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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When I first moved up here, just about three and a half years ago, I was moaning about the lifelessness of the Edinburgh music scene and the fact that the long lost T on the Fringe was the only time anything interesting at all actually happened.

These days that is bollocks, of course, so it was with some pride that I read this little something in the NME letters page this morning. Actually, Bart scanned it and emailed it to me because I don’t buy the NME, but you know what I mean. I don’t know who you are, Scott the Thief, but I will buy you a pint if you ever reveal your secret identity!

And now, to celebrate, some “snobby art school jazz pish”. Life is sweet!

Enfant Bastard – Outside

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Enfant Bastard – Plastic Bag

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A couple of big, but not massive, names are slinking around the capital city this week. The Long Blondes have sold out Cabaret Voltaire on Wednesday, and the really not very good Young Knives are at The Liquid Room. I am going along to see The Long Blondes, but as regular commenter and Edinburgh gig fiend Bart quite rightly says, what on earth is the point of plugging a sold-out gig? So that’s enough about them, then. What else is knocking around?

Monday 17th March: Cut Off Your Hands at the Cabaret Voltaire.
Cut Off Your Hands sound very, erm, current. But for all I make that sound like an insult, they definitely have some decent tunes on their MySpace page, so for those of you looking for a little something to do tonight they might be worth investigating.
Cut Off Your Hands – Fond

Thursday 20th March: Eagleowl, Make Model & Twilight Sad at The Liquid Room.
Another superb lineup put together by I Fly Spitfires, and I am really looking forward to this gig. Eagleowl are dark, gothic folk, from what I know of them so far, Make Model are radio-friendly indiepop and the Twilight Sad are epic guitar-botherers. It’s a very mixed bill in terms of styles, but I rather like that. There will be beer. O Yes, there will be beer.
The Twilight Sad – Walking For Two Hours

Friday 21st March: Rob St. John & Tisso Lake at The Collective Gallery.
You all know how highly I rate local folk charmer Rob St. John, and he’s playing with Tisso Lake as part of their nationwide tour taking place over the next few weeks. If it’s the loveliest of fragile folk music you’re after, then you can’t possibly go wrong with popping down to this one.
Tisso Lake – The House by the River

Saturday 22nd March: Simon Breed at the Voodoo Rooms.
He’s an acoustic sort with plenty of darkness to his music and was much championed by a certain Mr. John Peel, apparently. Closer to home, Billy from Spins ‘n’ Needles recently wrote a long and rather interesting article about him for Drowned in Sound.
Simon Breed – Low Blood Sugar

Saturday 22nd March: Damn Shames at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
This is Music presents the Damn Shames. Their recent Spins ‘n’ Needles review wasn’t too complimentary, but there’s enough going on in their dancey, punky indie-pop that I think I might give them a chance. It’s definitely music for The Kidz (TM) rather than old duffers like myself, but there’s something there that I’m quite liking the sound of, so I may give this a go.
Damn Shames – Last Things