Comacast?  Yes, because of the imminent onset of a post-Festival coma.

After trying to juggle two gigs of my own, two gigs I wanted to attend, the Antifolk-off and the visit of a good friend I haven’t seen in a couple of years and the Retreat Festival this weekend I think I am now ready to officially declare August over and collapse into a somnolent stupour.

In short, I need to sleep.  A lot.

Mrs. Toad came back from a ten-day holiday last night as well, and that always restores a sense of equilibrium.  She doesn’t do much except swear at me and tell me to leave her the fuck alone, but for some reason I find that inordinately comforting in times of stress.  I think it might be because I am a fucking idiot.

Direct download: Toadcast #189 – The Comacast

1. PAWS – Booger (00.08)
2. Trwbador – Sun in the Winter (07.09)
3. The Walkmen – On the Water (16.35)
4. Arcade Fire – City With no Children (20.05)
5. Enfant Bastard – Pob is Not Interested (26.33)
6. Michael Kiwanuka – Tell Me a Tale (34.49)
7. Electrelane – I’m on Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover) (42.22)
8. The Love Gestures – Joanna Newsom 666 (49.55)
9. Ghost Outfit – Those Ghosts (52.54)
10. Lach – Blue Overcoat (60.12)

Video: Vimeo – YouTube
Photos: Flickr - Blueback Hotrod
Audio: zip download (right-click, save as).

Lach is the man behind the Antihoot, the New York open stage which gave rise to the term and the movement called Antifolk.  People bandy the word about so much these days it’s almost become as nebulous as the term ‘indie’, but it had a very specific origin and a very specific meaning back at the beginning.

Last year Lach brought the Antihoot to the Edinburgh Festival, and we recorded a Toad Session with him while he was here.  When we figured out that we would actually be releasing his new album as well, and that he would be returning to Edinburgh this year – running both the Antihoot at the Gilded Balloon as well as a free fringe show called Lach, the Waitress, the Walls and the Weirdos in The Speakeasy at Cabaret Voltaire – I figured we might as well wait a little while to publish this session.

Well Lach is back now, his album comes out on Song, by Toad Records on Monday and we are starting to get ready for both the one-man show at Cab Vol, and also the return of the Antihoot (tickets).  If you want to play at the Antihoot yourself, then just get in touch: info@antifolk.net.  The rules are that you get either two songs or eight minutes, whichever is shorter, and that has to include your setup, so best keep it simple, but otherwise pretty much anything goes.

Also, this year we’ll be picking a semifinalist each night, by a combination of audience acclaim and executive decision, and inviting them back to the Anti-idol on the last three nights of the show.  Those three nights will be recorded, with the best dozen or so performances being released on a Best of the Antihoot album on Song, by Toad Records.

As per usual with the Toad Sessions, the full interview podcast is immediately below, followed by free mp3 downloads of all the session tracks (zip file here), videos of the individual tracks themselves (all video here), and finally the tracklist for the podcast.  There aren’t as many pictures as usual, but that’s because we were a little short-staffed this time, and Dylan was too busy with the video camera to produce the usual number of pretty pictures.

Direct download: Toadcast #183 – Lach Toad Session

Lach – A Quiet Distance (Toad Session)

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Lach – Ambition Burns (Toad Session)

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Lach – Another Night Without You (Toad Session)

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Lach – Coffee Black (Toad Session)

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01. Lach – A Quiet Distance (Toad Session) (12.40)
02. The Love Gestures – Hey Man (16.40)
03. Phil Ochs – Small Circle of Friends (20.31)
04. Lach – Ambition Burns (Toad Session) (32.41)
05. Kirk Kelly – Stephen Foster (37.42)
06. Roger Manning – Pearly Blues (41.14)
07. Lach – Another Night Without You (Toad Session) (55.31)
08. Neil Halstead – Might Engine (62.05)
09. Lach – Coffee Black (Toad Session) (75.06)

When I first moved up here, just about three and a half years ago, I was moaning about the lifelessness of the Edinburgh music scene and the fact that the long lost T on the Fringe was the only time anything interesting at all actually happened.

These days that is bollocks, of course, so it was with some pride that I read this little something in the NME letters page this morning. Actually, Bart scanned it and emailed it to me because I don’t buy the NME, but you know what I mean. I don’t know who you are, Scott the Thief, but I will buy you a pint if you ever reveal your secret identity!

And now, to celebrate, some “snobby art school jazz pish”. Life is sweet!

Enfant Bastard – Outside

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Enfant Bastard – Plastic Bag

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