And so the madness begins. The Edge Festival this year is still looking for something special, beyond Sebadoh and The National, but there is nevertheless an unbelievable shitload of stuff happening in Edinburgh over the course of the next four weeks.

Personally, I am going to have much more involvement this year, for two reasons.  For starters, last year I spent two weeks of August on holiday in China, and another week up at Haarfest in Fife, and this year I’ll be here the whole way through.

Secondly, of course, we will be releasing the Best of the Antihoot at the end of the Festival, meaning I will be spending an awful lot of time actually at the Antihoot, trying to figure out what I think is actually the best of it, and that means 12-3am most nights, and then a normal day’s work the next day.  Helloooooo coffee!

Monday 1st August 2011: Lady North, PAWS & Vasquez at Sneaky Pete’s.

I’ve been looking forward to the single for which this gig is the launch night for ages now.  Out on Gerry Loves Records, it is a 7″ split between PAWS and Lady North, and given the raucous excellence of the former and the reputed excellence of the latter, this should be a mightily excellent gig.

PAWS – Summer Wipeout

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.

Wednesday 3rd August 2011: Lach: The Waitress, the Walls and the Weirdos at Cabaret Voltaire.

This is the opening night of a run of solo shows Lach will be performing over the course of the Fringe – all part of the Free Fringe, with admission being on the basis of a voluntary donation.  The Waitress, the Walls and the Weirdos is named after the people Lach tended to find himself playing to at the end of the night at the Sidewalk Cafe in New York, when running the Antihoot over there.

Lach – Baby, I Don’t Want to Go

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 4th August 2011: The opening night of the Antihoot at the Gilded Balloon.

This show is also running throughout August (more of this later) and in September we’ll be releasing The Best of the Antihoot on Song, by Toad Records – compilation chosen by a combination of audience acclaim and executive decision.

Friday 5th August 2011: Avital Raz & Little Egypt at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

Those of us who were at the Avital Raz and Alex Cornish Song, by Toad House Gig in June were pretty much unanimous in thinking Avital’s stuff was absolutely amazing.  Well on the back of that gig Claire has booked her for Henry’s this Friday, with support coming from a band I have to confess to not knowing, called Little Egypt.

Sunday 7th August 2011: Edinburgh Independent Record Fair at Summerhall.

Scotland’s best independent labels, promoters and bands will be gathering in the Dissecting Room Bar at Summerhall, and combining live music in the lecture theatre with a series of stalls selling all sorts of bits and pieces of musical joy, soundtracked by DJ sets from all sorts of Scottish musical muppets luminaries.

FOUND – Anti-Climb Paint

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 7th August 2011: Born to Be Wide Edinburgh Night at the Electric Circus.

Born to Be Wide is also hosting in-stores by Rachel Sermanni and Withered Hand at Avalanche Records on the Grassmarket, and then moving to the Electric Circus for the evening, and short performances by a huge variety of new Edinburgh bands, interspersed with ‘celebrity’ DJs.  Already confirmed to play are: Chasing Owls, Austen George, Capitals, Bwani Junction, Withered Hand, Rachel Sermanni, Church of When The Sh*t Hits The Fan and Lady North.

Does Carl Barat at the Liquid Rooms on Thursday qualify as an interesting gig for this page?  I am not sure.  A couple of years ago it might have.  I saw Dirty Pretty Things at the Corn Exchange back in 200somethingsomething and, much like their album, found them to be highly enjoyable but always slightly short of earth-shattering.

Somehow, not all that many years later, the gig seems almost completely irrelevant, both to me and, I imagine, to almost anyone reading this. No wonder musicians often end up with a love-hate relationship with their fans – we can be a fickle bunch of bastards and no mistake.

Anyhow, it’s pretty quiet this week, so I am going to break from precedent and list a Glasgow gig for a change.  You’ll see why…

Wednesday 6th April 2011: Jonnie Common’s Deskjob launch at the Captain’s Rest (Glasgow).

See, normally I wouldn’t list a Glasgow gig, but this one is a bit special.  Jonnie is launching Deskjob this week, which is a collaborative album whereby some of his favourite bands came round to his house and recorded the bare bones of a song, and he then built up the rest of the song around this.

He’s adamant that they aren’t remixes, so I suppose you would have to call this more of an old-fashioned producer’s album.  All but one of the bands (I think) are getting together at the Captain’s Rest in Glasgow on Wednesday, and Jonnie’s being a little elusive about previews, so I am going to just embed his thirty second snippets here instead of including a downloadable song as I usually might.
Jonnie Common presents DESKJOB – album preview (paper)clips by Jonnie Common

Wednesday 6th April 2011: Broken Records (acoustic) at the Bristo Hall.

I am not sure exactly how acoustic this is going to be, but it is the latest in an ongoing series of fundraising gigs being held to help save the Forest Cafe from extinction, after the collapse of the Edinburgh University Settlement.   Broken Records can go from very loud indeed to extremely minimal with equal success, so I highly recommend this. They probably won’t be quite as pared-down as in this video, but I still like it:

Thursday 7th April 2011: Wide Days at the Teviot, with live showcases in the evening.

There’s more to explain about Wide Days than can be discussed in this brief paragraph, but here are the very brief highlights: four seminars during the day, based on providing as much practical advice to DIY musicians as possible, followed by a series of live showcases in the evening, with bands like Withered Hand, Paws, Rachael Sermanni and several others playing gigs at a variety of venues across Edinburgh.  Go to their website for a more detailed explanation – and see you there.

Sunday The Late Call, The Japanese War Effort & The Wee Rogue at the Wee Red Bar.

The Gentle Invasion’s return to the world of promotion so pleased me that I managed to forget to include this initially, so sorry about that! The Late Call make rather lush acoustic pop, The Japanese War Effort could be playing anything from solo with guitar to solo with all sorts of loop pedals and odd boxes which make strange noises, and The Wee Rogue play gorgeously hushed folk songs. This will be a good gig, I can pretty much promise you.

Having missed most of the first week of the Festival by being in Spain, I am now going to miss large parts of this week by pootling about in Anstruther at Haarfest (tickets can be found in the right hand column of this page).

Mrs. Toad will presumably hate me for this of course, as she has to stay behind in Edinburgh and do a proper job, whereas I can fuck off to Fife, get lashed, and call it work.  Mwaaah hah haaa…!

Given the fact that during the Festival the centre of Edinburgh becomes roughly as welcoming as the picture above I think I’ll appreciate a swift relocation for a few days, ready to come back to the last week of the Festival, go to a couple of shows and pretend I always knew it was going to be fun all along.

Anyhow, for those of you not Fifing themselves all to pieces this week I have some very fine recommendations indeed:

Lach’s Antihoot – from Wednesday at the Gilded Balloon.

I was at the first night, which was great, and apparently this week has been great fun, according to the man himself and according to Dylan’s drunken Facebook pictures of himself, Bart and Jamie and Rory from Broken Records who played there on Saturday.

Tuesday 17th August 2010: Withered Hand & The Last Battle at the Electric Circus.

Dan from Withered Hand is currently working on his second album, although I am not sure how far he’s actually got just yet.  Either way, I’m probably as excited to hear new stuff from Withered Hand as I am to hear new stuff from any band on Song, by Toad Records. Dan’s way with words is as good as anyone I know, and his knack of wrapping them up in simple but effective melodies makes his music both as pleasurable and as rewarding as anything else happening in Edinburgh at the moment.

Withered Hand – Religious Songs

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.

Tuesday 17th August 2010: John Grant & Rachel Sermanni at the Wee Red Bar.

John Grant used to be in a band called The Czars who had some truly brilliant moments.  I saw him at SXSW, and he stepped up to a piano in a checked shirt and sporting a very alt-country sort of beard and then instead of playing the sort of Bella Union alt country I expected (fairly obvious assumptions based on costume and venue) he played a series of sweet, melodic piano ballads, with just the faintest scent of theatricality about them.  I haven’t heard the album yet, but that was an intriguing show and I’d recommend checking his stuff out.

John Grant – Where Dreams Go to Die

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.

Tuesday 17th August 2010: The Besnard Lakes, Heart Beats & Penguins Kill Polar Bears at Sneaky Pete’s.

I haven’t seen the Besnard Lakes live, but their sound is really nicely complex and layered, and when their songs are good they are really really good.  If that translates to the live setting as well as I suspect it might then this could be an almighty wall of sound and completely brilliant.  That’s just a guess though, but I would like to think it’s true.  Let me know if you go and find out.

The Besnard Lakes – Chicago Train

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 19th August 2010: The Scottish Enlightenment, Debutant & Dan Lyth at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

This is something of a stripped back gig for the Scottish Enlightenment, due to the absence of a guitarist, but nevertheless their slow, deliberate sound is a treat I would recommend to anyone.  There is an album due out shortly, which I am heartily looking forward to.

The Scottish Enlightenment – Riverbed

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 19th August 2010: Sleepy Sun at Sneaky Pete’s.

I’ll be honest with you, I know no more about this than the fact that I had a listen to their MySpace page and thought it sounded interesting.  Interesting it did sound however, so I reckon it might well be worth a chance if you’re looking for something to do on Thursday.

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.