It’s a jam-packed fucker of a week in Edinburgh this week.  On Wednesday there are no less than three gigs that I want to attend, and we even have some sold-out cutting edgeyness to boot – unheard of for the unofficial Least Rock ‘n’ Roll City in the Universe, Including Bath.  The Kills and The Courteeners are both playing here this week, but seeing as the latter is sold out and I had no intention of going to see either I am not sure this merits further mention.

Monday 14th April: The Radar Brothers at Cabaret Voltaire.
They’re signed to Chemikal Underground and sound a little bit like early Grandaddy did in their gentler, more reflective moments.  Every reason to take a chance and go along.
The Radar Brothers – Hearts of Crows

Wednesday 16th April is where it all gets messy.  There are  three gigs to attend tonight, much to my frustration:
Hollow Heart Parlour at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
This is a folk night, with the excellently-named My Kappa Roots headlining this week.

Y’All is Fantasy Island, Gasgiant & Rob St. John at the Wee Red Bar.
Euan at Trampoline has put together another brilliant lineup, with Gasgiant (I know nothing, sorry) and very well-regarded indie-popsters Y’All is etc etc.. joining the brilliant hush-folkster Rob St. John for what should be a brilliant night of upcoming tunesmithery.
Y’All is Fantasy Island – With Handclaps

Broken Records Single Launch Party at The Bongo Club.
The fact that this feels like partly my party too perhaps helps explain the culture of liggers and groupies that grows up in the music industry, but a combination of being one of the first to spot these guys, the fact that they did the first Toad Session and of course the fact that a combination of beer and their live show is the reason Song, by Toad Records exists makes this one more personal than most.  Congratulations lads, I’m really looking forward to getting irredeemably pickled in celebration.

Wednesday’s Conundrum: Euan at Trampoline and the lads from Broken Records have tried to come to a compromise so people can see everything.  The last band at the Wee Red Bar will be over in time for people to high-tail it down to the Bongo Club to catch the Broken Records set and any Broken Records ticket-holders will get a deal on the door at the Wee Red as well.  Myself, I have really thought about it and I am going to be at the Bongo Club all night.  The reasoning?  Well this is a really special night for a group of lads I consider friends, so as much as I would like to catch YiFI and Gasgiant, I will get a chance to see them again, and I saw Rob at Homegame quite recently.  So apologies to Euan for not supporting his excellent Trampoline night this time, but it wouldn’t really feel right somehow.

Friday 18th April: The Mystery Jets at The Hive.
I’ve never been to the Hive before, and this gig is just a little pricey, but I’ve been rather enjoying the new Mystery Jets songs, so I might pop along to see what they’re like.
The Mystery Jets – Flakes

Sunday 20th April: The Wave Pictures at Cabaret Voltaire.
Yes, the fucking Wave Pictures!  Oh yes, yippee, hooroar!  I can’t believe these lads are playing here, but fuck me I’m delighted.  Free oral sex for whichever genius booked them – male or female!  You have got to get your arses down to this gig in the name of all that is rough, scratchy and faintly out of tune.  And to make matters even better, support comes in the form of an acoustic (well, bassless and drumless) set from The Kays Lavelle.
The Wave Pictures – My Kiss

Morning you ‘orrible lot. My wench is away being important once more. She said to me the other day when she was trying to skive off work due to a hangover: ‘I can’t go into work in a bad state, I handle money.’ Haha, what bollocks. I love it when financial people get all delusional like that, so don’t worry I set her straight. I calmly pointed out to her that if I fucked up my last job someone might have found a small metal implant buried in their spinal column. This means dead or paralysed. She stopped, fortunately.

‘I handle money though.’ Yeah well, I handle my penis and every last little sperm is a potential human life, so don’t gimme that. The frustration’s setting in again, can’t you tell? This podcast has some news and some current things, and then explores the randomiser on my music library, doffing my cap to the recent Contrast Podcast episode which I was too slow to participate in. Gah.

It is also my birthday on Monday, thirty-two since you ask, and we will be down in London to celebrate the occasion with our Southern friends, so there’s a couple of birthday thingies in there too, most screamingly obviously the first track of course. Enjoy Toadlings, enjoy.

Toadcast #16 – The Birthday Podcast

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01. Clem Snide – Happy Birthday (02.18)
02. The Courteeners – Acrylic (08.56)
03. Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong – Sleazy Hughes (12.46)
04. Cloud Atlas – Cigarettes & Apricots (15.54)
05. Arab Strap – There is No Ending (24.04)
06. Malcolm Middleton – The Devil & the Angel (29.32)
07. Down the Tiny Steps – Photosynth (37.29)
08. Eef Barzelay – Make Another Tree (42.19)
09. Loch Lomond – Northern, Knees, Trees & Lights (51.35)
10. The Pogues – Bolero Del Perro Listo (59.23)
11. Crash Test Dummies – Sonnet #3 (The Cold is Here) (66.52)
12. Ben Folds – You’ve Got to Learn to Live With What You Are (68.44)
13. Cold War Kids – Hair Down (81.39)
14. The Hold Steady – The Party Pit (90.22)
15. Tom Waits – Diamonds & Gold (94.11)
16. Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra – Monsieur Le Charmant (100.18)

Yes indeed we are cutting edge because Manchester group The Courteeners have but one solitary single to their name, yet apparently their gigs are full to bursting with people who know every word to every song, despite there not being any recordings of this stuff anywhere.

Well their new single Acrylic comes out later this month, and then we’ll get to know a little more of what they’re made of. Until then you can either buy a copy of Cavorting, their first single, for about, erm, fifty quid or you can just listen to it here and have a mosey over to their MySpace page and see what you think of Acrylic and three other tracks.

From the tracks on their MySpace it’s hard to tell, but I think they sound pretty decent. Cavorting is an excellent song, and the other sound… okay for now. I don’t know. They sound a little reminiscent of The Libertines, The Arctic Monkeys and The Fratellis and therein, I suspect, lies the rub. The Fratellis are nowhere near as bad as they have been painted by many, if you ask me. They’re just a cheerful, catchy pop-punk band with little substance and plenty of hummable tunes and there’s no crime in that surely?

As to the Courteeners, well my guess would be more Fratellis than Libertines in the long term, but let’s wait and see. I’ve pre-ordered their single and I’ll let you know if they seem destined for bigger things (like I’d be able to tell anyway)!

The Courteeners – Cavorting
The Courteeners – Fallowfield Hillbilly

There’s no real theme to this week’s podcast, but there’s plenty of splendid new music. Basically I felt so guilty about the crazy rant that the Pink Podcast descended into that I have tried to say as little as possible in this one.

I’m off to the End of the Road Festival this weekend, which is why I recorded an advance post, so you’ll be enjoying this while I’m away getting rained on. The lineup is just phenomenal actually, so it should be really quite a splendid weekend. Tim from the Daily Growl will be there, as will Jamie from the Runout Groove and I believe possibly Sweeping the Nation as well, so it may turn into quite a blog-in. Tragically, however, I will be without my Midget Companion. Mrs. Toad is away in Australia (jammy bitch) with work and doesn’t get back in time to come along, so I will be taking a book and enjoying the pleasure of my own company as best I can.

There was at least one inevitable balls-up though – when describing the Catherine Howe song I said ‘I can’t believe this is current – it sounds so old-fashioned!’ and I have since discovered that in fact it is a 2007 re-release of a 1971 record which may just explain that. In the process I also discovered that I am something of a fucking idiot.

So, End of the Road, and in the meantime, enjoy the podcast – Toad on his very best behaviour!

Toadcast #11 – Not Sure What This One’s About[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo11.mp3]

01. A.A. Bondy – Vice Rag (00.52)
02. White Rabbits – The Plot (03.39)
03. The Courteeners – Cavorting (08.19)
04. Alaska in Winter – Close Your Eyes/We Are Blind (11.46)
05. Beirut – Fork & Knife (La Fete) (18.32)
06. Band of Horses – Is There a Ghost (21.57)
07. Nathan Lawr & the Minotaurs – We Go Down (26.52)
08. David Dondero – Rothko Chapel (30.34)
09. Jackson C. Frank – Blues Run the Game (38.15)
10. Calexico – All the Pretty Horses (41.45)
11. Catherine Howe – In the Hot Summer (48.53)
12. Little Name – How to Swim & Live (53.31)
13. Emma Pollock – Adrenaline (56.36)
14. George Pringle – Fellini For Prime Minister (63.52)
15. Octoberman – By the Wayside (67.27)
16. The 1900s – When I Say Go (74.54)
17. (The Real) Tuesday Weld – Kix (79.44)