Well one thing’s for sure, live in Edinburgh this week will very much not be me.  I have a rather nasty flu/tonsillitis throat infection thingy (I’m not a doctor so I am not sure which, but you know the kind of thing I mean) and it means that swallowing is extraordinarily painful, even if it is gin.

I am not sure that soaking the paracetamol in alcohol particularly aids in its efficacy either, but as I said, I am not a doctor.

We, of course, have our next Ides of Toad gig on Sunday, when the awesome Withered Hand, Samantha Crain and Mike MacFarlane will be at Henry’s.  I should also point out that I am selling tickets to the Song, by Toad Christmas Party for a mere £8 at the moment, but that price will disappear sometime this afternoon, so if you want the cheap tickets better get ‘em now, otherwise it will cost you the (still extremely good value for money) sum of £10. Go here to get yourself sorted out for the finest carnival of Christmas piss-artistry to be had in Edinburgh.

However, until then, here is some stuff to keep you entertained in Edinburgh this week:

[Edit: fuck fuck fuck, I forgot that Alex Cornish has a full band plus strings show at Cabaret Voltaire on Thursday 24th.]

Monday 21st November 2011: Rozi Plain, Jamie Harrison & This is the Kit at the Electric Circus.

I am not sure if I am even going to end up getting this posted in time for you to scoot down to the Electric Circus and catch this, but if a Fence Records/Red Deer Club one-two isn’t enough enticement then umm… well, you deserve the X-Factor or whatever it is you end up doing instead.

Rozi Plain – The Lang Toun (James Yorkston Cover)

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Thursday 24th November 2011: Django Django, The Marvels & Snide Rhythms at Sneaky Pete’s.

Django Django were absolutely all over the radio about a year and a half ago, and they’ve been quietly recording their debut album ever since.  Judging from the songs we’ve heard so far, it should be very good indeed.  They are a little like Jonnie Common in the sense that the music they make may be rather experimental in terms of its constituent components, but the end result is pure pop (although I’d be tempted to say that the similarity ends there). This stuff even gets me wanting to dance.  Yes, you read that right, even me.

Django Django – Waveforms

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Saturday 26th November 2011: Lach’s Fort comes to Le Monde.

It’s a very, very odd place to do it, but when you’re looking to put on an event which is a little different to what a place is used to, then picking a surprising venue could just end up working in its favour.  Lach is bringing his New York night to Edinburgh, with film, esoteric DJing and live performances from Seafieldroad, Lee Patterson, Emily Scott, head BMX Bandit Duglas T. Stewart, comedian Chloe Phillip and more.

Sunday 27th November 2011: Withered Hand, Samantha Crain & Mike MacFarlane play the Ides of Toad at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

I am really looking forward to this.  Apart from the excellence, the humour and the pathos of Withered Hand, I am really looking to Sam Crain’s first Edinburgh gig.  I first me her at Pickathon in Portland in something like 2008, and we’ve pretty much had this gig in mind ever since.  He voice is amazing, and her songs are absolutely gorgeous.  Mike MacFarlane is a relative newcomer, but having seen him for the first time at the Antihoot this Summer I am really interested to see more.

Withered Hand – Providence

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Samantha Crain – We Are the Same

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Mike MacFarlane – Waltz

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Sunday 27th November 2011: Loch Lomond, The Last of Barrett’s Privateers & Pronto Mama at Sneaky Pete’s.

Loch Lomond’s new album is out now on Chemikal Underground, and having played here a couple of times, they are back with something approaching a full band (although like many bands I know and love, establishing what, exactly, their standard, full lineup is isn’t entirely straightforward). They’ll be joined by impressive Edinburgh folkies The Last of Barrett’s Privateers and Pronto Mama, about whom I have to confess to knowing more or less nothing, sorry.

Loch Lomond – Elephants & Little Girls (Toad Session)

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One thing about going away on holiday is that I seem to have lost all grip on my Facebook invites.  And whilst I know that Facebook invites have become just another form of tedious spam for most of you, for me they are still a pretty handy way of staying on top of the week’s gigging activities.

The week’s gigging activites are relatively thin on the ground this week, however.  There is, of course, the BBC Scotland SXSW documentary tomorrow at 9pm.  There is plenty of Withered Hand, Kid Canaveral, Rachel Sermanni and Unicorn Kid to go around, as well as the likes of Vic Galloway, the Twilight Sad and of course my good self.  My parents will be watching and will no doubt very proud.  Or at least, hopefully a little less ashamed than usual.

As well as that there are a couple of gigs on, and the return of Born to Be Wide, whose sync panel takes place on Thursday.

Thursday 7th July 2011: Born to Be Wide Sync Panel at the Electric Circus.

Sync deals in adverts and TV shows are probably one of the few ways left for bands to make grown-up money in the modern music industry, but as a consequence, there are now a fuck of a lot of people rather greedily eyeing that money.  Giving us some advice on pinching a little for ourselves will be: Gerry Farrell (creative director of the Leith Agency), David Harron (Executive producer at BBC Scotland), Caroline Gorman (Rage Music), David McGinnis (A&R and head of licensing at Mute Song).

Thursday 7th July 2011: Alex Cornish at The Caves.

Alex starts his UK tour this week, and anyone who saw his amazing performance at the recent Song, by Toad house gig will presumably be up for this one, performed with a full band at Edinburgh’s snazziest venue.

Friday 8th July 2011: Plastic Animals Dark Spring EP launch with Trapped Mice & Yusuf Azak at The Wee Red Bar.

I first came across Plastic Animals only recently, but they were excellent supporting Milk Maid and PAWS at Henry’s a while back, and they have a new EP to promote as well, which you can buy here. It will also be a pleasure to see Yusuf Azak back in Edinburgh as well – he has a new album recorded and it’s bloody brilliant.

Plastic Animals – It Fell Apart

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For those of you who missed it, here is a clip from Alex Cornish’s performance at our house gig this weekend just gone.  He’s on tour with his band very soon – details on his website here.

Also, Pete and Kate (who were in Alex’s string section) are plotting to bring the Rose Street Quartet to the house as well.  I think that might be a little sophisticated to call a ‘house gig’, but the general premise will be the same: come round our place, get pished, listen to tunes.  It’s just they’ll be grown-up tunes.  Possibly.

I am going to have to embed this below the jump because the player slows the whole site down horribly otherwise, but the live stream of the Avital Raz and Alex Cornish house gig will be live in about two or three hours, or whenever people get here, basically.

There’s even a little chat thingy in there too, so you can slag us off online if you like.  Or say nice things – it’s up to you! Read the rest of this entry »

Another week, another bank holiday in which we self-employed folks don’t get to indulge.  Working for yourself is great, but watching everyone else get days off when all you can do is stare at the steady trickle into your inbox and the pile of promotional copies of releases waiting to be posted, can be a little demoralising.  And it’s sunny, too.  Fuckers.

Anyhow, The Brainlove Festival was bloody good fun, only slightly ruined by an awful football match.  My personal highlight was an absolutely awesome set by Mat Riviere.  He was playing with a cellist whose name I unfortunately don’t remember, but the stuff they played was absolutely brilliant – building from beautiful melodies to aggressively experimental cacophonies.

The Brixton Windmill also ended up being good to its description: a highly unpromising building which actually turned out to be a cracking wee venue.  I want one here please.

Tuesday 31st May 2011: The Travelling Band, Jesus H. Foxx and The Last Battle at the Electric Circus.

I harassed the Travelling Band at SXSW this year because one of them happened to be wearing a ‘Homegame 2006*’ t-shirt.  Anyone who’s been asked to play Homegame (and is loved by Cloud Sounds) is good enough for me, plus this gig sees the long-awaited return from mothballs of Jesus H. Foxx, complete with a near-finished new album and a somewhat tweaked lineup.

The Travelling Band – Fairweather Friends

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Wednesday 1st June 2011: eagleowl, The Scottish Enlightenment & Silver Fox play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

I had to add this later, because I am a total idiot and forgot it the first time.  God knows why because this looks like pretty much the highlight of my week as far as music is concerned.

Friday 3rd June 2011: The Dead Man’s Waltz, The Stormy Seas & James Metcalfe at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

This should be a rattling good night.  I don’t know anything about the Dead Man’s Waltz, but a quick listen to their stuff sounds very promising – all jaunty banjo and acoustic, foot-tapping Americana.  James Metcalfe from the Pineapple Chunks will be playing solo as well.

The Dead Man’s Waltz – Cry On Me

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Saturday 4th June 2011: Avital Raz & Alex Cornish Song, by Toad House Gig.

Alex let me know last week that he is bringing a string bloody quartet to this gig, which makes it just about the coolest thing we’ve done in the house for a long time. Tickets are available here, and I would be nice if you could buy them in advance

Saturday 4th June 2011: Detour present FOUND at the Electric Circus.

Detour’s Wee Jaunt stumbles about Edinburgh all day, finishing up at the Electric Circus where FOUND will be closing the night with their usual exuberance.  I assume one of the tracks played will be new single Anti-climb Paint, the subject of an absolutely ludicrously brilliant-sounding edible, playable chocolate 7″ single.  Video below.

Sunday 5th June 2011: Julian Lynch, Ducktails & Big Troubles at Sneaky Pete’s.

This gig is being put on by the reprobates behind Gerry Loves Records, and that is good enough for me. It’s less electronic than a couple of their recent releases, nudging more into Kurt Vile territory, but this is fine territory to be in if you ask me.

Julian Lynch – Stomper

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*2005?  2006?  Something like that.

I know I mentioned this on Friday, but I think it deserves a more formal announcement, so here we go.  Next Saturday, the 4th of June, we will host our next Song, by Toad House Gig.  Playing will be Avital Raz, who is over from Israel to tour the UK, and Edinburgh’s Alex Cornish.

Avital’s music is gorgeous acoustic folk which should be just about perfect for our living room, and for those of you who would likes a quick preview her MySpace page can be found here.

Alex was one of the first local musicians to ever get in touch with me when I started writing Song, by Toad, and has since become a good friend.  He is about to release his third album, a promo for which is embedded below.

As per usual, because this is at our house, it would be nice if you’d buy tickets in advance to help us remain at least a bit organised. I’ll get a keg of something tasty from Stewart’s, and you can just chip in if you want some.

Sorry this one’s a bit late, but that gorgeous graphic above didn’t just draw itself y’know. That is, as the more perceptive of you will have already surmised, the official announcement of our next Song, by Toad house gig.  Avital Raz is touring the UK and Alex Cornish is friend of mine since back in the earliest days of the blog, and has a new album on the way.

It will be the usual score, a fiver each, all of which goes directly to the artists, and you can either bring your own booze or chip in toward the keg of Stewart’s somethingorother which Mrs. Toad and I will provide. Tickets can be bought here, and please do buy them in advance, because it really helps us to have some idea of numbers, and the last two house gigs did sell out:

Now, time to waste what little remains of Friday afternoon before sauntering off down the pub to get battered, get in a fight, and wake up on a container ship bound for the Philippines with no idea how you got there.

1. If you were to wake up in the bowels of a container ship with no idea how you got there, at which port would you prefer to be moored?
2. What exotic animal would become your faithful chum on the long journey home.
3. And what name would this faithful chum be given?
4. What would be your chief mode of transport?
5. Which foreign language do you most wish you could speak?

And five songs, in this case from my childhood in Vienna.  These are mostly songs my mum would approve of (that’s not me trying to deflect the guilt in a guilty pleasure – I like them too).

Culture Club – Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?

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Huey Lewis & the News – The Power of Love

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Kim Carnes – Mistaken Identity

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Alison Moyet – Steal Me Blind

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Billy Joel – Piano Man

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[Alex Cornish (shown right on the Tom Robinson show) is an Edinburgh singer songwriter and a good friend of mine.  He has helped us out with contracts for Toad things for free, for no more reason than generosity and, although he may not be that well known in the alt-folk spheres inhabited by most people here, he has actually achieved considerable success, including being playlisted on Radio2, all using entirely DIY methods and entirely off his own back.  He wrote this on his own site recently, and gave me permission to re-post it here as part of this week's Sunday Supplement.]

I know everyone is writing about 6 Music being axed, but here is my viewpoint as an artist who works in a very DIY way and has first hand experience of sending out unsolicited CDs to producers at radio shows.

Once you have written and recorded the ‘masterpiece’, it’s time to decide who is likely to play it. This is all inapplicable if you have a wad of cash to pay a radio plugger, I didn’t, so I did it myself. Anyway, there’s no point sending out promo CDs to people who don’t play your sort of music and there’s no point sending it to the wrong address or the wrong producer. There’s also no point in sending it to the majority of commercial stations (XFM down south excepted). You need to spend a long time doing research on the old internet. After I had recorded Until the Traffic Stops first time around I spent said long time on the internet and the telephone (one of the great things about the BBC by the way is that if you telephone the switchboard they have to tell you who the production team for a show is, including the right box no. etc.). At that time, and this was before I had ever been played on the radio, I found that XFM Scotland might play it, so I sent a CD to Jim Gellatly for his new music show. I was also a massive fan of the Tom Robinson show on 6 Music, which at the time was on Monday – Thursday from 7pm to 9.30pm. There was also Vic Galloway’s Radio 1 Introducing show. So, out of all the radio stations, in general terms I had 6 Music, XFM and BBC Introducing on Radio 1. Now XFM Scotland has closed that leaves 6 Music and Radio 1 Introducing. If 6 Music closes it’s the introducing shows on Radio 1 as the only champions of new music, and to be honest they would rarely play my sort of music.

There are two reasons why 6 Music is so important to me:

- the first is that Tom Robinson and his producer picked out my little unsolicited package, which led to it being played, then a session, then someone at 6 Music handed it up to Radio 2 and a year later I got on the Radio 2 palylist. The same thing happened with Jim Gellatly, he picked it up and from there it led to other things. Without those massive leg ups I wouldn’t have had anywhere near the level of the exposure that I have had. There are obviously people at Radio 2 and Radio Scotland who have taken big chances in backing me, but I wouldn’t have got to them without those intial acts of support.

- the second is the new music I have discovered as a fan – I remember hearing ‘ The Ride’ by Joan as Policewoman on 6 Music and buying it right away. There are lots of occasions when that has happened.

So, as a musician where does that leave you? Well, there are obviously blogs and they are great, and I send stuff to blogs already, but as a reader or listener on a blog site you have to be active i.e. you have to actually read and listen to the material on a blog. With the radio, it is more passive – it is on in your home and when you hear something new, you stop, check out the tracklisting online and buy it from itunes or whatever. 6 Music closing is going to leave a massive hole for both those that love discovering and supporting new music and for those musicians trying to reach those potential new fans. I’ll never forget the first time ‘This One’s for You’ was played on the Tom Robinson show – first radio play. A huge thrill. It’s a fucking shame.

Well, erm, Thursday should be fun.

This weekend was somewhat written off, after an apocalyptic drinking session on Saturday took its terrible revenge on Sunday, rendering most of the day a ruin apart from shitty movies and too much Chinese takeaway.  To everyone who came round to the house on Saturday, I apologise.  It was a fucking good party, though.  Our next door neighbour seems to have the habit of opening a window and playing terrible music as soon as we go out in the back garden, which is both tedious and foolish.  Foolish because our stereo can blast the hairs clean off your nipples if we really turn it up which, at 4am after obliterating almost four cases of beer, we often do.  Eat alt-folk, bitch!

This week will see the completion of the Homegame videos project, which will be fun, and probably a trip through to Glasgow for Hinterland on Thursday and Friday.  I’d love to see the likes of Jeffrey Lewis and the Wave Pictures, as well as Mitchell Museum, Zoey Van Goey, Fanfarlo and Wild Beasts if possible.  And of course, Toad Records’ own Meursault at the Classic Grand (with thanks to This is Music for putting them on).

Tuesday 28th April 2009: Alex Cornish at the Caves.

Alex has re-released his debut album Until the Traffic Stops this week.  I know he may be a tad Radio 2 for a lot of you (hell, he was for me too until I realised just how infectious his way with a tune is) but anyone who can self-record and self-release an album and get onto the B playlist at Radio 2 without so much as a record label to do his donkey work deserves some serious respect.  And congratulations.
Alex Cornish – Sweet Child o’ Mine

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Thursday 30th April 2009: Found & The 48 at Cabaret Voltaire.

Since their experimental pop classic The Mess We Keep Reshaping, found have leaked out little bits of work here and there, EPs and such like, but I always find myself wondering what their next album is going to be like.  For a band without all that much history of trotting out standard records when there are interesting little side projects to be done, I am not sure why I am so sure that they are necessarily making one, but it seems to me like we’re getting to the point where one would feel right.
Found – FND043

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Thursday 30th April 2009: The Wintergreens & The Weeping Sons at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

These two are relatively new bands, playing music I guess you might describe as a sort of  folk tinged post-rock.  It’s all very downbeat and atmospheric, but still quite acoustic, which is where that slightly inadequate description comes from.  They’re pretty new to my awareness, as I said, but from what MySpace can tell me I think both bands deserve a good look.
The Weeping Sons – Yer Feet in the Water of Leith

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Thursday 30th April 2009: The Voluntary Butler Scheme, Damn Shames & Futuristic Retro Champions at Sneaky Pete’s.

Apparently Rob Jones was a full-time part-time drummer, if you get my meaning, before forming his own band.  It’s basically a gently eccentric pop sound, but there’s been a lot of chat and he sounds quite interesting.
Voluntary Butler Scheme – Tabasco Sole

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Saturday 2nd May 2009: Come On Gang, Day of Days & Little Buddha Band at Cabaret Voltaire.

Apart from the sparky indie punk pop of Come On Gang, Little Buddha also sound rather interesting: kind of like a rockier version of early Goldfrapp.  Oddly, there seem to be a few good bands coming out of Kirkcaldy at the moment.
Little Buddha – Losing You

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Sunday 3rd May 2009: The Black Oil Brothers at the Bowery.

Normally, this would be a little too literal an interpretation of stampy blue for my taste, but I found myself enjoying the stuff on their MySpace page, and this sort of music is almost always really good live.
Black Oil Brothers – Dirty, High & Confused

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Music. Edinburgh. Apparently. What do I care, I won’t be around anyway. We’re off to the End of the Road Festival at the end of the week, and then there’s the appaling spectacle of watching England get tanned by Croatia on Wednesday, then a friend’s birthday on Tuesday. So for me there is no such thing as music this week, you’re on your own, people.

I’m looking forward to End of the Road actually. Mrs. Toad will be with me this year, and things are always more fun when my midget companion is around. It was nice being there by myself last year, but a short, bad-tempered and entirely disinterested pal would make things immeasurably better.

The lineup looks intriguing this year, too. Last year there were so many bands I loved on the bill that I ended up racing from one show to the next, and still missed half of what I wanted to see. This year there’s loads I don’t know, which is really cool because Simon and Ro pick excellent bands, so there should be plenty of discoveries to make. I am likely to pitch up at the Bimble Inn early on and just bloody stay there, I think.

Thursday 11th September 2008: Calexico at the Queen’s Hall.
It appears that nobody who reads this website likes Calexico. To my readers, therefore, I feel obliged to say ‘fuck you all’ because I think they’re brilliant, and the Queen’s Hall is a great place to go and see them.
Calexico – Black Heart

Friday 12th September 2008: Alex Cornish at Cabaret Voltaire.
I’m annoyed I’ll be away for this because not only is Alex a fine musician, but he is also a lovely bloke and chatters his way through a set as engagingly and amusingly as anyone I’ve ever seen. There’s a new single approaching as well, so best pop on down. This should be a full-band show too, giving the sound a bit more, erm, bigness. Is that a word? It isn’t really, is it, but you know what I mean. Check this is really on, though, because it’s still TBC on their website.
Alex Cornish – This One’s For You