Live in Edinburgh This Week – 10th August 2008
Well, we’ll be back by the end of this week, back into a maelstrom of gigs. What the fuck am I going to do on Saturday? Go to see Johnny Flynn at Cabaret Voltaire? Sparrow & the Workshop at the Liquid Room? Or Eagleowl at the Scottish Scullery. I am going to be spread thinner than the veneer of desperately forced joy on a vegetarian’s malnourished visage. I think I may even be doing a show for Fresh Air Radio that day, but I have no idea what about, as yet.
So, what’s happening on the busiest week of my annual gig calendar? Take a deep breath and… here we go:
Friday 15th August 2008: Noah & the Whale at Cabaret Voltaire.
Pretty much the pinnacle of the dismal Edge Festival’s woeful efforts this month sees them bringing folk popsters (more pop than folk these days, but not to their detriment) Noah & the Whale to Edinburgh. I really like the band, and I am going to go. Splendid.
Noah & the Whale – Beating
Friday 15th August 2008: Withered Hand plays the Retreat Festival at the Scottish Scullery.
Withered Hand are one of the best bands in the city at the moment, mixing acerbic wit with caustic self-loathing and futile optimism. If anyone embodies Scottish songwriting as I see it then it is Dan, and his band is worth making a considerable trip to see. Brilliant.
Withered Hand – Religious Songs
Saturday 16th August 2008: Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit at Cabaret Voltaire.
This lad is pure gold. Never mind the public school education, the excessively literate bent and the thespian background, there is a wonderful charisma to their live performance and the charm exuded by both the band and the music is wonderful. I may well not make it, but I wish I could.
Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Tickle Me Pink
Saturday 16th August 2008: Sparrow & the Workshop at the Liquid Room.
They may be supporting Y’All is Fantasy Island, but the reason I will be at this gig will be to get my first sight of one of the most exciting recent arrivals on the Scottish music scene of late, who are due to record a Toad Session the following day.
Sparrow & the Workshop – Devil Song
Saturday 16th August 2008: Eagleowl play their single launch at the Scottish Scullery.
Eagleowl wish, at least a little, that they were Low. Or so they have said, apparently. Between Clarissa’s wonderful arse* doleful double bass, Malcolm’s funereal violin and Bart’s grumbling guitar they aren’t far off, but there is a knack for melody there that picks each song a special place of its own and steers well clear of that sulky indie-folk cliche to which they would otherwise be prone. It will be a small release, but one of the best of the year, I guarantee it.
Eagleowl – Blanket
Sunday 17th August 2008: Isosceles at Cabaret Voltaire.
Isosceles are very good. They are pop, their lyrics are shallow at best, but their tunes are superb and the music they make is sheer good-time, hugely danceable indie-pop.
Isosceles – Kitch Bitch
Sunday 17th August 2008: Broken Records at the Liquid Room.
Edinburgh’s most successful recent export come home for a bit to pack out the Liqud Room (again) and presumably publicise their new single, Slow Parade, out on the 11th August on Fandango. This will be an absolute fucking corker.
Broken Records – If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It (Toad Session)
*Sorry Jake. And Mrs. Toad. S’true though.
the Wave Pictures at Leith Dockers club on Wednesday?
Hmmm?
You have to wonder who’s running the place, don’t you?..
Some lascivious degenerate, by the sounds of things.
Hi guys.
Quick question/request/beg: I’m having a fuck of a time getting decent, prolonged interweb connectivity out here & I’m headed to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego & a fuck load more cities & towns in between. I’d like to try & fill up the evenings with gigs to got to, but the interweb thing is screwing up my searches. Anybody have any suggestions for gigs for any of the places listed? I don’t have a date fix on any travel yet so anytime between now & the end of the month is fine for each city.
Cheers,
DC
Bart – I wrote this ages ago, you snide bastard. Give me some bloody latitude!
DC, Samamidon is touring the West Coast with Nico Muhly and Doveman right now. They’re at the Triple Door in Seattle on 8/14, the Aladdin Theater in Portland on 8/15, Swedish American Hall in San Francisco on 8/18, and the Hotel Cafe in LA on 8/19.
The Felice Brothers are at the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco on 8/24
The Avett Brothers are at the Oregon Zoo Amphitheater in Portland on 8/24
Caleb Engstrom is at the Helm Gallery in Tacoma, Washington on 8/22
This lineup makes me want to weep with envy. I can only comfort myself by remembering that I’m seeing Radiohead in a week and a half at the first night of Outside Lands. Felice Brothers are going to be there on Friday night as well (8/22), but you’d have to buy a day ticket just to see them, which would set you back a cool 85 dollars. It is a pretty freaking awesome lineup for that night though, if you’re willing to spend the money: http://www.sfoutsidelands.com/artists.
DC – don’t know who you are but I have two Portland gig recommendations for you, both at the Artistery, an all-ages DIY venue in the north east quadrant… the first is Thanksgiving on Saturday the 16th, and the second is Karl Blau on Wednesday the 20th. If I were within 100 miles of the place I would go to both of these.
I’m sure there is lots of other great stuff on too.
No one knows who DC is. He’s an international man of mystery.
I think it’s probably Bono.
Also, Pine Hill Haints (straight outta Huntsville, Alabama) are at Laurelthirst Pub in Portland on 8/13, at the 9lb. Hammer in Seattle on 8/14, Slim’s in Portland on 8/17, Thee Parkside and Matador in San Francisco on 8/19-20, respectively, and at the Scene and Babe’s Warehouse in LA on 8/21-22, respectively. Top notch.
DC’s not Bono, he’s the Foreign Minister of Georgia. Notice he’s been absent quite a bit lately? And in a place with unreliable internet access? I can put two-and-two together. Give ‘em hell, DC!
Dylan & C&B, having met the said international man of mystery, I do know who DC’s Secret Squirrel alter ego is, but I’m not telling! It’s not worth the misery my life would become, unless, of course, you’re willing to give me £1m in unmarked bills and a safe passage to Venezuela.
It’s Bono isn’t it?
I understand your reluctance TWoTH. The cease-fire negotiations are probably at a delicate stage right now, and we would hate to disrupt the efforts of Dimitri Cranahanashviliovich to secure a just and lasting peace.
I am Iron Man.
Bono