unless she’s changed her name (and gender) to Michael Hurley, I must declare myself nonplussed.

No - I tried to get in touch but haven’t heard a thing.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT ! Best band at triptych by a long long way. Go on the rabbit !

A lot of people are saying this, particularly since the new album, which I haven’t heard yet. To be honest, as much as I loved the first album I have filed them under ‘liked’ rather than ‘loved’ ever since I saw them live last year and they sounded a lot less idiosyncratic and a lot more standard indie than they did on the record.

nonsense - they are amazing live and deliver the songs superbly - unlike the twilight sad! Frightened Rabbit are just brilliant and the new album is great - still, I’d argue that Y’all Is Fantasy Island are even more exciting and can’t wait for their albums this year.

as for the kooks joke- made me laugh too. ever thought about comedy as a new line of work?!

Although I’m from the States and therefore a miserable outcast I take great exception to Euan’s implication that The Twilight Sad does anything other than make sweet sweet love to the live music listener. I had the pleasure of seeing them in a small club in Washington DC last October and was treated to an aural assault that left me feeling as though I had been pinned to the ground and subjected to a violation which, although possibly unconstitutional, was not entirely unpleasant. If there’s higher praise than that, I’d like to hear it.

Oh, and wasn’t “Konk” just the name of the studio where Kooks rekorded their keen, krazy-kool and indeed kromulent, new CD? What if the Beatles had named Abbey Road “Konk” instead? Would John Lennon be alive today?

i’ve seen the twilight sad and FR on the same bill and there’s no comparison. the rabbit play clever catchy tunes and can switch from folk to pop to punk with ease. the sad are stuck in some eighties time warp where playing really loud self indulgent twaddle is considered ‘art’. give me the rabbit any day.

Oooh - blog fight! Based on which up and coming Scottish indie band is the best, no less. If ever a bunch of people were arguing over the tiniest scrap of discrepancy in a gigantic ocean of agreement it would be this.

But why stop all the fun now!

When I saw Frightened Rabbit before Christmas they basically sounded like every other indie guitar band around which, given an album which I thought was really distinctive and original, I found disappointing. The Twilight Sad, on the other hand, are hardly innovative, but when their melody breaks through that storm of guitars it’s like a ray of musical sunshine.

That said I have heard folk say that they lose an awful lot when they are not overwhelming you with the sheer volume of the music, which I can accept may be true, although I’ve never witnessed it myself. The other thing I have to bear in mind is that I’ve only seen Frightened Rabbit once, so maybe I caught them on an off day, and I haven’t heard the new album yet either, which some very reliable friends are salivating over, so I’m definitely open to having my mind changed on this one.

as I’ve said before - I’m not having a go at the twilight sad - I think their album is brilliant - but turning up and just making noise doesn’t do it for me - if I want to be blown away by a wall of noise, I’ll nip down the studio turn everything up to 10 and let rip. whilst their album is a fantastic piece of work, the beauty within it is lost live in this ridiculously over loud wall of noise - apart from perhaps the vocal. but i stress, I like them as a band and hope their second album is as good as the first. but having seen them live 3 times I won’t be going back for a while.

I never really enjoyed the beatles, so lets not go there but konk is a stupid album name regardless of where it came from.

I blush when I admit that I wore earplugs. Made all the difference in the world. There was absolute beauty beneath the shkronkalanche.

if you haven’t seen FR live lately, or heard the new album, might i suggest that you do both as soon as you get the chance.

Well that should be this week, by the look of it. See you all there I’d imagine!

Fuck me, Matthew. The Toad sessions go from strength to strength. Here was me thinking that you’d be focusing on up-and-coming Edinburghers, not landing indie-folk superstars. OK, maybe that’s overstating it a bit, but still, well done in setting up that one. Looking forward to it already…

Well that is pretty much the plan. But this opportunity came up, I got a bit giddy and chanced my arm emailing her label. Who amazingly said yes. So there we go. I can’t wait either, but I am nervous as fuck!