Well if there’s any shit going down in Edinburgh this week I am not going to be there to enjoy it.  Not out of shame at having just used the term ‘shit going down’ as if I was a teenager in the nineties, but because my gigfuns will be happening in London and Glasgow this week.

Tomorrow I am in London to see Rob St. John and Neil from Meursault play at the Vortex, and then on Thursday I’ll be in Glasgow for the Fence Records Christmas party.  And funnily enough, with Detour, Frightened Rabbit and Jill O’Sullivan coming through to Edinburgh on the same night as the latter, it seems the two cities will be swapping musical populations for a week.

Then on Sunday we have a gig by three of the most promising lo-fi garage rock bands I’ve come across this year – Dolfinz, Joanna Gruesome and The Black Tambourines.  This will be a bit messy, but also really fucking loud and (mostly) tuneful!

Anyhow, I have a pile of things to tell you about this week, including something rather good on tonight, assuming you can get down to Leith in time…

[Edit:  balls, just going through my emails and realised I missed this: Plastic Animals, Trapped Mice and Supermarionation at the Wee Red Bar on Thursday 15th Dec. - sorry!]

Monday 12th Dec: Taperecorder, Hailey Beavis & Dusty Cut at the Shebeen Bar.

The Shebeen is in what used to be the Old Dock bar down near Commercial Quay in Leith, and this is the first of a series of nights of free music, which promises good things.  Leith has needed something like this since the Leith Tape Club went quiet at the start of the year.  Taperecorder also sound really interesting too, like either an indie, an experimental or a techno band, depending on what moment of what song you happen to catch.

Taperecorder – Gravel Mountain

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friday 16th Dec: Papi Falso at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

Papi Falso is the perfect club for people who aren’t that into clubs.  The music is fucking awesome, and you can either go nuts on the dancefloor or lean at the bar and have a pint.  Guess which one I tend to favour?

Saturday 17th Dec: Kid Canaveral‘s Christmas Baubles at Summerhall.

This is another all-day Christmas shindig, with performances from the Canaverals themselves, eagleowl, Slow Club, Josie Long, Sweet Baboo and a pile of others, and is being held in pretty much Edinburgh’s most charismatic new venue: Summerhall. I’ll be there. You’ll spot me easily because I’ll be the really drunk one.

Kid Canaveral – And Another Thing!!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Saturday 17th Dec: Fuzzy Star, The Oates Field & The Occasional Flickers at Sneaky Pete’s.

With Kid Canaveral already sold out, this is a fine alternative for those too slow to get tickets.  Fuzzy Star were excellent at the Ides of Toad earlier in the year, although I suspect this is likely to be a full band set, fleshing out the awkward acoustic introspection with a somewhat fuller sound.  The Oates Field make a cracking racket, and the Occasional Flickers do swoonsome indie-pop as well as anyone in Edinburgh.

The Oates Field – Nae Luck

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sunday 18th Dec: Doflinz, Joanna Gruesome & The Black Tambourines play The Ides of Toad at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

I am really looking forward to this one.  All three bands play rough and ready, lo-fi garage stuff, but still keep enough tunes in there that you aren’t just battered with a racket.  This should be messy and loud though, and might well be my final gig of the year.

Dolfinz – Coral Reefer

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Joanna Gruesome – Madison

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Black Tambourines – Bad Days

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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)

 What, seriously?  More live music, people?  Can’t you just give it a rest for a week or two before we start all this madness over again?  Think of your poor livers you fucking maniacs!

Ah well, fuck it, if you insist.  There are actually a couple of really decent gigs on this week, as Edinburgh’s music scene gradually emerges from hiding to reclaim its town from the tourists. Well, hiding is probably exaggerating things rather, now that I think about it.   Given the relative poverty of the Edge lineup, it’s actually the local enterprises who have been keeping the steady flow of good music uninterrupted over the last month, actually, so I should probably take that back.

There isn’t much on this week though, honestly.  I mean, there’s Best Coast at the  Bongo Club tonight perhaps, but despite their being really rather trendy I have to confess I found their album pretty boring.

Wednesday 31st August 2011: Foonyap and the Roar, Lady North & Fuzzystar play This is Music at Sneaky Pete’s.

Apparently Foonyap & the Roar are absolutely fucking mental, as even the briefest of listens to the music at the link above will confirm.  I saw Foonyap play solo a little while ago, and I thought she was brilliant, but apparently The Roar are a totally different prospect.

Saturday 3rd September 2011: The Oates Field album launch, with Player Piano & Iona Marshall at the Voodoo Rooms.

This set will be preceded by an in-store at Elvis Shakespeare in the afternoon.  In terms of the Oates Field I genuinely have no idea if it will lean more towards the garage rock version of the band I’ve seen, or the more stripped back performances I’ve seen recently.  Or maybe a well-judged combination of the two.  I’ll have to wait and see.

Most live scenes tend to peter out a little from late June/early July onwards as the Festival season starts to cannibalise what remains of the audience after the students have gone home, and people tend to take what little chance they get to be outside in the sun, if it ever appears, rather than in a sweaty basement listening to pale young men complaining about their feelings.

The Edinburgh live scene, on the other hand, tends not to be as dependent on students, not to have to fear too much from oft promised but never delivered good weather, but nevertheless to peter out for a different reason: the lumbering behemoth that is the Edinburgh Festival.

Now I don’t hate the Festival as much as a lot of locals, but I am nevertheless a little ambivalent.  Yes it’s awesome, yes it brings all sorts of cool stuff to the city for a month, but there are obviously some drawbacks.

Firstly, the practical.  If you are ever trying to get anything done in August, it’s a fucking nightmare.  People and shit everywhere, and everyone making the smug plea of those with nothing pressing to get done: ‘Just chill out man, it’s the festival dude, we’re on vaykayshun, relaaaax!’  No. It is Tuesday, and I have shit to do.  Get the fuck out of my way before I make you massively grateful for the Communist oppression of a functioning National Health Service.

Secondly, local music really does just have to stop.  There is no point a Scottish label or band releasing anything in August, as the local press simply haven’t a sliver of column space to devote to it.  Also, gigs tend to stop as well, because the Edge Festival won’t let any local bands they book play at all, anywhere else in August, venues are near-impossible to come by, local fans often turn their eyes and wallets to the more exotic imports and advertising against the maelstrom of confetti generated by the Festival is basically impossible.

Did I mention that I’m putting on four gigs at the Electric Circus in August?  What a dick.

Anyhow, Acoustic Edinburgh and The Retreat Festival have been brilliant over the last few years, and Electric Circus are following their lead this year: booking lots of local stuff and offering amazingly good deals on drinks too, so we can all afford to actually go.

This week, however, due to what I assume is pre-Festival wind-down, there is really not that much, except for the ever-reliable awesomeness of The Ides of Toad.  Yes, really, for once I am not joking.

Tuesday 12th July 2011: Out of the Bedroom at the Montague Bar.

Of the (admittedly relatively few) open mics I’ve attended in Edinburgh, Out of the Bedroom has been my favourite, and this week Lach will be playing.  Lach is the man who invented Antifolk and whose Antihoot open stage in New York launched the careers of the like of Beck, Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson.  He is moving to Edinburgh and releasing an album with us in a week or so (which should absolutely delight some people).

Lach – Stunned

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Thursday 14th July 2011: Papi Falso at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

This isn’t a gig, and I’m not sure I could even call it a club night really, more a late night drinking opportunity where some distinctly odd and distinctly excellent people will play distinctly odd and distinctly excellent music.  I wanted a night like this all through my twenties and have had to wait until I am thirty fucking five to actually find it.

Friday 15th July 2011: The Deadly Winters, Plastic Animals & The Oates Field at The Electric Circus.

Since Tallah and JP took over the booking at the Electric Circus they have really started to book some good stuff, including Live Lounge, which seems to be a lineup of good live music every Friday.  I don’t know the Deadly Winters, I have to confess, but the other two bands are very good indeed.

The Oates Field – Nae Luck (Jonnie Common’s Deskjob version)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Saturday 16th July 2011: The Ides of Toad present Jesus H. Foxx, The Second Hand Marching Band and Pet at The Wee Red Bar.

Jesus H. Foxx have finished their album!  Yes, finished their fucking album, I kid you not!  This means that they will be out and about playing an awful lot more from now on, and that singles will be starting to appear in the Autumn.  Get in!  It sounds fucking great, too.  Add to this the beast that is The Second Hand Marching Band, and brand new Edinburgh popsters Pet and we have a great wee lineup for you.  Better get down early though, because there’s so many musicians in these bloody bands that they could end up pretty much filling the venue by themselves!

The Second Hand Marching Band – Paper Year (Demo)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Mrs. Toad's Lettuce

The above picture shows how our veggie patch is doing, for those of you who give a flying fuck, which admittedly might not be many of you.  Sunday was spent lying about in the garden reading books, which was nice and relaxing after getting pished late into the night with Monster Island, These Single Spies and Kid Canaveral after the Henry’s gig on Saturday night.

This Saturday we will be collecting for the RNLI in Stockbridge, so if you want to help out please do get in touch as we will need all the people we can get our hands on.  We promise to feed you and ply you with booze, and it’s generally a really enjoyable day.

Tuesday 26th April 2011: Golden Grrrls, The Oates Field & Fuzzy Star at the Wee Red Bar.

Fuzzy pop reigns this week at The Gentle Invasion’s latest gig, with The Oates Field performing alongside two relatively longstanding Scottish bands I have to confess, rather shame-facedly, to never having heard of.  A bit of an internet poke-around later and it sounds like the whole lineup should be right up my street.  And, hopefully, yours.
WrldPeace by Golden Grrrls

Wednesday 27th April 2011: Pensioner, PAWS & Pinky Suavo at Sneaky Pete’s.

This is likely to be quite similar, in a sense, to the Gentle Invasion gig the night before, with the emphasis on rock rather than pop, but nevertheless blanketed in a haze of guitars.  It is also the Pensioner album launch – they have a new album out on Olive Grove Records.

PAWS – Miss American Bookworm

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Thursday 28th April 2011: Nan Turner & Enfant Bastard at the Collective Gallery.

WH666 presents another rather interesting lineup.  Nan Turner sings and plays drums in New York anti-folkers Schwervon, but listening to her MySpace page that doesn’t give you much idea what to expect from her music.  Also, Enfant Bastard has started adding more to his chiptune stuff which, if I am being honest, pushes it back much closer to the kind of thing I personally am into.  Come along, it’ll be a good ‘un, this.

Friday 29th April – Sunday 1st May 2011: The Grassmarket Festival (Facebook event).

The Grassmarket Festival is a street festival involving all the traders with shops on and around the Grassmarket, and will involved vintage clothing, tat stalls, book and records as well as lots of live music.
The lineup looks roughly like this:
Friday 29th: 6pm, The Last Battle; 7pm, Ballboy.
Saturday 30th: 5pm, Star Wheel Press; 6pm, The Gillyflowers; 7pm, Burnt Island.
Sunday 1st: 3pm, A Right Royal Open Couch Session (in Red Dog Music); 5pm, Edinburgh School for the Deaf; 6pm, Second Hand Marching Band; 7pm, TV21.

Burnt Island – A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 

Edinburgh School for the Deaf – 11 Kinds of Loneliness

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Second Hand Marching Band – Don’t!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MOOOOR-ning! Having kicked off our own monthly series of gigs this weekend just, with an excellent gig at the Wee Red Bar, I feel very much ready to start properly going to gigs again, after an extremely quiet January.

It was an excellent night actually, so a massive thank you to everyone who came out, and thanks a lot to the bands as well, who all made an effort to bring their friends down, which as a new promoter is something I am extremely grateful for.

We’ve got something like five more gigs in the pipeline by now, including bands like Rob St. John, Ziggy Campbell, Thirty Pounds of Bone, Louis Barabbas and the Bedlam Six, Zed Penguin, Husband, Miaoux Miaoux, Jonnie Common’s Desk Job, and hopefully also The Leg, eagleowl and Orchestra Elastique, assuming we can make them offers they can’t refuse.

Friday 28th January 2011: Gummi Bako, eagleowl and The Oates Field play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms (tickets here).

If it weren’t for the fact that Homegame isn’t until May this year, I would have described this as the perfect warmup.  It’s been ages since Gummi Bako has brought his rock ‘n’ roll band (wonkytonk, in his own words, apparently) down from Fife, and for all I know a lot of people see them as an acquired taste, I can tell you they are awesome fun to watch.

eagleowl – Into the Fold (Toad Session)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sunday 30th January 2011: Broken Records & Freelance Whales at the Liquid Room (tickets here).

I haven’t seen Broken Records play live since the release of their phenomenal second album Let Me Come Home, so I am hugely looking forward to this.  The new material sounds a lot more like a guitar-based indie rock band than earlier stuff, but I can’t imagine their live impact has been anything other than enhanced by this change.

Freelance Whales – Generator – 2nd Floor

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sunday 30th January 2011: Maps and Atlases, Gallops & Dupec vs Lady North at Sneaky Pete’s.

This looks like a night of hypnotic, crunchy, experimental electronica.  Not the wibbly, noodly stuff though, but proper, in your face racket.  It’s a kind of music which is doing quite well around here at the moment actually, but not one I feel I have properly given a chance and made an effort to get into yet.  Shame on me.

After a weekend of alcoholic liver-punching with the awful cunts from Gerry Loves Records I find myself back in Edinburgh with Mrs. Toad off in Australia and nothing between me and an entire week spent on the internet in my pants with a jar of pickled onions and a jumbo packet of pork scratchings.

In fact, that sounds like a pretty good plan, all told.  Balls to dignity, self-respect and hygiene.

Wednesday 10th November 2010: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone & My Tiny Robots at Sneaky Pete’s.

If ever a band’s music were better described in their band name than anything any reviewer could write it is Casiotone. And if you don’t come along on Wednesday you will never see them again, ever.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Natural Light

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Thursday 11th November 2010: My Tiny Robots, Donna Maciocia & Enfant Bastard at the Caves.

This gig was very nearly a casualty of the collapse of the Settlement, but quickly found a home at the Caves, fortunately.  My Tiny Robots played smart acoustic pop songs the last time I saw them.  That was some time ago though, and I am looking forward to giving their new EP (for which this is the launch night) a good listen this week.

My Tiny Robots – Ghosts

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friday 12th November 2010: The Scottish Enlightenment, Jesus H. Foxx & Trapped Mice at the Wee Red Bar.

The Scottish Enlightenment aren’t far from being my new band of the year, I think.  And I’ve only seen them once, which is a bit stupid.  St. Thomas is a fantastic piece of melancholy guitar music, and one which always seems to retain a sense of optimism and belief, and I am really looking forward to this gig.

The Scottish Enlightenment – Necromancer

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friday 12th November 2010: Limbo, with Over the Wall, How to Swim & the Oates Field at the Voodoo Rooms.

Over the Wall also have a new album on the way, although far from the brooding of the Scottish Enlightenment, I imagine theirs will be just a little bit more bouncy and cheerful.  How to Swim may not approach their music with the same instruments, but that sense of manic exuberance is very much still there – perfect for wishing the Limbo lads happy third birthday.

Over the Wall – Shifts

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Due to a hectic Saturday driving from Anstruther to Edinburgh to Glasgow and then back to Edinburgh and out again to Anstruther this is the last of the Haarfest video diaries.

I woke up with a proper fucking head on me, and went to sleep plastered at four or something after being ambushed by late night at the Smugglers on the way home.

Due to collecting Mrs. Toad from the station we ended up missing most of Meursault, although we did get there in time for a gorgeous version of Martin Kippenberger, helped greatly by Malcolm from eagleowl.  The Oates Field were good, and Withered Hand (new songs – NEW SONGS!) and FOUND (ditto!) were absolutely immense. And that beer they were serving all weekend, well…!

Well, apart from the usual gigs, we have a couple of ongoing Festival specials this week to add to the general level of giddy excitement.

Firstly, the Acoustic Cafe is running all week downstairs at the Roxy Art House featuring this week, amongst others, The Pictish Trail and Wounded Knee.

Secondly, Lach’s Antihoot is an ongoing, late night, at the Gilded Balloon, and is an open mic night in which Lach brings his legendary New York institution, and initial nurturing ground of so many artists we love, to Edinburgh for the duration of August.

And if that little lot isn’t enough to keep you busy, we have a wee list below.  And if you see a Home Counties ex-public schoolboy on a unicycle at any point (and face it, the odds are pretty good) feel free to poke a stick in his fucking spokes.  ‘Zany antics’ – the bane of the Edinburgh fucking Festival.

Wednesday 11th August 2010: Mitchell Museum & White Heath at Electric Circus.

The Electric Circus continues their hugely appreciated policy of giving as many opportunities to emerging Scottish bands during the Festival as possible.  Mitchell Museum’s new album, on lovely, heavy 12″ vinyl, will hopefully be available for purchase at the gig too.  I wish we could afford to release more stuff on vinyl, but it really is fucking expensive stuff, and a right nuisance to store as well.

Thursday 12th August 2010: The Oates Field, The Memory Band & The Pictish Trail play Leith Tape Club at the IsoLounge.

Festival schmestival, Leith Tape Club is one of the best alternative nights in Edinburgh, and Leith should be a nice place to get away from all the hurly-burly of Edinburgh in August.  There may not be tickets left for long though, so follow the link above sharpish if you want to attend.

The Pictish Trail – Winter Home Disco

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Saturday 14th August 2010: Pantha du Prince & Brothers Grimm at Sneaky Pete’s.

Strictly speaking, Brothers Grimm are a graphic design and illustration team, so I can’t imagine how well those skills will translate to the realm of haircutty electro music.  Still, Chris is the Bleepmaster General in Meursault and his brother Michael is better know for his work in Dead Boy Robotics so despite the fact that I am probably not indie enough, well dressed enough or even slightly cool enough to attend their debut gig I shall style my hair as well as I can and hope for the best.

Pantha du Prince – Lichten

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s Tigerfest and The Kays Lavelle album launch this week, as well as being May, which says to me that our first barbecue of the season can’t be much further away, surely.  Ach, who knows though, this Spring’s been all over the bloody shop so Christ knows.

Still, we’re firmly into the first stirrings of Festival Season now which is… erm, well certainly not a bad thing I guess.  There are some fucking shitty festivals (blogs, bands, etc…) out there, and I am becoming distinctly picky in my taste for festivals, and really quite middle-aged.  I do not have the patience for shitty camping and massive green-field sites with fucking dreadful beer, a swampy bog of misdirected urine surrounding the toilets and a two-hour queue for a drink.  Not happening, not any more, not for Toad.  Fuck off.

So, erm yes, the rise of the boutique festival in recent years has been very welcome for me indeed.  The food and drink are infinitely better, the facilities are better, the lineups are a little more focussed and because the budgets are smaller you can be absolutely confident of never, ever, ever accidentally hearing Kasabian play.

And, let’s be entirely honest, there are simply fewer people and I really do not like people all that much.

So, if anyone can tell me what that little rant had to do with anything then there’s probably some sort of prize – amnesty from me hugging you when I’m drunk sounds like a suitable bonus.  So, erm, live in Edinburgh this week then.

Thursday 6th May 2010: Born to Be Wide Music PR Seminar at Electric Circus.

Apart from admin and spare cash, PR is pretty much the single most important function of a record label these days.  It’s also, apart from actually making the music itself, the most important thing for any unsigned band to master.

Thursday 6th May 2010: Hannah Kitchen, The Wee Rogue and The Last Battle play the Leith Tape Club at the IsoLounge.

I don’t know Miss Kitchen, but The Wee Rogue is really excellent, and the Last Battle have just signed up with 17 Seconds records and have a debut album on the way, so should be full of the joys of life at the moment.  Their music leans a little more towards the traditional, in terms of song structures, in comparison to the general landscape of alternative folk around these parts, whereas The Wee Rogue leans a bit closer to total silence, his music can be that still.  It’s compelling nevertheless, so this gig is highly recommended.

The Last Battle – Nature’s Glorious Rage (Fresh Air Session)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Thursday 6th May 2010: Dead Boy Robotics, Vasquez and The Foundling Wheel play Limbo at The Voodoo Rooms.

On what is proving to be a rather busy Thursday this gig is Dead Boy Robotics’ EP launch, supported by Vasquez who I don’t know at all, and The Foundling Wheel.  Expect thumping noise, which is likely to veer from the boisterously danceable into the ear-splittingly unhinged.

Friday 7th May 2010: Cath & Phil Tyler, The One Ensemble and Neil Davidson at The Roxy Room.

I know precisely nothing at all about this lineup, sorry.  But it’s a combined promotional effort between Braw Gigs and Tracer Trails (I think – it’s called Braw Trails Presents, so I guess that’s probably right) and those two rarely ever put a foot wrong (new as the former might be) so I definitely think this will be worth checking out.

Saturday 8th May 2010: The Kays Lavelle, The Oates Field and The Scottish Enlightenment at the Wee Red Bar.

This is the Kays’ album launch party for their upcoming debut album Be Still This Gentle Morning, and I am going to be in bloody Manchester for Unconvention, which is hugely frustrating.

The Kays Lavelle – Scars From the City

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sunday 9th May 2010: 17 Seconds presents X-Lion Tamer, The Wildhouse and The Gothenburg Address at The Roxy Room.

This is curated by 17 Seconds the blog for Tigerfest and is not to be confused with the 17 Seconds Records showcase next week, which is different, apparently.  Although X-Lion Tamer and The Wildhouse are actually on 17 Seconds Records.  But then, without the approval of 17 Seconds the blog, they probably wouldn’t be signed to 17 Seconds the label, would they?  Keep up!

X-Lion Tamer – Life Support Machine

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.