Song, by Toad

I’m not sure what’s happened to his Sussex Wit, because it’s very much business as usual for Mr. Flynn on his new EP.  It seems a little churlish to complain when business as usual produces songs as lovely as this, but nevertheless this seems a little like treading water.

More accurately, what it seems like is a few songs which were left behind from the body of work which resulted in A Larum last year.  I know the bands are actually all linked one way or another, but The Mountain is Burning does sound like the missing link between Mumford & Sons and Noah & the Whale – a little gentler than the former and a little more anthemic than the latter.  It’s also, I tempted to say, an unfortunately premature high point for the EP.

Trains is pretty nice, but Sweet William has a profoundly irritating falsetto vocal inflection in the chorus and frankly Drum is fairly forgettable, despite some rather lovely trumpet.  All in all though this feels like a thoroughly unnecessary EP designed to keep us all ticking over and his name on the tip of the general tongue while the second album is being hatched.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, and the first two songs in particular are really rather nice, but I really don’t think it moves anything on much and I’m left thinking ‘Well, okay, that’s nice, but what are you really doing next?’

Johnny Flynn – The Mountain is Burning

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Website | Pre-order the EP from here

Well, we’ll be back by the end of this week, back into a maelstrom of gigs.  What the fuck am I going to do on Saturday?  Go to see Johnny Flynn at Cabaret Voltaire?  Sparrow & the Workshop at the Liquid Room?  Or Eagleowl at the Scottish Scullery.  I am going to be spread thinner than the veneer of desperately forced joy on a vegetarian’s malnourished visage.  I think I may even be doing a show for Fresh Air Radio that day, but I have no idea what about, as yet.

So, what’s happening on the busiest week of my annual gig calendar?  Take a deep breath and… here we go:

Friday 15th August 2008: Noah & the Whale at Cabaret Voltaire.
Pretty much the pinnacle of the dismal Edge Festival’s woeful efforts this month sees them bringing folk popsters (more pop than folk these days, but not to their detriment) Noah & the Whale to Edinburgh.  I really like the band, and I am going to go.  Splendid.
Noah & the Whale – Beating

Friday 15th August 2008: Withered Hand plays the Retreat Festival at the Scottish Scullery.
Withered Hand are one of the best bands in the city at the moment, mixing acerbic wit with caustic self-loathing and futile optimism.  If anyone embodies Scottish songwriting as I see it then it is Dan, and his band is worth making a considerable trip to see.  Brilliant.
Withered Hand – Religious Songs

Saturday 16th August 2008: Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit at Cabaret Voltaire.
This lad is pure gold.  Never mind the public school education, the excessively literate bent and the thespian background, there is a wonderful charisma to their live performance and the charm exuded by both the band and the music is wonderful.  I may well not make it, but I wish I could.
Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Tickle Me Pink

Saturday 16th August 2008: Sparrow & the Workshop at the Liquid Room.
They may be supporting Y’All is Fantasy Island, but the reason I will be at this gig will be to get my first sight of one of the most exciting recent arrivals on the Scottish music scene of late, who are due to record a Toad Session the following day.
Sparrow & the Workshop – Devil Song

Saturday 16th August 2008: Eagleowl play their single launch at the Scottish Scullery.
Eagleowl wish, at least a little, that they were Low.  Or so they have said, apparently.  Between Clarissa’s wonderful arse* doleful double bass, Malcolm’s funereal violin and Bart’s grumbling guitar they aren’t far off, but there is a knack for melody there that picks each song a special place of its own and steers well clear of that sulky indie-folk cliche to which they would otherwise be prone.  It will be a small release, but one of the best of the year, I guarantee it.
Eagleowl – Blanket

Sunday 17th August 2008: Isosceles at Cabaret Voltaire.
Isosceles are very good.  They are pop, their lyrics are shallow at best, but their tunes are superb and the music they make is sheer good-time, hugely danceable indie-pop.
Isosceles – Kitch Bitch

Sunday 17th August 2008: Broken Records at the Liquid Room.
Edinburgh’s most successful recent export come home for a bit to pack out the Liqud Room (again) and presumably publicise their new single, Slow Parade, out on the 11th August on Fandango.  This will be an absolute fucking corker.
Broken Records – If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It (Toad Session)

*Sorry Jake.  And Mrs. Toad.  S’true though.

I have tagged this as ‘new music’ although if you’re a reader of this site then it probably doesn’t really count as new. Once again I find myself in complete sympathy with one of Tim’s reviews at the Daily Growl: I’ve heard too much of this before. This is just a tactical issue, not a criticism of the music: due to various singles and so on, I have actually heard an awful lot of the songs on this album already, which takes away some of the delicious thrill of listening to a new album for the first time.

This is one of the things that winds me up when Proper Media planks whine about the rise and fall of hype in the digital age, particularly when they are bleating about the fickle gaze of the blog world and how quickly it moves on from a once-favoured son. Bollocks. This is under no circumstances limited to the digital age. People used to do it all the time before the internet came along and ruined everything, only they’d do it with vinyl singles instead – the over-exposure of this album on singles and, more tellingly, b-sides is a classic example. Don’t give it all away too easily, folks, we need some surprises. Remeber Gene? No, me neither – some people just don’t have that many good songs, so don’t blame the hype.

None of this applies to Johnny Flynn of course, who has plenty of good songs. The first half of the album will already be almost completely familiar, and the second largely new. It continues his penchant for literate storytelling and warm, English folk music with a jaunty bent and cheerful rhythm.

Brown Trout Blues is still one of my favourite songs for years, not matter how often I’ve heard it, and all in all this is just a terrific album. I’ve not much to say about it really: it’s old-fashioned sounding, quite smoothly produced, and feels like the perfect album to play on a cheerful, sunny Saturday morning while you potter about the house and water the plants. Or something else equally rock ‘n’ roll.

Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – The Wrote & the Writ
Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Brown Trout Blues

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Mrs Toad and myself went to Bestival on the Isle of Wight last year and, although we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, I must admit that this year I was after something a little smaller. There’s something rather uninspiring about bald fields covered in a sea of broken plastic cups and a two hour queue for warm beer. Once the truly abysmal Bestival lineup for 2007 was announced – Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream? Have I gone back in time by ten years or something? – I decided that was it, I was looking for something smaller and far more friendly. Sod the bands, I just want a nice weekend.

Well I’d exchanged a few emails with Simon from End of the Road Records about The Young Republic, who are superb and recently signed to the label. I knew the label had formed from the End of the Road Festival so I thought it might be a good one to take a chance on. There wasn’t much in the lineup that I recognised, but what the hell – a festival full of smaller, less well known bands would be quite fun. And besides, Howe Gelb was on there, so that did it for me and I bought a couple of tickets.

That was something in the region of a month ago. Since then that lineup has just got better and better, as Simon has dropped one gem after another into the mix. This morning they announced Midlake and Yo La Tengo. I can’t believe it! Suddenly instead of just looking forward to this, I am excited as little boy.

Full line-up thus far (I’ve highlighted the ones I think are interesting and provided a few samples – although I haven’t used the little player this time as the javascript would slow the whole page down too much with this many links, sorry):

Alessi (music)
Archie Bronson Outfit
Architecture In Helsinki - Heart it Races
The Bees
Besnard Lakes – Cedric’s War
Brakes
The Broken Family Band
C. W. Stoneking
Charlie Parr
The Congregation
Dan Sartain
Darren Hayman
David Thomas Broughton
David Vandervelde
Devastations
Euros Childs
Findlay Brown
Fionn Regan
Herman Dune
Howe Gelb – Pontiac Slipstream
Hush the Many
Hyacinth House
Indigo Moss
James Yorkston – Someplace Simple
Jeffrey Lewis
Jim White
Joan As Police Woman
Johnny Flynn – Brown Trout Blues
Josh T Pearson
King Creosote – Missionary
Micah P Hinson – I Still Remember
Midlake – Van Occupanther
Misty’s Big Adventure
Monkey Swallows the Universe
My Brightest Diamond
Paris Motel - Entrez Dans la Salpetriere
Pete and the Pirates
Port O’Brien
Reigns
Richard Swift
Seasick Steve
Slow Club
Sons of Noel and Adrian
Stephanie Dosen – Vinalhaven Harbour
Sunny Day Sets Fire
Super Furry Animals
Telegrams
The Twilight Sad – And She Would Darken the Memory
Viking Moses
Woodpigeon – Home
Yo La Tengo – Tom Courtenay
The Young Republic – Your Heart Belongs in Tennessee

Now all Simon has to do is pull off some miracle of scheduling that allows me to see absolutely all these bands, as well as leaving some space for me to check out some of the new ones. Good luck, mate!