Well, I don’t know how many of you were there, but didn’t the Meursault Liquid Room show go well on Friday! The place was rammed, gin was consumed in some quantities and even the hangover the next day wasn’t all that bad. The sun was out, and it’s that glorious time in Edinburgh when the weather is starting to improve, the sun is out and the tourists haven’t really turned up yet in any great numbers.  Nothing against tourists, of course, just their absence does make the place rather pleasingly peaceful.

There are some interesting things happening in town this week, too, which is good. Nothing marquee, you understand, just a handful of nice wee gigs which hopefully will pique your interest and keep you away from The Great British Bake-off or whatever shite is wasting people’s time on telly at the moment.

First up, Malcolm Middleton will be at the Electric Circus tonight, alongside Seamus Fogarty. Malcolm was one of my highlights of the recent Gnomegame festival up in Anstruther, actually. I can’t think of many other people who could hold a packed, drunken hall to such rapt attention with little more than downbeat acoustic songs and a hang-dog sense of humour, but that’s exactly what he did.

The big one for me this week, however, has to be the Love Music Hate Racism show at the Voodoo Rooms on Thursday. The excellent Spook School will be playing, along with Young Fathers and a special baldy guest, but for me the big attraction will be the first chance to see Law Holt play live and see if she’s as good as her only publicly available song so far (embedded below) would imply. I hope so, because it’s pretty awesome finding new and excellent people to rave about!

There’s another biggie this week as well, in terms of sheer organisational scale, with the Electric Circus’ Big Day In on Sunday 5th May.  On the bill will be (I am not linking them all, sorry, far too fucking lazy): Dutch Uncles, Discopolis, The Machine Room, Jonnie Common, Dems, Made of Glass, Machines In Heaven, River of Slime & Lomond Campbell (FOUND), as well as This Is Music, Errors, Vic Galloway and Ally McCrae DJ sets.

And finally (and just a little elusively) if the Love Music Hate Racism gig on Thursday isn’t your cup of tea you might want to try this instead. I know nothing about the band really, apart from the fact that they are called Mayonnaise, and when I last put on a gig at Henry’s the sound engineer was playing stuff from their debut album (he is in the band) and it sounded really good – mostly krauty, epic instrumental post-rock. As I said, I don’t know much about it, but from what I did hear it sounded pretty promising.

 As you can probably tell from the shambles the blog has been this week, Mrs. Toad is away again. I always seem to have an inordinately hard time keeping my shit together when she’s not around, because her regular 9-5 schedule keeps me vaguely on the rails.

When she’s away, however, it all goes to shit. I don’t need to get up in the morning, why not watch one more episode of Breaking Bad or whatever. Then before you know it, it’s half seven in the morning, and my sleep cycle is more fucked than if I were jet-lagged.

Self-discipline has never been a quality I have much possessed, I have to confess. It’s only a sense of simmering competitive rage which keeps the label ticking over, not some fuzzy Protestant work ethic.

Anyhow, it’s late in the week, but not too late to have some giggenfuns so here are a couple of decent-looking things which are happening this week in Edinburgh.

Firstly, of course, our next BAD FUN is this Friday 8th March at Henry’s Cellar Bar.  Enigmatic electronic pop magician Jonnie Common returns to Edinburgh after an extended exile in the very far North, supported by beep-ninja River of Slime, and the Edinburgh debut of awesome Newcastle dream pop band Shift-Static. Fiver in, doors at half-seven.

Rather more urgently, tonight the Travelling Band bring their lush country pop to the Electric Circus, and then on Saturday Conquering Animal Sound launch their latest album of experimental electronic pop at the Voodoo Rooms, supported by Pumajaw and Plum. The new record, called On Floating Bodies, is out on Chemikal Underground in late March.

If your tastes are even more underground than that, then there are a couple of other gigs on the weekend which might also interest you.  One Friday we have what looks like a new, regular promoter (and god knows Edinburgh needs more of those) called The Sound Project putting on a four-band bill at the Wee Red Bar with The Creeping Ivies, Saint Max and the Fanatics, Universal Thee and Linse – broadly this is mostly ‘indie’ music, but veers from indie pop to swampy psych, acoustic pop and back, so there’s a really good variety.

And finally, on Saturday at Henry’s Cellar Bar we have three rather more gentle bands, in the form of Thank You So Nice, Arran Arctic and The Occasional Flickers. This is more in vein of acoustic pop – from fey to folky – but is actually a really good, if rather under the radar, lineup.

 Man Edinburgh’s being a little tease at the moment. It’s cold, but the sun is out, and from the safe confines of my office it’s all too easy to look out the window and think that Spring really is in the air.

Of course, once you go outside such myths are dispelled, but there’s nevertheless something immensely cheering about bright sunshine, even if it’s cold.  In fact, probably especially if it’s cold.

This week’s podcast is relatively poppy, actually.  Some awkward stuff in there I suppose, but for the most part it’s possibly a little more palatable than usual. No drum-bashers and amp-torturers anyway.

Anyhow, what the fuck ever, we’re off to SXSW next week for Margaritas in the sun and Bloody Marys at Rio Rita’s and the ludicrous carnival of commercialism which is SXSW.  It’s fun to go to, but honestly I wouldn’t want to have to go there with ambitions to work because, honestly, you’d just get utterly swamped.

That’s all for later though. For now, sunshine! Aaaahhh..

Toadcast #261 – The Suncast by Song, By Toad on Mixcloud

Direct download: Toadcast #261 – The Suncast

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01. Jonnie Common – Figurehead (FOUND’s The Wetter the Better Remix) (00.44)
02. Bill Baird – Spring Break of the Soul (08.07)
03. Ardentjohn – In the Morning (20.24)
04. Peter – Sleep With Me Baby (25.07)
05. Robin Grey – Mariam’s Cake (29.27)
06. Britt Sommar – Tell Me (39.20)
07. bagelproject – Fickle Heart (46.24)
08. belgianfog – Wait For Help (48.45)
09. Female Band – One Day the Sea Will Swallow Me (57.01)
10. Suuns – Edie’s Dream (1.03.12)

Our next BAD FUN takes place on Friday 8th March at Henry’s Cellar Bar and features well-established Toad favourite Jonnie Common, with support from FOUND’s beep-master general River of Slime and BAD FUN debutants, the Newcastle (somewhat tangentially) by way of Edinburgh Shift-Static.  Tickets can be found here, and of course it would be splendid to see you there, should you be so inclined.

Last Saturday’s gig was amazing fun, although The Black Tambourines managed not to smash the place to pieces this time, so I suppose it was relatively subdued by their standards.

Despite Jonnie’s recent exile in the very far North of the country, he has actually been surprisingly productive over the last few months.  The video above showcases both one of the songs from and also the making of JWC008, an EP which can only be purchased in badge form here, and he’s also just released a new single called Figurehead on the brilliant Red Deer Club Records.

Both bits of work are typical of Jonnie, as wistful as they are playful, as well as being eminently hummable. Between this, the infectious energy of River of Slime, and the intrigue of seeing a relative newcomer for the first time I think we have a fine night planned here, so hopefully I’ll see you there.

The Stiffcast is not the cheap innuendo I am sure you assume it to be.  No no no, not that sort of stiff, the sort where every joint and muscle in your body aches because you are woefully out of shape and attempting to run around like a teenager.  That sort of stiff.

Yes, after three months out with a groin strain (no sniggering at the back, please) I have tried to go back to the gym and to five-a-sides over the last week or two with what can only be described as somewhat mixed results. I am sure it didn’t use to be this hard to get back in the saddle, as it were.

The one undeniable result, however, is that I have been hobbling around like an old man, because every morning without fail I have been stiff as a fucking board with aching muscles and sore joints. This must be what it’s like to wake up as C3PO.

Toadcast #259 – The Stiffcast by Song, By Toad on Mixcloud

Direct download: Toadcast #259 – The Stiffcast

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01. The Black Tambourines – Ghost at a Party (Toad Session) (00.25)
02. Jonnie Common – Figurehead (Dry) (05.57)
03. Peace Arrow – Gems (11.27)
04. The Hundredth Anniversary – The Jump (15.05)
05. Shiny Darkly – Diana (20.27)
06. The Android Angel – Her Shoulders (27.27)
07. Weeknight Sinners – Give Me a Taste (35.07)
08. True Gents – Honeycomb Heart (39.57)
09. North American War – Geraniums on a Spit (47.46)
10. Mat Riviere – Wool (54.20)

Morning all, and welcome back to the Friday Fives, where I bring you five things which have caught my attention this week, and in which you reciprocate by either adding your own wee things in the comments section, or mocking me for my buffoonish, shallow choices.  Because you would do that, wouldn’t you, being the internet and all.

Anyhow, let’s get going shall we, so we can commence with the talking of bollocks and you can distract me from the tedious accounts work I will have to spend my afternoon doing.  Blech.

1. Paperman

You won’t find me tipping my hat to Disney very often, but they recently released the charming, if slightly schmaltzy, animated short you see embedded at the top of the page. The idea was to create something which combined modern computer animation with the rather warmer nature of hand-drawn artwork. Personally I think it’s still a little too computery, but then I do love drawings more than most people.  There’s a nice wee playlist of ‘making of’ videos here too.

2. Song (and gig) of the Day: Jonnie Common & Leith Tape Club

The awesome Jonnie Common has a new single out on Red Deer Club, and it is his usual excellent work.  I’ve embedded it below, but Jonnie is also excellent live, so for those of you living locally I suggest you go down to Cruz tomorrow for the Leith Tape Club all-dayer.  You can get tickets here – the link is actually in the top-right corner of that page.

2pm Little Pebble
3pm Jonnie Common
4pm Fuzzystar
5pm special guest
6pm Gav Prentice
7pm Lomond Campbell & River of Slime
8pm The Last Battle
9pm The Oates Field
10pm Book Group

3. House For Crazy People

I have to thank Tim on Twitter for spotting this, a truly hilariously awful house in Portobello in London.  Hilariously awful, and absolutely brilliant at the same time.  It’s the kind of house which is actually a work of art.  A deranged work of art, and a glorious celebration of the very worst of taste, but a work of art nevertheless.  And one which would be instantly ruined by the presence of actual people and their things, of course. Anyway, click on the link above and have a look at the dozens of photos on the Foxton’s site, and there you will see the crowning glory of the whole carnival of comedy: Batman.  An actual fucking Batman in the hallway.  And why? Because fucking Batman, that’s why!

4. First New Yo La Tengo Video Since the Middle Ages

Apparently Yo La Tengo haven’t made a music video since 1862 or something like that, but they’ve decided to make one to go with the release of their new album, and both are brilliant.  Honestly, I haven’t been that keen on the last couple of Yo La Tengo albums – they’ve seemed a little flat and stodgy to me – but Fade is absolutely cracking.

5. Dictionary of Victorian Slang

Yes, seriously. An entire, fully browseable dictionary of Victorian slang can be perused here.  There is some weird, some wonderful, and some disappointingly banal stuff in there.  But more than anything else, it makes me wonder, were I to end up in a Victorian conversation, if I would understand a single fucking thing any of them said.

 What the fuck am I doing calling something a Currycast, I hear you ask.  Music cannot be curry-themed, and nor is it.  This is called the Currycast simply because I am visiting my Granddad in Manchester and he has just asked me to cook a curry for him tomorrow night.

I have never cooked curry before, and Mrs. Toad makes such a fine one that I have never really been motivated to have a go, myself.  Why bother making the second-best curry in the house, after all. However, I made a gigantic leg of roast lamb today, so there are lots of leftover bits of cabbage, carrots, lamb juice and bits to make a fine stock base, and so as long as the flavour is right the richness should be okay.

Despite being raised abroad, when we were kids roast dinners in my grandparents’ house were amongst our most vivid memories, so the fact that me and my little brother get to come here ourselves to cook roast dinners now is a really nice feeling.  It feels like we’re helping to continue a tradition in which we were raised, despite the fact the he lives in America and I in Scotland means neither of us spend much time in Manchester these days.

Direct download: Toadcast #253 – The Currycast

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01. Inspector Tapehead – I Am Your Pedigree (00.12)
02. Mothersday – Shoulder Soldier (08.59)
03. King Post Kitsch – Blood and Glitter (15.52)
04. Flutes – Auld Archie (20.11)
05. Flume – Star Eyes (24.33)
06. Sweet Baboo – Let’s Go Swimming Wild (32.12)
07. Harness Flux – Stockholders (38.41)
08. Nehemiah St. Danger – Nehemiah St-Danger Lost and Alone in a New Paradigm (Venus of the Tumbling Towers) (44.15)
09. The Hand to Man Band – The Down Moveables (46.42)
10. Adios Amigo – Take Me to Heaven (54.01)
11. Meursault – Song For Martin Kippenberger (Jonnie Common Remix) (1.01.11)

Jonnie Common is a mental genius.  A genial genius, but mental nevertheless.  His Master of None album was one of the true highlights of last year, and after a quiet spell up on one of the isles of Scotland he’s back with a new release.  The PR campaign has been so relentless and efficient for this EP that I’m not sure he even told his wife about it, but I managed to stumble across this wee video and it seems that despite his best efforts, Mr. Common has failed to keep the whole thing entirely secret, although he gave it a very good shot indeed!

As you might expect from Jonnie, this is gentle pop with an eccentric twist, simultaneously charming and amusing and at the same time sort of melancholy. It’s the kind of music which instantly makes you feel like you’ve known the singer for years, and that the emotions in the song are shared between you and have been discussed in the pub many a time since you first met. Jonnie and I are pals, but even with me what I have just described isn’t really the case, but something in his delivery makes it feel like it really is, and there is something warming and true about this wee tune which I can’t help but love.

It is being released on a series of glass badges, and the details are all here.  I haven’t heard the whole EP yet, but So-Called Summer is awesome, and I have ordered my badge already. Hooray for Christmas.

Well, after a thin couple of weeks there are some rather excellent things happening in Edinburgh over the next few days.  Except I won’t be here because of a wedding.  Drat.  People really shouldn’t get married.  Mrs. Toad and I are married now, that’s all the weddings there need to be.

Alternatively, I suppose, if people weren’t getting married all the time I might well take no holidays at all, so I suppose I should be a little less ungrateful and just take the opportunity to put my feet up.

Anyhow, the Ides of Toad makes a return as well, with our next gig on Wednesday.  Which is tomorrow!  You all better come.  Please.

Wednesday 16th May: Slow Down Molasses & Smackvan play The Ides of Toad at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

As I have mentioned already, Slow Down Molasses (see video above) were fantastic at The Great Escape.  The sound was a right bloody racket when they got all three guitars, keyboards and both drummers going, but they’re still a subtle band, with a light touch.  Smackvan are a somewhat quieter proposition, and their latest album is one of the best things to come out of Scotland this year.

Friday 18th May: The Still Corners, Honeyblood & Magic Eye at Sneaky Pete’s.

This show is in celebration of This is Music turning six, which is probably something like 57 in promoter years.  The lineup is bloody exceptional though, with newcomers the dreamy Magic Eye and the raucous Honeyblood providing local support to Subpop’s excellent Still Corners.

Saturday 19th May: Jonnie Common, Mitchell Museum & Gav from Over the Wall play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

Jonnie Common is a pop genius, pure and simple.  Mitchell Museum are back after officially retiring two years ago, and Gav from Over the Wall has some solo stuff coming out very soon.  So this, as much as there is, is probably Limbo royalty, just about.

Sunday 20th May: Jonquil & Sebastian Dangerfield at the Electric Circus.

Jonquil seem, according to their website anyway, to be tropical pop these days.  I am pretty sure when I saw them they were a sort of orchestral alt-folk band, although I could be wrong about that, because I was embarrassingly drunk at the time.  Anyhow, they’re playing the Electric Circus on Sunday, so you can find out for yourselves I suppose.

Welcome to Toadcast number 215.  This is called the Kingcast because I have been on a bit of run promoting gigs recently, with three in the last eight days or so.  Given almost none of my friends or music associates came to these gigs and that the list of attending guests on the Facebook event pages made for pretty grisly reading, I was grimly expecting the gigs to be absolutely awful – barely attended wastelands of funlessness – but every single one was brilliant.

The people who came were almost all people I didn’t know, with a few welcome exceptions, and the gigs themselves were absolutely immense fun.  There was probably more dancing this weekend that at anything Toad-related in history.

So today I have been looking through the forthcoming gigs and getting my ticket links live and stuff like that, and realising that we have some absolute stonkers coming up.  So with a bit of luck, and rather depending on whereabouts in the world you’re listening from, I might well see you there.

Dancing!  At a Toad gig!  I know!

Direct download: Toadcast #215 – The Kingcast

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01. Withered Hand – Heart Heart (00.26)
02. Willy Mason – Restless Fugitive (07.57)
03. Robert George Saull – One Sugar Day (16.47)
04. Narrow Sparrow – Joe Meeks Dream (22.59)
05. The Dirty Three – Sometimes I Forget You’ve Gone (28.41)
06. Jad Fair, Hifiklub & KPT Michigan (32.20)
07. Jonnie Common – I’ll Be Back (38.17)
08. Shudderpulps – Time (45.10)
09. Honeyblood – No Spare Key (48.33)
10. The Soft Walls – Black Cat (54.06)