Song, by Toad

After attending a birthday party which involved the scarfing of five pig’s heads yesterday I still don’t feel capable of eating anything. I may have to fast for the next few days before that little lot gets digested, in fact. Fucking hell that was a meal and a half.

There will be no giggenfun for me this week, unfortunately, despite a couple of natty lineups on the horizon. The label is going to require an absolutel shitload of admin work this week and if I go out gallvanting there is no way I am going to be able to get all of it done. We have Meursault single promos to do, Foxx promos, Split 12″ numbering, Maxwell Panther printing and label sampler cutting and folding. Then there’s the Fresh Air show on Wednesday with the Japanese War Effort, which I’m looking forward to.

Did everyone see that FOUND’s musical cupboard of magnificence won the BAFTA for Best Interactive Thingumajig? Well done lads, brilliant, and thoroughly deserved. Must have been a bit depressing for the others shortlisted though – how the fuck do you compete with something like the bloody Cybraphon?

Anyway, on with the task at hand. What should you be doing while I’m in the house folding paper, cutting out inserts and stuffing CDs into slip-cases? Well if you’ll hang on, I’ll tell you:

Wednesday 11th November 2009: The Pineapple Chunks, Ruthelise Snowe & Andy Brown at the Bowery.

I know little about this gig, so if anyone knows anything about who’s supporting please let me know in the comments. I’ve linked to an Andy Brown MySpace page, but I really don’t know if it’s the right one and, er, I can’t find Ruthelise Snow at all. The Chunks themselves however make, erm… mental guitar music basically. It’s off-kilter, surprisingly melodic and brilliant fun.

The Pineapple Chunks – Dark Halo

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Thursday 12th November 2009: Graham Coxon at the Queen’s Hall.

Most people I know absolutely love Graham Coxon, and cite his departure from Blur as the moment they became shit. That’s bollocks of course, because Think Tank is a great album, but that’s a whole new argument. Anyhow, here I am pootling along in my ignorance, with little real awareness of Coxon’s solo work and no more than a fairly casual liking for what little I have heard. The last album was really quite folky though, and I believe this is an acoustic setup, so that’s about all I can tell you.

Graham Coxon – All Has Gone

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Thursday 12th November 2009: The Leg, Your Loyal Subjects and Lipsync For a Lullaby play Versus at the Voodoo Rooms.

Apparently I sounded a little lukewarm on the concept the last time I mentioned the Versus gigs, but I really didn’t mean to be. All three bands will play separately, together and everything inbetween, and there will be inter-set entertainments as well. Basically it is going to be a gigantic musical mish-mash. The last one was apparently brilliant, so if Ted and his minions can pull that off again this should be a brilliant night.

Saturday November 14th: Riley Briggs from Aberfeldy at Carter’s Bar.

This is a free gig (Riley also plays alternate Thursdays down at the Shore in Leith, I believe) and will be a solo acoustic performance, but the band’s breezy indiepop should be perfectly suited to this kind of setup.

Aberfeldy – Love is an Arrow

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Saturday November 14th: Trashcan Sinatras, Brother Louis Collective & the Seventeenth Century at Cabaret Voltaire.

The Trashcan Sinatras are something of a blast from the past for me, I have to confess. I remember absolutely loving A Happy Pocket when I bought it back in my universoty days. I have to confess to having barely a clue what they’re up to these days, but I’d be really curious to see them. I don’t know Brother Louis Collective really, but the Seventeenth Century are excellent.

Trashcan Sinatras – The Therapist

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Saturday 14th November 2009: Panda Su, John B McKenna & the Last Battle play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

The Last Battle are what happened when Thieves in Suits called it a day and I’ve heard very good things about them, without having had the chance to see them myself. Panda Su seem to be drawing all sorts of praise, and John B McKenna also sounds rather interesting. It’s a low-key lineup this one, but Euan has definitely found a really good spread of underground artists I’d personally like to see, and then kindly put them all in the same place on one evening for me.

This week marks the start of the Fresh Air broadcast, which is splendid news.  There will be a launch party in the Teviot on Tuesday evening, to which anyone fond of drinking, acting the arse and falling over is invited.  Ruth from the Bowery and myself will be doing a show every week on Wednesday between 7pm and 8.30pm, and are hoping to have a band live in session every week, if we can.  It’ll have to be pretty stripped down – anything which will translate well to really simple acoustic should do the trick – but I think we can make it pretty interesting.  It will be a lot quicker and dirtier than the Toad Sessions, which will be good, because I’ve been wanting to find a way to do something a bit less involved for a while.

The only significant problem I can see is that Ruth has a nasty habit of badly upstaging me.  She did it on my Fresh Air show last year and on the bloody podcast this year, and if she starts doing it on a regular basis this time around I don’t know if my fragile ego will be able to take it.  There may be tantrums, there may be bawling, and there may be a considerable number of toys a very long way from the pram in which they belong.

It’ll make for bloody good radio though!

So, apart from car crash broadcasting and gallons of cheap (state sponsored – woo hoo!) beer, what else is happening this week?  Well I’ll tell you.  Firstly, there’s a couple of gigs happening which I am not personally so keen on, but which might interest you: Miike Snow is playing Sick Note at Cabaret Voltaire, late but free on Thursday 29th, and Cold Cave are on the bill at Playdate at Sneaky’s on Saturday 31st.  Both are really rather trendy, so the cooler amongst you might be interested, but personally they aren’t really to my taste so there you go.  Mandex rating: tight to constrictive, particularly at Stinky’s.

Tuesday  27th October 2009: The Young Republic play in-store at Avalanche Records.

The Young Republic are touring their excellent (and shortly to be given the Toadly Treatment) new album Balletesque and although they were sadly unable to arrange an Edinburgh date, they are playing an in-store at Avalance at 5pm on Tuesday.  Their semi-orchestral, Western tinged indie folk pop has given way to a more dramatic, aggressive sound these days, albeit one which is a little more stripped down.  I definintely recommend this if the timing doesn’t make it tricky.

The Young Republic – Bows in Your Arms

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Friday 30th October 2009: Dry the River, eagleowl & the Bowerbirds at Sneaky Pete’s.

The Bowerbirds are a band I have a slightly up and down relationship with, since Campfires and Battlefields introduced me to them a couple of years ago.  They are certainly rather brilliant, at their best, but can be patchy in their recorded output, as far as I am concerned.  I’d still be interested to see them though, and eagleowl gigs are not to be missed in general.

Bowerbirds – In Our Talons

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Saturday 31st October 2009: Art Fag, The Leg & Our Ladies of Sorrow at Sneaky Pete’s.

Our Ladies of Sorrow play a Halloween Special every year, and I have never been, and there is absolutely no damn chance I am missing it this year.  They are basically an Edinburgh alt-folk supergroup (of sorts) and will dress up specially (but of course!) and soundtrack a compilation of horror movie clips.  I can only begin to imagine how weird that is going to be, but I am really looking forward to it, even if I do have to hop in a cab down to Leith the moment it’s over.

Well this podcast has been recorded from my sick bed, given my current immobility.  Actually, recording the Toadcast from bed was quite pleasant, once I got over the slightly unusual surroundings.  Imagine me in my pants and scratching my balls whilst talking to you and you’ll pretty much have the ambience down pat.

I sort of intended this to be a selection of poppy little tunes from my inbox, because all the last podcasts have been so heavily themed, but instead it’s ended up a little bit on the experimental side, through no real intent of my own.  Nevertheless, if you’re happy to listen to the growl of Polvo, the monologues of George Pringle and the peculiar electro-experimentalism of Mark Linkous and Fennesz all in one podcast then, fuck it, you’re in the right place.

Toadcast #86 – The Paincast

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01. Langhorne Slim – I Love You But Goodbye (03.11)
02. Cast Spells – Glamorous Glowing (07.39)
03. The Pineapple Chunks – Art Storage (13.02)
04. The Leg – A Rat’s Health (17.04)
05. Polvo – Fractured (Like Chandeliers) (22.40)
06. Vandaveer – A Might Leviathan of Old (29.22)
07. Sparklehorse & Fennesz – If My Heart (from In the Fishtank #13) (40.13)
08. George Pringle – SW10 (45.03)
09. X Lion Tamer – Tugboat (52.40)
10. Kurt Vile – Blackberry Song (59.54)

The Retreat Festival and its organisers do not like to be called twee.  They fucking well are though – you can’t have tea and toast advertised on your posters and decorate a hall with bunting and then complain about being called twee, can you?

Then again, the same festival featured mental drummers, garage rock two-pieces, ear-splitting guitar solos, and the frontman of the headline band being sick through his stage mask.  So not all that twee, exactly.  In fact, that’s probably what I like best about Retreat: yes it’s twee, in a sense, but it would be just plain wrong to use that to pigeonhole it in any sense.

In the words of Enfant Bastard’s Cammy Watt, it was just like Wayne’s World 2.

For example, this year’s festival was all about the guitars, for me.  I did turn up late, so maybe I missed some of the early afternoon’s less raucous acts but Enfant Bastard, Meursault (with their new electric guitarist) and the splendidly mental Pineapple Chunks were my highlights.  My Tiny Robots were really good as well, as was what little I could see of Rob St. John over the wall of sweaty backs which faced me when I arrived.  I caught some Come in Tokyo as well, but they are slightly less my cup of tea, in all honesty.

Enfant Bastard

Particularly as a live performer Rob is just getting better and better, so losing him to Oxford is a big shame for the music scene around here.  His electric version of Domino was as excellent here as it was at his recent Electric Circus set, and it will be a real shame to see him go.

After a wee comfort (ie beer) break, My Tiny Robots kicked off the evening schedule.  They’re not a band I have seen before, partly because I think they lost their drummer recently, and subsequently drifted for a bit, but they were really good.  Their guitar sound in particular has an old-style sound, sort of combination of lounge and rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s a sound I really like.

Enfant Bastard played next, although it was more of a Love Gestures set, something Cammy described as ‘like sleeping with an ex-girlfriend’ seeing as how the Love Gestures haven’t really existed for over a year now.  It was fucking brilliant, whatever it was.  Cammy is forever apologising and telling us how under-rehearsed the band are and how shit the music is, but he’s talking bollocks.  This was bloody exuberant, completely ramshackle and fucking great.  He’s more than happy to tease with his ‘just not bothering to sing’ vocals and ‘can barely be arsed to even play this’ guitar style but the man writes great fucking pop songs, it’s that simple.

Enfant Bastard – Michael Jackson

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The Pineapple Chunks were also bloody good.  They make a right bloody noise, their rhythms seem to be all over the place – just barely under control half the time – but there was a real dynamism to their performance on Sunday.  Maybe it’s because I was drunker than the last time I saw them, but for some reason I just seemed to ‘get it’ a  hell of a lot more clearly this time than when I saw them at Limbo about six months ago.  It’s quite melodic indie, to listen to the mp3s, but there’s a hell of a lot more edge to them live, where they play with real aggression.  Fantastic.

The Pineapple Chunks – Look Back in Horror

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Meursault were my headliners because, for domestic reasons, I had to scoot home before the increasingly infamous mask-barfing episode from The Leg frontman, which is gutting.  They were brilliant apparently, chunks and all, and I have still to actually see the buggers play, which is really starting to get on my tits.

Meursault have added a guitarist to their lineup – Debutant guitarist Phil Quirie – and his first show with them was bloody seamless.  I can’t say how impressed I am with how the new material is shaping up.  Some of it is just fucking sensational – Crank Resolutions, Sleet, that song with the duelling omnichords – the new album is going to be really, really fuckin good.

So a massive thanks to Bart and Emily – an absolute triumph, yet again guys.

Well the Trampoline show for this Friday, with Ziggy Campbell and Yusuf Azak has been cancelled, which is a bit of a tragedy for my music fun, but at least spares me some of the Olympic amounts of typing this post is going to require all through bloody August.  Fucking hell, it’s like a mini novel.  Fortunately I don’t think much was actually on yesterday, when the sort of hangover generated only by consuming an entire bottle of gin prevented me from doing anything productive at all.

So this post is being written now and dated two days ago so, erm, well fuck it, shoot me, there’s always the list of course.  But my listings are way better – everyone knows that.  Aren’t they.

Yes is the answer to that, in case anyone was taking too much time to think about it.

Tuesday 11th August 2009: Jesus H. Foxx & Art Fag at Electric Circus.

I was about to say that two Toad bands on the same bill means I am guaranteed to enjoy this, but strictly speaking electro-experimental loonies Art Fag are Scotland’s hottest new unsigned act and I will have to fight every label in the land with sticks for their signature.  Or, um, something like that.  And Jesus H. Foxx were superb at the Forest Cafe last week, so this should be a cracking show.
Jesus H. Foxx – Elegy For the Good Times

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Wednesday 12th August 2009: White Heath EP Launch at the Forest Cafe with Meursault, Foxgang and Debutant.

I am really looking forward to hearing this, and genuinely curious.  For all I’ve seen White Heath a few times recently I haven’t heard any of their recordings recently, and I am very much looking forward to hearing what Alex from Fentek has made of their sound, which can be chaotic to say the least when I’ve seen them live.  Quite how he mixes the trombone and fiddle in with the electric guitar and drums is something I’d like to hear.

Thursday 13th August 2009: Battle of the Bands – Cybraphon vs FOUND at the InSpace Gallery.

This is sold out, but apparently any returns will be available on Thursday.  You can’t have them though, because I need them.  Let’s be honest, I’m not going to miss a chance to watch one of my favourite Edinburgh bands face off against a moody musical wardrobe am I.

Friday 14th August 2009: This is Music at Sneaky Pete’s with The Foundling Wheel & Dead Boy Robotics.

Dead Boy Robotics had a very successful set at T in the Park this year (see video at the bottom of this post) and apparently their new stuff is something of a shift from earlier material, which makes me really rather curious to hear what they’re up to these days.
The Foundling Wheel – Out to See

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Saturday 15th August 2009: Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers, Lovers Turn to Monsters & Shenandoah DavisTrampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

Woodenbox are a cracking live band, I don’t really know Lovers Turn to Monsters, and Shenandoah Davis is bloody lovely.  We’re recording a Toad Session with her this weekend as well.  Splendid.
Shennandoah Davis – We, Camera

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Sunday 16th August 2009: Retreat Festival from 11.30am in the Bristo Hall, upstairs from the Forest Cafe.

The collection of bands playing here is in some senses irrelevant.  Even if you’ve never heard of a single one of the groups playing, you can be absolutely guaranteed that this is going to be an amazing day.  Those of you who like your rock music with a little bit more in the way of coke and whores may not be quite as thrilled as others by the Bristo Hall’s family and cuppa-friendly atmosphere, but I am hugely looking forward to it.  And the lineup is fucking amazing, as it happens:  Withered Hand, Jo Foster, Wounded Knee, Hexicon, Rob St John, Viking Moses, Tisso Lake, Moustache of Insanity, Allo, Darlin’, My Tiny Robots, Come In Tokyo, Enfant Bastard, The Pineapple Chunks, Meursault, The Leg.

This gig is very much in association with Euan and Trampoline’s amazing lineup of August shows – he basically sent me an email saying that Frances (Animal Magic Tricks) would be the first house gig and what the date would be. All I have to do is the following: invite all yous cunts!

Animal Magic Tricks – Live at Toad Hall, Sunday 9th August 2009

When Frances visited Edinburgh earlier this year she spent some time recording at Toad Hall, assisted by Neil from Meursault and Pete from The Leg. The results are three of the loveliest songs I’ve heard in ages – really, truly gorgeous. So instead of a traditional ’support/headline’ setup I think the best thing to do would be the following: we’ll get all three of them together again and instead of a support act, they can simply take turns playing some songs, with the focus, particularly towards the end, being on Frances’ material. I promise you, if it sounds anything like the material they were creating together in March, it will be stunning.

So the rules are this: we are looking for thirty to fifty people to buy tickets up front (because it’s such a small gig, if people say they’ll come and then don’t bother Frances could end up badly out of pocket, so it is NON-REFUNDABLE). That way we will hopefully raise about £150, all of which goes straight to the artist, which is good money for a tiny gig on the DIY circuit, and paying artists good money for their work is something I really think we should all take more seriously. Downloading and so on is not something I oppose per se, but musicians have to make money somewhere; it can’t all be free.

So, to come along, use the Paypal link below and feel free to pass this on to your friends and share the joy:

And as a bonus, here’s one of the songs they recorded back in March.

Animal Magic Tricks – King

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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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Hello. I am Bart. Woo.

So I’m doing the Monday gig listing. Mainly cos I’m usually the first person to jump in any time Matthew misses anything.

You’ll notice there’s no music files. It’s not that I don’t really know what I’m doing. Well, not only that. For some reason the file hosting site that me, Dylan and Euan were given access to during Matthew’s little holiday seems to have mysteriously dissappeared from the web. And it’s only been three days. Crumbs. Hopefully songbytoad.com will still be here when he gets back – but who’s to say really? I’m not promising anything.

Monday 15th June 2009: Viking Moses, Golden Ghost, Tisso Lake and Rob St. John at The Bowery.

Mega-bill of alt.folk, from the soothing baritione of Tisso Lake to the raging preacher dynamism of Viking Moses – this is the officially sanctioned Song, By Toad gig of the week. Miss it at your peril.

Tuesday 16th June 2009: Tisso Lake in store at Elvis Shakespeare.

This is on Tuesday afternoon. If anyone happens to find themselves on Leith Walk on Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday 16th June 2009: The Thermals at Sneaky Pete’s.

I don’t really know much about the Thermals, other than they’re signed to Sub Pop and they make rather noisy punk pop (but closer to the Replacements end of punk pop, as opposed to – say – Busted). They sounds pretty good, though – and it’s the kind of thing that’s good fun to see live.

Thursday 18th June 2009: The Leg (album launch) at Sneaky Pete’s.

Paul Vickers current backing band, who make a rather enjoyable racket by themselves as well.

Friday 19th June 2009: Jesus h. Foxx, One Inch Volcano & Katy Bar The Door, and 19 Folds at the Bowery.

Jesus h. Foxx are brilliant. 19 Folds are a nineteen piece reggae tribute to the music of Ben Folds. One of those facts is made up. Actually, these are three bands I’ve never heard of, though even if they’re terrible this will still be worth going to. As Jesus h. Foxx are brilliant. (I’m sure they’re not terrible. Actually, it’ll be nice to go along to a gig with no idea what to expect from three quarters of the bill. So I’m really rather looking forward to this. Shit, I’ve started speaking like Matthew, and it’s only Monday. What have I got myself in to?)

Saturday 20th June 2009: Meursault and Yahweh at Sneaky Pete’s.

The hardest working band in Scotland return to the live scene after what seems like days. Has there been a weekly listings this year that hasn’t included a Meursault gig? Good thing they’re so bloody good. Yahweh is a new one on me. It looks like a spelling mistake. But the guys at the Scotsman Under the Radar blog describe them as one of their favorite bands.

Saturday 20th June 2009: Paul Vickers and the Leg play the Bang Bang Club at Cabaret Voltaire.

The aforementioned the Leg in their Paul Vickers incarnation at a new club night.

Sunday 21st June 2009: the Go Away Birds at the Bowery.

The Go Away Birds are a two piece comprising of Michael John McCarthy from the excellent Zoey Van Goey, and the voice of Stuart Murdoch’s ‘God Help The Girl’ project, Catherine Ireton. Probably worth further investigating then.