Song, by Toad

Yes, that is the new Toad t-shirt, which can be purchased here, and bears the inspiring and uplifting slogan ‘Up yours, Eagletits.’

Well there’s been some good live music recently, and last night was another excellent Limbo night.  All three bands were really good and even though it was a late one, there wasn’t an excessive amount of drunkenness, so apart from being rather tired I actually feel pretty reasonable this morning.  Quick question for you all, in advance of the Friday Fives – even though it’s now woefully late, would you appreciate a live review of Mitchell Museum and one of David Thomas Broughton from a couple of weeks ago?  Or is timeliness next only to godliness in these matters?

I am going to have the Samamidon session up tomorrow, by hook or by crook.  This may well involve a very, very late night with gallons of gin tea, but I am determined to get it up there and start on the Pictish Trail one.

Tomorrow I shall be wandering along to the Meursault in-store at Avalanche, and then over next week they will be round at the house recording the vocals for William Henry Miller Parts One and Two.  These will be double a-sides with The Furnace and either The Dirt & the Roots or A Few Kind Words for a twin pack of vinyl released later in the year – probably May I would have thought.  And before you start chipping in, no I am not asking for help deciding which of the latter two will be released.  Neil will mostly decide, and I will chip in, but this is not a democracy (ha – didn’t that sound decisive and commanding!)

So, that’s about it for this week.  We will shortly be heading back to our favourite watering hole, the newly refurbished King’s Wark, for a couple of lunchtime pints and one of the finest lunches to be had in Scotland.  Fucking, if I may say so, brilliant.  And then off up to the Wee Red Bar to help out with Trampoline and see the Japanese War Effort.  Exciting time people, it a rock-and-roll-o-rama around here these days.

So, time to stop shuffling about in the shadows, de-lurk, and make you contribution.  If nothing else you will at least stop this thread descending into the usual Bart-baiting within five posts, so any new commenters are highly appreciated.  And without further ado, this week’s Toad’s (stolen from GUT) Friday Five:

1. Name a great band with a piss-poor debut album (point for the non-obvious ones like Dylan, Radiohead and the Beatles).
2. Name your favourite thing to do in the snow.
3. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
4. Silliest fish name.
5. How many different formats do you own music in these days?

The Pictish Trail – Into the Smoke (Live on BBC 6Music) Thanks to The Daily Growl.

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Miwa Gemini – Pieces

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The Tartans – Cats of Camerford

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School of Seven Bells – Half Asleep

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Feist & Ben Gibbard – Train Song

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Plenty of things going on this week, as per usual, although I am trying not to just prattle on about the same old groups week after week – all too easily done when reporting on any local music scene.

If I was going to all of these gigs I’d have a marriage and a liver in tatters by the end of this week.  I’d also have to carve myself into four equal slices on Friday in order to go to everything I want to go to.  Funnily enough though in a week of such riches I am not going to be at all that much.  Tuesday is my last show on Fresh Air Radio, Wednesday is the Champion’s League Final and Friday I have to go to something related to Mrs. Toad’s work.  She doesn’t demand much of me, the old lass, so I can’t very well insist on this one and, frankly, it spares me having to choose between four different gigs, all of which I want to attend.  So maybe no bad thing after all.

Tuesday 20th May 2008: Feist at the Queen’s Hall.
I am not sure if I would go to this one, myself, were it not for my last Fresh Air show rendering that question somewhat academic.  I did enjoy her album, and I do like her sound in general, although it can become a little bland after a while.  Maybe if the show was priced affordably I would have gone, but in any case, very much worth considering.
Feist – 1234

Wednesday 21st May 2008: Caribou at Cabaret Voltaire.
For those not watching the Champions’ League final, Caribou have finally arrived in Edinburgh, months after their last gig was cancelled.  Math rock, it gets called occasionally, so
Caribou – Sandy

Wednesday 21st May 2008: Glissando, Meursault & The Kays Lavelle at the Wee Red Bar.
I’ve never heard of Glissando, but Euan’s Trampoline nights never fail to deliver, so pop along for a couple of local favourites and some epic miserablism from Leeds.
Glissando – Floods

Thursday 22nd May 2008: My Tiny Robots & Babybones at the Voodoo Rooms.
My Tiny Robots are a group I’ve had recommended to me on numerous occasions.  Good indie guitar stuff from the sounds of it, along with a suitably tortured vocal.  Babybones I don’t know at all, but this looks like another good lineup from Limbo.  It’s my only free night this week, so will Mrs. Toad let me go?  Hmm, touch and go, but I rather fancy this one.
My Tiny Robots – Haircut Song

Friday 23rd May 2008:
There’s so much going on this Friday that I could sprain my wanking hand just typing it all out, so here’s a list instead.  Either go and see Black Diamond Express at The Ark, or pop along to Henry’s for St. Jude’s Infirmary, who have a new album approaching, and are supported by Come On Gang, or alternatively there’s Times New Viking and Meursault at Studio 24, or finally there’s also The Declining Winter at the Stills Gallery on Cockburn Street.  I know nothing about this last lot, but they sound rather good.  Any of these gigs would be worth your time, frankly, but guess what – I’ll be at none of them.  I have to schmooze with Mrs. Toad and be a good wife at a dinner thingy of some description.  No swearing there, and no rock and fucking roll either.  Christ I’ve sold out.
Black Diamond Express – Jack
The Declining Winter – Summer Turns to Hurt
Saint Jude’s Infirmary – The Church of John Coltrane

Sunday 25th May 2008: The Young Republic at Cabaret Voltaire.
When I first started writing about their often country-tinged, genre-hopping indie pop I remember exchanging emails with Julian Saporiti that when along the line of ‘If we ever get to Edinburgh you’ll have to come along to one of our shows’ and was said with such heavy irony that we were both acknowledging just how unlikely that was to ever happen.  Well fair bloody play to ‘em, because since signing to End of the Road Records and the really positive reception given to their debut album 12 Tales From Winter City, here they are.
The Young Republic – Mary Ellen (Live)

Sorry to dump this on you, but I reckon a lot of you might actually like these songs more than I do, so you’ll probably have more complaints with my lack of enthusiasm than the actual tracks I post.

This is another of those summary posts of no-more-than-decent bands getting plenty of buzz that just don’t float my boat at all, so I’ve lumped them all in here to spare me having to write reviews of their albums. Not that they’re bad, exactly, but I’m not sure it’s entirely safe to invite them to babysit without the fear that they will soil your little angels’ earbuds forever with some sort of perpetual taint of banal mediocrity. Imagine raising children that bought Coldplay albums. Or Lily Allen. Or The Zutons. Or even that lizard Mark Ronson. Honestly, I’d rather just spend five minutes with a pillow and a heart full of compassion and put the little tykes out of my misery nice and early. That is the danger of allowing Mark Ronson to babysit: the need for mercy euthanasia, assuming the kid didn’t throttle itself with its own shoelaces first.

Anyone still here? Right, good. Here are a pile of albums there is no need at all to go out and waste your money on because they just aren’t all that good.

Feist – The Reminder Well it is growing on me, albeit slowly, but deep down I can’t help think of it as Kate Bush for people who really don’t like Kate Bush very much. That said, it is often pleasant enough, and this is the one I am most likely to change my mind on in future, I think.

Feist – 1234

Bjork – Volta I am quite a big fan of some of Bjork’s work. This one, however, appears to consist of far too much angular shouting for my taste. Really quite off-putting.

Bjork – Hope

The Pigeon Detectives – Wait For Me Reasonable but utterly unremarkable indie-pop. Next.

The Pigeon Detectives – Caught in Your Trap Deleted by the RIAA.  Funny how they tend to get the most upset about previews being available for the most mediocre bands, eh. Maybe if the material didn’t show up the vacuity of their hype they’d be less jumpy.

Blonde Redhead – 23 In theory I should like this. I mean, it ticks all the boxes – droning indie guitar, moody female vocals, etc.. but somehow it just doesn’t do it for me at all.

Blonde Redhead – 23

Loney, Dear – Loney, Noir I am John was the pre-release preview track knocking about for this album and a truly excellent song. I like it so much I was infuriated to hear it on the record player in a clothes shop before the album release (ooh, cutting edge buzz music, establish ‘edgy’ cachet – great marketing strategy). The rest of the album is really annoyingly dull by comparison, I am sorry to say. It just does not grab me at all, which is such a disappointment.

Loney, Dear – I am John

Right, now that’s over with, listen to this, because it’s absolutely fucking brilliant:

Broken Records – Russian Song

It’s from my previous post, and I am pretty pissed off that no-one appears interested. If you think the above bands are any good at all, believe me, you need Broken Records.

That was cynical really, wasn’t it, putting these lads on a post with all these mediocre hit-magnets, just to get them more attention. Heh heh heh. Cynical it may be, but it makes me feel all warm inside.