Johnny Lynch very kindly suggested that I put together the bill for an all day hangover-buster/refueller the day after the Fence Collective’s Hott Loggz! Festival (see, Hott Toadzz – get it? get it?).

So, I have compiled a collection of the very finest Song, by Toad Records bands, as well as a couple of Toad Pals, and Johnny has arranged for us to use the Hew Scott hall from 2pm to 10pm, to allow those who have to be at work on the Monday to get back to their various homes.

There will be a bar in the room, and bangers and mash available upstairs at the AIA Hall, and a better way to spend a Sunday wasting time and talking pish I cannot imagine.

Tickets will be a fiver, and will be available on the door.

You may have noticed that on the Song, by Toad Records site we now have the rather fantastic Jonnie Common’s Deskjob for sale.  It’s not actually on the label of course, although a couple of Toad bands are featured, but I gave Jonnie a bit of a hand with some of the PR and stuff like that, so he gave me some to sell on the site as a thank you.

Given that I now have a vested interest in selling the album I can’t really review it here, but I do want to at least try and describe the thing, because it’s a great project, which is why I was so determined more people had to hear it.

To describe it as briefly as possible, Jonnie invited ten bands he loves to record the barest of bare bones of a single track of theirs, and he then built up the song around that framework.  As well as being a really nice idea, this also helps what might just end up as any other compilation hang together really well as an actual album, despite every song being written and sung by someone different.

For me, apart from obvious Toadly preferences like Meursault and Inspector Tapehead, the two standout tracks on this are by Adam Beattie and The Oates Field.  Both songs are kept relatively simple, and in fact for a project which hangs around its producer, it’s not unusual for Jonnie to treat the songs on Deskjob with a particularly light touch.

So, go to the Song, by Toad Records site to buy the CD and to Jonnie Common’s site to find out more about the man himself.

Adam Beattie – Bone Dry

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The Oates Field – Nae Luck

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Full tracklisting:
01. Panda Su – Eric is Dead
02. Adam Beattie – Bone Dry
03. Iona Marshall – Hearts
04. Adam P. Gorman – Hitchhiker
05. Meursault – And Butter Would Not Melt
06. The Oates Field – Nae Luck
07. Inspector Tapehead – Pherenzik Tear
08. Autistic Angus – Sleepless
09. Conquering Animal Sound – Maschine
10. eagleowl – Sorry I Spoke

Snooze!  Yes, a genuine, proper weekend snooze was had this morning and it was fucking amaaaaazing!  I haven’t actually had the chance to lazily sleep in for fucking months and it was an enormous pleasure.  And not even a guilty one, because I genuinely don’t have to rush about being efficient today.  Awesome!

This week’s podcast contains a fair bit of plugging, I have to confess.  Not all for myself though.  I plug the Kurt Vile tour, Jonnie Common’s Deskjob as well as his new album, the new Oates Field album and the new album by The Leg.

Then, just for good measure, I also plug the upcoming Ides of Toad gigs, and two new releases on Song, by Toad Records.  I hope it doesn’t get too much for you, but I don’t think so, because all the songs are very good and hopefully you know me well enough by now to know full well that I don’t plug anything I don’t genuinely like.  So there.  Enjoy.  That’s an order.

Direct download: Toadcast #190 – The Snoozecast

01. Jonnie Common – Infinitea (00.21)
02. The Oates Field – Nae Luck (09.50)
03. Adam Balbo – Just Singing a Song (15.37)
04. The Leg – Twitching Stick (17.22)
05. Kurt Vile – IN/OUT Blues (23.40)
06. Easter – Damp Patch (30.03)
07. Trips and Falls – I Learned Sunday Morning, on a Wednesday (38.41)
08. Rob St. John – Your Phantom Limb (41.39)
09. Sea Pinks – Fountain Tesserae (46.47)
10. Tuesday Glass – Franklin (50.16)
11. John Knox Sex Club – Above Us the Waves (59.23)

 Well fuck me this is brilliant.  Having been a fan of Down the Tiny Steps – Jonnie’s previous band – as well as Inspector Tapehead (of course!) I was both certain this would be good as well as entirely uncertain as to what it would actually sound like.

He’s a funny fucker, Jonnie Common, equally at home as a producer of glitchy electronica, whimsical pop or gently plucked acoustic music.  He slips so seamlessly between these incarnations that I found myself being confused by something which shouldn’t have been confusing, really.

The multi-faceted nature of his music made it hard to imagine what the record would sound like, but that was over-thinking things, because it sounds exactly like I just described it: a seamless blend of glitchy electronics, whimsical pop and gentle acoustica.

Master of None isn’t just a fucking brilliant album, it is also massively characteristic of the man himself.  Jonnie is a friend of mine* and it’s odd how much this music embodies his actual personality.  I may not be able to explain this to you in a way which will mean much to those who don’t know him, but the laid back charm, warmth, idiosyncrasy and sheer enjoyment of this record seem to spring straight from the heart of Jonnie’s odd wee soul.  He is the kind of guy it is pretty much impossible to dislike, and this album feels sort of like that too.

Even the white boy rapping moment of Bed Bugs, something which always makes me a little twitchy, seems to work well in the context of this album not because it’s a splendid example of rapping (I personally wouldn’t be able to tell the difference anyway, for reasons of ignorance) but because it is in no way contrived, and fits well within the overall atmosphere of a record which seems at all times entirely comfortable with itself.

The lyrics reinforce this effect, being a disarming combination of the candid and the surreal, including gems like: “I can’t skateboard to save my life, but I like to imagine what kind of bizarre scenario might involve me having to do so”. It seems less like Jonnie has written lyrics, and more like he has simply opened his brain and allowed every digression, distraction and musing to spill into the record. Some of it is touching and some downright peculiar but somehow, instead of seeming either banal or deliberately obscure, it simply reinforces the approachability and delight of the album.

It’s also a record which compels you to move – even me! I don’t mean get up and leap around like a loon, but there is – dare I use the expression – a genuinely infectious groove to the whole thing which just means I can’t sit still whilst listening to it. I may not dance, because I basically can’t, but I have to do something!

This unavoidable incitement to stop everything and respond to the music in whatever clumsily twitching way you have at your disposal is key to the main reason this is a great album.  Balls to the accessibility, the lovely contrast of sounds, the lush, warm production – these things are all true, but at heart this is a great album mostly because it is packed with absolutely immense tunes.  Quirky they may be, but many of these have the heart of massive pop hits.

Infinitea, Hand-Hand, Summer is For Going Places, Photosynth… these songs are absolute fucking gems which blow the tits off the cack which passes for popular music these days, and they should be massive.  Absolutely no disrespect to Red Deer Club, who are a great label and one I do my best to imitate with Song, by Toad Records, but when you release with smaller labels they of course don’t have the financial clout to force things into the public consciousness the way the big ‘uns do.  And with this album I can’t help but wistfully imagine a world where Jonnie Common is a massive, global pop star.  It would be a far better place than the one we currently inhabit.

Jonnie Common – Summer is for Going Places

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Jonnie Common – Photosynth

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Website | More mp3s | Buy from Red Deer Club

*Yes, I know, massive subjectivity alert, but show me a music reviewer who thinks they are objective and I will show you a fucking deluded idiot. At least I try my best to flag up my subjectivity so you can take it into account when you’re reading.

It’s the Gigpocalypse! Gigmageddon! A gigantic week-long party of musical funz! The final kick in the balls your exhausted, fading liver can’t quite handle before it gives up the ghost and implodes altogether.

After a pretty lacklustre musical showing thus far, the Edinburgh Festival finally earns its spurs this week with what can only be described as the inevitable descent of total and utter carnage.

Lach’s one-man show is back on (after illness) at Cabaret Voltaire, free every night this week at 8:45pm, and of course the Antihoot will be on every night this week except Tuesday from midnight to 3am in the Gilded Balloon.

Then there’s also the next two Toad at the Circus gigs, firstly an acoustic strummer affair, and then on Friday a thumping racket.  I will be DJing at these gigs, but don’t let that put you off, they might still be quite fun.

As well as conventional gigs, Avalanche Records have a full list of really rather excellent in-stores this week too, featuring the likes of Emily Scott and Edinburgh School for the Deaf – full details here. Oh, and of course the week finally stumbles to an alcoholic close with the return of the fantabulous Retreat Festival.  It will be awesome, and my liver will be begging for mercy long before the end.

Tuesday 23rd August 2011: Ulrich Schnauss & Jonnie Common at the Electric Circus.

This will be a carnival of electro loveliness.  I know less about Mr. Schnauss, but Jonnie’s album is pretty damn close to being the best Scottish album of the year, for my money.

Jonnie Common – Summer is For Going Places

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Wednesday 24th August 2011: Neil Pennycook, Benjamin Shaw & John Egdell at the Electric Circus.

It’ll be an all-acoustic affair for our third Toad at the Circus gig.  Apart from Meursault’s Neil Pennycook performing solo, we have the amazing Benjamin Shaw coming up from London and the equally excellent John Egdell from Newcastle.

Benjamin Shaw – 12,000 Sentinels

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Wednesday 24th August 2011: Sebadoh at Cabaret Voltaire.

This is a bit straightforward isn’t it.  Sebadoh are lo-fi indie rock legends (to paint with the broadest of brushes) and they are playing in Edinburgh.  I think this might be sold out though, so there might be little point listing it but umm… it’s Sebadoh, y’know.

Sebadoh – Nothing Like You

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Thursday 25th August 2011: Withered Hand, eagleowl, Woodpigeon (solo) & Meursault (solo) at the Queen’s Hall.

Something of an Edinburgh all-stars gig this one.  If you aren’t from here and want to know why those of us in Edinburgh have been so excited by our homegrown music scene recently, then this and Retreat are the ones to show you.

Withered Hand – Religious Songs

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Thursday 25th August 2011: Willy Mason at Cabaret Voltaire.

Willy Mason has sort of slipped off the critical radar since the pop smash (relatively speaking of course) of Oxygen back in about 2005 or so.  I saw him live back in London before moving up here actually, and it was absolutely brilliant.

Willy Mason – We Can Be Strong

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Friday 26th August 2011: Brown Brogues, Ghost Outfit & Rollor at the Electric Circus.

Let’s see the babbling hen sluts talk over this.  Fuck you, motherfuckers, tonight is going to be loud!  Brown Brogues are a clattering racket and according to The Pigeon Post Ghost Outfit are the best live band in Manchester at the moment.

Brown Brogues – Treet U Beta

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Friday 26th & Saturday 27th August 2011: Lach’s Antihoot Antifolk-off at the Gilded Balloon.

As the Antihoot has been taking place this year Lach and myself have been selecting, with the help of the audience, the favourite act of each night and we’re inviting them all back this weekend, where we’ll be recording the performances to release as The Best of the Antihoot on Song, by Toad Records.  It’ll also be a fantastic way to have a big fuck off party to celebrate the end of an awesome run at this year’s Festival which has, of course, seen me make my stand-up comedy debut.  But the less said about that the better.

Saturday 27th August 2011: The Machine Room, Land of Cakes & Plastic Animals at Sneaky Pete’s.

Continuing the excellence of their Festival booking, Sneaky Pete’s have three excellent new Edinburgh bands on on Saturday.   I’ll be at Retreat, but if it happens to sell out then this looks like an excellent alternative.

The Machine Room – Your Head on the Floor Next Door

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Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th August 2011: Retreat Festival at Pilrig St. Paul’s church.

There are a couple of events which define my musical calendar.  Most Fence events would pretty much be included in there, and the other would be Retreat.  The best bands in Edinburgh, fucking lovely people and the nicest atmosphere at any music even I’ve been to in the city.  Bart Owl is a hero. A sarcastic, ginger hero.

For those of you who missed this week’s podcast (and if you did, then shame on you indeed) then you will know that Mrs. Toad and I went down to London for the weekend to visit some old school friends.  It was a little odd.  The couples with kids asked the married couples about marriage and the couples who were married asked the ones with kids about kids, but none of the couples who were married were the ones with the kids.  If only any of our gay pals had been there we’d probably have been able to engineer the final downfall of Old-fashioned Family Values (TM) all by ourselves.

Anyhow, we had a great time, but it can be a little tiring meeting people at lunch, then other people for dinner, and drinking all the way through both.  Mrs. Toad has already taken to her bed wailing about illness, and I doubt I will be putting in much of a shift once my daily tasks are over.

We have our next Ides of Toad gig on Saturday though, and I think that is the first exciting thing I am obliged to do this week, so there will be plenty of taking it easy I suspect. I may even start a new book.  Oooh, you can just feel the rock ‘n’ roll oozing from my pores can you not.

Friday 20th May 2011: This is Music 5th birthday celebrations at Sneaky Pete’s.

I find it amazing to think that This is Music is now five years old.  In promoter years – loosely similar to dog years – that is a hell of a long time, and I tip my hat to Jim and Tallah who are doing the work these days, as well as pals like HP, who only recently quite the team.  To celebrate their figuratively greying hairs they are hosting two nights, one on Friday at Sneaky Pete’s where Chad Valley will be making an appearance, and one the following week at Cabaret Voltaire with Penguins Kill Polar Bears.

Saturday 21st May 2011: Jonnie Common, Kill the Captains &  Enfant Bastard at the Wee Red Bar.

Jonnie Common has a new album on the way, which I can promise you is completely brilliant.  The video below is for Photosynth, the first single, and one of my all-time favourite songs of Jonnie’s.  Kill the Captains are on Armellodie Records through in Glasgow and when Johny Lamb recorded his Thirty Pounds of Bone Toad Session a couple of months ago he described them as a/ awesome and b/ face-meltingly loud, which sounds very promising indeed. And as for Enfant Bastard, well Cammy has been adding depth and beats to his chiptunes recently, and the whole thing sounds really good.  It might be the last time we see him perform for a wee while too. Tickets for this event can be had here for a fiver.

Anyone managed to avoid my relentless plugging of this weekend’s Ides of Toad gig?  No, thought not, there’s nowhere to hide when I start riding the spam train down the middle of the information superhighway.  Or er… something like that, anyway.

Anyhow, the Ides of Toad gigs are now booked up all the way through to the Summer, at which point they will take a break over the Edinburgh Festival as I get a bit more involved in the Festival this year.

So, given the people reading this blog are probably the people most likely to want to come along, I figured I would give you a handy preview list, so you know what’s in store for you over the next few months – all tickets can be bought either at Avalanche Records on the Grassmarket or online here.

Saturday 23rd April 2011: Kid Canaveral, Thee Single Spy & Monster Island at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

I think you already know quite enough about this one so, er, let’s move on shall we.

Tuesday 10th May 2011: Francois & the Atlas Mountains, This is the Kit & Babe at the Bristo Hall.

The Bristo Hall is upstairs from the Forest Cafe, and this is part of the Roofraiser series of events being put on to help save the Forest.  It will also serve as something of a Homegame wind-down for those of us going, and for those who aren’t it is the chance to see Francois, This is the Kit and Babe, the last of which is Gerard from Findo Gask’s new project.

Saturday 21st May 2011: Jonnie Common, Kill the Captains & Enfant Bastard at the Wee Red Bar.

Jonnie is a pop genius hiding behind excessive modesty, Kill the Captains make a face-melting racket and Enfant Bastard is the only person we could think of to make sense of a bill this diverse!

Saturday 4th June 2011: Avital Raz house gig.

This has just been arranged as my friend Baz (who is putting on the excellent-looking Imploding Inevitable Festival to which you should all go) was looking for dates and I was really keen, but with all the gigs we have on at this time I was a bit scared to take on anything else.  So a house gig seemed like the ideal solution, not least because we haven’t had one for ages.

Friday 17th June 2011: Meursault & Inspector Tapehead at The Caves.

Umm, gosh The Caves is a big venue. So you fuckers better all come to this because I have never booked anywhere this size before!

Saturday 2nd July 2011: Edinburgh School for the Deaf, The Louche FC & Spook School at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

This could, and hopefully will, get noisy.  Edinburgh School for the Deaf make a ferocious racket, and The Louche FC may have distinctly innocent-sounding vocals, but the guitar is nasty as hell.  And I know nothing about Spook School bar the song on their Bandcamp page above, but they sound really promising.

Saturday 16th July 2011: The Second Hand Marching Band at The Wee Red Bar.

Alright, this bill might not be entirely finished just yet but I promise it will be excellent when it is.

Does Carl Barat at the Liquid Rooms on Thursday qualify as an interesting gig for this page?  I am not sure.  A couple of years ago it might have.  I saw Dirty Pretty Things at the Corn Exchange back in 200somethingsomething and, much like their album, found them to be highly enjoyable but always slightly short of earth-shattering.

Somehow, not all that many years later, the gig seems almost completely irrelevant, both to me and, I imagine, to almost anyone reading this. No wonder musicians often end up with a love-hate relationship with their fans – we can be a fickle bunch of bastards and no mistake.

Anyhow, it’s pretty quiet this week, so I am going to break from precedent and list a Glasgow gig for a change.  You’ll see why…

Wednesday 6th April 2011: Jonnie Common’s Deskjob launch at the Captain’s Rest (Glasgow).

See, normally I wouldn’t list a Glasgow gig, but this one is a bit special.  Jonnie is launching Deskjob this week, which is a collaborative album whereby some of his favourite bands came round to his house and recorded the bare bones of a song, and he then built up the rest of the song around this.

He’s adamant that they aren’t remixes, so I suppose you would have to call this more of an old-fashioned producer’s album.  All but one of the bands (I think) are getting together at the Captain’s Rest in Glasgow on Wednesday, and Jonnie’s being a little elusive about previews, so I am going to just embed his thirty second snippets here instead of including a downloadable song as I usually might.
Jonnie Common presents DESKJOB – album preview (paper)clips by Jonnie Common

Wednesday 6th April 2011: Broken Records (acoustic) at the Bristo Hall.

I am not sure exactly how acoustic this is going to be, but it is the latest in an ongoing series of fundraising gigs being held to help save the Forest Cafe from extinction, after the collapse of the Edinburgh University Settlement.   Broken Records can go from very loud indeed to extremely minimal with equal success, so I highly recommend this. They probably won’t be quite as pared-down as in this video, but I still like it:

Thursday 7th April 2011: Wide Days at the Teviot, with live showcases in the evening.

There’s more to explain about Wide Days than can be discussed in this brief paragraph, but here are the very brief highlights: four seminars during the day, based on providing as much practical advice to DIY musicians as possible, followed by a series of live showcases in the evening, with bands like Withered Hand, Paws, Rachael Sermanni and several others playing gigs at a variety of venues across Edinburgh.  Go to their website for a more detailed explanation – and see you there.

Sunday The Late Call, The Japanese War Effort & The Wee Rogue at the Wee Red Bar.

The Gentle Invasion’s return to the world of promotion so pleased me that I managed to forget to include this initially, so sorry about that! The Late Call make rather lush acoustic pop, The Japanese War Effort could be playing anything from solo with guitar to solo with all sorts of loop pedals and odd boxes which make strange noises, and The Wee Rogue play gorgeously hushed folk songs. This will be a good gig, I can pretty much promise you.

Right, after an unspeakable beast of a week last week, handling the diciest of dicey session, lost bands, exploding PAs and jetlag, this shall be the week of brutal efficiency.  Vorsprung Durch Technik and all that sort of thing.

It is also the week we finalise the Lach masters, the King Post Kitsch vinyl master for the Don’t You Touch My Fucking Honeytone single (May 16th) and get the print press promotional work moving for his album, The Party’s Over.  Things, in short, are in full swing.

Lower Dens, The Scottish Enlightenment and Edinburgh School for the Deaf were all bloody excellent at Sneaky Pete’s last night, but I didn’t see all that many of you fuckers there.  Shame on you all, shame indeed!

There aren’t all that many conventional gigs knocking about Edinburgh this week, but there are certainly some interesting ones.

Friday 1st April 2011: Arrington De Dionyso & The Leg at the Bristo Hall.

This will lurch between unlistenable nonsense and mental genius, I would imagine, as the best music should.  The more recognisable elements seem to be at least somewhat related to a Beefhearty stomp, but that’s just one touchstone for what a quick listen to De Dionyso’s MySpace (for that’s all I know about him) shows to be a rather broad spectrum of styles.  Also, the Leg are fucking awesome.

Arrington De Dionysio – The Invisible New

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Saturday 2nd April 2011: Two Wings & Family Elan at Old St. Paul’s Church Hall.

Two Wings first came to my attention a few weeks ago, and I am really interested in what little of their stuff exists so far.  It’s quite melodramatic, flighty, psychedelic folk, but it has plenty of balls and force, and I will be really interested to hear where they go from here.  I don’t really know anything about Family Elan, but Powan Presents put on really good gigs, so I would say that if they are good enough for them, then they are good enough for me.

Saturday 2nd April 2011: Meursault, Conquering Animal Sound & Jonnie Common play Limbo at The Voodoo Rooms.

I haven’t actually seen Meursault play since they acquired a fiddle player, a drummer and a bass guitarist, so this will be a weird experience for me – almost as if the label has signed a new band, who sound suspiciously like an old band we used to know.  Conquering Animal Sound and Jonnie Common shouldn’t need any introduction on these pages, but if you don’t know them, take my word for it, they’re excellent.

Meursault – Flittin’ (Demo)

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[Edit: Fuck me for being an idiot, it's Haddowfest this weekend as well.  What a tool!  The lineup looks a little patchy, but there are some good bands on there, and I'm really impressed with how this festival has grown over the last couple of years.]

I am Ruthless for this week’s show on Fresh Air Radio, so it will just be me prattling on by myself instead.  I have a John Darnielle tribute to the assault on organised labour in Wisconsion, I have the original version of that song, and I have some Withered Hand, in honour of his SXSW visa troubles.

Other than that, I am pretty worn out from a night of epic drinking in Stockton (which is not even Middlesbrough) last night after the excellent seminar thingy hosted by The Generator at which I (inevitably) drank and talked far too much.  There is a certain inevitability to these things, isn’t there.

Live from 8pm UK time – click here to listen.

As per usual the playlist will appear below as I play things, and feel free to swing by the comments and have your say.

1. Lil Daggers – Give Me the Pill
2. King Post Kitsch – Don’t You Touch My Fucking Honeytone
3. Meursault – And Butter Would Not Melt (from Jonnie Common’s Deskjob)
4. Withered Hand – No Cigarettes
5. Tom Waits – Anywhere I Lay My Head
6. John Darnielle – There is Power in a Union
7. The Louche FC – Only in a Dream
8. Irk the River – Mind That Child
9. The Son(s) – Radar
10. REM – It Happened Today
11. Billy Bragg – There is Power in a Union
12. Elbow – Jesus is a Rochdale Girl
13. David Thomas Broughton – Ain’t Got no Sole
14. Clem Snide – Pale Blue Eyes
15. Warm Ghost – Open the Wormhole in Your Heart
16. Dam Mantle – Grey
17. Dolfish – Your Love is Bummin’ Me Out
18. The Honey Pies – Hair of the Dog