Well well well, this should be fun.  And messy.  And fun.  But probably mostly messy, I should imagine.

I’ve booked out both floors of the Queen Charlotte Rooms down in Leith, so we are going to have two stages.  The downstairs room will be with a full PA, with Jesus H. Foxx, Inspector Tapehead and Meursault playing.  And the upstairs room will be a bit more acoustic, with Yusuf Azak, Rob St. John and The Savings and Loan.  It won’t be entirely acoustic, but the room itself has no sound-proofing so we’ll have to keep things relatively quiet so we don’t get the Queen Charlotte Rooms in trouble.

Tickets are going to be limited to about 170 or so, so I guess it’s probably wise to buy them up in advance.  There will be DJs too – probably myself for a bit, and I would imagine Michael H. Foxx, but if anyone’s specifically up for it then feel free to let me know and I am sure you can have a turn on the decks.  Or CDs.  Or iPods. Or whatever else you fancy I suppose.

And erm, that’s about it, really.  Good bands, getting pished, and erm, I’d recommend taking Friday off work because it’s eagleowl’s party the next day and then Kid Canaveral’s after that.  Sunday may need to be entirely slept through I imagine!

Tickets can be bought in advance from here.

And for those of you who don’t visit this site all that often, here are some songs from the bands who will be playing:

Meursault – Nothing Broke

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Inspector Tapehead – Pherenzik Tear

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Jesus H. Foxx – I’m Half the Man You Were

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The Savings and Loan – Pale Water

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Yusuf Azak – Eastern Sun

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Droney Mitchell – An Empty House

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Videos: Vimeo – YouTube
Photos: Flickr
Audio: download for free below…

Every time a drum kit comes into our house I am kinda worried that the cafe downstairs is going to have a tantrum about the noise, but we’ve been lucky so far, and long may it continue.  More worrisome in this instance was probably Jonnie Common’s incredible box of tricks.

In a slight change to the usual lineup, my wee brother happened to be over from the States visiting when we recorded this, so he did the sound for us.  He has his own company over there, called Red Cottage Audio, and spends most of his time as the sound designer/recording engineer for the Boston Ballet, so I am not sure quite how he took the change from that to trying make a bunch of pop songs sound good in our living room. Still, it’s all about the results, and the results are fantastic.

The pictures are also especially good this time around.  Fee has contributed photos before – most notably to, I think, the Shenandoah Davis and Pictish Trail sessions – but this time she really has excelled herself.  I generally cut the photo sets down to about twenty pics, but in this case I really couldn’t manage any fewer than thirty, I liked them that much.  Head over to Flickr to see the set.

As per usual, all the Toad Session recordings are made available for free sharing/downloading/whatever, just after the full interview podcast, which is below, and as well as the main video at the top of the page, we have individual videos of every song as well (see a bit further down) as well, finally, as the full tracklisting for the podcast itself at the bottom of the page.

Oh, and this wouldn’t be a proper plug if I didn’t point out that Inspector Tapehead’s debut album, Duress Code, can now be purchased from Song, by Toad Records.

Toadcast #146 – Inspector Tapehead Toad Session

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Inspector Tapehead – Yarvil (Toad Session)

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Inspector Tapehead – WCMJ (Toad Session)

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Inspector Tapehead – A Fillet of Bozo (Toad Session)

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Inspector Tapehead – Pherenzil Tear (Toad Session)

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01. Inspector Tapehead – Yarvil (Toad Session) (05.37)
02. Adam Beattie & the Consultants – We’ll Wave From the Shore (15.23)
03. Jonnie Common – Photosynth (19.24)
04. Inspector Tapehead – WCMJ (Toad Session) (28.27)
05. Charlot Webster – Stay What You Are (40.40)
06. dBASS – Garden (44.35)
07. Inspector Tapehead – A Fillet of Bozo (Toad Session) (56.59)
08. Django Django – WOR (63.51)
09. Inspector Tapehead – Pherenzik Tear (Toad Session) (80.24)

Ohhh what jolly fun it’s been this week.  Now I know why bands find it so hard to find booking agents: because it’s a shit job and no-one in their right mind would want to do it.

Then, just as I was hating promoters for all I was worth, I started into the organisation for all my own gigs that I had to book and suddenly developed a new-found sympathy for them too.  So WHO IS TO BLAME FOR MY SHIT WEEK, THEN?  I can’t think of anyone, it’s most frustrating.

Anyhow, I think I am now just about sorted for everything, so here are some announcements for you, so you can add all sorts of Toady nonsense to your calendars. Once again, I am putting all the label announcements into a Sunday Supplement so that the blog itself isn’t totally over-run with self-pimping during the week, which I am assuming would bore the shit out of everyone, myself included.

Inspector Tapehead Hooops Session was recorded by the lovely gentlemen from OLO Worms as part of their kind hospitality to our Tapeheady friends on their recent tour – thanks lads.

Cloud Sounds Song, by Toad Records Special seems, according to Ted, to have been purchased for the price of a pint when we were down in Manchester last weekend.  It’s one of my favourite podcasts, and if you want to be even nicer, you could buy the first and thus far only (I think) Cloud Sounds Split 7″ – the song by Onions is worth it all by itself.

Peenko’s Scottish DIY Labels series features Song, by Toad this week.  I am always impressed with quite how good I am at making myself sound like a total dickhead in so few words when it comes to these mini interview thingies.  Ah well, we all need a talent of some sort I suppose, I was just hoping mine might be martial arts or a snappy dress sense or something like that instead.

All those gigs in full (more or less):

Honeytrap launch their new album Petrushka (Toad review here, listen in full and buy here), this Saturday at Medina.  Jesus H. Foxx & Sebastian Dangerfield are also on the bill, and tickets can be purchased here. I was skeptical about Medina as a venue at first, but I was at an Acoustic Edinburgh show there during the Festival and really liked it – the atmosphere was ace, and I think this is going to be an excellent night.  Doors will be kinda early though, because there’s a club night on after us, so don’t be too late.

Savings and Loan House Gig will be pretty much everyone’s first chance to see Song, by Toad Records’ latest ‘signing’ (if you can really call it that, which you can’t, honestly) before their album Today I Need Light comes out on 6th December. As it’s at our house and tickets are going steadily I would ask you to buy one in advance just so we have a reasonable idea of numbers in advance.  You can get tickets here, and I have just confirmed a (very) stripped down set by The Last Battle will also be on the cards for the evening.

The Yusuf Azak Album Release Tour is being booked up slowly but surely.  Turn on the Long Wire is every bit as good as I would have expected from Yusuf, and is out on the 15th November.  There are album launch nights booked as part of a joint tour with Ethan Ash on the following nights:

Thursday November 25th, Cellar 35 in Aberdeen.
Friday November 26th, Gambetta in Glasgow, with Jonnie Common.
Saturday November 27th, The Roxy in Edinburgh, awaiting confirmation.

The first single from his album, Eastern Sun, will be out as a free download in a week’s time or so.

AND FINALLY, the Song, by Toad Records Christmas Party has been confirmed for Thursday 16th December at the Queen Charlotte Rooms in Leith.  We’re going to have an electric stage downstairs headlined by the Savings and Loan, for whom this will also be their album launch, and an acoustic stage upstairs.  I am working on the full lineup at the moment, so there will be more announcements to come about this soon enough.

Fmmmghfh.. Eigg.  Drink.  Fuckers.  Still broken.

If those Fence bastards ever suggest you go to one of their festivals say NO!  You will be drowned in drink and have so much fun that there could not possibly be a more drab and disappointing place than Real Life, as and when you are forced to return to it.

I’ll be writing something about the festival itself once my brain heals, but for now here are some entertainments to keep you occupied in Edinburgh this week, the most important to me personally of course being the Inspector Tapehead album launch and pre-gig in-store performance in Avalanche Records.

Wednesday 29th September 2010: Willy Mason at the Roxy Art House.

I remember seeing Willy Mason at the Borderline in London before I moved up here, and being absolutely spellbound.  He played up here shortly afterwards with a full band, and I kind of felt that the band crowded both his voice and his guitar playing, both of which seemed to have more space to breathe at the London show. Nevertheless, there is a real warmth to the guy when he plays and if this show is anything like as good as I think it might be I am going to be a happy boy indeed.

Willy Mason – Fear No Pain

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Thursday 30th September 2010 (5pm): Inspector Tapehead in-store at Avalanche Records.

I promise to bring some beer, for those who fancy popping up for this one.

Thursday 30th September 2010: Inspector Tapehead, The Miserable Rich & The Stormy Seas at the Wee Red Bar.

Brighton’s Miserable Rich are signed to Humble Soul in Manchester, one of the country’s finest DIY labels, so I am really pleased to be able to put them on the bill for this one.  Of course, it was actually down to Tallah and Jim from This is Music, if I’m being honest, but I am still really pleased!   And given the amount of time The Stormy Seas have wasted on this blog, I think it’s about time we put them on a bill too.  And as for Inspector Taphead, well given how late the album was in appearing I suppose it’s only fair we were a bit late with the album launch show as well.

Inspector Tapehead – Yarvil

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Well I know I normally let Dylan sort out the Sunday Supplements, and I cheated last week by writing one myself, but I am going to have to do it again, sorry.

The reason is simply that there is a lot of label news happening at the moment, and I really don’t want to overwhelm the blog with label chat if I can avoid it.  I am sure lots of you come here for reasons other than me trying to sell you things to pay for that yacht in the Caribbean we record labels generally aim for.

So, the news this week, in bullet point form for the lazy, is this:
1. Inspector Tapehead to play in-store at Avalanche Records on Thursday 30th September.
2. Meursault UK and European tour booked for October/November, with showcase gig at the Caves on the 25th.
3. The Stormy Seas added to the bill for the Inspector Tapehead album launch on the 30th.

1. Instore! Yep, the Tapeheads are currently touring the UK in the Toad Van (the shit one which works, not the cool one which doesn’t), but in advance of their album launch show on Thursday 30th September they are playing an in-store gig at Avalanche Records on Cockburn Street.  This will start at around half five when the store closes, I guess, and I will bring a case of beer as an additional inducement.

2. Tour! Having had a hectic festival season, Meursault have been taking a bit of a breather for the last month or so.  And they’ll need it because their October/November schedule is going to be hellishly busy, with a UK and European tour booked in back to back. The whole thing is kicking off with a headline show at the Caves in Edinburgh on the 25th October, supported by Port Royal and Enfant Bastard – tickets here.

25 Oct 2010 – The Caves, Edinburgh
26 Oct 2010 – Head of Steam, Newcastle
27 Oct 2010 – The Harley, Sheffield
28 Oct 2010 – Royal Park Cellars, Leeds
30 Oct 2010 – The Luminaire, London
31 Oct 2010 – The Playhouse Bar [free entry show], Norwich
2 Nov 2010 – Star & Garter, Manchester
3 Nov 2010 – Stereo, York
4 Nov 2010 – Dexters, Dundee
5 Nov 2010 – Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen
6 Nov 2010 – Stereo, Glasgow

19 Nov 2010 – Oh Galery, Caen, FRANCE
20 Nov 2010 – International, Paris, FRANCE
21 Nov 2010 – Planet Claire Session, Paris, FRANCE
22 Nov 2010 – Dwaze Zaken, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS
23 Nov 2010 – Piala Libri, Brussels, BELGIUM
24 Nov 2010 – Musikbunker, Aachen, GERMANY
25 Nov 2010 – Schlachthof w/ Telekinesis [tbc], Wiesbaden, GERMANY
26 Nov 2010 – Spart 4, Saarbrucken, GERMANY
27 Nov 2010 – Cave du Bleu Lezard, Lausanne, SWITZERLAND
28 Nov 2010 – Le Lounge, Marseille, FRANCE
30 Nov 2010 – Stadtgarten, Erfurt, GERMANY
1 Dec 2010 – Morph Club, Bamberg, GERMANY
2 Dec 2010 – Feinkostlampe, Hannover, GERMANY
3 Dec 2010 – Gaengeviertel, Hamburg, GERMANY
4 Dec 2010 – Schlachthof, Aurich, GERMANY
5 Dec 2010 – [venue tba], Groningen, NETHERLANDS

3. Stormies! At the time I did the first posters for the Inspector Tapehead album launch we only had Humble Soul heroes The Miserable Rich and the Tapeheads themselves confirmed to play the show, but the Stormy Seas have since been confirmed as the final piece of the jigsaw.  The gig is taking place at the Edinburgh School of Art’s Wee Red Bar on Thursday 30th September, and tickets can be purchased here.

This is a co-promotion with my friends Tallah and Jim from This is Music, and Ali and Elaine from A&E Promotions.  The technical term for several promoters working together is is, I believe, a Clusterfuck, and the new flyer can be seen below:

Inspector Taphead’s album launch got somewhat waylaid by the Edinburgh Festival, but now that things are dying down we figured we might throw a proper and official party to celebrate the release of Duress Code, a mere two years after it was due.

The Miserable Rich are playing too, which is excellent news.  They are a Brighton band, signed to Humble Soul Records, one of the country’s best DIY labels.

This gig will be at the Wee Red Bar on Thursday 30th September, and tickets can be purchased for a fiver here.

The Miserable Rich – The Mouth of the Wolf

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Contrary to what you might suspect from my location this week and the steady stream of silly videos from Anstruther , this podcast is not anything to do with the Fence Collective or Haarfest.

Actually, apart from a few brief intrusions from my pile of audio cassettes (a lot of time in the van, you see) this is generally just the usual stream of music news and new bits and pieces from my inbox.

Actually, I am way behind my inbox at the moment, due to a week of holiday and now a week in Anstruther, and things aren’t likely to get any better either, what with… oh never mind, you hear enough of my whining as it is.  Tunes…

Direct download: Toadcast #136 – The Haarcast

01. Eels – Jungle Telegraph (02.32)
02. Les Shelleys – The World is Waiting for the Sunrise (07.22)
03. Broken Records – A Leaving Song (13.41)
04. Women – Heat Distraction (19.56)
05. Let’s Talk About Trees – Wood of Rassay (23.50)
06. The Tragically Hip – Fireworks (31.57)
07. Grant Lee Buffalo – Testimony (35.48)
08. Inspector Tapehead – Grooming (44.48)
09. Nice Purse – Heart Medley (50.52)
10. Bombadil – Barcelona (54.55)

Ruth and I are back on Fresh Air this evening, no guests this time, but hopefully Ruth will remember to bring her music on a USB stick, so you might actually be afforded the privilege of hearing her musical choices, rather than simply having to listen to her sniping about mine.

We’re live from seven until half eight, so I better get my skates on if I’m to be on time, and as per usual we’ll be updating the playlist live as we go along, so feel free to chip in with heckling in the comments section.

Listen live here – from 7pm – 8:30pm UK time.

1. Jens Lekman – The End of The World Is Bigger Than Love
2. James Yorkston & The Athletes – St Patrick
3. Y La Bamba – Monster
4. The Humms – Jesus Lied
5. Talking Heads – This Must Be The Place (naive melody)
6. The Single Spy – OK Corral
7. Inspector Tapehead – Yarvil
8. Au Revoir Simone – Take Me As I Am
9. Kath Bloom – Is This Called Living?
10. Loch Awe – The Ocean in Me
11. Micachu – Turn Me Well
12. Bjork – Like Someone In Love
13. Arthur Russell – The Letter
14. Les Shelleys – The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise

This is my video diary from the third day of the Fence Collective’s Haarfest 2010.

The power was so doubtful in morning that the people repairing it managed to shut down even more houses, so it wasn’t until about five or six that we were confident that the whole evening wouldn’t have to take place under steam or pedal power, but come back on it did, eventually, and things were able to proceed as normal.

The lineup switched around a bit, with eagleowl having to go on a little early because of babysitting commitments back in Edinburgh (yeah, rock ‘n’ roll, bitches!), so eventually Inspector Tapehead ended up headlining their own unofficial album launch at long last.

And it was a fucking beauuuutiful evening in Anstruther.

Inspector Taphead’s debut album, due for release in Summer 2008, has now been completed and can be purchased from Song, by Toad Records, here.

They recorded this video for Pherenzik Tear entirely on VHS, and that big ludicrous tape is going to become a feature of their forthcoming tour, which starts with a Forest Fire support slot in Middlebrough on the 9th September.

There are a couple of preview songs from this album available for free download, so please have a go at those because it’s becoming increasingly tricky for me to review albums on my own label.

I can’t figure out, actually, if this is a typical Toad Records release or a really atypical one.  In one sense, it’s got a playfulness and a light touch to it which nothing else on the label really has.  Even when I asked them to write their bio for the press release they filled it full of puns and smart arse remarks and other nonsense, and that kind of daftness is in the album too, but don’t let that lull you into thinking that it’s lightweight because it isn’t at all.

When you listen to the songs there’s a barely controlled messiness going on across the album which puts it squarely in the Toad ballpark, irrespective of the fact that you might not recognise the mood of the album immediately as being in tune with the rest of our stuff.  There’s layers and weirdness and all sorts in the way the sound is constructed and I have seriously enjoyed listening to this album since it first appeared in its finished form a few months ago.

So feel free to share these songs and the videos and so on and so forth, and I hope you enjoy Duress Code.  It’s all hand-printed and tasty too, if anyone fancies buying the CD… just a thought.

Inspector Tapehead – Yarvil

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Inspector Tapehead – Pherenzik Tear

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