Firstly, the flurry of posts yesterday, from my rather tardy podcast to radio show post, meant that my brother’s Sunday Supplement – a rant about classical music – was buried rather too fast, so please do go back and check it out if you have a little time to waste this afternoon.

Secondly, the Edge Festival goes bloody nuts this week, and if I listed all the gigs then I’d be here all day, and there really is no need for that, so you can have it in paragraph form instead: on Monday 23rd we have Field Music at Sneaky Pete’s and Bear in Heaven at Electric Circus (late).  Tuesday sees The Phantom Band at the Electric Circus, Wednesday Eels at the Picturehouse and Thursday Mark Lanegan at the Liquid Room (who have finally got a website worthy of the name).  Friday is quiet, and then on the weekend we have Harlem at Sneaky Pete’s on Saturday and Modest Mouse at the Picturehouse on Sunday.  All these things you can Google yourselves if you are interested, and there is more info on the Edge site, here.

When it comes to more homegrown things, however, there is still plenty on this week, a good deal at the reassuringly active Bristo Hall – a really nice space which doesn’t get used as often as it might.

Monday 23rd August 2010: Pet, The Leg, The Pineapple Chunks, Sara & the Snakes at the Bristo Hall.

This might well be a late one (11pm-3am) so check it out before you go or you’ll be totally fucking wasted by the time the first band comes on.  I haven’t heard much from the Chunks for a while, as I believe they’ve been recording, so it would be rather cool if there were some new material here to be enjoyed.  There’s quite some distance covered from Sara & the Snakes’ swampy, bluesy garage stuff, the Chunks’ ramshackle whateverthefuckitistheyplay, and the Leg, who are so good they makes themselves sick down themselves (or so I hear anyway, because I have yet to see them live, for shame).

The Pineapple Chunks – Art Storage

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Tuesday 24th August 2010: White Heath, French Wives, Fiction Faction (Formerly Casino Brag,) Sebastian Dangerfield, Washington Irving, and Foxgang at the Bristo Hall.

This is a big lineup selected by Foxgang for their Festival Special.  Given the reluctance of local promoters to do anything at all during the festival (and I have every sympathy – I do the same) it is good to see these guys putting on their own showcase.  Highlights for me would be the indie-pop of Sebastian Dangerfield, and Glaswegian indie pair Washington Irving and French Wives, from Instinctive Raccoon.

Sebastian Dangerfield – The Flood (Pt.1)

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Saturday 28th August 2010: Broken Records and Sparrow & the Workshop at the Liquid Room.

These are two of the original Song, by Toad bands, in a certain sense.  Both now have labels and albums and careers, dammit, and it’s weird.  With debut albums fairly well in the rearview mirror I would imagine that there will be a fair amount of new material on show here, although I know Broken Records don’t want to ruin the surprise for when their second album comes out later in the year.  Their new stuff sounds a lot more layered and guitary and a lot less folky than their earliest material, and I am deeply curious about the new record.

Broken Records – A Leaving Song

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Saturday 28th/Sunday 29th August 2010: Retreat Festival at Pilrig St. Paul’s church.

A free download sampler featuring a large number of the bands playing can be downloaded from here, if you’d like a bit of a preview.  Other than that, take it from me, this is going to be the highlight of the Edinburgh gig calendar, no exceptions – full details here, and I reckon you should probably buy tickets in advance (weekend – Saturday – Sunday) too as I doubt there will be too many left on the door.

Tonight at 20:30 will see the return of my radio show to the airwaves of the student radio station in these parts; Fresh Air.  The station will be broadcasting through the Festival, and I myself have slots this evening, to kick things off, as well as Sunday 15th, 22nd and 29th (at the earlier time of 19:00-20:30) when Ruth will presumably be back.  The full schedule is (sort of) here.

We’re hoping to have live guests and stuff like that, and have Lach pencilled in for the 15th, to help publicise his Antihoot show, and have yet to line up anyone proper for the other two weekends yet.  We’ll hopefully get there though.

Anyhow, tonight Dylan will stand in for Ruth, and we will be previewing the Festival and talking pish about what music things are happening here throughout the month of August.

Listen Here – Live from 20:30BST

As ever, the tracklist will be updated live below and if you have any trouble with the feed you should be able to get rid of it by pausing and un-pausing the player.  Alternatively, you can find the station on iTunes as well, listed somewhere under college radio stations, I think.

1. Honeytrap – Little Johnny Winter
2. Mark Lanegan – Methamphetamine Blues
3. FOUND – Let Fidelity Break
4. Eels – Souljacker
5. Roky Erickson and Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams
6. The Japanese War Effort – Summer Sun Skateboard
7. Arcade Fire – City With No Children
8. Inspector Tapehead – Yarvil
9. Yusuf Azak – Turn on the Long Wire
10. King Post Kitsch – Walking on Eggshells
11. Milk – Wilma, There’s Been a Fire!
12. Benni Hemm Hemm – Retaliate
13. Lach – I Want To Be With You

Night night!

Whenever people discuss landmines they always show you pictures, either of the device itself, which is a harmless enough looking tin can, or they show you ‘plucky survivors’ with nicely sealed stumps and big grins – people who are presumably just happy not to be dead.  You don’t see a lot of the destroyed bodies of the people who are victims to these things – which is to say that because people seem to want to show us stories of courage in the face of adversity, we seem to miss out on understanding just how many human souls we utterly destroy when we discard the rules of normal everyday life.

The results of the American and British genocide in Iraq have been bad enough, but the US still refuses to sign up to an international ban on landmines and cluster munitions.  Between that and their continued insistence that they should have the right to torture people and imprison them without trial, I don’t think there’s very much argument that lobbying to try and limit the brutality represented by the picture above is needed.  Press release follows:

The Plug Five Project is a new non-profit initiative to promote the work of the anti-landmine charity MAG (Mines Advisory Group). Each month, the most blogged about bands will curate a new edition of Plug Five, a secret email-blog of recommendations, which will be delivered into email inboxes around the world at exactly 1pm on the last friday of every month – Blogs Not Bombs Day.

Issue 01 of Plug Five will include band and artist recommendations from John Vanderslice, Wavves, A Hawk and Hacksaw, Om (Emil Amos), Woods, King Creosote, Crystal Stilts, Imaad Wasif and many more.

As part of an effort to clear an area the size of San Francisco of landmines, guest bloggers are also offering up their current recommendations of bands and artists. Issue 01 will include contributions from Largehearted Boy, Culture Bully, PIXELHORSE, the Culture of Me and of course Song, by Toad.

Subscribers can also look forward to some exciting new plans being developed for the Plug Five Project, including a foray into the worlds of film and literature, collecting secret recommendations from its leading lights. In addition, readers should watch this space for a unique competition to win a signed 1973 LP recording of Charles Bukowski live in San Francisco, exclusively open to Plug Five subscribers.

To obtain the secret link for Plug Five, go to http://plugfiveproject.tumblr.com where you will be instructed on the next steps.

I know that was a bit spammy, but apart from drinking beer and having fun I don’t think we really make much of a contribution to the world around here, so please sign up and help out.

And apart from that, this is the Friday Five of course.  So I am either in Paris with Mrs. Toad fucking out two weeks of tension brought on by geographical deprivation, or alternatively I am sat in Edinburgh fucking airport gnashing my teeth and slowly going crazy.  So delurk and introduce yourselves, and chip in with your five.  Lurking is all well and good, but there’s no real point in the long run, is there.

1. What will next year’s bear/crystal/fuck/wolf band word be? Please give an example.
2. Favourite river.
3. Favourite soap opera.
4. Foreign accent you mimic far more often than you really should.
5. Favourite sandwich.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Every Night I Die at Miyagi’s

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Scout Niblett – Ruler of My Heart

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The Blue Aeroplanes – Big Sky

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Mark Lanegan – Nothin’ in the World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl

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Pink Mountaintops – Plastic Man, You’re the Devil

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Instead of being at a friend’s stag do in Berlin I am stranded in Edinburgh.  Even more frustrating, this stag do was going to involve going to a football match and indie clubs instead of strip bars and nightclubs, so would almost certainly have been excellent fun.  Given my general terror of stag nights, I was actually rather looking forward to this one.

I actually didn’t bother to have a stag do, largely because I couldn’t be bothered, but also I have never had enough of a predominance of male friends to make it seem anything other than awkward.  Contrary to the suspicions of the feminists I have outraged on these pages, I have always got along very well with women in general.  Presumably this is because I tend to judge people entirely on whether they irritate the shit out of me or not, so despite being an offensive bastard, I’m not all that prejudiced really.  So erm, how do you decide to head off with all your male pals and leave the women behind, especially when, like myself, you would have no intention of doing anything especially blokey in the first place.

My brother had an excellent stag do actually (more of that later), and Mrs. Toad got absolutely wrecked with her family and ended up dancing around the kitchen with her sister-in-law and niece bellowing pop classics into mop-head microphones.  There are pictures and no, no they aren’t good.

The reason I am not in Berlin an hammered off my tits at this precise moment in time is because we are having something of a mental panic at Proper Job, motivated by our most incredible client.  They should give up on medical devices and turn their attention to a perpetual motion machine, because the sheer inexhaustible power of their knee-jerking just never seems to run out.  It’s not even a complicated product, but there you go.  The decision paralysis that descends upon large groups of people is a powerful force indeed.

Ach, so take pity on me and de-lurk.  Last weekend lots of new London people de-lurked at the Meursault shows and said hello, which was rather nice.  And just last night Jesus H. Foxx de-lurked as well, opening their new blog to the public, where they are going to post news on the recording of their new album as well as demos and works in progress from the recording sessions, so I recommend you keep an eye on that one.

1. Ideal stag/hen do.
2. Stag/hen do from hell (anecdotal or imaginary).
3. Most dubious place you’ve ever allowed a partner to go, unsupervised.
4. Marriage: is there really any point (this is not a loaded question; I am married myself, remember, and I still don’t think I have an answer).
5. Proportion of your life you’ve known your current/last partner.

Billy Bragg – The Marriage

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Tom Waits – Better off Without a Wife (Yes, I know I always play this one.)

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Mark Lanegan – Wedding Dress

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Clem Snide – Forever, Now & Then

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Snow Patrol – Make Love to Me Forever

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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)

Hello You.

This Wednesday 24th December (Christmas Eve, naturellement), at or around abouts 10pm GMT (USA: 2pm PST + 3pm MST + 4pm CST + 5pm EST; Europe: 11pm CET), splashed all over the interwaves via the usual birdshit splatter pattern, for your listening consideration, will be The Waiting Room Christmas Eve 3hr Best Of 2008 Round-Up Show.

On this very (quite, in this case, literally) Eve we, one half of Drunk Country & The Woman of The House, will be dishing out thoughtfully considered Gold Guitar Pick of Excellence ‘Awards’* to the lucky Nominee(s) what is found to be the Best Of in their particular category.

It’s almost like a real end of year music award’s show but with less drinking & no Gallagher brothers.

Below, then, is the list of Categories & Nominees, 34 Artistes + 34 Songs. We have rather cruelly (although this is clearly a cynical attempt at injecting some tension into the proceedings) refrained from listing the Nominees in the last 2 Categories. Those will be revealed on the night. Mwah, I believe, Ha Ha, indeed, Ha.

So, there you go.  This took us AGES to compile from thousands of songs listened to & playlisted over the whole of this past year. *PHEW* just does not cut it. 2008 was simply awash with brilliance, surprises, genius & plain old breathtaking musicalisation. Oh, & singing.

The list, then:

Best “What The Fuck Was That?!”

1) Celebrity Chimp – Celebrity Chimp

2) The Just Joans – Hey Boy… You’re Oh So Sensitive

3) Aidan John Moffat – Cunts

4) Eagleowl – Motherfucker

5) The Theatre Fire – Coyote

6) Joe Rodger & The Velcro Quartet – Suddenly They Realised…

Best Cover Versions

1) Robin Grey – There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis (Kirsty MacColl cover)

2) Erlend Ropstad – 7 (Prince cover)

3) The Miserable Rich – Over & Over (Hot Chip cover)

4) Taken By Trees – Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns ‘n’ Roses cover)

Best Contenders for a Bond Theme

1) Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Come On Over (Turn Me On)

2) The Last Shadow Puppets – In My Room

3) Get Well Soon – You/Aurora/You/Seaside

4) Hour Of The Shipwreck – Unclouded Eyes

Best Emotional Blackmail

1) Porlolo – Turning On Heels

2) Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers – Beloved, We Have Expired

3) The Dø – Stay (Just A Little Bit More)

4) Meaghan Smith – 5 More Minutes

5) Ane Brun – Don’t Leave

6) Plants & Animals – Bye Bye Bye

Best Pound Down The Back of The Sofa

Nominees 1-8 = a big fat question mark

Best Song of 2008

Nominees 1-6 = a bigger, fatter question mark

The podcast will be available, as we say, sometime tomorrow around 10pm (we have very limited access where we are headed for the holidays, so bear with us).

It remains only for us to wish every one of you all the very best this Christmas holiday & to remind you that our 3hr New Year’s Eve 2008 Jukebox show will be on (just like the title reads) Wednesday 31st December, from 10pm-1am GMT. See the New Year in with us, why don’t you?  (Yah, fucking right…).

Thanks for tuning in & listening. It’s been a heck of a year.

MC & a HNY,

½DC + TWoTH

*when we say ‘Awards’, what we really mean is  we will email a picture of a solid Gold Guitar Pick of Excellence – we’re not that unhinged that we’d actually fork out for 6 solid gold plectrums. Jesus, no.

Somewhat amazingly, this really isn’t very good. It’s not bad, certainly, and I doubt I could find anything explicit to criticise because they are ploughing what would generally be considered as Toad Soil here. Nevertheless, this is a flat, uninspired album that is barely the sum of its parts.

When I reviewed their first record, Ballad of the Broken Seas, I had this to say, and I think it still applies:

I think I’d have preferred one to accompany the other, rather than the collaboration – Lanegan bringing some menace to Campbell’s light and lovely tunes or for her to add a flavour of innocence to his brooding songs of morose dysfunction.

Basically, the point of a collaboration is to generate synergy, to become more than the sum of your parts, to find some je ne sais quoi in the mix. This doesn’t seem to ever ignite into anything that quite seems to embody the respective talents employed here. Mind you Lanegan does have something of a track record of mediocre collaborations: both of his Greg Dulli co-projects the Gutter Twins and the Twilight Singers were disappointing as well.

The problem here is that not only has the collaboration itself failed to produce any notable sparkle, but it also seems to have quashed the generally brilliant individual talents of the two protagonists. On their own, both of these guys are capable of brilliance, so maybe I’m just down on this because I was really looking forward to it. Campbell’s breathless, impish ingenue and Lanegan’s glowering misanthrope have produced some brilliant solo work but for some reason you stick ‘em together and it just doesn’t seem to work.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Something to Believe
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Seafaring Song

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First things first – I didn’t realise that this album was entirely about sex, but after seeing these two in the flesh, it can’t be about anything else. Not that they were in any way sexual with each other, with us, or with anyone else. In fact they barely betrayed the slightest flicker of emotion between them all night. Except once. After the first song a wee Scottish lass piped up with “Mark Lanegan I love you” at which he gave an amused smirk and cast her a brief glance which can only be described as pitying.

No, the sex was entirely in the two of them as people. Isobel Campbell is an utter fox. Listening to her frail, plaintive voice you’d imagine someone closely approximating a woodland fairy to look at. What you get is a blond cutie in a short, slinky black mini-dress and knee high boots and the sort of look on her face that implies she’d strump you ’til your dentures rattled. With that voice! How?

Lanegan, on the other hand, evinced a sort of glowering, if-you-dare smoulder all night. To quote Beth from Lonesome Music:

“he is a big, surly, scary bugger and make no mistake about it. He refused point blank to talk to the audience and seemed to communicate with Isobel by eyebrow raise alone. The other band members gave him a wide berth. But he sure can sing.”

And that’s what it comes down to: without ever seeming to try he completely dominated the stage whenever he opened his mouth. And, come to think of it, whenever you so much as thought he might. His deep, terrifying growl comes from such a dark, ruined place you get the impression running off with him would be akin to allowing the devil himself to subsume your very soul. Fuck, I’m about as heterosexual as it gets and I bloody fancy him.

As a gig this was no better than good. Basically they ploughed through most of the tracks from Ballad of the Broken Seas, threw in a few from Lanegan’s solo stuff and some from Campbell’s Amorino (not from Milk White Sheets I notice – maybe she’s as lukewarm on that one as I am – or maybe Mark forbade it). The songs were all performed well, but I don’t feel I’ve learned too much more about them in a musical sense for seeing them live. And they used pre-recorded strings on a couple of tracks which gets right on my tits. If you can’t bring a string section, just bloody do without – that’s the whole bloody point of a live performance. It’s not like Isobel didn’t whip out her cello on occasion anyway.

So there were a few minor gripes, but it was a good gig on the whole. Really the whole point of it for me was hearing Mark Lanegan sing. Hearing his voice grip the entire audience by the throat on the closer, Wedding Dress, was worth it and more, all by itself.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Saturday’s Gone
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Ballad of the Broken Seas
Mark Lanegan – Wedding Dress