I can think of a couple of things going on this week based on my Facebook events calendar, but feel free to fill in the gaps in the comments section to promote anything happening you’d like to give a big “up” to. Particularly if you think Matthew wouldn’t like it.
I’ll refrain from promoting this as watching the same band play three times with different lead singers, because it will be bloody brilliant. And as Mark Woodpigeon pointed out last night, they will all have completely different sounds
Thursday 30th June – The Wee Red Bar – The Last Battle & Friends
This should be a hell of a night, being as the Last Battle have an EP to launch and can count the likes of King Creosote and Loch Awe amongst their supporting friends. There may even be a surprise guest or four on the bill too, I can’t mention who, but this show will certainly be more than an excuse to only go out and get drunk that night.
Right! Over to you, fill the comments with your suggestions on where Edinburgh’s gig-going public can spend their cash this week!
I’m in the process of moving home again. I’ve moved six times since I’ve been in Edinburgh and I have to admit I’m getting thoroughly fed up with it. At the moment I’m just looking for a room so I’ll probably be on the move again before long. Yaaawwnn….
We had to move out of our last flat rather quickly as a water leak behind the walls we reported in January was neglected by the letting agency until, well now really, and in the meantime the walls have rotted and the floors have buckled. So they now have to rip the whole lot out and start again. Idiots.
Anyway. It’s been on my mind unsurprisingly so I thought it would do as a Friday Five theme. Everybody lives somewhere so we must have some experiences we can share or advice to offer each other. Hopefully anyway. Remember to come out of the woodwork if you’ve been lurking!
1. Have you got any disaster stories about your homes to tell?
2. What is the most important quality I should look for in a new housemate?
3. Have you ever lived with any complete weirdos?
4. What’s the most unusual place you’ve stayed – even if only for a night?
5. Describe your dream home.
This week began with the terribly sad news of the death of Clarence Clemons of the E-Street Band. Clemons had been a member of Bruce Springsteen’s legendary backing band since 1969, and his exuberant saxophone was a key component in creating the distinctive sound of Springsteen’s early records.
You’ll have read reams about Clemons’ vast contribution to Springsteen’s career in obituaries and articles written since last weekend, so I won’t bore you with a copy-and-paste job here; but I had an interesting conversation with Martin Savings & Loan the other day about where the loss of Clemons leaves the E-Street Band as a viable outfit moving forward.
When original E-Street Band organist Danny Federici died a few years ago; Charles Giordano, Federici’s opposite number from the band Springsteen had been working with on the Seeger Sessions project, shifted sideways and filled Federici’s E-Street position.
With no disrespect to Danny Federici or his legacy, it won’t be so straightforward for Springsteen to bring a sub off the bench to fill Clemons’ sizable shoes.
I don’t think it will simply be a case of finding another horn player competent enough to play Clemons’ parts in the songs. Both Clemons and Springsteen are on record stating that the first time they jammed together in 1969, few words were spoken but they felt they shared a subconscious “connection”; that they were each what the other had been searching for in a muse.
Clemons delivered a dynamism and sense of motion to Springsteen’s epic ballads. Put simply, he brought the soul, providing an echo of classic rock n’ roll history. His energy and enthusiasm seemed to electrify the sound of both the records and the band’s live performances. In concert , while the rest of the band would either prowl hunched and elusive with their electric guitars, or be nailed to the spot by their drums or keyboard rigs; Clemons would stand shoulder to shoulder with Springsteen at the front of the stage, almost a co-frontman.
He was the perfect foil for Springsteen. Physically opposites; a huge athletic black man, a mountain of rippling muscles clad in colourful, exotic fashions, stood strident alongside this scrawny, scruffy white dude in worn-out denims and ripped lumberjack shirts, they were a compelling spectacle. And musically Clemons’ style – a mixture of jazz, funk, gospel and traditional rock n’ roll – can’t have been seen as the obvious accompaniment to Springsteen’s introspective, angry ballads composed on an acoustic guitar.
Yet despite – or probably because of - that juxtaposition, the partnership worked and created some of the most popular American music recorded in the last forty years or so. I’m aware that Bruce Springsteen is a favourite amongst many of the readers and contributors to this site, and a love of his music – perhaps reflecting Clemons’ and Springsteen’s odd-couple companionship – unites musicians and fans of disparate tastes and genres that I speak to.
So beyond the immediate devastating loss, where do Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band go from here?
Really! I’m working from home (I wouldn’t take fresh strawberries into the office), but it’s actually been quite busy this morning so the fives are a bit late – I’m sorry.
Matthew’s up in Aberdeen for GoNorth, nursing a weapons-grade hangover probably, so he’s handed over the five to me this week, which was nice.
Oh, and – credit where credit’s due – that cartoon is pinched from The Oatmeal. Check out their website if you’re not familiar with it, very clever and ever so funny.
So here’s your five pertinent questions.
1. What’s the best work environment you’ve ever had?
2. What’s the biggest pitfall I should watch out for working from home?
3. What would be your ideal place to work, and what would the job be?
4. What did you want to be when you grew up?
5. How close to achieveing question 4 have you got?
*There were going to be five musical tracks for your listening pleasure too, but it turns out SoundCloud have installed new DMCA tripwires to prevent you sharing what it thinks might be copyrighted work unless you can confirm you’re the owner. It used to let you put up what you wanted, then it might catch up with you after a couple of weeks and send you a nasty email, now it stops you before you can publish the tracks online. I’ve just wasted an hour and a half on it and really should get back to proper job now.. So just questions this week unfortunately!
[Long-time Toad pal and all round top bloke Men Diamler has released a new album, and in a brilliant turn of events he's made it available free to download! In this week's Sunday Supplement the man himself introduces the album for us.]
Welcome to “12 Songs For A Girl”. Somewhere between 2009 and 2010, against every cynical bone in my body, i fell head over heels for a girl who shall remain nameless. We used to hang out a lot, doing this or that, and i was bowled over by how inspired and happy i felt whilst in her presence. I recorded some songs for her birthday, and that’s where i probably got the idea to write and record an album in tribute to her. The songs i recorded, didn’t do the minx justice. Although it must have been blatently obvious that this nervous, dishevelled dreamer was chasing her, i thought that, through the vessel of song i could explain how i felt without relying on the power of speech, which has proved lethal whenever it comes to anything important.
I put my plan to action in January 2010. The snow and cold made travelling impossible, so i found i had four days with nothing to do at home. I wrote all the songs in three days, on the only guitar i had with me (which had four strings – i found an open tuning that worked and went from there), and then set aside that fourth day to record them on my four track. I made the album, with a sleeve made out of a hardback book cover and pasted the photograph of a pig on it. I tore some Polish song from A.L. Lloyd’s volume on folk song. and pasted that for the inner sleeve. The girl was polish, you see – and it somehow fitted.
A lot of the lyrics referenced either stuff that we did together or stuff i’d learned or thought about her. It’s full of very personal references to people, places and things. The snow, like sand, found into almost everything. Despite all the references, i think some of the songs are as direct as anything i’ve ever done; Listening now, i’ve worked out (obvious i know, but i’m slow) that the album is as much about me as it is the muse. There’s a lot of opening up that would seem slightly unnerving to share with you all.
I finally gave her the copy of the album on the fourth night. She said she loved it. You are all aching to know whether she fell into my arms and we lived happily ever after? The answer is no (sob). We are still friends and see each other time to time, and that’s cool when it happens. I have played some of these songs live, and played and copies the album to various friends. Some people said i should release it. Some people said i shouldn’t. I’ve thought about rerecording the thing, but i decided i wouldn’t have the time when i’ve already got two albums to finish this year.
There’s two major reasons why i want this amongst the public. Firstly, i like it – and generally what i like, i like to share with others. It’s very messy as one would expect for an unrehearsed collection of songs recorded in a day, but some of my favourite recordings come when the chord changes and lyrics are not even dry on the page..I think it holds together well, like a bag of street urchins does in a victorian photograph. I don’t think they should be seperated.
Secondly, i need closure. I’m not greatly a person concerned with my own past and in resurrecting it. I don’t want to have a backlog of songs in the can for future projects right now – I have to keep writing anew. There so much to be done. Since i wrote and recorded this(only months), i feel i’ve changed imeasurably as a person. I’m not sure for better or for worse, but i doubt i’ll write songs like these again. A part of me in this record has left the building. My future writing from today onwards goes the other way. At present, I can still enjoy listening to this record though, and i’m sure i’ll always be proud i made it during that unforgettably cold winter.. That girl deserved an album. If you know who she is, you know it’s true. I truly hope this half hour proves a pleasant diversion for you.
Serendipity struck for Woodpigeon at End Of The Road this year, when fellow Canadian act Timber Timbre were delayed on the way to the festival, leaving a vacant slot to be filled on the site’s main stage, the Garden Stage.
Frontman Mark Hamilton was the only Woodpigeon to make the trip over from Calgary for the festival. Fortunately, however, he has a ready-made backing band waiting for him on these shores in the form of our very own Eagleowl – the two band’s origins are entwined with each other following Mark’s time spent living in Edinburgh a few years back – and the collective heroically stepped into the breach.
The band had performed the previous day on another stage, and – during a barnstorming set – had covered Withered Hand‘s wonderful No Cigarettes.
I was looking forward to a repeat performance when I heard about them covering for Timber Timbre, and thought it might be a good idea to film the song this time.
The video quality’s not exactly High Def because it’s only from my little Sony point-and-click instant camera, and it’s a bit shaky in places because - well – it’s me filming it; but it’s not too bad all things considered.
This time last week I was typing out a Friday Five and planning a couple of quite weekends before Away Game at the end of the month. I was thinking about maybe shopping for camping supplies.
In an odd turn of events, however, as you read this I’m standing in a field in Dorset at End Of The Road with M’So, the ‘Glowl and whichever other reprobates have shown up.
(As I actually type this it’s the day before yesterday at around 4pm. Weird, huh?!)
Anyway, it’s five time for you lot. Remember to delurk, and don’t worry if you don’t see your message pop up straight away, someone will get around to approving it soon enough.
1. Nicest surprise you’ve ever had.
2. Most fun you’ve had setting up a surprise for someone else.
3. What’s your dream road trip?
4. Have you ever had an unexpected turn of events that turned out okay in the end.
5. Pledge to do something you hadn’t planned this weekend. Tell us what it is now, then come back next week and tell us how it went.
Song, By Toad is going to be on cruise control for a few days while Matthew continues his oriental expedition and the rest of us embark on our own expedition to Dorset for End Of The Road.
What that means to you, dear reader, is that it may be a little slow to get a response from the Song, By Toad offices if you decide to get in touch; and if you’re a new commentator you might not see your comment straight away, because someone has to manually approve comments from new people to check you’re not a spam-robot, a troll or Chutters.
Don’t let that discourage you though as someone will swing by to check the in-tray every once in a while. (Incidentally the same thing applies if you put a lot of weblinks in your comment)
So look after the place while everyone’s away. Don’t make too much of a mess and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
Much to the surprise of several midland-based illegal betting syndicates, the annual Mercury Music Prize was last night awarded to dour navel-gazers The Double-X at a darts-tournament-themed presentation ceremony in London.
However, the misguided brummie gangsters were not the only ones to get a fuzzy reception on their crystal ball, as pointed out last night by Slackdad on these very pages following Matthew’s accurately dismissive review of the Londoners’ debut album almost a year ago.
Nevertheless, much as it balks me to stick up for Matthew, I do still think his review was pretty much spot on at the time; and remains so a year later.
What Matthew didn’t take into account last year was the music industry establishment’s fear of appearing “out-of-touch” or “un-cool”, which I believe was the main reason the nu-goth ™ outfit was given the prize.
As the traditional music business with its rigid regime of pigeon-holed genres fragments, and the fault lines that divide the artistic and creative side of music from the light entertainment side widen, the moguls holding the purse strings at the record companies and the corporations that sponsor events like the Mercury Awards are finding themselves in a state of fitful panic.
The XX didn’t win the award because theirs was the best album of the year, or even on the shortlist. It wasn’t. Theirs was simply the best image for the Mercury Awards to adopt for a year. The right image was important to them this year in particular, following the cultural vanishing act performed by last year’s winner – urban act Speech Debelle – as soon as the twenty-grand prize cheque was cashed.
The XX have had a year to establish themselves on the festival circuit, and have tickled the underbelly of the charts if not exactly set them alight. So the Marketing Director at Barclaycard can sleep relatively soundly, safe in the knowledge that their sponsorship investment should continue to pay off for at least a few more months.
I bet last year Barclaycard were left thinking they could have just spent twenty-grand down the pub for all the good Speech What’s-Her-Face did for them.
So, by that token, surely Paul Weller or Mumford & Sons should have won. Barclaycard can, quite literally, take them to the bank, can’t they?
Well, perhaps not. A completely safe-as-houses bet such as represented by those acts would have highlighted last year’s fuck-up instead of quietly sweeping it under the carpet. Media pundits and bloggers would have leapt all over it, claiming that it was a cynical attempt to associate the Mercurys with a successful act for purely business purposes.
I didn’t catch the whole awards show broadcast on the TV last night, but – like the witness to a crime – I saw enough. The live performances largely illustrated what a poor shortlist had been compiled.
The Mumfords delivered a sample of their well drilled live-set which was more than adequate to steal the show from the sample I saw. I’m sure you can catch carbon-copies of Villagers in the back room of pubs at open-mic nights up and down the country. The lad simply doesn’t have a ring of quality about him, and looks like he’s being pimped about by handlers trading on his doe-eyed shyness and funny haircut. I Am Kloot were clearly very competent songwriters and soulful performers, but somehow put me in mind of Chris De Burgh.
Corinne Bailey Rae and her band just embarrassing. She started off by showing us some hesitantly picked arpeggios she learned in her first guitar lesson that morning (she’s not there yet but she’ll probably get the hang of it in time); before her backing band came struck up. Well, I don’t know which phone-in competition they’d each individually won to get the chance to play on stage at the Mercurys, but you’d think someone would have given them the chance to practice together first.
After that we watched as the token jazz trio from the shortlist warmed up by playing three different songs at once. It was certainly intriguing, but it would have been nice to see their actual performance. At least their sense of rhythm was better than Corinne Bailey Rae’s band. (Having said that though, Matthew’s sense of rhythm is better than Corinne Bailey Rae’s band.)
So for another year we’re left with the bitter aftertaste of music being misappropriated for the sake of corporate media-grabbing, and the unpleasant sticky residue reaches even the fringes of the music scene as the Mercury Awards flaunt their ill-deserved “edgy and independent” image in the music news headlines. How depressing.
It’s probably about time we steered away from the low arts here on Toad and introduced a little high culture into the mélange, isn’t it?
Luckily, such respite can be provided in a timely fashion by Edinburgh College of Art graduate Sarah Muirhead.
Sarah is a stalwart supporter of the Edinburgh music scene, as a fan, a close friend to many of the bands and – crucially – as a hardworking bartender in some of the key local venues.
In addition to this, she’s also a wildly talented painter. Her work, generally portraits of strangers she describes as meeting in a “search for interesting characters on the street and in bars”, is simply breathtaking.
You can see what I mean online if you click the link on her name above and have a browse about her site. However, the reason I’m popping a post up now is that you can also see what I mean for real if you head along to the Urban Outfitters store on Princes Street over the coming month, where her exhibition Human Zoo will be on display.
The official launch night, with sparkling drinks and delicious canapés no doubt, is on Thursday night this week. I had been planning to go but someone had to drive the Meursaults to End Of The Road festival because it’s too far for them to walk or something.
If you, however, haven’t got an excuse as good as that to miss it, then you really shouldn’t. I’ll just have to make sure I catch the exhibition when I’m back in town.
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I can think of a couple of things going on this week based on my Facebook events calendar, but feel free to fill in the gaps in the comments section to promote anything happening you’d like to give a big “up” to. Particularly if you think Matthew wouldn’t like it.
