Song, by Toad

Having made such an almighty pig’s ear of last week’s listings, I find myself wondering if the gigmosphere really is as thin as it looks this week, or whether I’ve just managed to make another spectacular arse of spotting the good ‘uns again.

There’s something a little different happening, actually, because Joey Comeau and the Loose Teeth Press are going to be at the Bowery as part of their reading tour tonight, which sounds rather interesting.  Also, the Charity Baw at the Roxy on Saturday looks like a bit of a spectacular, so it’s not actually as quiet a week as it looks.

Tuesday 17th November 2009: King Charles play the first Fresh Air Tuesday at the GRV.

Fresh Air student radio are taking over the GRV on Tuesdays this year, putting on something a little different each week, and kicking things off this week with King Charles.  I don’t know them at all, but I have dug up a few songs and they sound really rather good.  Definitely worth checking out.

King Charles – Beating Hearts

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friday 20th November 2009: Otters Sing Lullabies present Conquering Animal Sound, Molly Wagger and Aurora Stands in Snow at the Bowery.

This will be a quirky night of music, all quite gentle in most senses, but nevertheless a little disturbing in others.  There will be a lot of acoustic loveliness and quite a bit of slightly eccentric electronic  trickery as well.

Saturday 21st November 2009: Charity Baw at the Roxy Art House.

Pretty much every bastard is playing this one.  There are local heroes such as Withered Hand, Aberfeldy, Benni Hemm Hemm and Come On Gang but, somewhat more intriguingly from my perspective, there will also be the amazing (The Real) Tuesday Weld.  That sounds a bit hard on the local contingent, but I don’t mean it that way, simply that I have been a Tuesday Weld fan for bloody ages and never once had the chance to sample their visually sumptuous live show.  Yes, yes I did just use the word sumptuous.  Sorry. What I basically mean is that they use their rather excellent videos as a backdrop to the live performance, which sound brilliant. And at least a little sumptuous.

(The Real) Tuesday Weld – Kix

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sunday 22nd November 2009: Debutant, Rasied by Wolves, The Last Battle at the Bowery.

This is my gig of the week, I think.  I’ve not properly seen any of these bands live and I have been twitching to see all three for a while.  Debutant’s atmospheric guitar layering will probably be quite distinct from the more traditional songwriting of the other two bands, but it looks like this should be a good ‘un.

Saturday’s gig was, I think it’s fair to say without excessively blowing my own trumpet, fucking outstanding.  What fun!  There were flowers everywhere – thank you for those of you who made an effort, and didn’t leave me alone to look like a pillock by myself – the music was great and the gin flowed in epic quantities.

The open mic stuff at the beginning was great fun, so a big thank you to everyone who played.  We had two lovely songs by Alison and Tom from Aurora Stands in Snow, and then a couple from Scott Renton of Uhersky Brod, easing himself back into gigging after spending eight months gadding about the world (the total bastard).  If anything I think it’s probably Scott’s lyrics which make him stand out as a songwriter – has that very Scottish gift of being able to sprinkle his gloom and cynicism with enough wit to make you laugh, but never so much as to make you miss the point.

Next up we had a Jesus H. Foxx/Meursault mix, with an omnichord version of A Few Kind Words, an improvised percussion version of Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues, some Pavement and an acoustic version of Matter, the title track to the Foxx’s debut EP.  Then we finished up with some most un-Byrons-like acoustic stuff from Ed Stack.  Shorn of the thumping racket of his usual drummer Sam, he went altogether bluesier to close out the open mic part of the evening with real humour.

I know gig nights are supposed to be about the gigs, but personally I absolutely fucking love the open mic parts of Toad nights, and the Bowery really is the perfect place for that kind of thing, seeing as there isn’t actually a stage as such.

Yusuf Azak was the first of the evening’s main sets, setting up as usual with just himself and an acoustic guitar.  His recorded stuff – two free downloadable EPs available here – includes all sorts of looping and buggering about with things, so you can imagine why I like it so much, but live there is absolutely nothing but his amazing voice and his somewhat amazing way with a guitar.  There’s something mesmerising about his voice; it’s almost a surprise to find out that, yes, what you hear on record is almost exactly what he sounds like in real life.

He’s working on an album at the moment, something I will be waiting to hear with bated breath.

Yusuf Azak – Ursa Major

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Found’s set followed Yusuf and was, frankly, stunning.  It’s one of the perils of growing a band as you explore a bigger sound: how do you then go backwards and ask some of them just to not bother playing on some songs.  In particular the opening two songs of the Found set were just fucking lovely.  The banjo is probably my favourite instrument at the moment, and these two tracks were basically Ziggy playing solo on the banjo with just enough accompaniment from Kev and Tommy to add a bit of depth to the sound, and it was brilliant.

But if you’re Found, what do you do?  Do you integrate a couple of these more pared-back numbers into your full set at the risk of underemploying a couple of your band members for a bit, or do you take the approach they seem to have selected: to play some stripped-back sets and some full ones and let regular fans explore their range that way.  I honestly don’t know what I would prefer, but this was certainly my favourite Found set since the first time I saw them at Fence Club a couple of years ago.

Found – When You Fall (Live)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

So a big thank you to everyone that turned up to make this a most memorable night indeed, and cheers to Ruth and Jane and the staff at the Bowery for all their hard work since November – this was a great way to sign of for a month or so.

Greetings everyone – I trust we’ve all obediently clambered back onto the tediously repetetive hamster wheel we laughably call Proper Job. Here I sit at my desk, surrounded by people actually taking things seriously, vainly hoping that they can’t really tell that I really don’t give a shit and hoping they’ll kindly let me get on with my life as unencumbered by actual, meaningful tasks as possible.

There’s no need to recover from Christmas in our house. Mrs. Toad and I only really drank a lot about three or four times over the holidays, and even then we didn’t get all that juiced. Frankly I rather lost the taste for it for some reason – maybe sheer exhaustion. Still, I successfully managed about ten hours sleep a night, often more, for the entire two weeks, so I am back and feeling refreshed and ready to take on 2009 with renewed vigour.

Which is more than anyone can say for the Edinburgh gig scene, with the exception of the lovely Ruth and Jane at the Bowery. Apart from their sterling efforts no-one else seems to be up to much this week, but not to worry, for they have out-done themselves.

Thursday 8th January 2008: Laptop Lounge at the Voodoo Rooms.

I don’t know much about this, but the description seems kind of intriguing: a get-together for the city’s laptop artists. Could be awful, but I bet there are some absolute gems to be found in there.

Sunday 11th January 2008: Samamidon & The Go-Away Birds at the Bowery.

Sam was bloody amazing when he played the Bowery last November, with his occasionally bizarre on-stage antics and tortured violin-bothering proving a somewhat weird counterpoint to the reverential quiet with which he plucked his way through the beautiful folk music for which he is known. The Go-Away birds sound rather interesting too, from their MySpace page, so I think this promises to be a really good day all round.
The Go-Away Birds – Green Jackets

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

And, just because I might be late with next week’s post depending on how busy I am here at Proper Job, I just thought I’d mention this show, which is on next Monday:

Monday 12th January 2008: The World is Not Flat, The Occasional Flickers & Aurora Stands in Snow at the Bowery.

I don’t know much more about this than you can glean from the various MySpace pages, but it would appear that The Occasional Flickers’ winsome folk-pop will be bookended by two acts of twee, guitar-plucking loveliness. I’ve yet to see the Flickers, so it’s about time I put that right.
The World is Not Flat – Earl Grey Lavender

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.