Ah, Tartan Shortbread, that most wonderful of sardonic Scottish put-downs.

For those unfamiliar with the term, this is the offhand dismissal used to describe the sort of mawkish, clichéd tourist tat which masquerades as Scottish heritage and culture for those with woefully little imagination.  Alternatively, I suppose you could say that Tartan Shortbread is a blanket term for Scottish heritage as a sort of motorway service station take on national identity.

Anyhow, given I work very much at the coalface of the DIY music world in Scotland, I find that I have been oddly unsupportive of a large number of Scottish bands who have emerged in the last couple of years to considerable enthusiasm from the Scottish music press, both professional and amateur.

For some reason, the recent bands who have shown some likelihood of cracking an audience wider than the relatively narrow confines of the five million or so people in Scotland itself just haven’t appealed to me, with a few notable exceptions.  However, sitting down to assemble the playlist for this week I noticed that there were something like seven of the ten songs which happened to be by Scottish bands.  Oh, I thought to myself, I appear to be Scottish again.  How nice.

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01. Django Django – Default (00.17)
02. Andrew Bird – Eyeoneye (08.41)
03. Lower Dens – Brains (12.47)
04. Randolph’s Leap – Bile (26.17)
05. Clean George IV – XP Avenue (32.51)
06. Dumb Instrument – Reverse the Hearse (35.57)
07. The Occasional Flickers – When the Sky Looks so Grey (41.11)
08. R.M. Hubbert – Sunbeam Melt the Hour (with Marion Kenny & Hanna Tuulikki) (50.20)
09. The Twilight Sad – Don’t Move (55.49)
10. Brown Brogues – Anyone But You (62.04)

 Holy fuck my brain is still resisting any and all attempts to get it working again.

I lived on a boat down in London, and I remember when I first bought the thing it was semi-submerged, and I had to pump out the engine compartment just to get the old Lister engine above water for the first time in about two years.  Even after two years under the fucking Thames, all I had to do was crank it manually a couple of times to flush the water out, replace the battery, press start and boom, the ancient bastard thundered into life immediately. How I envy such resilience!

The guy who told me how to get the thing going again said that apparently those old Lister engines are so good that they have almost no secondhand value, because pretty much every one ever made is still working, they’re that tough.

My brain, on the other hand…

Friday 6th Jan: The Occasional Flickers album launch, with the Second Hand Marching Band at The Third Door.

Gigs in January would seem to be a little foolhardy, but given how little is actually going on this week then I suspect the Occasional Flickers might actually have been a little canny in timing their album launch show as they have.  The record itself is not one I am hugely familiar with just yet, as I am still getting myself organised again after Christmas, but as you can tell from the Bandcamp embed below, it is a lovely sounding, whimsically flavoured pop album.  First gig of the year people, don’t miss it!

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

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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!!

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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

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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

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Joanna Gruesome – Madison

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The Black Tambourines – Bad Days

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 So umm… much happening in Edinburgh at the moment?  There seem to be an awful lot of people about, so you’d have to assume something was going on.

It was actually the T on the Fringe (what the Edge Festival used to be called) lineup which gave me a significant nudge into the world of DIY music, when I first moved up here, just before the Festival in 2005.  I really wanted to go and see Yo La Tengo at the Liquid Room, Mrs. Toad wasn’t going to come with me, I didn’t know anyone else who might be interested.

I decided I most certainly wasn’t going to not go and see a band I really wanted to see, just because of not having anyone to go with, and thus was born my habit of solo gig-going.  And when you go to a lot of gigs by yourself, you start to recognise people, and so you slowly get drawn more and more into the ‘underground scene’ or whatever you want to call and Boom – six years later you’ve started a record label, quit your job and made an office in your spare room.

The Edge Festival is supposed to be the music side of the Edinburgh Festival and it’s generally pretty good, but this year is absolutely appalling – almost entirely devoid of interest and with a lineup comprising little more than one or two gigs I want to see over the course of the entire month.  I suppose sometimes things just don’t click for whatever reason, but this year’s Edge Festival has an absolutely awful lineup. Good thing we have Retreat! and my four gigs at the Electric Circus, or things really would be rotten.

Anyhow, if it’s music you want, rather than the Festival, there are two things this week which look interesting:

Friday 12th August 2011: The Occasional Flickers and The Japanese War Effort at the Forest Cafe.

The Occasional Flickers make swoonsome, gentle indie-pop.  The Japanese War Effort, whilst he too makes pop music, tends to bugger about with it a bit more, using loops, effects and electronics to bend his creations into shape.

The Japanese War Effort – Pool Attendant

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Sunday 14th August 2011: Admiral Fallow & Kid Canaveral at the Liquid Room.

Pop.  The first with added folk and the second with added indie.  Easy.

Kid Canveral – Smash Hits

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And that is about that, although I will remind you (*warning – spam approaching*) that Lach’s one-man show, The Waitress, the Walls and the Weirdos is on every night at 8:45 at Cabaret Voltaire as part of the Free Fringe, and the Antihoot is on every night apart from Tuesday at the Gilded Balloon (The Teviot Underground, for those of you who live here).  To play the Antihoot, and for the chance to be on the Best of the Antihoot album we’ll be releasing after the Festival just get in touch with Lach on info@antifolk.net

 Well after an extremely successful Ides of Toad on Saturday (a massive thanks to the excellent bands, and to the fucking loads of people who came along) I think this week I shall be putting my feet up and letting other people do the work for a bit.

And what a fuck of a lot of work they’ve been doing, too, because this week is a bit mental in terms of excellent gigs at which to drink yourself into an early grave. So much for the pre-Festival wind-down I discussed last week.

As well as having their album launch this week, Kid Canaveral are coming round to our house to record a Toad Session and get some beers down them, so umm… well, don’t expect me to be much use to anyone on Thursday, s’all I’m saying.

And from a gig-going perspective, well, Friday looks like a bit of a challenge, eh.

Thursday 21st July 2011: Sara Lowes & the Easy Tigers at the Electric Circus.

Sara Lowes is a sometime member of the Earlies and has played on some of my favourite albums of all time, by the likes of King Creosote and Micah P. Hinson.  In her solo guise she makes extremely pretty pop songs, and her new album is absolutely lush.

Sara Lowes – Night Times

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Bronto Skylift, PAWS & A Fight You Can’t Win at Sneaky Pete’s.

If, on the other hand, you want to end Thursday with bleeding ears then I recommend this one.  Bronto Skylift can head a bit too far in the direction of freeform noise for me, I have to confess, and I know next to nothing about the openers, but any chance to see PAWS should be taken, because they’re fucking great.

PAWS – Ariel

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Friday 22nd July 2011: Live Lounge at the Electric Circus with Lach, The Pineapple Chunks and Randan Discotheque.

The Pineapple Chunks have kindly agreed to let us host their album launch during the Festival, and this will be a wee preview for you, as well as being the first full gig outing for Lach on his return to Edinburgh in anticipation of the return of both his one-man show and the Antihoot to the Edinburgh Festival.

Lach – Break the Day

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Friday 22nd July 2011: Plastic Animals, Black International, Supermarionation (solo) & Loch Awe (solo) at the Wee Red Bar.

This event marks the launch of Fresh Air’s Inside Track 2011 charity album (last year’s can be downloaded here),

Plastic Animals – It Fell Apart

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Friday 22nd July 2011: The Just Joans, We See Lights & The Occasional Flickers at The Bristo Hall.

This is an Unpop night I believe, and they’ve assembled a bill of some of the finest indiepop around.  I haven’t heard much out of the Just Joans for a while actually, but when their skewed, cobbled together guitar pop and first rate lyrics really are an excellent combination.

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

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Saturday 23rd July 2011: Kid Canaveral album launch at Avalanche Records.

I need say no more about Kid Canaveral on these pages, surely?  Indiepop.  Awesome.  Some wonderfully sad moments.  Brilliant fun live.

Kid Canaveral – Stretching the Line

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Saturday 23rd July 2011: Enfant Bastard, Moustache of Insanity & River of Slime at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

And finally we come to Enfant Bastard’s final Edinburgh gig for the foreseeable future.  Cammy is moving to Sweden, and will be supported at his farewell show by Moustache of Insanity and FOUND’s beepmaster general Kev Sim, under the name of River of Slime.

Enfant Bastard – Demo Scene

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I feel really weird this morning.  Partly I am whizzed off my tits on painkillers, which at least makes the back pain manageable, and partly I took the advice from this thread a little too seriously last night.  Ouch.  Pills, Caol Ila and Ardbeg: not a winning combination by the time the morning after comes around.

So there’s no chat this week, you’ll be pleased to know.  Here are some gigs.  Go to them.  But good luck picking what to do on Wednesday, because I’ve no fucking idea myself.

Wednesday 23rd September 2009: David Thomas Broughton and several other chaps at Sneaky Pete’s.

Actually David Thomas Broughton is being supported by Debutant, Twi the Humble Feather and Ross Clark, I just liked the phrasing of that little place marker, so I left it in.  ‘Several other chaps’ – spendid.  See, I told you the pills were working.  Anyhow, David Thomas Broughton is mental and brilliant.  He has a black belt in the use of loop pedals, a gorgeous voice and a strange knack for peculiar physical theatre to accompany his musical performances.  He’s sufficiently eccentric, actually, that he is a good one for sorting the men from the boys because a lot of people really don’t like David Thomas Broughton.  These people are wrong, it is as simple as that.

Wednesday 23rd September 2009: Withered Hand Album Launch at the Leith Dockers’ Club, with special guests.

You know I like this album, don’t you?  You also know I have an awful lot of time for Dan, don’t you.  And I’ve not read a bad review for the record anywhere – not even a merely lukewarm one.  So expect a big old hairy metal-hippie love-in at one of Edinburgh’s more idiosyncratic venue choices.  I would tell you who the Very Special Guest is, but I am not allowed.  You’ll just have to keep your Ear Against the Wireless.

Withered Hand – Cornflake (Demo)

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Wednesday 23rd September 2009 (or Thursday): Jesus H. Foxx & the Pineapple Chunks at the Wee Red Bar.

The Wee Red website seems to think this is on Thursday 24th, whereas I am pretty sure the bands think it’s on the 23rd.  I don’t know – personally I would go along on Wednesday if I were you because the venue is there all week and it’s probably best to turn up when the bands are actually intending to play.  Besides, at least if you go on Wednesday and you’re wrong, there’s time to put it right.  There will be lots of guitars and drums at this gig,

Friday 25th September 2009: Julie Doiron, Construction & Destruction and Former Utopia at the Bowery.

Julie Doiron is folky, quiet, French Canadian and stuff like that.

Saturday 26th September 2009: Occasional Flickers, French Wives & Cancel the Astronauts at Sneaky Pete’s.

The Occasional Flickers are probably best and most lazily described as pleasant twee-pop.  Which is nice.  My head hurts too much to write anything more about this.

The Occasional Flickers – A Medal Won in ’84

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Saturday 26th September 2009: The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross at Cabaret Voltaire.

The Low Miffs are a fucking great live band, and their album is excellent.  It’s art rock, to a degree, old school indie to a degree and camp as tits in some senses.  I’ll be here with bells on, depending on certain potential Manchester-based excusions.

The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross – Cressida

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Sunday 27th September 2009: Strike the Colours & Zoey Van Goey at Electric Circus.

Zoey Van Goey are another band I have inexplicably yet to see, for no really obvious reason.  They have an album out and an increasing national profile, so I really should get my shit together and check them out.  Strike the Colours is the vehicle for Malcolm Middleton’s fiddle player, and a band I kind of like, but perhaps no more than that.

Strike the Colours – Strangernight

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Greetings everyone – I trust we’ve all obediently clambered back onto the tediously repetetive hamster wheel we laughably call Proper Job. Here I sit at my desk, surrounded by people actually taking things seriously, vainly hoping that they can’t really tell that I really don’t give a shit and hoping they’ll kindly let me get on with my life as unencumbered by actual, meaningful tasks as possible.

There’s no need to recover from Christmas in our house. Mrs. Toad and I only really drank a lot about three or four times over the holidays, and even then we didn’t get all that juiced. Frankly I rather lost the taste for it for some reason – maybe sheer exhaustion. Still, I successfully managed about ten hours sleep a night, often more, for the entire two weeks, so I am back and feeling refreshed and ready to take on 2009 with renewed vigour.

Which is more than anyone can say for the Edinburgh gig scene, with the exception of the lovely Ruth and Jane at the Bowery. Apart from their sterling efforts no-one else seems to be up to much this week, but not to worry, for they have out-done themselves.

Thursday 8th January 2008: Laptop Lounge at the Voodoo Rooms.

I don’t know much about this, but the description seems kind of intriguing: a get-together for the city’s laptop artists. Could be awful, but I bet there are some absolute gems to be found in there.

Sunday 11th January 2008: Samamidon & The Go-Away Birds at the Bowery.

Sam was bloody amazing when he played the Bowery last November, with his occasionally bizarre on-stage antics and tortured violin-bothering proving a somewhat weird counterpoint to the reverential quiet with which he plucked his way through the beautiful folk music for which he is known. The Go-Away birds sound rather interesting too, from their MySpace page, so I think this promises to be a really good day all round.
The Go-Away Birds – Green Jackets

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And, just because I might be late with next week’s post depending on how busy I am here at Proper Job, I just thought I’d mention this show, which is on next Monday:

Monday 12th January 2008: The World is Not Flat, The Occasional Flickers & Aurora Stands in Snow at the Bowery.

I don’t know much more about this than you can glean from the various MySpace pages, but it would appear that The Occasional Flickers’ winsome folk-pop will be bookended by two acts of twee, guitar-plucking loveliness. I’ve yet to see the Flickers, so it’s about time I put that right.
The World is Not Flat – Earl Grey Lavender

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You won’t see much of me at gigs this week, because my little brother is visiting. I am gutted at having to miss the Major Matt Mason gig last night, but I just ended up being too tired and having too much to do in too little time.

Samamidon is playing in Edinburgh next Monday, so that needs to be publicised. He’s a bit good, and Meursault are doing an acoustic slot in support, so it promises to be an amazing night. The gig is going to be at the Bowery, which is the new venue that my friend Ruth and her friend Jane are opening up. The opening party is on Saturday, for those interested in a bit of intrigue and a splash of free champagne.

Tuesday 4th November 2008: Jackie-O Motherfucker at the Voodoo Rooms.
I missed their last visit to Edinburgh but alt-folk pioneers Jackie-O Motherfucker, yet another excellent Portland band, make their way here again at last. Because Ben is visiting it might not be possible to get to this one, but I’ll do what I can to persuade him.
Jackie-O Motherfucker – Valley of Fire

Thursday 6th November: Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
My ignorance of Wreckless Eric is pretty complete, but I do have two songs by him which I really like, and he was something of a minor hero in his time as far as I am aware. I also inadvertently busted someone at an open-mic night here in Edinburgh last year, on the basis of Wreckless Eric. It is a strictly ‘no covers’ night and a certain gentleman played Reconnez Cherie on the assumption that no-one would recognise it. He counted without the music obsessive at the back, however, and at about the line about ‘nights in my Zodiac’ I leaned over to my mate, who ran the night at the time, and said ‘Fuck me, that’s a Wreckless Eric song.’ What did I learn from that evening? That no-one, absolutely no-one it seems, likes a smart arse.
Wreckless Eric – Reconnez Cherie

Saturday 8th November: Greenbelt Collective, The Second Hand Marching Band, White Heath & The Occasional Flickers at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
I don’t know the Greenbelt Collective, but TSHMB and The Occasional Flickers are both excellent, so as ways to round off your week go, this couldn’t be much better. I’ll be expecting a good sweep of the territory between folk and pop and back again.
The Occasional Flickers – A Medal Won in ’84

Saturday 8th November: The Bowery Opening Party, at the Bowery Bar.
Quite which bands will be playing is somewhat up in the air at the moment but this will be the official opening party for Edinburgh’s newest live music and arts venue. Personally I’m more interested in the music side of course, but there will be fine bands, free champagne and candles. Check out the website, designed by yours truly and featuring the photos of a certain Dylan from Blueback Hotrod. The place is really lovely, so I do recommend you get along if you can because this place could be fantastic if we all get behind it.
Lydia Lunch – Bowery Blues

Sunday 9th November: Marcus Mumford & Rags & Feathers at 99 Hannover Street.
This is a charity gig, held in one of Edinburgh’s snazzier bars, generally full of wannabe-WAGs. On Sunday, however, there’s be soulful folk-pop, so the place should be a much nicer place to be, and I am really looking forward to seeing what Marcus Mumford is like as a solo act. [Edit: this is now at Bannerman's on the Cowgate]
Rags & Feathers – Silent Movie Starlets

Again it’s something of a quiet week but apparently July often is in the world of gigs, as the Summer music festival season continues its dotcom-esque ballooning and people get ready for the foreign invasion and artistic black hole that is the Edinburgh Festival.

I might be popping through to Glasgow to see Mumford & Sons actually, because there’s not much happening around here at the moment. One gig, however, is going to make me old mate DC Very Happy Indeed:

Thursday 10th July: Jesus H. Foxx & Prince Edward Island at Cabaret Voltaire.
Quite apart from the fact that this is a Duty Free gig – in other words, free – and quite apart from the fact that Jesus H. Foxx are a pretty good band, this will be my first chance to see DC’s mates and Waiting Room favourites, Prince Edward Island. I don’t know too much about them, apart from the basic indie guitar sound on their MySpace page, but I’m in no rush. I’ll catch them at the gig and go from there.
Prince Edward Island – Partlife

Thursday 10th July: Come On Gang & Haight Ashbury play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.
I saw the Come On Gang for the first time at the Kid Canveral single launch party a few weeks back and they were excellent. I am looking forward to their own single, which is officially launched at this gig but which I can’t post for obvious reasons, but I will have to catch it at a different gig as I think I really have to go and see DC’s mates instead. Haight Ashbury don’t sound bad either – sort of like an indie-folk group fronted by a couple of singers from a girl band.
Come On Gang – Start the Sound

Saturday 12th July: Amida & The Just Joans & the Occasional Flickers at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
Greek indie pop is not exactly an over-exposed niche of the music market, but Edinburgh’s Occasional Flickers are the work of a Greek chappie with a surprising affinity for the local brand of introverted twee folk. I don’t know the other two bands at all, but listening to their MySpace pages they sound really rather promising. Besides, it’s a Gentle Invasion gig, and so it is pretty much guaranteed to be good.
The Just Joans – Hey Boy, You’re Oh So Sensitive (This is fucking brilliant)

Saturday 12th July: Black Affair & Found at the GRV.
Black Affair is a Steve Mason production. Steve Mason is that chap out of the Beta Band. Need I say more to the Scottish Indie world? Well it’s no Beta Band Part II, so don’t wet your knickers just yet, because Black Affair play more of a dark disco electronica: sort of like Depeche Mode with more beat, more of a knack for shimmering, spangly synths and less of the love for demoralising dirges. Am I allowed to say that I heard this the first time, wasn’t too impressed, found out who it was by, went back and had another listen, and then suddenly changed my mind and now I find it intriguing. Is this pure indie snobbery and pathetic celebrity fawning? Well I suppose it probably is, but I am not saying that they’re god’s gift all of a sudden, and many things need a second listen… ah, who am I kidding, best just bite the bullet and confess to being shallow as fuck.
Black Affair – You & Me

Of course there is one and only one gig worth attending in Edinburgh this week: the Song, by Toad Records Launch Party! It is the official line of this publication that no other gigs are even happening, never mind worth turning up to. Some arse has managed to sneak in some rogue listings at the bottom of the page, but believe me he will be hunted down and given a severe beating before the day is up.

It would be great to see as many of you as possible at the launch party. This is as nerve-wracking as it is exciting, so get there nice and early for your free sampler (only 25 to go round) and help us celebrate in a bit of style.

Wednesday 11th June 2008: We See Lights & Woodenbox & Emily Scott at the Wee Red Bar.
It’s all a bit folky at this month’s Trampoline gig. We See Lights are not a group I can tell you that much about, but Emily Scott’s stuff is gorgeous and Woodenbox were terrific at the T-Break Heats in Glasgow a month or so ago. It won’t be as much fun as the Toad Records Launch Night of course, but it will tide you over well enough.
Woodenbox – Situations

Wednesday 11th June 2008: Jonquil & The Occasional Flickers & Wounded Knee at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
It’s an eclectic lineup from The Gentle Invasion, with rising quirk-folksters Jonquil, pastoral indie band The Occasional Flickers and experimental soundscaper Wounded Knee all bringing something quite different to the evening. The one common thread is perhaps the laid back, comfortable vibe that should pervade, so for all it won’t be as good as the Song, by Toad Records Launch Night, it should be an enjoyable gig nevertheless.
Jonquil – Apparency
The Occasional Flickers – A Medal Won in ’84

Friday 13th June 2008: Alex Cornish at Cabaret Voltaire.
Having played material from his debut album When the Traffic Stops both solo and with a four-piece band, Alex has finally decided to procure a string quartet to bring the full depth of his sound to the live stage at last. It should be really good, this, but don’t get too drunk because you don’t want to be hung over at the excellent Song, by Toad Records Launch Party the following day.
Alex Cornish – Counting Chimney Pots

Saturday 14th June 2008: Rags & Feathers & Ziggy Campbell & Les Enfant Bastard at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
Of course none of you will be at this, as you’ll all be at the Song, by Toad Records Launch Party. But should you be so scurrilously disloyal as to go along, then feel free to swing by Leith afterwards and brandish your stamp for free entry. You may just be able to catch Meursault (10pm – unlikely) and Celebrity Chimp (11pm – probably) if you’re quick. Ziggy Campbell is the Found frontman, and Les Enfant Bastard are possibly the living embodiment of anti-folk. Rags & Feathers I know nothing about at all, but follow the MySpace link and enlightenment is yours for the taking.
Les Enfant Bastard – U R My Fucking Sunshine U Cunt

Saturday 14th June 2008: Celebrity Chimp & Meursault & The Byrons play the Song, by Toad Records Launch Party, at The Meridian, Leith.
There is surely no way I need to tell you any more about this, but even if you don’t give a shit about the label or my own endeavours or any of that stuff – and of course, there’s no reason that you should – then you may wish to come down to see the bands anyway, as this is a really excellent lineup. More details here if you want them; hope to see you there.
Celebrity Chimp – Plastic Girl

Sunday 15th June 2008: The Twilight Sad, Broken Records & Meursault at the Bongo Club.
What finer way to nurse your prodigious hangover after the night of your life at the Song, by Toad Records Launch Night than by spinning round to see Broken Records and Meursault, probably Edinburgh’s two best bands at the moment, supporting swirling noise-merchants The Twilight Sad at the Bongo Club. It won’t be as much fun as the night before, but then, you probably just couldn’t take that much joy in one weekend anyway.
The Twilight Sad – Watching That Chair Painted Yellow