Song, by Toad

Hmm, the Edinburgh live music beast still has to entirely crawl out of hibernation it seems, with still very little action to be found in and around the city this week.

There are, however, a couple of things going on and the welcome return of Trampoline should rescue us from our post-Christmas ennui.  Their lineup is rather cheerful this month, so cheerful in fact that it might even put a smile on the promoter Euan’s grumpy old puss.

Sadly though, I made something of a half-arsed new year’s resolution to stop ignoring high profile bands and go and see some more famous people play this year.  However, looking at the schedules they are nowhere to be found at all.  The Queen’s Hall has a couple coming up (a sold out Mumford & Sons and Grizzly Bear) and Xiu Xiu are playing Electric Circus in a few weeks, but that’s about it as far as I can see.  I even had a look at the King Tut’s schedule and there doesn’t seem to be much there yet either.

Ah well, a rest never did anyone any harm I guess.  And it’s not like I don’t have enought to do at the moment, what with the house gig videos and eagleowl session still staring expectantly at me from the bowels of the computer.

Saturday 16th January 2010: How to Swim, Over the Wall & Thomas Western play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

How to Swim are exuberant with lots of instruments and Over the Wall are exuberant with lots of electronics, although increasingly more instruments too.  Thomas Western isn’t particularly exuberant, but then again one more helping of exuberance and you might just exuberate yourself all to pieces.

How to Swim – Genesis P and Me

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Saturday 16th January 2010: Come On Gang! & Futuristic Retro Champions at Sneaky Pete’s.

This will be indie-pop a-go-go at Sneaky’s, which is probably when the venue is at its best I would have said – noisy, poppy tunes and plenty of beer.

Come On Gang! – Wheels

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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

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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

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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.

This week’s job is the finishing of the Honeytrap Toad Session, preparing the second Toad House Gig for Friday – brilliant brilliant brilliant! – sort of getting ready for the Toad Autumn Party at the Bowery on the 10th (Pineapple Chunky madness, woo!) and getting the Meursault singles pressed and the artwork sorted.  If I am dead by the weekend, do not be surprised.

Fortunately, the start of the week is relatively light on gigs.  Lightish anyway.  Tonight is free, so I should get a chunk done then.  I just fear the traditional upload hell which tends to accompany the finishing of these bloody videos.  Vimeo is a great service in many ways, but the uploading is flaky as fuck and incredibly annoying.  Still, that’s presumably a matter for Friday at 4am, if the FOUND session is anything to go by.

Tuesday 29th September 2009: The Blank Tapes & Magic Leaves at the Bowery.

I really like it when people around me get all giddy about the visit of bands I’ve never heard of – it makes going to a gig that much more exciting.  This is one of those gigs

Wednesday 30th September 2009: Wild Beasts & The Kays Lavelle at Cabaret Voltaire.

These guys are just on the edge of stuff I like – some of it I absolutely love and some I find just a little bit too much.  It’s camp and loose, but they write terrific pop songs nevertheless and I am really looking forward to seeing them live to get a bit more of a clue about their personality as a band.

Wild Beasts – Hooting & Howling

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Thursday 1st October 2009: Leith Tape Club at the Iso Lounge, with Animal Magic Tricks and Men Diamler.

The Leith Tape Club is a lovely night, with a small capacity and an initmate atmosphere, and conveniently right around the corner from my work.

Thursday 1st October: Meursault, Three Blind Wolves & Washington Irving at Sneaky Pete’s.

Three Blind Wolves are apparently Ross Clark-related, although I have to confess I know nothing about them.  Washington Irving are another new one on me, but I think we all know quite enough about Meursault by now.

Friday 2nd October 2009: X Lion Tamer & Nite Jewel at Sneaky Pete’s.

I don’t know why I like X Lion Tamer, exactly.  All that synthy 80s pop should be way more than I can handle, but oddly I find myself really enjoying it – basically I suppose because the songs are just incredibly catchy.  Night Jewel, I have to confess, I know almost nothing about.

X Lion Tamer – Neon Hearts

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Friday 2nd October: Animal Magic Tricks & Men Diamler play the second Toad House Gig.

These house gigs look like turning into really nice things.  The last one was bloody lovely, and with the lovely Animal Magic tricks and Men Diamler, whose music can be as mental as it can lovely I think this one will be a fantastic night.

Animal Magic Tricks – Smallish Hooves

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Friday 2nd October: Trespassers William, Glissando & eagleowl at the Wee Red Bar.

Gizeh Records’ allstar tour comes to Edinburgh, supported by local sorts The Kays Lavelle and eagleowl.  I have to confess I rather feared for eagleowl, who were somewhat threatened by a recent combination of relocation and fornication, but seeing them back playing (superbly) at the Withered Hand EP launch last week has cheered me right up.  They have about seven new songs recorded too, you know.  I’ve no idea what they’re going to do with them, but they have them, which is tantalising, but definitely rather excellent news.

Saturday 3rd October: Kid Canaveral EP launch at the Bowery, with Come On Gang and Cancel the Astronauts.

This lineup is ridiculously indie-pop-tastic, with Edinburgh’s three finest lining up in a show of defiance to all that moany indie-folk shit I insist on listening to.  This stuff is all about the infectiousness of the tunes, and Kid Canaveral are perhaps the most hummable band in the city.  Their new EP is out on download or, erm, tape.  Yes, tape.  Good fucking grief, it’ll be wax cylinders or fucking eight track next.

Kid Canaveral – Couldn’t Dance

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You could drink yourself into a coma going to every interesting gig in Edinburgh this week.  I think I might need a few orange juice gigs, if just to vaguely preserve both liver and waistline.  Although it may be too late for both, I have to admit.  I think I am going to start driving to gigs (tonight is by necessity, but we’ll see how it goes) just as a way of forcing myself to stick to fizzy water or some such beverage.

Maybe Skinny Water, perhaps (thank you Cogstar), a drink so monumentally stupid that I have stared at that ridiculous primary school website for hours trying to figure out if the damn thing is a hoax or not.  It’s so ridiculous I keep thinking that it really must be a piss-take, but it really does appear to be water laced with imaginary weight-reducing ingredients.

As their website claimed*, the water “has been enhanced with a unique combination of ingredients to help you lose weight… suppress appetite, block carbohydrates from converting into fat and increase fat burning”.

This website, on the other hand, claims that this is most ludicrous pile of horse manure to hit the public domain in ages.  Although, thinking about it, this product is so transparently idiotic that I find it hard to blame the manufacturers, or the designers of that comedy website.  Honestly, if you are so fucking stupid as to fall for this sort of infantile idiocy then you deserve to be ripped off and, honestly, you deserve the continuing cycle of desperate, futile hope followed by the despair of inevitable failure and decimated self-esteem that this sort of obsessive weight mania will certainly bring you.  Jesus fucking Christ, if you’re too fat (which I am) then either just accept it and enjoy your life, or get some fucking exercise.

Monday 7th September 2009: The Bowery Re-Opening Party with Dan Costello & Wounded Knee.

I have missed the Bowery over the Festival.  Somewhere sane to go would have been appreciated in amongst all the carnage, but Jane and Ruth are back now and celebrate that fact tonight.

Tuesday 8th September 2009: The Pineapple Chunks & X Lion Tamer at Electric Circus.

How these two rather mental bands are going to complement one another on a bill is anyone’s guess, but I really like both and am definitely looking forward to this – unhinged guitar indie and dancey electro stuff.  And incidentally, X Lion Tamer has a new EP out, called Neon Hearts, which is available in Avalanche Records on Cockburn Street as of right about now.

The Pineapple Chunks – Art Storage

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Wednesday 9th September 2009: Willard Grant Conspiracy & Doghouse Roses at Sneaky Pete’s.

The Willard Grant Conspiracy are one of my favourite bands ever.  Robert Fisher’s voice is deep and rich, and his songs go from the desperate ballad to lovely alt-country to grinding tension, often in the same album.  There is no chance I am missing this gig.

Willard Grant Conspiracy – Evening Mass

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Thursday 10th September 2009: Meursault vs Dead Boy Robotics vs Foundling Wheel at the Voodoo Rooms.

Versus gigs are a bit risky in some senses – how to keep the pace up without garbling things, how to get enough interplay between the bands to stop it simply being a standard gig with a shuffled playlist, all sorts of things – but I love the idea in general.  The styles on show this evening are pretty varied too, which I think is a good thing.

Friday 11th September 2009: Neko Case at the Voodoo Rooms.

Neko Case has, simply, one of the most gorgeous voices around.  I’ve seen her live before and she is lovely – charismatic, charming and a superb performer.  There’s a lot on this Friday, so I don’t know if I’m likely to be able to make it, but I really want to go to this.

Neko Case – Tightly

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Friday 11th September 2009: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Come On Gang & Dupec play This is Music at Sneaky Pete’s.

Totally Enormous what? Fucking hell, you really should go for the name alone.  This is Music nights are brilliant fun, and this is just that kind of carefree, enjoyable lineup which makes them good.

Saturday 12th September 2009: The Jesus H. Foxx EP Launch at the Bowery, with Some Young Pedro & Golden Ghost.

YES, the offical Song, by Toad Records release of Matter, by Jesus H. Foxx!  I don’t know why I ever even wanted to be a record label, but one of the reasons was to be involved with, and make a contribution to, music which I bloody love.  I am absolutely thrilled to have this EP on the label and really looking forward to the launch night.  I’ve never seen either Some Young Pedro or Golden Ghost before either, so even more room to be excited.

Jesus H. Foxx – Trying to Be Good

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*Until people pointed out that it was total bollocks and they decided to change it.

So August is almost upon us. Traditionally –  or at least for as long as I’ve been living here – most bands and promoters in Edinburgh tend to just take the month off and make way for the festival. It’s a bit of a monolith. Every available venue (and most non-venue) space is booked up months in advance, and with so much happening every single day in August, it becomes rather difficult for smaller operations putting on shows. Of course there are exceptions – a lot of the bigger clubs just keep on trucking, and nights like Acoustic Edinburgh embrace the Fringe and put on shows as part of the official line-up.

This year, though – more so than any I can remember – seems to be bucking that trend. There’s a lot of activity going on outside of the festival – and lots of local bands and promoters putting on shows regardless. Which is great to see – another indication of the strength and confidence of the city’s musical community at the moment. I thought I’d give a run down of what’s caught my eye – as with so much on, it’s entirely possible for an amazing show to slip by un-noticed.

The Edge

Firstly, the musical leg of the Fringe – the Edge – has some really great shows this year. The Mum show may have been moved to Glasgow, but we still have David Byrne, Woodpigeon, Andrew Bird, Frightened Rabbit, Malcolm Middleton, and Jeffrey Lewis. And judging by the website, the festival seems to have just absorbed all the shows at Sneaky Pete’s – including Sleeping States (who I can’t recommend highly enough), Monotonix, Sparrow and the Workshop, the usual This is Music night and the mysteriously titled ‘Songs By Toad night’. It’s also great to see some Edinburgh bands forming part of the Edge line-up – with Broken Records at the Queens Hall, a double header from Unicorn Kid and Young Fathers at Cab Vol, and support slots from Meursault (at Frightened Rabbit), the Kays Lavelle (the Lost Brothers) and Withered Hand (Jeffrey Lewis). It’s something that I’ve felt was lacking in previous line-ups, and it’s a step in the right direction.

www.theedgefestival.com

Retreat!

Then, of course, there’s the ‘other’ festival. Retreat! is an all day event at the Bristo Hall on Sunday the 16th. 15 acts (Meursault, Withered Hand, Rob St. John, Tissø Lake, the Leg…), and DJs till 3am. Free entry. I can’t think of a better line-up. But then again, I did help pick it.

www.myspace.com/edinburghretreat

Trampoline

Trampoline are also putting on four shows over first two weekends, and really great line-ups including Adam Stafford (Y’all Is Fantasy Island), Jonnie Common (Down The Tiny Steps), Animal Magic Tricks, Conquering Animal Sound, Golden Ghost and Woodenbox.

www.myspace.com/trampolineuk

Bang Bang Club

Normally at the Speakeasy in Cabaret Voltaire, the Bang Bang Club is hosting a series of shows upstairs in the Teviot Hall. Highlights include Clinic, the Pineapple Chunks, Paul Vickers and the Leg, and a series of soundtrack events from Steven Severin.

www.myspace.com/bangbangclubedinburgh

Playing With The Past

There’s also an exclusive second screening of the Playing with the Past event from this year’s film festival on 22^nd August, with eagleowl, FOUND and Meursault performing live soundtracks to old Scottish films. Tickets are available now from the Filmhouse website or box office.

www.myspace.com/playingwiththepast

Cybraphon

FOUND – not willing to give up their ‘hardest working band in Edinburgh’ tag to Meursault just yet – also have a residency at InSpace (a gallery space – part of the new University building) with their Cybraphon project, including a live band performance on the 13^th (which is free but ticketed). It seems to be some kind of automated musical cupboard, containing a series of musical instruments, which reacts to online activity about the project in real time. Or something. For a more coherent explanation, try the Cybraphon site:

www.cybraphon.com

Leith Tape Club

Okay, strictly speaking not an Edinburgh show – but a nice trip out of the city is normally always welcome around the third week in August. Leith Tape Club at the Iso Bar continues in August on the 20^th, with a rather special all-star line-up including the Kays Lavelle and Meursault (solo, I think).

Leith Tape Club

National Portrait Gallery

There’s also a series of rather exclusive shows at the National Portrait Gallery, whilst the gallery is closed for a refurbishment. These include Rob St. John and Emily Scott on 8^th August, X-LionTamer on 21^st August, St Jude’s Infirmary and Zoey Van Goey on 22^nd August, and Withered Hand and Meursault on 29^th August.

National Portrait Gallery

Electric Circus

There’s been some great gigs in Electric Circus since it opened earlier this year, and they don’t seem to be losing any momentum in August, with shows from FOUND, Dent May, White Heath and Rob St. John (1st), Jesus H. Foxx (11th), The Phantom Band (19th), and Trembling Bells and Ben Reynolds (25th), amongst others.

Electric Circus

The Golden Hour

A blend of poetry, music and live visuals at the Forest Cafe on 19th August, with performances from Billy Liar and Withered Hand.

The Golden Hour

Shipping Forecast Garden Party

And I think there’s another shipping forecast garden party scheduled for 30^th August, with Come On Gang!

No details yet, but I’m sure Dave will keep us posted.

It is all pretty exciting. Please spam the comments with anything I’ve missed, as I’m sure there’s loads, and if any more are announced or come to light over the course of the month, it’ll no doubt make it’s way into the weekly listings.

Sleeping States – September, Maybe

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Woodpigeon – In Praise of the West Midlothian Bus Service

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Zoey Van Goey – City Is Exploding

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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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Evening, Toadlings.  There’s really very little on in Edinburgh this week that I would personally be up for, and the one gig I want to see is taking place when I am bastarding well out of town, on Thursday evening.  Marina & the Diamonds are playing Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms this week, but honestly I am not all that convinced I have to confess.  The only thing I really want to go to this week is the Jesus H. Foxx EP launch at the Bowery on Thursday night, but I’m in fucking London aren’t I, so I can’t bloody well go.

Actually, the reason I’m in London is rather interesting, now that I mention it.  Sony contacted a few of us UK music bloggers and invited us to meet with them to discuss the internet in general and how to interact with bloggers.   I am not sure if this was motivated by the fuss made over the Glasvegas DMCA fiasco, but I am hoping that they at least found that a sufficiently negative and unnecessary situation to be worth avoiding in future.

Now, quite how productive this meeting is likely to be is something which I have my doubts about.  Talking to bloggers is a little like herding cats; we are all amateurs and all have our own ideas about what we are both individually and collectively.  So beyond serving as an easy focus group for Sony, I am not sure quite what can be made of this little get together.  Mind you, just reading our blogs serves as a pretty enormous source of free information anyway, so I don’t know what else we can hope to add to things.  I’m interested though.  I don’t particularly want to be seen as some renegade, because I don’t see myself that way at all.  I actually think what I am doing is pretty much completely legit and fairly mainstream in terms of intentions and ambitions and so on, so anything we can do to stop people looking at music bloggers as some sort of guerilla criminal underclass bent on bringing down the system is good.  Frankly all I want is to be left in peace to do what the hell I want, with some sort of civillised system in place for resolving differences when we all inevitably tread on one another’s toes at some point.

Fat fucking chance, I know.

In any case, I will be interested to have the discussion.  I genuinely want to know what they have to say about things like the DMCA, the semi-legal nature of music blogs, their approach to teh internetz in general, stuff like that.  I’ll write all about it on the train back on Friday morning, so hopefully it will be an interesting enough meeting to make a good post out of.  I’m really not interested in point-scoring here, or in finding ammunition for the slagging off of Sony, but I think you know me well enough by now to know that I will make my points fairly stubbornly and am unlikely to be swayed by sleight of hand.  Should make for an interesting couple of hours anyway.

Oh, and did I mention Homegame?

Thursday 16th April 2009: Jesus H. Foxx & Art Fag at the Bowery.

The Jesus H. Foxx EP is something I am hugely excited about hearing in its entirety.  I’ve heard bits and pieces here and there, but I am holding off until I can slap the whole thing on, lie back with a gin, and turn it up nice and loud.  My instinct suggests that we may just have a band on the verge of a breakthrough year on our hands, and I hope I am right.  Art Fag, for those of you interested, is an experimental electronic project by a certain pair of miscreants called Neil Pennycook and Chris Bryant.  I wouldn’t miss it if I were you.
Jesus H. Foxx – Trying to Be Good

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Art Fag – Nakhla Dog

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Friday 17th April 2009: The Virgins & the Chew Lips at Cabaret Voltaire.

Despite being extremely fashionable, these slightly dancey, slightly punky, slightly sparky bands sound like they have some promise.  I nearly, nearly reviewed the Chew Lips material when it was sent through to me a few months ago – maybe almost a year actually – so I would be quite interested to go along to this.  Were I not at Homegame of course.
The Virgins – Fernando Pando

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Edit:

Saturday 18th April 2009: Findo Gask, Come On Gang & Dupec play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

Apologies for missing this the first time, that was careless of me, but it should be a really good gig.  Findo Gask are a really excellent band, who I am really keen to see again, and who I am really keen to see release more music.  Their last couple of singles have been superb, and their, erm, experimental disco pop laments – could you call them that? – somehow hit absolutely home, as far as I am concerned.  Hit the nail right between the ears, so to speak.
Findo Gask – Va Va Va

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How many of you are there?  There’s only one of me, which looks like it might prove troublesome this week, particularly late on when the clashing gigs really start to stack up.  I am just back in Edinburgh after the Jason Lytle interview, which went very well in terms of being a most pleasant sort of chat, yet didn’t provide a particularly obvious hook on which to hang an article.  I may have to listen back and digest for a couple of days before writing it, I think.  It’s odd to suddenly find yourself in conversation with someone whose music you’ve been listening to for over ten years, though, so I guess that in itself might be an interesting angle to take.

This week’s activities on Toad will involve beginning to work on that interview, the writing up of a couple of gig reviews, and editing a big pile of Broken Records live videos.  So in other words it’s going to be fucking busy again.  I am also going to have a chat with Andy about redesigning both this website and the label site.  I find myself feeling inordinately guilty about not designing it myself, oddly.  This whole site has been entirely DIY so far, so that’s probably the reason, but at the moment I need it to be able to do things which are well beyond my own rudimentary understanding of code, and I simply don’t have the time to begin with, so there you go.  I’ll have a big input of course, and the Toad sketches will remain, but basically I’m going to try and let Andy get on with it as much as I can.  As a designer myself, at Proper Job, I know there’s nothing worse than a client who stares over your shoulder constantly while you’re trying to do your job.

So that’s it, this is being posted in the wee hours, and I am going straight to bed so that I can at least pretend to be functional in the morning.  I actually find a lack of sleep worse than a hangover in terms of its damage to my productivity these days, so these half one bedtimes really do have to stop.

Thursday 2nd April 2009: St Deluxe, French Wives & Team Turnip play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

St. Deluxe are the new hot tamales around town, apparently.  I’ve had a listen to their MySpace and they do indeed sound pretty decent, although with such a brief listen I’m really in no position to say much one way or another.  They’re quite a rough and noisy band though, where French Wives and Team Turnip are a little poppier, but all three groups on this bill sound like good value to me.
St Deluxe – New Wave Stars

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Thursday 2nd April 2009: Tim & Sam’s Tim & the Sam Band With Tim & Sam at Cabaret Voltaire.

Tim and Sam and so on and so forth are big favourites of me old pal Drunk Country over at the Waiting Room, so he’ll be chuffed to know that they’re putting in an appearance in these parts.  I am rarely ever much of a fan of bands who play instrumental music, but I think that’s probably laziness on my behalf, and certainly these chaps make fine music under any circumstances.  It’s even better live, according to DC, so I’d recommend this one.  It’s a late one though, I think, so check the times before turning up.
Tim & Sam etc.. – Join the Dots

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Friday 3rd April 2009: Frightened Rabbit & Meursault at the Bowery.

I am fairly (but not entirely) sure that Frightened Rabbit are intending to play an acoustic set at the Bowery on Friday instead of their more usual melodic indie rock, and I do believe Meursault are following suit and unplugging all their electronic faffery as well, so this should be quite a special one.
Frightened Rabbit – I Feel Better (Live)

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Friday 3rd April 2009: Jesus H. Foxx, Y’All is Fantasy Island & the Hindle Wakes at Sneaky Pete’s.

Jesus H. Foxx will be mentioned some time later today when I write up their gig at the Bowery from last Friday, but believe me they are sounding very, very good at the moment.  Where previously they seemed to be fairly single-faceted (is that physically possible – never mind) there’s a lot more depth and a lot more confidence to their music these days.  They have an EP on the way too, which I am very excited to hear indeed.
Jesus H. Foxx – Trying to Be Good

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Friday 3rd April: Thomas Truax, Withered Hand & Greg Dodgeson at Cabaret Voltaire.

Is Dan from Withered Hand playing every single gig in Scotland at the moment?  Ah well, good for us if he is.  Apart from the music, Thomas Truax’s truly amazing homemade instruments make this a gig you really should attend.
Thomas Truax – The Butterfly & the Entomologist

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Saturday 4th April 2009: The Wee Rogue, Rob St. John & Ben Wetherill at the Bowery.

I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me beaten up by an angry mob of nice, sensitive young men, but this is probably the least ‘anti’ of the many great anti-folk gigs you can find in Edinburgh in any given week.  I mean that in the sense that the ‘anti’ part is something I tend to treat as describing a certain lack of prettiness in anti-folk music, but even as specific a genre description as anti-folk is a bit too broad for that sort of thing these days.  Where was I?  Oh yes, expect fine, fragile and lovely music.
The Wee Rogue – Into the Mist

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Saturday 4th April 2009: The Gothenburg Address, North Atlantic Oscillation & San Sebastian at Sneaky Pete’s.

Should the loveliness at the Bowery prove just a little too gentle for you then Sneaky Pete’s is probably the place to be, where there will be Post Rock a-gogo.  It’ll be loud, I’d imagine, so get there early, find a spot facing the stage and just let it all wash over you.
San Sebastian – New

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Sunday 5th April 2009: Come On Gang, Vendor Defender & The Kays Lavelle at Sneaky Pete’s.

Come On Gang should be in a fine mood after their SXSW adventure, so their punk pop should have even more zip to it than usual.  It’s going to be a busy week at Sneaky Pete’s.  Is their booking getting better and better or is it just that I’m only just starting to realise that I should be paying more attention to what they’re doing?  Good stuff, anyway.

It’s a quiet, but hardly barren week in Edinburgh this week, although I think I may skip a fair bit of it and concentrate on getting the Pictish Trail Session up and posted.

What a shitty fucking weekend it’s been, though.  I got some really bizarre message from an old school friend of mine asking me if I was blanking him on Friday, which I haven’t been.  We haven’t exchanged messages for years, but that’s been true in both directions.  Then on Sunday, before I’d responded, he sent another saying ‘Okay, I’ll delete you from my Facebook wotsit, have a good life buddy.’  For fuck’s fucking sake.  It’s no skin off my nose one way or another, but it was really weird coming right out of the blue like that.

Then I completely forgot a friend’s stag do and failed to attend because I had managed to pile too much other stuff into the weekend.  That, believe me, does not feel like a nice thing to do.  Especially when you get the phonecall and it dawns on you what you’ve just done.  Fucking bollocksing fuck.

I also got in trouble at Proper Job for excessive Toading on Friday, which wasn’t fun.  So there will be something of a kibosh put on work-time activity around here, and fair enough.  They’ve been more than patient with my little obsession, and quite frankly they’d be more than justified in giving me a formal warning, but it’s very nice that they haven’t.  About time I was equally nice back, I think it’s fair to say.

Then there was the Biblical amount of alcohol consumed over Friday and Saturday night, leading to a general feeling of uncleanness ever since, and of course there was the jolly banter about the Shitecast this weekend.  Fucking hell, I am looking forward to football tonight and the chance to just run it all off.

Monday 9th March 2009: Come On Gang play Trade Union at Cabaret Voltaire.

I think Trade Union may be on rather late, so don’t rush down, but if you’re up for night of giddy bouncing to Edinburgh’s finest punk-pop trio then swing by from 11pm and send them on their merry way to SXSW with a cheer.
Come On Gang – Wheels

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Thursday 12th March 2009: Futuristic Retro Champions at the Caves.

This band are one I know very little about, but they’ve been talked about very favourably since I’ve been up here.  This is one of those Mill gigs – beware, nothing but that god-awful piss-water Miller to drink – so you’ll have to click here to get a ticket.  Support band Tamika’s Treehouse are a band I know nothing about whatsoever, not even rumours or whispering, so any enlightenment would be appreciated.  After no more than a single MySpace listen they do sound catchy and enjoyable though, so this should be a good night.
Futuristic Retro Champions – Speak to Me

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Thursday 12th March 2009: Unicorn Kid, Ex Lion Tamer & Sugar Crisis play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

It’s all going to be rather electro-dance-pop at Limbo this week, but there’s easily enough edge to it all to keep me interested, despite being slightly outside my comfort zone with this sort of stuff. Ex Lion Tamer’s new single is out on 17 Seconds Records this week, although only on digital for the time being.  Hang about though, the vinyl will be here any moment now.
Sugar Crisis – Taking Names & Heartbeats

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Friday 13th March 2009: RBRBR & Over the Wall play This is Music at Sneaky Pete’s.

More boisterous pop fun with plenty of synths and bounce.  Sneaky bastarding Pete’s keep on deviously selling out of tickets at the moment too, so you might want to get one in advance for this.  I’m sure they’re doing it just to thwart me.
RBRBR – 27 Russian Friends

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Saturday 14th March 2009: Little Pebble, Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers & Sparrow & the Workshop play the Trampoline birthday party at the Wee Red Bar.

This is Trampoline’s second (I hope) birthday party, and what a lineup.  Apart from Little Pebble it’s very Americana influenced in a slightly undefinable way.  I don’t know what exact type of Americana I would describe Sparrow or Woodenbox as being, but they definitely have some sort of influence in there.  They’re both absolutely thumping as well.  Little Pebble doesn’t have a lot in common with them, but having only seen him once, I am really keen to see more because he was absolutely excellent.  This is my definite
Little Pebble – Pirate

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So actually, it’s not a quiet week at all, really, is it.

This week I will finish the live videos for Ten Tracks and eagleowl, to go with the Rob St. John ones here:

In other news, the lineup for the Fence Collective’s annual liver-bothering get together has been announced, and it’s fucking superb:

* KING CREOSOTE *  MALCOLM MIDDLETON * EAGLEOWL * ROB ST JOHN * SLOW CLUB * BURNS UNIT * THE PICTISH TRAIL * THINGS IN HERDS * CANDYTHIEF * EMMA POLLOCK * JAMES YORKSTON * DAVID THOMAS BROUGHTON * MEURSAULT * DE ROSA * FOXFACE * THE RED WELL * ROZI PLAIN * RACHAEL DADD * WIG SMITH * ICHI * FOUND * ART PEDRO * ADEM * KID CANAVERAL * SO COW * WITHERED HAND * HMS GINAFORE * LITTLE PEBBLE * MICHAEL JOHNSTON * KARINE POLWART * ADRIAN CROWLEY * PLAYER PIANO * ZIGGY CAMPBELL * STEVEN CRACKNELL (MEMORY BAND) * ANIMAL MAGIC TRICKS * HARDSPARROW * VIKING MOSES * EXPEDITION GUIDE * MELANCHOLICS ANONYMOUSE * GOLDEN GHOST * COME IN TOKYO * ONTHEFLY * LOVE.STOP.REPEAT * WIQWAR * ENGLISH BORE * EMILY SCOTT * THE PHANTOM BAND * LITTLE RAY * DOUG JOHNSTONE * WILL HODGKINSON * STRIKE THE COLOURS * GEORGE THOMAS * MARTIN JOHN HENRY * MARINA & THE DIAMONDS * OLO WORMS * VIVA STEREO * GUMMI BAKO * DJ DOMINIC * BOYWONDER * THE HAND * INSPECTOR TAPEHEAD * JAKE FLOWERS * PANDA SU * FRANÇOIS * THE CHEEK * JOHN B MCKENNA * JONNIE COMMON * DOOGIE PAUL * PETER GREENWOOD *

Any suggestions for people I should particularly make time to interview and get a bit of live footage from?  Not Found or the Pictish Trail, because of approaching Toad Sessions, and I won’t be interviewing Meursault obviously, although I will try and get some live video of them.  Tickets here – I’d recommend going if you possibly can.

Wednesday 25th February 2009: Come On Gang SXSW Fundraiser at the Wee Red Bar.

Come On Gang are one of several Scottish bands who are facing the considerable bill of dragging their arses out to SXSW this year, and will be holding a bit of a fundraiser to help cover the costs.  They are punky, poppy and brash and I haven’t seen them play for ages.  This will also be a chance to catch fellow Edinburgh indie-poppers Cancel the Astronauts.  Indie pop (which is probably not quite the right term for these bands, but bear with me) is actually a significantly neglected genre in this city, what with the recent rise of all these indie-folksters so it’s about time I went to something where they wield their guitars with a bit of bite for a change.
Come On Gang – Fortune Favours the Brave

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Thursday 26th February 2009: Withered Hand, The Travelling Band & the Set Up play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

Withered Hand are, basically, fucking brilliant.  It’s confrontational punk-folk, although the punk side comes from the attitude and the delivery, rather than the instrumentation.  Nevertheless, if you want to be told that “a hard-on doesn’t mean you’re in love” with some force, then you really have to see this band.
Withered Hand – Hard On

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Thursday 26th February 2009: Little Pebble, Son of Thom, Emily Scott & Dan Haywood’s New Hawks play the inaugural Leith Tape Club, upstairs at the IsoBar.

This gig has sold out, I’m afraid, so unless you’re going already, you’re stuffed.  I thought it was worth bringing to your attention anyway, though, because Little Pebble (one of Edinburgh’s most under-rated and neglected live performers, including, embarrassingly, by myself) is going to be putting these nights on on a regular basis and they look like they’re going to be really good.
Little Pebble – Hold That Thought

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Friday 27th February 2009: Flowers of Hell, Wounded Knee & eagleowl at the Wee Red Bar.

This is a Benbecula Records night which looks like it will be showcasing their signature style of experimental, ambient music infused with sensibilities of both the folk and electronic persuasions.  Wounded Knee might be this city’s foremost loop pedal black belt, and has a new record approaching soon, so if you want to hear his new material then I would guess that this is likely to be a good chance to do so.
Flowers of Hell – The Strength of String

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Saturday 28th February 2009: Found, the Joe Acheson Quartet & Emily Scott at the Bowery.

Found will make their Bowery debut this week, in another gig that is being put on in association with Ten Tracks, as part of their fundraising efforts for their own SXSW adventure.  Come.  That is an order.  Advance tickets can be bought here.
Found – Closed Time Like Loops

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