Song, by Toad

Welcome to this week’s Friday Fives, when we all choose the winners of the Communion Compilation Competition.  Those of you interested in this sort of thing will know that this competition is to win a copy of this lovely album, featuring all sorts of alt-folk (or whatever) royalty who have performed at the eponymous London club night run by a Mumford and a Cherbourg.

So, simple, please just list your favourite hipster photo from the following five examples, which I have chosen as being the best of all the submissions I received.  The top three will win a copy of the album on vinyl, and therefore be extremely pleased with themselves.

1. Erm, where do you think you are conquering, exactly?

2. Erm, shorts, manbag, some sort of peculiar shoe-related contraptions, yep, that’s just a tad too hip for me.

3. Erm, how many beads and how plunging a neckline are required to make you a total penis?  Ah yes, that many.

4. This man doesn’t think he’s cool, he is cool!

5. Hey!  Stand up and play yer fucking tunes you fuckers!

So, please de-lurk, have a chuckle at our chosen hipsters and then cast your votes.  There will be more silly questions than that of course, but the ‘which plonker makes you laugh the most’ question is currently by far the most pressing!

1. List the above pictures in order of preferred hipsters.
2. Name your most productive hipster-finding location.
3. At which age was your hipster peak (no matter how low)?
4. Give the fucking bastard cunting Beeb are closing 6Music, what the fuck radio stations are there left to listen to?
5. Please lay out your Friday drinking strategy.

And now here are some Edinburgh bands who you might not think of as Edinburgh bands, most of whom (except Aberfeldy of course) you might not think of as being Edinburgh bands.

Aberfeldy – Tom Weir

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Idlewild – When the Ship Comes In

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Helicopter Girl – Cry Mississippi

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Finley Quaye – Ultra Stimulation

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Lucky Jim – Our Troubles End Tonight

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I recorded this podcast marooned in the middle of France at my parents’ house, with no more musical resources than the compilation CDs I’ve been taking them constantly since I left home. It was quite weird to poke through all the old songs I’ve sent home over the years, actually.

There’s something unavoidably honest about the mixes you make for other people. Look back on the year or the decade yourself and you apply hindsight, selective memory and all sorts, but if you look at the stuff you send to other people then you don’t get the chance to quietly forget the shite because it looks a little unfashionable in hindsight.

Of course, due the benefits of hindsight and making sure I save face I am not playing you any of the shite because my ego is fragile and couldn’t stand the mockery if I told you the absolute and honest truth. So here is a version of the music I used to send to my parents, handily sanitised so I don’t make a total tit out of myself.

Right, happy Christmas, I’m off to watch Back to the Future…

Toadcast #101 – Boxing Day

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01. Sparklehorse – Eyepennies (02.48)
02. Evan Dando – Hard Drive (11.57)
03. Jay Farrar – Fool King’s Crown (14.57)
04. Lucky Jim – You Stole My Heart Away (21.31)
05. Mark Lanegan – Wedding Dress (29.39)
06. Grand National – Boner (32.34)
07. Arizona Amp & Alternator – Baby, it’s Cold Outside (41.29)
08. The Zincs – Finished in This Business (46.50)
09. Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel (54.10)
10. Tom Waits – The Part You Throw Away (61.23)

It’s that time of the week once more, when I pop over to Fresh Air Towers and pollute the airwaves of Edinburgh’s innocent student population with my ranting and rambling for a couple of hours.  Yes, I am on Edinburgh’s student radio station between the hours of 6.30pm and 8pm this evening (British Summer Time, I think)

To listen, go to the Fresh Air homepage and click on the big Listen Live button in the top left.

I’ll update this post with the playlist as I go along, and you should all feel free to chip in with comments here and there, should you have anything to add, or just generally feel abusive.  Oh, and apparently I was voted Best Specialist Show at the awards on Saturday, while I was rather ungratefully off getting pished at Trampoline so, er, sorry guys and thanks very much.

1. Monty Python Theme Song (Oh yes, yes I did!)
2. Cherry Ghost – Mathematics
3. Elk City – Los Cruzados
4. Tom Waits – Just the Right Bullets
5. Barton Carroll – Those Days Are Gone and My Heart is Breaking
6. Helicopter Girl – Cry Mississippi
7. Lucky Jim – Our Troubles End Tonight
8. Sad Day For Puppets – Little Light
9. Haunted House – Rattled Out in Makeup
10. Donny Hue & the Colors – Oh Lord
11. Tom Waits – What Keeps Mankind Alive
12. Eels – Devil’s Dog
13. Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – Bananfish Revolution
14. American Music Club – Mantovani the Mind Reader
15. Tom Waits – Bad Liver and a Broken Heart

That’s all for this week, folks.  Tune in again next week, same time, for the last show this semester.

Bugger me it’s a busy week in gigs this week, starting this very evening, which is annoying in a sense as I’d rather hoped to have a relaxing week.  Fat chance, it seems.  Sorry for the lack of chat, but there’s a fuck of a lot to list here and I have to get this done before the end of my lunch break.  Consequently these previews are going to be the shortest I’ve ever written.  It might seem slightly insulting to the bands involved, but huge apologies if it is, but I am really, really rushed this morning.

Monday 23rd March 2009: The Ghost Bees at the Bowery as part of the Place Project.

Very delicate and, yes, ghostly female indie-folk from the Maritimes in Canada – Nova Scotia I think.
Ghost Bees – Vampires of the West Coast

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Monday 23rd March 2009: Joe Gideon & the Shark, Paul Vickers & the Leg & Enfant Bastard at Cabaret Voltaire.

Lots of growly guitars.
Joe Gideon & the Shark – Civilisation

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Wednesday 25th March 2009: Schwervon, Withered Hand & Come in Tokyo at the Bowery.

Schwervon are part of the New York anti-folk stuff I do believe, albeit rather more punky that you might expect from a tag like that.
Schwervon – Pretty Slow

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Thursday 26th March 2009: Leith Tape Club upstairs at the Isobar, with Rob St. John, Jennifer Concannon, Randan Discotheque & Ottersgear.

A really friendly DIY night down in Leith.  Highly recommended.

Friday 27th March 2009: Tentracks and Oxjam at the Bowery, with Punch & the Apostles, Jesus H. Foxx, The Byrons & the Black Diamond Express.

The new Jesus H. Foxx stuff sounds really good, I’ve never seen the sheer carnival mentalism that is Punch & the Apostles, the Byrons make a good fucking racket and so, in a different style, do the Black Diamond Express.
The Byrons – Good Man

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Friday 27th March 2009: Oxjam presents Vashti Bunyan & Lucky Jim at the Roxy Art House (i.e.: upstairs at the Bowery).

Lucky Jim is rather lovely, in the singer-songwriter style and Vashti Bunyan took one of the biggest hiatuses in music history between her first and second albums of folk prettiness.
Lucky Jim – You’re Lovely To Me

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Saturday 28th March 2009: Broken Records at the Bedlam Theatre.

Should be quite an interesting show, this, because it’s a small venue and apparently the usual mayhem will be tempered somewhat in favour of something more tailored to the environment – should be good.
Broken Records – Wolves (Toad Session)

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Saturday 28th March 2009: The Phantom Band at Cabaret Voltaire (more Oxjammery).

I’m not so keen on the Phantom Band but I know a lot of you are, so I thought this was worth pointing out as well.
The Phantom Band – The Howling

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