Song, by Toad

11.Meursault – Love or Limb
This is almost a bloody country song, and fucking hell it’s miserable.  Like the rest of Nothing Broke, the songs really don’t seem to belong together, but they really do fit amazingly well. And one of the nicest things about this song, for someone actually involved with the release, is that it came as a total surprise – I knew nothing about it until suddenly there it was on something we were releasing.

12.Yusuf Azak – The Key Underground
Yusuf is threatening to retire from music before finishing his album.  Based on the evidence of his two EPs (free to download from his MySpace page) and this out of the blue pop gem that would be a tragedy.  It’s such a strange song, and yet so incredibly catchy.

13.Micah P Hinson – In The Pines (By Leadbelly)
Yes, I know, I don’t like this album much, and covering In the Pines by Leadbelly is an enormous cliche, but the sheer venom with which Hinson sets about this song is a bloody joy.  He just beasts the living shit out of it, start to finish.  Truly exceptional.

14.Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt1
Hmm, this song got a little lost in the debate between single versions and EP versions and all that pish, but forgetting everything else and just popping it on the stereo, it’s just a genius pop song pure and simple.  The oohs, the claps, the banjo… the fucking weird subject matter.  I defy anyone not to love this – in fact, if you are that person then all I can say is ‘Ha hahahaha – you’re an idiot.  Bad luck.’

15.Samamidon-1842-ToadSession
More banjo, and one of the most gorgeous voices I’ve heard in ages.  Sam played in Edinburgh a lot this year, and I don’t know if his second Bowery gig or his Toad Session the next day will end up being the most memorable from my perspective.  How someone can bring old folk music so powerfully to life by doing so little to it is beyond me.  The lad’s a fucking genius.

16.Withered Hand – For the Maudlin
One of the most understatedly brilliant albums I’ve heard for ages.  Almost every one of the songs on Good News should be on this list.  The only real relief for me is the fact that due to appearing on the Religious Songs EP a handful of them have disqualified themselves, otherwise Dan might fear he had a stalker.

17.Langhorne Slim – I Love You But Goodbye
I’m still getting into the album itself, but the teaser track from Be Set Free is more elaborate and involved than earlier work, but the twinkling piano and lazy strings just give this song an incredible air of indulgent, nostalgic melancholy.  If you like to wallow in your sadness yet not allow it to become too bleak, then this is the song for you.

18.eagleowl – Sleep the Winter
If you want to know what I think of this single, read this.  Otherwise just listen to the roll of the guitar refrain, the gorgeous sound of the violin and the wonderful interplay between Bart’s growl and Clarissa’s whisper – it’s just beautiful.  They make making music like this sound so incredibly easy.

19.Sparrow & the Workshop – You’ve Got it All
If I were Jill O’Sullivan’s gentleman friend I would be somewhat worried by the number of venomous, barbed songs she writes.  If I didn’t know what a sweetie she was, and just knew her by her lyrics, she’d scare the shit out of me.  This whole EP is fierce and vulnerable, but mostly fierce, and this is probably my favourite song on it.  Although… well, for now it is anyway; it’s just a great EP full stop.

20.Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
I blow hot and cold with this album, but this track is simply a brilliant pop song.  Even I feel like a hip kid listening to this (although it’s probably eight months too late to be saying that).  But honestly, anything that makes me feel even vaguely like dancing deserves a fucking medal, and that’s what this does.

To download all ten songs as a single zip file, click here.

1-10 / 11-20 / 21-35 / 36-50

21.FOUND – Enough About Human Rights
I’m not sure if anyone, not even the band themselves, likes Enough About Human Rights best from their excellent Let Fidelity Break EP, but I do.  There’s just something unexpected about this song, for some reason.  The fact that it is in fact a Moondog cover probably has a lot to do with that, but the hectic, percussive energy FOUND pile into their version just makes me grin every time I hear it.

22.Timber Timbre – Demon Host
The ‘ohs’ in this song take the spectral folk of Timber Timbre and give it a pleading, forlorn quality which imbues it with just a little more pathos than some of the others on the album, and this makes it extra special, in my view.

23.FOUND – You’re No Vincent Gallo – Toad Session
Honestly, I could put pretty much their entire session in the top ten of this list quite easily.  It was one of the best things I have ever seen, I think it’s fair to say.  Without all the stuff added by the full band I found myself so much more impressed with Ziggy’s voice, with the gorgeous tones he got from his banjo… with pretty much all of it, honestly.  Gorgeous.

24.Broken Records – Lessons Never Learnt
This may have been on an earlier release, but it was on this year’s(ish) Out on the Water EP, so I am putting my foot down and saying that it counts.  In any case, a really surprising song to come from a band like this, and I think that little down-up of the cello absolutely makes it.

25.Trips and Falls – Breaking Up With My Mormon Missionaries
These guys were pretty much the revelation of the year for me, in all honesty.  So much so that we’ve offered to release He Was Such a Quiet Boy on Song, by Toad Records, and it should be coming out in early March.  Their music is just fucking creepy, to be honest, and the male/female vocal interplay on this track in particular really is odd.  Add that repetitive descent on the strings and this really is an unsettling song.  And a brilliant one.

26.Jesus H. Foxx – Elegy For the Good Times
It didn’t grab me as my favourite track from Jesus H. Foxx’ debut EP Matter right off the bat, but I think it is.  The cornet, the harmonies, and that simple, repetitive rhythmic underpinning for the whole thing… it all just works incredibly well together, and there’s a sophistication to it which never ceases to surprise me when I think that this is the band’s first release, with their current lineup that is.

27.The Pictish Trail – You Covered the Earth With Your Thumb (Toad Session)
I love the Toad Sessions.  They really can provide some amazing recordings, and with Neil so kindly recording and mixing all of the ones we’ve done so far this year we really have had some incredible stuff.  Johnny Pictish is about the nicest guy ever to set foot in our house, and his session really was good.  The slow build of this, and the prominence of his vocal really are gorgeous.

28.Navigator – Change
An oddly melodic tune from one of the most belligerently low-fi albums I think I have ever heard.  It took a while for the sense of ‘whoooah, what the fuck?’ to subside when I first heard this record, but it is absolutely brilliant.  Fuzz or not, this is just a stone-cold pop gem and one of the most catchy riffs of the year.

29.The Builders and The Butchers – Golden And Green
Mental and ferocious brilliance.  When these guys hit their stride their ramshackle old jalopy threatens to shake loose its wheels altogether and crash into a ditch, and those are almost without fail their greatest songs.  This is just like that.

30.Titus Andronicus – Fear And Loathing In Mahwah, NJ
I don’t know whether I just like how raucous this song gets, or whether I like how quiet it is half the time, compared to how raucous it gets when it cuts loose.  Either way, this is one of the best play it loud soungs of the year.

31.Sparrow & the Workshop – Into the Wild
I heard this EP so close to doing this list that Horse’s Grin could as easily have been here instead, but such is the slightly arbitrary nature of these things that you’re getting this one.  Maybe it’s something about the storming ending which gets me – Nick is getting to really have a right bloody go on his guitars these days, and Jill is proving that her voice is easily powerful enough to step up and match it.  This is full on rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s superb.

32.Wild Beasts – Two Dancers (I)
Yes, more Wild Beasts.  I don’t know how this happened – it wasn’t exactly deliberate, I just kept ordering and re-ordering my list and their songs kept on sticking in there, often at the expense of stuff I thought I liked better.  This one’s more downbeat, but again that guitar sound and gorgeous voice produce something atmospheric and yet still insidiously infectious.

33.Alela Diane & Alina Hardin – I Have Returned
This whole EP is simple and absolutely gorgeous.  Again, I could have picked pretty much any of the songs from it, but there’s something about this one which seems to have captivated me just that little bit more.  The vocal interplay between the two is as lovely as with any song on the EP, but maybe there’s something in the roll of the verses which does it.  Then again, maybe it’s just arbitrary and I might pick a different one this time next week.

34.Meursault – Nothing Broke
A different version of this was on the band’s MySpace page the first time I ever heard them and it made a really strong impression on me.  They recorded it for their Toad Session back in August last year, and now this gorgeous piano and harmonium version for the truly stunning Nothing Broke EP.  If anything, the only reason this song is so low on this list is down to the fact that it’s so familiar by now.

35.Timber Timbre – Lay Down in the Tall Grass
This song shows just how simple most of this album is – the barest hint of percussion doing nothing very complex, a simple organ riff repeating throughout the song, and vocals.  There’s other stuff there too, but really very little of it, and that kind of subtle touch is what makes this such a special album.

To download all these songs in one big zip file, click here.

1-10 / 11-20 / 21-35 / 36-50

Mrs. Toad and I held our annual Christmas party on Saturday and I still feel wrecked.  Fucking hell, that was some bash.  I think the last gin and tonic was poured at something like half eight in the morning; I was like a zombie yesterday.  Funnily enough, the cleaning up wasn’t really too bad, because basically most of it just went in bin-bags and the rest in the dishwasher.  Still, I still have that kind of dazed feeling you get after these things.  Mental.  I think we deserve some sort of prize for truly epic parties after this one.

So, time for a nice gentle week this week I think, so I can recover nicely.  What’s that you say?  No fucking chance?  No, thought not.  This is December after all, and this week might the craziest of the lot.

Oh, and on Saturday we’re recording a Toad Session with eagleowl which is, frankly, brilliant.  Clarissa’s double-bass rumbling through our living room might just scare the shite out of the cafe downstairs though!

Tuesday 8th December 2009: Deerhoof at the Bongo Club.

Deerhoof are a bizarre combination of the tuneful and the fucking insane.  Christ knows how that’ll translate into a live performance I have no idea, but I’m fascinated.

Deerhoof – Chandelier Searchlight

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Wednesday 9th December 2009: Broken Records, Withered Hand & Jesus H. Foxx at Cabaret Voltaire.

After another crazy year, Broken Records return to play their first Edinburgh show since the Festival.  A small venue like Cabaret Voltaire should give this an amazing atmosphere.  When Broken Records go mental they really go mental, so come prepared to go berserk with them.  And with Withered Hand and the Foxx on the bill as well, this has turned into something of a showcase of Edinburgh talent.

Broken Records – Nearly Home

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Wednesday 9th December 2009: Alastair Roberts & Benni Hemm Hemm at St Mark’s Unitarian Church.
Well I don’t know what to tell you about this, but I believe it is going to be a collaborative evening rather than a straight up two-band bill.
Stuffs

Friday 11th December 2009: eagleowl Single Launch at the Bowery, with Dan from Withered Hand & Jill from Sparrow & the Workshop.

Eagleowl* are launching both their new single Sleep the Winter and their new record label Kilter at this show.  The single itself is fucking gorgeous, frankly, and I can’t wait to see both Dan and Jill as well.  Having only seen either of them play with full bands recently it will make for a really lovely evening – the perfect pace for pre-owlage.

eagleowl – Know by Now

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Saturday 12th December 2009: Song, by Toad Christmas Party/Last Night at the Bowery with Jesus H. Foxx, Inspector Tapehead, Rory Sutherland, Thomas Western & Rob St. John.

The Bowery is closing, the bar must be emptied and the tunes are fucking amazing.  Apart Edinburgh newcomer Tom Western, a special set by Rory from Broken Records and an sadly rare (curse you, Oxford!) performance by Rob St. John we will have full sets by Toad Records heroes Inspector Tapehead and Jesus H. Foxx.  I’ll be there for mince pies and some mulled wine earlyish so feel free to come along too.

Inspector Tapehead – A Fillet of Banjo

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Saturday 12th December 2009: Trampoline All-Day Event at the Wee Red Bar.

Euan has put together an amazing lineup of unsigned talent for this all day bash at the Wee Red.  It’s amazingly cheap too, at a mere five pounds for normal people and three for either students or those intending to come on to the Toad Night at the Bowery later on.  Bands playing include Debutant, Jonnie Common, Conquering Animal Sound, Mitchell Museum and the Scottish Enlightenment so for those who don’t fancy our Christmas Party (cunts) this is the perfect alternative.  Or for those who want to start their revelling early, of course.

Mitchell Museum – Take the Tongue Out

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*It’s the start of a sentence, so it gets capitalised – deal with it.

Once again with bands who are my personal friends I find myself getting the criticisms out of the way early.  In this case it is that I have seen pretty much all of these songs performed live, and one or two don’t quite retain that zip in their recorded form.  Maybe I just have to accept that recorded music is simply different, and that the messy thrill of a raucous live show, which this band absolutely always deliver, is just nigh on impossible to translate directly into a studio recording.  The highs and lows have been smoothed out just a little, I’d say, and might be something worth addressing for a full album.

It doesn’t matter though, because this is still a fucking great EP – one of two they’ve released this year already.  Perhaps inevitably for a band whose lead instrument is pretty close to actually being the drums, the rhythms on this are just a bit weird, really insistent, and completely brilliant.  Between You’ve Got it All and Into the Wild they really don’t give you much room for breath.  And by the time the thumping drums and snarling guitars of the latter come to an end you really do just find yourself thinking ‘fucking hell!’ and wanting to chuckle and toast the band with with a sloppily handled pint.  It’s a fucking great start to a record.

They give you a moment to rest with Crossing Hearts, which I must confess has yet to entirely worm its way into my affections, but which is an important change of pace for the sequencing of the record as a whole.  It doesn’t last long though; Blame it on Me starts with a thunderous bashing and a snarl of guitar, which is almost immediately replaced by a wail of vocals, before settling down to something a little less fearsome.  But fucking hell, point made, they are rocking these days!

I don’t know what it is that they do that feels so different, because in most ways their music is quite familiar.  Nevertheless I find it really tricky to pin down.  It’s not exactly Americana, but although there’s a lot of punk in it at times it’s still not really punk, and it’s not what I’d call rock ‘n’ roll either.  A Horse’s Grin maybe comes back to the more familiar, rolling sound of early Sparrow stuff, but the real message from this EP for me is that Sparrow & the Workshop, having taken a little time to find their feet and settle with their initial sound, have now decided that they are going to come at their audience with all guns blazing.

I have to confess that I found Into the Wild a little disorientating at first, but that’s perhaps no surprise.  I always love it when a band can ride out the early flush of excitement generated by their very first songs, and then come back with more really high quality stuff at just the point when so many bands falter and fail to show any real substance.  This lot, it appears, really are the business and I cannot wait for their debut album, I really can’t.

Sparrow & the Workshop – Into the Wild

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MySpace | More mp3s | Buy from Norman Records

It’s Fresh Air time again, and once again Ruth and I have a splendid live session.  We might even have Ruth’s voice back, just to make matters even more special.

This week The Pineapple Chunks are going to play live in session for us.  And instead of being sensible and doing it acoustically we are going to end up having the full band in the studio and are going to just have to try and find some way of arranging the mics so that we pick it all up.  Basically, I think we are going to just have to have two room mics and ‘mix’ the sound by having people move closer or further away from them, much like the way everything was recorded in the olden days!

So, for too-many-people-in-a-tiny-little-studio mayhem, tune in from seven and see how we get on.  You can always point and laugh if it goes horribly wrong.

On air 7pm-8.30pm gmt – listen live here.

Here is this week’s tracklisting, which will be updated live as we go along.  Feel free to heckle in the comments section.

1. The Strokes – The Modern Age
2. Interpol – PDA
3. The Pineapple Chunks – Gyroscope + Look Back in Horror (Live in Session)
4. Deerhoof – Snoopy Waves
5. Stephen Malkmus – Walk Into the Mirror
6. Erik Gundel – Lake On My Roof
7. The Pineapple Chunks – The Diagonal (Live in Session)
8. Khaya – Duet (Single Version)
9. Sparrow & the Workshop – Into the Wild
10. The Maxwell Cult – Sound is a Place
11. Trips and Falls – How Do You Do
12. The Pineapple Chunks – Man Love (Live in Session)
13. Huey Lewis & the News – Trouble in Paradise (Live)
14. The Pineapple Chunks – Art Storage (Live in Session)

Last week’s session was with the occasionally mental, occasionally hilarious and occasionally joyous Japanese War Effort.  Interview podcast, downloadable session tracks and videos are all after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

October? Jesus, you must be kidding, that means Autumn and everything. You can feel it in the air actually, and in fact it’s been there for a couple of weeks now. Blech. Booring. Still, dark evenings in with a glass of wine and a record player is a fine way to spend an evening.

I am still absolutely buzzed off my tits after the weekend. Neil from Meursault and Frances Magic Tricks and Pete Leg were recording in the house this weekend and fucking hell it sounds like it’s going to be gorgeous. They’ve put together a nine-song album which, assuming everything gets negotiated cleanly, we will be releasing on 12″ vinyl probably early next year or late this, and it is going to be fucking amazing. I can’t sit still at Proper Job at all – I just want to get home and get the mixing process started.

On the subject of albums, Yusuf Azak is in town this week and has apparently been recording for his debut album for the last while. That also sounds incredibly promising, and I can’t wait to hear stuff from that one either. EXCITING, people! The last six months of the noughties (oh how I hate that phrase) is shaping up to be a really rather excellent one in terms of local music.

After an apparently excellent Versus night last month (which I missed, apologies) the Black Spring gentlemen return Limbo to the Edinburgh gig diary after a two or three month break. They’ve invited Toad favourites Inspector Tapehead through from Glasgow to play, the night after another Toad Records band, Jesus H. Foxx, play at Sneaky’s.

Tuesday 6th October 2009: Casiokids & Stanley Odd at Electric Circus.

Alright, this may not be exactly my bag, but listening to something hip-hoppy with an obvious Scottish accent is downright weird. And besides, if I were to be bored with indie-folk-pop etc etc then this looks like a pretty interesting lineup.

Wednesday 7th October 2009: Kill It Kid, Sparrow & the Workshop & Yusuf Azak at Cabaret Voltaire.

I am curious to see Kill It Kid. I’m not all that convinced by their recorded music, but they are supposed to be phenomenal live, and I can well believe it. It’s been bloody ages since I saw Sparrow & the Workshop too, and Yusuf Azak

Kill It Kid – Send Me an Angel Down

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Thursday 8th October 2009: FOUND & Road to Tokyo at the Bowery.

I have been reliably informed that FOUND will be taking this opportunity to give some material from their new album a first airing, so I wouldn’t miss this if I were you.  And given that Come in Tokyo have recently split, this the Road Thereto is going to be the only chance you get to see Allan Pebble wielding an electric guitar with purpose for the foreseeable future.

Friday 9th October 2009: Jesus H. Foxx & the Boycotts play This is Music at Sneaky Pete’s.

I believe it is Jamie from This Is Music’s birthday on Friday, so this one should be raucous.  I don’t know the Boycotts that well, but the Foxx are getting tighter and tighter live, and a sweaty, drinky night like this should be great fun.

Friday 9th October 2009: X Lion Tamer & Devil Disco at the Bongo Club.

You know, it’s been ages since I went to a gig at the Bongo Club.  I like their stage – everyone gets a good view because it’s high and almost in the round – despite the fact that the club itself is more than a little scruffy, so it’s a surprisingly good place to hold a gig.

Saturday 10th October 2009: Inspector Tapehead, Mickey 9s & X in the O play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

Partly it’s good to see Limbo back on the Edinburgh gig calendar, and partly it’s extremely good to see the rhythmic weirdness of Inspector Tapehead back over here.  I don’t know the other two bands, but the Limbo lads are extremely reliable in putting together a good lineup.

Inspector Tapehead – Humdinger

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Saturday 10th October 2009: Micachu & the Shapes at Sneaky Pete’s.

It may be a surprise to see me recommending a band like Micachu, but I saw them at Limbo last year and actually thought they were really good.  There’s a bag of energy in their performance, and they are just melodic enough that I found myself really enjoying them despite it not being a style of music I normally warm to.

The FOUND Toad Session became a little overwhelming last week, especially when the upload gremlins struck some time around midnight on Friday and pig-fucking, baby-abducting bloody Vimeo simply refused to upload anything I sent.  I am not sure whether to blame them or Virgin fucking Media, who do our broadband, and whose connection simply ground to a fucking halt the second I tried to upload anything at all.  Useless fuckers.

Consequently, after six consecutive nights which lasted until around four or five in the morning, I am taking this week almost entirely off, not least to spend some time with Mrs. Toad.  She had been away for something like four weeks of the previous six, returned on Wednesday, and instead of wining and dining her to the best of my meagre ability, I ended up staring at the computer in ever-escalating states of fury for the next five days.  So erm, yes, I’m not married to you ungrateful bastards, I must remind myself, but to my Midget Companion of Infinite Joy.  And this week I better damn well remember it!

Monday 17th August 2009: My Latest Novel & Broken Records at the Queen’s Hall.

I can’t think of a better setting for a band like Broken Records.  The Queen’s Hall is old fashioned and atmospheric, as is their music, in a way I find a little tricky to define.  Support comes from My Latest Novel, who released their second album a couple of months ago.

Broken Records – A Promise (BBC Session)

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Tuesday 18th August 2009: Meursault & Frightened Rabbit at the Queen’s Hall.

From the perspective of Song, by Toad this is Meursault’s biggest gig yet – playing to a sold out Queen’s Hall – and as such is incredibly fucking exciting.  It’ll probably be the largest space I’ve seen them play and I’ll be really curious to see how their sound fills a room that large.  And there’s Frightened Rabbit too.

Meursault – Crank Resolutions (BBC Session)

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Wednesday 19th August 2009: The Phantom Band at Electric Circus.

I was not overwhelmed by the Phantom Band’s big, proggy debut album, released earlier this year, but I saw them at Homegame and they were excellent.  There’s something about that kind of multi-layered guitar sound which I think comes across really well in a live setting, and the Electric Circus has a pretty good sound system for it, so this should be a good ‘un.

The Phantom Band – The Howling

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Thursday 20th August 2009: Sparrow & the Workshop, Ivan Campo & Ross Clark and the Scarves Go Missing at Sneaky Pete’s.

I’m sort of lukewarm on Ross Clark, but Ivan Campo’s last EP was a really nice piece of relaxed folk pop.  And Sparrow & the Workshop are just fucking brilliant – pacy, fiery, low-fi Americana is what I suppose you might call it.

Friday 21st August 2009: Lovvers, Elvis Suicide & Divorce at Sneaky Pete’s.

Lovvers are very, very buzzy as far as music blogs go at the moment, so I am posting this gig here.  I know nothing about them though, so they might be shit.  They’re being talked about an awful lot though.

Saturday 22nd August 2009: Playing With the Past at the Filmhouse, with FOUND, eagleowl & Meursault.

This is actually a Film Festival crossover project, whereby all three bands were asked to write new soundtrack material for silent movies.  Frankly, it sounds like an amazing concept – British Sea Power did an amazing job with Man of Arran last year – and I am hugely looking forward to it.  You couldn’t find more innovative bands to do something like this either.

eagleowl – For the Thoughts You Never Had

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So August is almost upon us. Traditionally –  or at least for as long as I’ve been living here – most bands and promoters in Edinburgh tend to just take the month off and make way for the festival. It’s a bit of a monolith. Every available venue (and most non-venue) space is booked up months in advance, and with so much happening every single day in August, it becomes rather difficult for smaller operations putting on shows. Of course there are exceptions – a lot of the bigger clubs just keep on trucking, and nights like Acoustic Edinburgh embrace the Fringe and put on shows as part of the official line-up.

This year, though – more so than any I can remember – seems to be bucking that trend. There’s a lot of activity going on outside of the festival – and lots of local bands and promoters putting on shows regardless. Which is great to see – another indication of the strength and confidence of the city’s musical community at the moment. I thought I’d give a run down of what’s caught my eye – as with so much on, it’s entirely possible for an amazing show to slip by un-noticed.

The Edge

Firstly, the musical leg of the Fringe – the Edge – has some really great shows this year. The Mum show may have been moved to Glasgow, but we still have David Byrne, Woodpigeon, Andrew Bird, Frightened Rabbit, Malcolm Middleton, and Jeffrey Lewis. And judging by the website, the festival seems to have just absorbed all the shows at Sneaky Pete’s – including Sleeping States (who I can’t recommend highly enough), Monotonix, Sparrow and the Workshop, the usual This is Music night and the mysteriously titled ‘Songs By Toad night’. It’s also great to see some Edinburgh bands forming part of the Edge line-up – with Broken Records at the Queens Hall, a double header from Unicorn Kid and Young Fathers at Cab Vol, and support slots from Meursault (at Frightened Rabbit), the Kays Lavelle (the Lost Brothers) and Withered Hand (Jeffrey Lewis). It’s something that I’ve felt was lacking in previous line-ups, and it’s a step in the right direction.

www.theedgefestival.com

Retreat!

Then, of course, there’s the ‘other’ festival. Retreat! is an all day event at the Bristo Hall on Sunday the 16th. 15 acts (Meursault, Withered Hand, Rob St. John, Tissø Lake, the Leg…), and DJs till 3am. Free entry. I can’t think of a better line-up. But then again, I did help pick it.

www.myspace.com/edinburghretreat

Trampoline

Trampoline are also putting on four shows over first two weekends, and really great line-ups including Adam Stafford (Y’all Is Fantasy Island), Jonnie Common (Down The Tiny Steps), Animal Magic Tricks, Conquering Animal Sound, Golden Ghost and Woodenbox.

www.myspace.com/trampolineuk

Bang Bang Club

Normally at the Speakeasy in Cabaret Voltaire, the Bang Bang Club is hosting a series of shows upstairs in the Teviot Hall. Highlights include Clinic, the Pineapple Chunks, Paul Vickers and the Leg, and a series of soundtrack events from Steven Severin.

www.myspace.com/bangbangclubedinburgh

Playing With The Past

There’s also an exclusive second screening of the Playing with the Past event from this year’s film festival on 22^nd August, with eagleowl, FOUND and Meursault performing live soundtracks to old Scottish films. Tickets are available now from the Filmhouse website or box office.

www.myspace.com/playingwiththepast

Cybraphon

FOUND – not willing to give up their ‘hardest working band in Edinburgh’ tag to Meursault just yet – also have a residency at InSpace (a gallery space – part of the new University building) with their Cybraphon project, including a live band performance on the 13^th (which is free but ticketed). It seems to be some kind of automated musical cupboard, containing a series of musical instruments, which reacts to online activity about the project in real time. Or something. For a more coherent explanation, try the Cybraphon site:

www.cybraphon.com

Leith Tape Club

Okay, strictly speaking not an Edinburgh show – but a nice trip out of the city is normally always welcome around the third week in August. Leith Tape Club at the Iso Bar continues in August on the 20^th, with a rather special all-star line-up including the Kays Lavelle and Meursault (solo, I think).

Leith Tape Club

National Portrait Gallery

There’s also a series of rather exclusive shows at the National Portrait Gallery, whilst the gallery is closed for a refurbishment. These include Rob St. John and Emily Scott on 8^th August, X-LionTamer on 21^st August, St Jude’s Infirmary and Zoey Van Goey on 22^nd August, and Withered Hand and Meursault on 29^th August.

National Portrait Gallery

Electric Circus

There’s been some great gigs in Electric Circus since it opened earlier this year, and they don’t seem to be losing any momentum in August, with shows from FOUND, Dent May, White Heath and Rob St. John (1st), Jesus H. Foxx (11th), The Phantom Band (19th), and Trembling Bells and Ben Reynolds (25th), amongst others.

Electric Circus

The Golden Hour

A blend of poetry, music and live visuals at the Forest Cafe on 19th August, with performances from Billy Liar and Withered Hand.

The Golden Hour

Shipping Forecast Garden Party

And I think there’s another shipping forecast garden party scheduled for 30^th August, with Come On Gang!

No details yet, but I’m sure Dave will keep us posted.

It is all pretty exciting. Please spam the comments with anything I’ve missed, as I’m sure there’s loads, and if any more are announced or come to light over the course of the month, it’ll no doubt make it’s way into the weekly listings.

Sleeping States – September, Maybe

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Woodpigeon – In Praise of the West Midlothian Bus Service

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Zoey Van Goey – City Is Exploding

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It’s funny, during the recent rise and rise of Sparrow & the Workshop I have started to wonder slightly, why them?  That’s not supposed to be a criticism of the band, because I think they’re brilliant, but there are a lot of good bands around these parts at the moment, and Sparrow’s current upward trajectory is probably the steepest.  Consequently, I had begun to wonder what it was about them in particular which seemed to capture the imagination of pretty much everyone.

Well on Friday I got my answer.  The circumstances were not the easiest, exactly: Sneaky Pete’s was like a bloody sauna, and recent sound complaints meant that the band had to make a few last minute adjustments and rearrange their set quite considerably.

Having been preceded by Randan Discotheque, a band who have never really captured my imagination I must confess, Sparrow & the Worlshop opened with a new song which was frankly bloody gorgeous.  A lot of bands seem to be able to generate an intial flurry of good material, but I always find it telling when they start writing after that initial burst, because a lot can’t manage it.  A band whose new material is consistently this good are clearly onto something.

The more acoustic setup – with three acoustic guitars, a single snare drum and cymbal, and a stomp-box instead of a bass drum – worked really well.  They even managed to add to their percussion by taping a tiny mic to Nick’s guitar and asking him to flick the end of it to fill out the higher end, which took some spotting, but was a really nice piece of improvisation.

In terms of the music, I think I even preferred some of the songs played this way.  Nick is clearly chanelling the spirit of the late Johnny Cash at the moment, and the sound he is making with his guitar is amazing.  With the quieter set the vocals could become a little less combative, allowing Jill’s voice to lose some of its fierceness and simply be lovely for an evening.  When all three were playing guitar there was a rich, confidently quiet aura to the performance which was really quite special.

I’ve seen Sparrow play with aggression in the past, and it’s a great sight to see.  This time, however, they were playing to a very appreciative crowd, and one they know quite well, and the more relaxed, low key approach this engendered brought a warm, generous spirit to the set and made this month’s This is Music one of the best gigs I have been to all year.  Truly brilliant.

Sparrow & the Workshop – The Gun

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MySpace | More mp3s | Buy their EP and single from Norman Records

Baaaaaaaaaaart HELP!  Are there really only two gigs worthy of a mention on in Edinburgh this week?  Surely not.  Where’s someone with some actual knowledge when you need them?

Mrs. Toad has left town this morning, heading for Australia.  She’ll be away for a fortnight this time, which is the longest we will have been apart since I moved up from London so you can expect me to become downright cranky by the end of next week.

In fact, if last week’s prolonged sulk is anything to go by, you can probably just expect me to be cranky in general, actually.  Nah, I’m over that though, I’ve pulled myself together now so there will be no more messing around, promise.

Tuesday 7th July 2009: Meursault at the Bowery. Gig Cancelled, Apparently.

Does it sound a bit stupid to say that I am friends with Ruth and Jane at the Bowery, and Song, by Toad Records is Meursault’s label and yet I know nothing about this whatsoever?  I suppose it does really.  While Meursault are sticking more closely to Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues when they’re on the road, in Edinburgh they’ve started to introduce more and more songs into their set from their (apparently very loud) second album.  This record should be out early next year, and should contain songs like Crank Resolutions and Sleet, which anyone who’s been to a recent show should recognise.

Friday 10th July 2009: Sparrow & the Workshop & Randan Discotheque play This is Music at Sneaky Pete’s.

Unless Sneaky Pete’s get a lot of internal re-jigging done in a very short space of time, this is pretty likely to be an acoustic night.  This does not please the organisers, who will be rather taxed to put on a club night where the music is nice and quiet, but actually I would rather like to hear Sparrow & the Workshop play an acoustic set, so I’m rather looking forward to it.  Apparently, I will be doing some DJing, so you might want to take advantage of the gaps between bands to nip out for a cigarette or go to the toilet for ages or something like that.
Sparrow & the Workshop – My Crime (Toad Session)

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