Song, by Toad

Well well well, Saturday was what I think can only be described as a truly epic party.  It started at about two or three in the afternoon when Found came round to record their Toad Session, which sounded absolutely lovely, continued into the back garden for a barbecue, turned into the Honeytrap Toad Session, repaired once more to the garden for further gluttony, returned to the house once night had descended, then turned into some sort of deranged music/cavorting session until the early hours accompanied by some truly heroic feats of drinking.

Quite how the whole house didn’t end up smashed to pieces is beyond me.  And quite what our neighbours made of a gaggle in inebriated imbeciles out in the back garden all evening bellowing salty anecdotes at one another in the most colourful of language is entirely beyond me.  If we are not careful we may end up with something of a ‘reputation’ in the neighbourhood.

Apart from other things, today sees the release of Broken Records’ debut album, which I will review later on this week.  I also have a special treat of some truly excellent live videos from their Bedlam Theatre set which will be published as soon as possible.  I’ll review the album in as objective a manner as I can, but for now, on a personal note, I want to just mention the fact that the lads have become good friends since I first saw them play about two years ago, and I am incredibly proud of them and delighted to see this record out in the shops.  Well done, boys, you deserve it.

Other things happening this week include the first night at the somewhat enigmatic Electric Circus.  This is a new venue whose website, whilst pretty, is sufficiently unfinished as to fail to include an actual address.  It is left to The Skinny to provide us with such trivial details, and a good thing they do, as the first gig to be held there takes place tomorrow, 2nd June, with St. Jude’s Infirmary and White Heath.  Intriguing.

Monday 1st June 2009: Teitur & Emily Scott at Cabaret Voltaire.

Teitur is from the Faroe Islands and has managed a couple of fairly high-profile movie placements for his songs already which, although it brings very important funds to an artist, doesn’t seem quite as useful at increasing name-recognition, because I am still yet to hear all that much talk about the fellow on the digital telegraph wires.  He makes lovely, acoustic pop songs, though, which should result in a state of serene bliss.
Teitur – We Still Drink the Same Water

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Monday 1st June 2009: Trachtenberg Family Sideshow Players at the Bowery.

This lot sound a bit mental.  The clue is entirely in the name – imagine what kind of madness you might expect from a band called that, and that is exactly what you are going to get.  Should be brilliant fun.
Trachtenberg Family Sideshow Players – Mountain Trip to Japan

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Thursday 4th June 2009: Punch & the Apostles & the Stormy Seas play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

More Limbo excellence, with Glasgow band Punch & the Apostles and their raucous sound which veers from hyperactive swing to deranged carnival barking.  Supported by the Stormy Seas’ folk rock and a mystery third guest, who will probably turn out to be someone like Paolo Nutini or someone like that.  Or maybe not.
Punch & the Apostles – I’m a Hobo

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Friday 5th June 2009: My Latest Novel, Copy Haho & Mitchell Museum play the final Black Tape Club night at Sneaky Pete’s.

Black Tape take their final bow by introducing the new My Latest Novel album to the world.  I am listening to their gorgeous debut as I type this, and am genuinely fascinated to hear what they have to say for themselves next.  On record it’s all a bit more craftsmanlike, instrumental and lush, whereas the live sound is a lot more guitary and noisy.  I haven’t actually seen them live for ages, so I’ll definitely be along to this one.
My Latest Novel – Pretty in a Panic

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Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th June 2009: The Meadows Festival.

What are the chances of the gorgeous weather holding up until this coming Saturday when the Meadows Festival swings into life?  Pretty slim, from the looks of it, but we can hope.  Apart from plenty of splendid hippy shit like crafts stalls and local artists and stuff like that there will also be a good number of local bands playing at various times during the day, including Meursault, Jesus H. Foxx, White Heath, The Byrons, and quite a few others.  Have a look at their MySpace page for a more comprehensive list.

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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I haven’t really mentioned the crisis in Gaza on this site which is, I suppose, somewhat unusual, when you consider my general lack of inhibition when it comes to wading into massive arguments.  It’s a difficult one, I suppose, in part because it’s just so fucking obvious.

Israel, by its alliances and by its supporters, seems to have been adopted as a de facto Western nation.  Imagine if, erm, say the Republic of Ireland adopted the Israel approach to dealing with Northern Ireland.  Maybe that’s the wrong analogy, because Palestine is of course an independent country – albeit one with apparently no right not to have the living shit bombed out of its civillian population on the slightest pretext every six months or so.  Maybe it would be closer to Germany razing Copenhagen to the ground every year.  But then, Denmark is our friend too.  How about if, say, Serbia decided to annihilate a small neighbouring country like, erm, Bosnia for example, and to declare an all-out war on the civillian population of that country.  What would we do if Serbia did that, I wonder?

And don’t get me started on the attack on Lebanon.  Breathtakingly barbaric, and the act of a rogue nation which knows that having its crazy friend leering over its shoulder makes it absolutely immune to any kind of accountability for its actions.

The other really frustrating part of the argument is the ‘in favour of terrorism response’ anyone who disagrees tends to come up with when you express this opinion.  It’s like the Iraq war, when you voiced a dissenting opinion, being asked why you were on the terrorists’ side – a complete non-sequitur, albeit one which tended to arise in the States far more than the rest of the world.  Here the equivalent seems to be that in criticising Israel you are somehow condoning the Palestinian acts of terrorism, as if they didn’t also have to be stopped.  No, of course not, but if attacking the civillian population is bad, then it’s bad for everyone.  It’s not okay for you because you are adamant that they started it.

Anyhow, to help alleviate the suffering caused by recent acts of Israeli terrorism in Gaza, Tom Snowball from Rags & Feathers is organising a fundraiser at Mono in Glasgow tomorrow night.  The lineup is superb: Sparrow & the Workshop, Punch & the Apostles, The John Langan Band, Mike & Solveig and Tom himself will be playing, and I urge you to go along and support the cause.  Who knows, you might just have an enjoyable evening at the same time.

Punch & the Apostles – The Engineers of Salammbo

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Tom Snowball – Isabella

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Sparrow & the Workshop – Devil Song

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And yes, that’s a picture of a man carrying a dead child.  It’s actually quite serious.  Cough up.

I am not leaving the house this week. Instead I am going to be locked in my sweaty little internet den (or the ‘editing suite’, if you want it to sound a bit less grotty) beavering away at session videos. I couldn’t resist a little leak of one of the Meursault recordings here though, but that’s because the whole thing is coming together really nicely and I am just plain excited.

And the Festival ends this week as well. Would you believe I haven’t done a single show this year, not one. I mean, I’ve been to see Eagleowl and Broken Records, but then I’d do that anyway. Mind you, the whole fucking lot is getting so bloody expensive these days that this is hardly a disaster.

Monday 25th August 2008: Alex Cornish at The Village, Leith.
Alex is a a good friend, and a DIY champion in this era of record industry panic. He’s actually turned down the advances of proper labels in order to carry on making things happen on his own. Given that he’s an Edinburgh lad doing things his own way, so you’d bloody well all better show him some support when the new single comes out in September. More on that later in the week.
Alex Cornish – Scotland the Brave

Monday 25th August 2008: Clare & the Reasons at Cabaret Voltaire.
I know nothing about these guys at all, apart from the fact that they come highly, highly recommended by a good friend of mine. So highly recommended, in fact, that she’s emailed me about this particular gig three or four times already. Mad old bag.
Clare & the Reasons – Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Yes, that one.)

Tuesday 26th August 2008: The Raconteurs at the Corn Exchange.
I was so disappointed by their last album that I won’t be going to this, but the Raconteurs were blistering the last time I saw them, so if you liked their recent stuff and are in any doubts, just go. Jack White, in particular, is a virtuoso live performer.
The Raconteurs – Steady as She Goes (Acoustic)

Thursday 28th August 2008: Meursault, Sparrow & the Workshop & The Red Well play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.
Continuing their consistently excellent lineups, this one has to trump the lot, I think. Will I be there? Mwah ha ha ha, will fucking bells on I will. And to celebrate, here’s a little sneak preview from the forthcoming Meursault Toad Session, which will be posted this weekend. Why? Because I just couldn’t restrain myself, that’s why.
Meursault – Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues (Toad Session)

Thursday 28th August 2008: Punch & the Apostles play Henry’s Cellar Bar, along with Super Adventure Club, Rodent Emporium and Terra Surfa.
I would interested to see these guys actually, as their single on Lucky Number Nine Records, an excellent little DIY Glasgow label, was really rather good. I’d like to see them live, just to get a better understanding of their sound. Their gypsy blunderbuss sound might have slightly missed its window in terms of its fashionable status, but they still sound like a very good band to me irrespective of all that sort of calculating commercial bobbins.
Punch & the Apostles – The Engineers of Salammbo

Fear not, this isn’t quite as horribly overbearing as it could have been. The ranting is actually fairly under control, and the self-important pontificating not quite as reckless as it could so easily have been, partly because I wasn’t quite as liberal with the gin as I have been in the past.

The reason it’s called the Popecast is because of this amazing little story about Catholics in the States issuing death threats to a kid who took a communion wafer out of the church with him.  The hilarious PZ Myers then got involved, threatening to show them what real desecration would look like, and the pandemonium reached all new levels of shrillness.

The thing that really got my goat about all this was not so much that Catholics took offence, but more the level of the hysteria and the language of persecution.  It was honestly described as kidnapping and as a hate crime by various loonies, and there was nothing like enough ‘Oh fucking grow up and get the fuck over it’ being said.  People seem to be seeking all sorts of odd legal protections for their crazy superstitions these days, and I am flabberghasted that a particular kind of idea is being so fucking mollycoddled as to be deemed immune from criticism and contempt.  Come on, people, fuck your religious convictions and learn to deal with the fact that most of the planet thinks they’re crazy – and that applies to atheists as well.

Anyhow, I promise this doesn’t take over too much of the podcast, and that the music is given plenty of space to breathe.

Toadcast #33 – The Popecast

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01. Half Man Half Biscuit – Vatican Broadside (00.07)
02. Beck – Profanity Prayers (02.27)
03. Punch & the Apostles – Nouveau Gypsy (10.20)
04. I Said Yes – The Town Crier (15.07)
05. Albert Hammond Jr. – GFC (20.47)
06. Bonnie Prince Billy – So Everyone (23.51)
07. Tom Lehrer – Vatican Rag (33.53)
08. The Savings & Loan – Catholic Boys in the Rain (37.12)
09. Derek Meins – The Gin Song (42.57)
10. Holly Golightly & the Broke-Offs – Devil Do (48.47)
11. Ghostkeeper – Solid Gold (56.02)
12. Forest Fire – Fortune Teller (60.44)
13. Silver Jews – Strange Victory, Strange Defeat (70.22)
14. Sparrow & the Workshop – Magic Tricks (77.55)
15. The Just Joans – Hey Boy, You’re Oh So Sensitive (79.43)
16. Roy Zimmerman – Ted Haggard is Completely Heterosexual (85.41)
17. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Evening Mass (97.16)

And just for the fun, here are the two silly songs for you to download:
Tom Lehrer – Vatican Rag[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/TheVaticanRag.mp3]
Roy Zimmerman – Ted Haggard is Completely Heterosexual[audio http://www.matthewjamesyoung.com/sbt/RoyZimmerman-TedHaggardIsCompletelyHeterosexual.mp3]

I think it is fair to say that the gypsy folk schtick is getting a little old now.  Not that I don’t love it, just that it has been fucking ages since I saw a band without a fiddle player.  I would rather it was an active choice, rather than just a knee-jerk reflex.

Punch & the Apostles may be gypsy folk, but they lean more towards the wayward Mariachi of the likes of Devotchka than they do towards Beuirut.  There’s plenty of screeched vocals that recall Black Rider-era Tom Waits from time to time as well, so this is pretty much right up my street.  There is a throaty, manic energy to them, and impression reinforced by the “sweaty” description of their single launch party on the Lucky Number Nine site.

The single, Asylum, is out now on 7″ with accompanying CD-R, and available here.  The frantic energy of it all actually reminds me a little of Man Man as well, now that I think about it, albeit earlier, better Man Man because I didn’t like their last album much at all.

Ultimately, I think I am finding the format a little bit overused of late.  Once the last folk revival, as epitomised by the likes of The Pogues and The Waterboys and so on, petered out we were rescued by Britpop – by the brilliance of Blur and Pulp.  Which movement is going to take that job this time?

In any case, vague genre moaning aside is doing these lads a disservice, because I love their stuff.  There’s not a scrap of the knowing feyness of a lot of current new folk, which makes it a genuine pleasure to listen to, and they seem like pretty bloody talented musicians.  And if anything pains me about the gypsy folk movement it’s that too few of them embraced Mariachi like they bloody well should have.  Like this lot have.

Punch & the Apostles – Nouveau Gypsy
Punch & the Apostles – The Bull Ring Pt. 1

MySpace | Buy the single from Lucky Number Nine Records

Ho hum, what’s going on this week then? Well I am having a fairly dry one, that’s for sure. Last week descended into complete mayhem, largely musical, and by Sunday morning I wasn’t sure whether it was Thursday’s, Friday’s or Saturday’s hangover I was so desperate to sleep off.

Friday night was the return of the Mr. & Mrs. Toad late night booze-and-tunesathon. It was loud, and went on until five in the morning, and I still managed to drag my sorry carcass out of bed to go to football training at ten the next day. Christ I had the cold sweats though.

There are really only a couple of gigs I’d be in a rush to get to this week:

Thursday 17th July 2008: Come On Gang, Plaaydoh & Be a Familiar at the (shit) Ark.
This is a Broken Friend Records night, who released the Jesus H. Foxx single. I am a little dubious about Plaaydoh and Be a Familiar, but they both have some decent aspects that you notice during a cursory MySpace listen. Come On Gang, on the other hand, are pretty good and have a new single out so this has the makings of a good fun night about it.
Come On Gang – Spinning Room

Thursday 17th July 2008: Grace Emilys, Punch and the Apostles & Reformation play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.
It’s been a while since I plugged a Limbo gig, which feels a bit mean because their lineups are good, it’s just that I’ve not quite been as grabbed by some of the recent lineups as I might have been, but that just happens I suppose. Well continuing their knack for spotting the finest of Scottish indie pop, this three-band lineup looks rather promising. I know nothing of any of the bands in question, but a quick MySpace listen sounds promising to me. Definitely worth going along to.
Grace Emilys – Down in Mexico

Friday 18th July 2008: Ballboy at Cabaret Voltaire.
One of the somewhat underestimated pillars of Edinburgh’s indie landscape, Gordon MacIntyre writes warm, witty songs, delivers them with genuine charm and throws a cracking tune on top of pretty much each one. They can be sad and wistful melancholia or bouncy indie pop and it appears there’s a new album in the fairly immediate offing, so it’ll be interesting to hear what they’re been up to of late.
Ballboy – Dumper Truck Racing

Saturday 19th July: Meursault, Boyfriend/Girlfriend & Davie Lawson at the Wee Red Bar.
Trampoline has grown up! Graduating from sproradic weekdays, Euan now has a regular monthly Saturday night slot for his excellent gig nights. He’s shite at marketing too, so hopefully the new slot will result in more people coming to these shows. As to this first bill, well I don’t know Davie Lawson at all, I’ve seen B/G once before and rather enjoyed them and I think Meursault are fucking brilliant. So not a bad start to his new life as a gig circuit high-roller.
Boyfriend/Girlfriend – The Greatest High