Assuming you are all boycotting Valentine’s Day which, let’s face it, you really should, we finally enter a week in Edinburgh where there are plenty of options for Superior Fun, after a longer than usual hangover from the Christmas period this year.

Limbo is back on Friday too, which is good news.  It’s not really my kind of lineup I must confess, but Limbo gigs are always good ones, so check it out here.

It’s also quite a Toady week as well, which is nice.  We have our first house gig of the year on Wednesday, which I am hugely looking forward to.  And then on Saturday the Ides of Toad return to Henry’s Cellar Bar, and Song, by Toad Records hero Rob St. John is also playing at the Banshee Labyrinth.

It’s an unfortunate clash, but both promises were made a long time ago, so there was nothing to be done about it, you’re just going to have to gird your loins and pick a favourite.

Tuesday 14th Feb: Akke Phallus Duo, Cat Hawed & Scrim at the Canon’s Gait.

The consistently excellent Powan Presents have a night of noise, found sounds and collage at the Canon’s Gait on Tuesday (forgive me if I get my genres wrong, I am not exactly an expert on this kind of music) and I guarantee you it will be better than awkwardly sitting in an ironed shirt at some restaurant which you don’t really like but is expensive enough to look like you made an effort while your other half wishes you could skip all the tedious small talk and just get to the shagging already.

Bacchus Frolicking In The Snow excerpt by Akke Phallus Duo

Wednesday 15th Feb: Randolph’s Leap & Molly Nilsson Song, by Toad House Gig.

Doubling as the album launch for Randolph’s Leap’s new release Randolph’s Leap and the Curse of the Haunted Headphones, this gig also sees Swedish Molly Nilsson popping up to play, after I was introduced to her music by some friends in Manchester. Please try and buy tickets in advance if you can (from here) because our house isn’t all that big and a bit of advance planning is a big help.

Randolph’s Leap – I Can’t Dance to This Music Anymore

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Friday 17th Feb: Ian Nagoski and The Family Elan at the The Pleasance Cabaret Bar.

This looks like being a very Eastern European/Levante flavoured psyche-folk event, with strong links archiving and field recording work.  Nagoski will be discussing as well as playing stuff from his new release To What Strange Place.

Saturday 18th Feb: The Ides of Toad present Chris Devotion and the Expectations, My Tiny Robots & Morris Major at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

Chris Devotion and the Expectations are launching their new album at Henry’s at the first Ides of Toad show for 2012.  They will be supported by Edinburgh’s My Tiny Robots and Edinburgh-via-Manchester band Morris Major. It’s all very indie, this lineup, with plenty of catchy guitars and eminently hummable choruses and should be great fun.

Chris Devotion & the Expectations – Tell the Girl

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Saturday 18th Feb: Rob St. John, Hiva Oa & Cheer at the Banshee Labyrinth.

Song, by Toad Records’ own Rob St. John returns to town to play what I believe is going to be a rather heavy, droney set at the excellent Banshee Labyrinth, accompanied by visuals, I think. Support comes from promising local band Hiva Oa, and Cheer, about whom I have to confess to knowing almost nothing.

Rob St. John – Sargasso Sea

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So more sold-outy stuff this week, with Johnny Flynn already inaccessible at Cabaret Voltaire on Friday.  I am actually going to interview him for the site, but I think I might have forgotten to include a guestie on my request, so I may have to hide in the toilets after the interview to avoid being thrown out for lack of a ticket.

This is the last week for the Communion Compilation Competition as well.  By the end of the week I will pick the best pictures of hipsters being extremely hip and we shall have a public vote on the Friday Fives, with the winners getting their hand on a splendid twin vinyl 12″ compilation of performances from the Communion night, run by Ben from Mumford and Sons and Kevin from Cherbourg.  Just email me your extremely hip persons to songbytoad at hotmail.co.uk

Monday 22nd February 2010: Xiu Xiu, Meursault & the Foundling Wheel at Electric Circus.

I know more about this gig from the general excitement of the Meursault lads than any real knowledge I myself have of Xiu Xiu, which is minimal.  Still, they may well be playing a lot of new songs, so those of you wanting a taste of what’s to come on the new album could do a lot worse than pop along to the Electric Circus tonight.

Wednesday 24th February 2010: The Soft Pack, Banjo or Freakout & William Douglas at Cabaret Voltaire.

The Soft Pack first came to my attention as The Muslims a year or two ago, and I’ve been sort of lazily following them ever since.  This is basically old school, garagey indie-rock, but when they nail it with a killer melody, which they are capable of doing then it’s very good indeed.  They can be inconsistent, I have to confess, but I’m really looking forward to seeing them live.

The Soft Pack – Extinction

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Thursday 25th February 2010: Golden Ghost, Thomas Truax & George Thomas at the Wee Red Bar.

This is a really varied lineup, and well worth coming along to.  Golden Ghost is just plain lovely, and whilst I’ve never seen George Thomas with the Owls, I have seen him solo and he was one of these guys who seemed to make a virtue out of being quite shy, with self deprecating wit helping to put across the warm personality of his music.  Thomas Truax is an SL Records staple, and his self-made musical machines have to be seen to be believed – they’re pretty much worth the price of admission on their own.

Golden Ghost – Small Metal Objects

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Friday 26th February 2010: Forest Creatures, Cheer, Fordell Research Unit and King Rib at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

I know pretty much nothing about this lineup, apart from what you can tell from a very quick skim of the respective MySpace pages.  Because a lot of this is quite slow-build stuff I can’t tell you much beyond the fact that Fordell Research Unit in particular sounded rather interesting, so if you’re looking for something slightly off the beaten track this week, this might be a good bet.