Song, by Toad

Having made such an almighty pig’s ear of last week’s listings, I find myself wondering if the gigmosphere really is as thin as it looks this week, or whether I’ve just managed to make another spectacular arse of spotting the good ‘uns again.

There’s something a little different happening, actually, because Joey Comeau and the Loose Teeth Press are going to be at the Bowery as part of their reading tour tonight, which sounds rather interesting.  Also, the Charity Baw at the Roxy on Saturday looks like a bit of a spectacular, so it’s not actually as quiet a week as it looks.

Tuesday 17th November 2009: King Charles play the first Fresh Air Tuesday at the GRV.

Fresh Air student radio are taking over the GRV on Tuesdays this year, putting on something a little different each week, and kicking things off this week with King Charles.  I don’t know them at all, but I have dug up a few songs and they sound really rather good.  Definitely worth checking out.

King Charles – Beating Hearts

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Friday 20th November 2009: Otters Sing Lullabies present Conquering Animal Sound, Molly Wagger and Aurora Stands in Snow at the Bowery.

This will be a quirky night of music, all quite gentle in most senses, but nevertheless a little disturbing in others.  There will be a lot of acoustic loveliness and quite a bit of slightly eccentric electronic  trickery as well.

Saturday 21st November 2009: Charity Baw at the Roxy Art House.

Pretty much every bastard is playing this one.  There are local heroes such as Withered Hand, Aberfeldy, Benni Hemm Hemm and Come On Gang but, somewhat more intriguingly from my perspective, there will also be the amazing (The Real) Tuesday Weld.  That sounds a bit hard on the local contingent, but I don’t mean it that way, simply that I have been a Tuesday Weld fan for bloody ages and never once had the chance to sample their visually sumptuous live show.  Yes, yes I did just use the word sumptuous.  Sorry. What I basically mean is that they use their rather excellent videos as a backdrop to the live performance, which sound brilliant. And at least a little sumptuous.

(The Real) Tuesday Weld – Kix

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Sunday 22nd November 2009: Debutant, Rasied by Wolves, The Last Battle at the Bowery.

This is my gig of the week, I think.  I’ve not properly seen any of these bands live and I have been twitching to see all three for a while.  Debutant’s atmospheric guitar layering will probably be quite distinct from the more traditional songwriting of the other two bands, but it looks like this should be a good ‘un.

Welcome to another week tending the fertile pastures of Edinburgh’s gig scene for shuffling indie kids. I’m working flat out to get the Sparrow session done for this week’s podcast so beyond tonight I will be hiding in the house for most of the week, I’m afraid, probably swearing at the computer and cursing analogue technology for being so fucking shit and chewing all my tape of the session. Frustrating. Really, very frustrating.

Still, I think we have time for one last session this year, but I will be renting a digital camera this time, instead of all this tape shit, so hopefully there won’t be any such problems in futre

Monday 10th November 2008: Samamidon & Meursault at the Bowery.
After the Bowery’s splendid opening party they keep the ball rolling this week with Samamidon supported by a largely solo set from Meursault’s Neil Pennycook. Samamidon’s All is Well is a gorgeously gentle acoustic album, so I’m really looking forward to this, as well as hearing what Neil sounds like with no accompaniment, except for a bit of banjo and backing vocals here and there.
Samamidon – Saro

Monday 10th November 2008: Rob St.John, Molly Wagger, Alison & the Mings & Simon Kempston at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
Rob is playing an electric guitar these days, and the hushed, breathy folk of recent years seems to be slowly yielding to a more confident, assertive attitude. His performance at the Bowery on Saturday was superb, and he has a new EP coming out shortly which is also sounding excellent, so I strongly recommend you catch him either this week or next, when he plays Cabaret Voltaire with Meursault and Sparrow & the Workshop.
Rob St. John – Wooden Rose
Alison & the Mings – Those Steep Slopes

Friday 14th November 2008: Rbrbr, Funkspiel & The Foundling Wheel at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
If you fancy something a little more experimental this weekend then Henry’s is the place to go, with some electronic pop stuff and then the thunderously deranged Foundling Wheel. Really, just go for the Foundling Wheel. I don’t know who stole Ted’s pills, but it seems to have had the desired effect.
The Foundling Wheel – Mixed Minds & Missteps

Friday 14th November 2008: Death Cab For Cutie at the Corn Exchange.
Given it’s nearly twenty quid for a band I actually have very little time for then it’s safe to say that I won’t be going. Still, a lot of people into the same sort of stuff as gets written about on this site like these chaps an awful lot, so I thought it worth mentioning. Their dreamy, hazy, downbeat, slightly electronic indie has never quite captured my imagination, despite being pretty much right up my street. Almost, just not quite.  Oh well, so it goes.
Death Cab For Cutie – The New Year

It’s a bit late to be pointing out great gigs taking place tonight, so I hope you’ll excuse my tardiness today. Such tedious annoyances as real life and having a proper job have rather irritatingly inserted themselves squarely in the path of the blogging juggernaut that is Song, by Toad and brought production to a grinding halt for the last couple of days.

So, erm, this week then. Well I am on gig-verbot for the next little while because I have been paying scandalously inadequate amounts of attention to my midget companion, and that won’t do at all. For either of us. So once this week is over there will be lots of nice things done with Mrs. Toad to try and make up for my negligence. No-one wants to be the sort of husband who fails to pay attention to that which is most important to him, no matter how much one might get caught up in exciting projects. In other words, no-one wants to turn into a prick, now do they. Although I my case the ‘turning into’ part might be questionable.

Tuesday 13th May: Isosceles, Sportsday Megaphone & Envelope at the Ark.
The Ark might be the worst venue in Edinburgh, but Isosceles are clearly worth seeing. Jumpy synth-pop with plenty of tunes and a really good spread between vocals, synth, and bass as to which provides the best bits. A actual group in every sense of the word. I don’t know anything at all about the other two, although Sportsday Megaphone sound quite promising from their MySpace page.
Isosceles – Watertight
Sportsday Megaphone – Bikini Atoll

Wednesday 14th May: Inspector Tapehead, Molly Wagger & Flying With Penguins at the Wee Red Bar.
I know little enough about all of these bands, but Inspector Tapehead include Jonnie Common from the superb Down the Tiny Steps in their number, so that is pretty much all the information I need to go along. That and the fact that this is a Trampoline gig of course, and I have yet to see a Trampoline lineup that was any less than fucking superb.
Inspector Tapehead – A Fillet of Bozo

Thursday 15th May – Willard Grant Conspiracy & the Pilgrim Orchestra (incl. Howe Gelb) at the Queens Hall.
This gig gets me all shaky with excitement. The Willards have produced three or four of my favourite albums of all time, and Howe Gelb is hardly a slouch either. Two of Americana’s most prolific collaborators coming to town, and I’d steal a ticket off a defenceless old granny if I had to. WGC’s new album The Pilgrim Road is out now too, even more reason for giddy excitement.
Willard Grant Conspiracy – Evening Mass (Live)

Thursday 15th May: Eagleowl & Emily Scott at the Collective Gallery.
You know how highly I think of Eagleowl, and Emily Scott is someone who I have mentioned scandalously little on these pages of late. She recently finished runner-up in King Tut’s monthly Your Sound Artist of the Month, and has a lovely, delicate folk album to her name, to be bought from her MySpace page. Definitely one to check out.
Emily Scott – Humming Song

Sunday 18th May: The Mae Shi at Cabaret Voltaire.
I learnt about the latest signings to Moshi Moshi, the label which can do no wrong at the moment, from Tim at the excellent Daily Growl. They are meteroically up and coming indie synth-popsters with bags of energy and exuberance. I am really looking forward to seeing them in the flesh and finding out if the hype matches the goods.
The Mae Shi – Lamb & Lion