Song, by Toad

Broken Records – Live at the Bedlam Theatre

This is a series of videos of Broken Records’ amazing live show at the Bedlam Theatre on Saturday, 28th March 2009.  You can use the widget above to watch everything and browse amongst the videos.  They are pretty good quality, so pop them up to full screen if you like – if you hit play and just leave it alone it will play through all of them sequentially.  Alternatively, you can just scroll down and watch everything there.  There are twelve songs in total including, at the very end, the interview video as well, where Jamie and I had a bit of chat after the gig.

Big thanks must go to Mrs. Toad, who operated camera two all evening.  Camera two sounds a bit junior, but actually she is the one who got all the interesting shots, while I do all the safe stuff so we have something to fall back on when she’s moving around.  Nic Rue, who can be found at nicrue.carbonmade.com, took all the phenomenal still shots I used as the title pages for these videos.  Broken Records’ sound guy Kas mixed all the sound, and the reason these videos look so good is because his friend Colin McCallum did all the lighting, which made a massive difference.

Broken Records’ debut album Until the Earth Begins to Part is out now, and it’s brilliant.  Their stuff can be bought from recordstore.co.uk here, and their upcoming live dates can be found on the band’s website.  Enjoy these videos – they should give you some idea just how good this band are live, and why everyone in Edinburgh was so excited when they first emerged on the DIY gig scene in town just over two years ago.  They’re on tour now, actually, so you really should catch them if you get the chance. more »

Slow Club Homegame Cock-Up

Slow Club’s performance at the Fence Collective’s Homegame Festival last month really shouldn’t have surprised me, but for some reason it did.  I’ve seen them before, at another Fence event in Edinburgh’s Caves a couple of years ago, and I really like their Moshi Moshi singles, but for some reason I’d allowed them to drift somewhat from my consciousness; I really don’t know why.

When they played at the Anstruther Town Hall, however, I was reminded pretty sharpish.  They were sharp, energetic and bags of fun to watch.  It all just seemed incredibly natural, watching them perform, as if playing their songs was simply something they found as normal and everyday as brushing their teeth.  Where other bands had laboured, for instance, under the appaling sound conditions, running the full gamut from quietly disconcerted to openly irritated, Charles and Rebecca just laughed it off, played through it and generally made it seem like it was the most insignificant thing in the world.

This attitude breezes through their music as well.  Even their less lyrically perky songs are infected with a relaxed, bouncy enjoyment and they rattled through their set at a fair clip.

The band are from Sheffield, but where up until only very recently there was a fairly thriving alternative music scene, loosely based around entities like the Sheffield Phonographic Corporation label, now there is apparently something of a wasteland.  Consequently, Slow Club seem to have been adopted by a number of other groups, whilst not necessarily being an obvious part of any of them.  Their label, Moshi Moshi, brings something of a scene with them, and they also seem to have been somewhat co-opted by the posh-folk crowd which includes the likes of Johnny Flynn, Noah & the Whale and Laura Marling.  Then there’s their relationship with Fence, which now stands at two Homegame Festivals and a Fence Club.

Their music also doesn’t seem to quite belong in any such easy niche, though.  It thumps along, with plenty of rockabilly and old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll, but they seem to get lumped in with alt-folkies which, apart perhaps from some of the company they keep, makes no sense at all.

Their album, Yeah So, is basically finished though, and will be out in July so maybe then they will get the chance to make an impact on the UK music scene more in keeping with who they themselves are, rather than being pigeonholed by either the city of their provenance or the other bands who like them.  After their superb performance at Homegame, I am really looking forward to this record, and so should you be.

***

The videos here are snippets from their Homegame set.  I actually recorded a whole interview with them while they were in Anstruther and, in the mother of all IT disasters, lost the fucking lot.  So my sincerest apologies to Charles and Rebecca, and to Debbie who set it up, but if you want to hear a proper interview with them then download DC’s podcast of his Waiting Room show for woxy.com, or alternatively go and check out Andy’s live Off the Beaten Tracks Session videos from the same day, as well as Dylan’s photos on Blueback Hotrod.  This must be a significant annoyance for professional music people actually, having to deal with an increasingly amateur music press, so I really am sorry.

Animal Magic Tricks at Homegame

Anyone who has bought Animal Magic Tricks lovely Soil album (available from her MySpace page) will know of Frances’ electronic low-fi scratching, which brings a mysteriously elusive atmosphere to her songs.  Anyone who hasn’t bought her album should.  Her voice sounds fragile, but when she opens the valves she actually has a pretty impressive set of pipes on her.  Her voice is gorgeous actually, and complements the roughness of the music beautifully. Recently she’s been playing with a cellist – Pete from the Leg, specifically, who also plays with Alex Cornish – and the combination is bloody lovely.

There’s something rich and comforting about cello sounds, which gives a lovely warmth to her songs.  It’s as if the alienation of the wavering keyboard sounds and the tremble in her voice are being offered the promise that it is all alright after all.  It’s like reading the saddest part of a book with a comfortable knowledge that there’s going to be a happy ending.  Frances has recorded three songs with Pete when she was in Edinburgh recently, and played with him both at Homegame this year and the warmup gig beforehand, so hopefully this is something that we’re going to see a little more of in her recorded material because I love the combination.

These are a couple of videos from her Homegame set, so you can see what I’m talking about.

Fence Collective Homegame Festival, April 17th-19th 2009

I love Homegame.  Have I mentioned that before?

For the uninitiated, the Fence Collective’s Homegame Festival is held once a year in the small fishing village of Anstruther in Fife (well, it used to be a fishing village but it seems to be largely touristy now – neighbour Pittenweem seems to be more of a working harbour).  A huge pile of Fence Records acts, bolstered by friends and neighbours, get together and play lots of gigs in the town halls, school halls and beer halls of the town, and about six hundred or so lucky punters get to go along.

There are a few things I love about this festival, so here are a couple, put as briefly as possible:
- Anstruther is small, so the festival itself has to be small, or the town wouldn’t be able to cope.
- Fence Collective music is fucking brilliant.  There will be no sets by the View, not even acoustic ones.
- It’s actually in a town, so if it pisses down you can just stay in the pub and not get wet.
- The bands themselves are all relaxed, friendly and as interested in seeing good music and getting plastered as the rest of us, which makes for a really nice, communal atmosphere.
- It’s in a seaside town so if you ever get all musicked out, you can pick up a paper, sit on the promenade and read for a bit.
- Did I mention the relaxed atmosphere?  It’s the nicest festival in the world to be at.

This year Mrs. Toad and I rented a couple of cottages in Pittenweem – we were too slow to get Anstruther – which ended up being absolutely full of bodies at the end of every gin-sodden night of debauchery.  And when I say full I mean full; every inch of floor and ever sofa or cushion covered with some passed out drunkard or other.  Fuck me it was fun. more »

Yusuf Azak – Live at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Friday 24th April 2009

I have been a big fan of Yusuf Azak since I first heard his recent EP, Light Procession, last year but I’ve yet to even have the chance to see him live.  I was, therefore, really looking forward to this lineup, not least because it also included Edinburgh’s favourite mercurial musical maniac Enfant Bastard.

Yusuf’s recorded material is heavily layered and full of effects, so I was really curious to see how this would translate to what was the most basic solo acoustic setup: him, his acoustic guitar, and nothing else.  The result was that one thing remained constant: his voice; and another emerged from the shadows to take centre stage: his guitar playing.

There is a really warm breathiness to his singing voice which is instantly captivating.  He doesn’t have the hoarse growl of a barroom bourbon guzzler, exactly, nor the hushed grumble of an ageing bluesman, more accurately he sings with a really easy, scratched and yet somehow also honeyed charisma.  Some voice, anyway, however you describe it.

The guitar playing is another genuine highlight.  I don’t have the technical knowledge to know whether or not what he was doing was difficult, but it fucking well looked it, and more importantly it sounded amazing.  I don’t know how much of his style comes from his Turkish (I think – sorry Yusuf, if I’m wrong) heritage and how much comes from the acoustic influences he cites, such as Eliot Smith or Nick Drake, but it sounds faintly exotic in any case, and makes for a superb combination with his vocals.

For something as basic as a bloke with an acoustic guitar, this felt like a band gig, somehow.  It was a great performance which was enveloped in a strangely self-contradictory aura of shyness and confidence, and one which makes me really want to see him play again. For those outside the half-dozen or so people in this audience, missing this gig was a mistake which you should rectify as soon as possible

Yusuf Azak – 19.19

Yusuf Azak – The Key Underground

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone – Live, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Wednesday 22nd April 2009

I am a newcomer, relatively, to the work of Owen Ashworth and chums, having only really become properly acquainted with his work on the release of Etiquette a couple of years ago.  This makes me something of a Johnny Come Lately as far as more dedicated fans are concerned, which is no big deal, but also insofar as his music is concerned, which is more significant.

Etiquette was the first time Casiotone broke away from their eponymous bleepery and truly embraced a more full band sound, which shook the fanbase up a little and made them perhaps a little more palatable to a broader audience.  Including me.

I am not in any way against bare-bones, deadpan music, as any regular reader will know, but this gig almost felt like a microcosm of the neophyte’s journey into the Owen Ashworth canon.  The first half of the show was just the man himself, and an array of equipment somewhat reminiscent of an eighties science fiction set.  For me, this part fell slightly flat.  Not bad, don’t get me wrong, it was enjoyable, just it didn’t seem to be bringing anything else to the party.  I think that the reason for this is probably one of the chief dangers with the use of electronics in a live situation: there is no difference between the sound of a synth played recklessly and one played with metronomic precision.

Consequently, when the guitar and drums came out to play, there seemed to be just a little more character and immediacy to the performance.  There was more room, I guess, for an actual performance, as opposed to a recital.  This opinion may offend the Casiotone purists, but this is my over-riding impression from this gig.

Then again, it may just be the sort of music that builds on you slowly, no matter what the arrangement.  I remember seeing the Arcade Fire in Glasgow a few years ago and it was the same.  At the beginning I felt a little flat, but by the end I was completely caught up in the show: this was just like that.  So maybe the line of reasoning laid out above is valid, and maybe it’s just pish made up to explain the fact that I thought the gig started slowly, but by the end was entirely captivating and an altogether brilliant night.  Me talking pish?  Nah, surely not.

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone – Bobby Malone Moves Home

Casiotone For the Painfully Alone – Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When the Saints Go Marching In)

Website | More mp3s | Buy from Amazon

Limbo Live Vol. 1

If anyone in Edinburgh is at a loose end tonight, this is where you should be.  At half eight in the Voodoo Rooms Limbo will be launching the first volume of a series of Limbo Live albums.  Basically, they’ve taken the recordings from their weekly live shows and compiled a Best Of as something of a showcase, both of their work, and of all the new Scottish bands they’ve given a chance to over the course of the last year or so.

Honestly, I have no idea how they do it.  Three bands a week, every week, for over a year: that should be impossible.  The work they put in is impressive, and the encouragement that gives the local scene can’t be underestimated.  I’ve seen a number of superb bands for the first time by going along to Limbo.  The beer is cheap, the lineups are varied, the sound is phenomenal and all in all it’s invariably a good night out.

Things like this really are the engine room of a music scene.  They sit there and chug over reliably week after week, providing a platform not only for bands themselves, but also for other venues.  The Bowery, Cabaret Voltaire and Sneaky Pete’s are doing amazing work in improving the live scene in this town, but something like Limbo, which means that even during lean spells there is something good on, makes sure that everything keeps moving, that the audiences remain engaged and excited, until bands get back on the road again and the scene around the city picks up once more.

Tonight’s gig is going to be a massive great mish mash of as many groups represented on Limbo Live Vol. 1 as they can manage to pull together.  Everyone sets up at once and there’ll be a short, sharp collection of performances, rather than the standard, support-support-headline setup.  This is another thing I like about Limbo, actually.  Was anyone at their collaborative night with Canongait Books?  It was superb.  Poetry, readings and music all together in one night, and not really like much I’ve been to before – they really do try and innovate with their nights.

So please pop along and support them tonight, or go and buy the CD.  Dave and Andy are a pair of total fuckwits, but they are lovely blokes, and really important to the music scene in Edinburgh, so it would be good for them to get some love in return.

Zoey Van Goey – City is Exploding

Isosceles – Get Your Hands Off

Limbo on MySpace | Buy the CD from limbolive.co.uk

Broken Records – Live at the Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh, Saturday 28th March 2009

Broken Records may play bigger, better, sweatier gigs than this in the future – in fact I’d be fucking amazed if they don’t – but I am not sure they’ll play many more special to their grass-roots fans.  There is a real sense of goodwill about the band at the moment – they’ve signed to one of the best indie labels in the world, they’ve just finished their debut album, the hard slog of the festival season is yet to take hold, so it felt to me like band and fans alike were able to take a moment just just enjoy the current circumstances.  Although, as their lead singer and main songwriter Jamie said to me in a brief aftershow interview, the real work is only just beginning.

The sense  of occasion was hugely helped by the amazingly atmospheric surroundings of the Bedlam Theatre, so nice that Broken Records were happy to run the show at a loss, just to make for a special gig.  It worked.  The photos which decorate this review were taken by Nic Rue, one of Edinburgh’s most talented photographers.  I may not be a professional judge, but how she remains an amateur at this is beyond me.  Her set of pictures from this gig can be found on Flickr, here, and is truly exceptional.  But if you look at the rest of her work you’ll see that it’s no one-off.  She really, really is that good. more »

Jesus H. Foxx – Live at the Bowery, Edinburgh, Friday 27th March 2009

I haven’t mentioned Jesus H. Foxx much on these pages and that is because, if I’m being brutally honest, I had my doubts about them as a band.  They were good, and they were lots of fun, but for the most part it seemed to lack a bit of something. The music could be very uniform and one-paced over the course of a whole gig.  I wasn’t entirely convinced by the lyrics either; whilst they seemed to use them effectively as an instrument to provide rhythm and melody, they seemed to fare less well as actual words.  They were using vocals, basically, rather than lyrics, if you know what I mean.

Well since then I’ve ended up chatting to the band from time to time, talked to other people involved and generally got to know them a little better and, you know what, they had similar concerns themselves for the most part.  They weren’t entirely happy with playing an entire set of short, spiky pop songs and also weren’t entirely happy with being pigeonholed as the angular indie rock support band of choice for the Edinburgh.  They didn’t have the haircuts, for a start.

Over the last couple of years they’ve really worked worked hard to develop their sound, and they now sound like they are turning into the kind of band they want to be.  No disrespect to earlier stages in their development, but to hear them talk about the music now, there’s a very solid, very believable confidence about them.  Their new recordings sound extremely promising, so I was really excited to see them live for the first time in ages and judge for myself.

And in the end?  Well, I was very impressed indeed.  The music just sounds more sophisticated.  They’ve shuffled the lineup a little, varied the pace greatly within their set, and they sound much more like a band who know where they’re going these days.  There’s depth, I suppose I’d call it.  They still have that bouncy, energy to call upon, aided by the raucous battering of twin drumkits, but they really are able to shift things around.  The cornet is a welcome addition to the sound as well, as are the female vocal harmonies.  It just all rounds things out nicely and gives a real presence to the music.

So now I am looking forward to their upcoming EP release really rather a lot.  I reckon Jesus H. could make a real impact this year if they play their cards right.  They have a base level of public awareness, general support from the grass-roots within the city, and now a good fistful of exciting new tunes they should really be able to make a splash with.  And they’re from Edinburgh.  And they aren’t alt-folk.  Imagine!

Jesus H. Foxx – I’m Half the Man You Were (Old Version)

Jesus H. Foxx – I’m Half the Man You Were (New Version)

Jesus H. Foxx on MySpace

P.S. Apologies to the other bands on this bill, but I was finishing the Pictish Trail Toad Session and only arrived at the venue very late.  So I’m not ignoring them, I just didn’t get there in time.

Video: Ten Tracks at the Bowery

Ten Tracks is a new download service which has been launched recently, by a friend of mine Ed Stack, in collaboration with local arts paper The Skinny.  Bascially, they release specially curated bundles of ten songs once a month, which you can subscribe to for a tenner for the whole year, or simply buy as a one-off for a quid.

Ed does a really good job of finding local bands and getting local musically involved people to participate, and on Valentine’s Day they hosted their first official gig night at the Bowery.  Regular readers will already be familiar with the Rob St. John and eagleowl videos from this splendid evening but, if not, here’s a summary of the night as a whole in video form.

And for those of you who like the look of this, swing by the Bowery again on Saturday, where Found, the Joe Acheson Quartet and Emily Scott will be playing another Ten Tracks gig.