This week’s live events will all have to get along happily without the encouragement of my excellent self, as my only live music experiences this week will be taking place in Anstruther, Fife, at the Fence Collective’s fucking marvelous Homegame Festival.

It actually looks a bit thin in my absence, I have to confess, but there are a couple of early gigs next week worth bearing in mind, because I might not get the chance to write this post in anything like a timely fashion on Monday, depending on how we do getting back from Homegame.

Next Monday 9th May, Josh T. Pearson will be playing with Drive by Truckers at the Queen’s Hall.  I know nothing whatsoever about Drive by Truckers, but Josh T. Pearson is incredible, and absolutely mesmerising live, so if you can go to that, then go.  Then the following day, on the 10th May, Domino Records’ latest signings Francois and the Atlas Mountains, This is the Kit and Babe will be playing at the Bristo Hall, upstairs at the Forest Cafe, from about half seven onwards.  This will be a BYOB event in support of the Forest Cafe, with corkage charged on the door.

This week, however, we have the following happening:

Friday 6th May 2011: Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers, Matt Norris and the Moon & Trapped Mice at Cabaret Voltaire.

Woodenbox are an excellent live band, full of all sorts of stompy, raucous fun, a swinging brass section (‘swinging’, am I allowed to call it that without coming across as a bit of a dick) and a sense of enjoyment and energy matched by few bands on the Scottish scene at the moment.

Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers – Twisted Mile

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Saturday 7th May 2011: The Wave Pictures and My Tiny Robots at Cabaret Voltaire.

The Wave Pictures are a cracking band, and brilliant live as well.  Their music is so bloody simple as well and the lyrics, great as they are, sound like they could be part of any normal conversation. Highly recommended.

The Wave Pictures – Leave the Scene Behind

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I don’t know if the band would agree with me (in fact I’d be a little surprised if they did) but it seemed to me that the Wave Picture’s transition from self-releasers of short-run CD-Rs to being signed to one of the UK’s most fashionable record labels was not the smoothest.

Instant Coffee Baby had what I thought were some pretty weak songs, and I wouldn’t have said that the smoother recording style did their music any favours either.  It looked, to me at least, like the more professional processes of Moshi Moshi might just rub the idiosyncratic edges off the band and how they approached music, and in doing so rob them of the character I loved so much.

You don’t get to where Moshi are by being idiots though, and after the inital wobbles, the Wave Pictures have been back to what they do best: releasing lots and lots of things, spraying ideas about like buckshot, putting out CD-Rs, singles, collaborations and God knows what else.  This solo LP (only out on 12″ vinyl as far as I can tell) by lead singer David Tattersall is peppered with collaborative recordings, including appearances by the likes of Stanley Brinks and the beautiful voice of Clemence Freschard.

Tattersall’s recent work has been a lot more acoustic, generally eschewing the growly rock and roll guitar solos which characterised the early Wave Pictures recordings and, in particular, their performances.  It robbed their recent album If You Leave if Alone of a little bit of bite, if you ask me, but I think Tattersall has it nailed now, because this record is bloody brilliant.  With such a slow, quiet album there is always the danger of wandering attention spans, but the duets, the brief introduction of some feisty guitar on The Old Family, and Freschard taking lead vocal duties on I Saw You Hair Between the Trees bring some well-judged shifts in texture to Happy For a While, and ensure it remains completely engaging throughout.

There’s a part of me that would like to see Tattersall dish out a beating to his electric guitar again in the near future, but his more acoustic recordings seem to be reaching their pinnacle here – really, really nice.

David Tattersall – The Typewriter Ribbon

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David Tattersall – The Old Family

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As the sun makes a rather enthusiastic apperance at long fucking last, and our garden finally begins to bloom, I can think of little I would like to do so little as sitting in a dingy club listening to whiney indie kids complain about how shit their life is and how no-one really understands them.

The Edinburgh weather is depressingly fickle however, so presumably by this afternoon it will be absolutely bucketing it down with rain, but for now the only thing I would really recommend you do this week is spend as much time outside as possible, shunning all music funs and enjoying the sunshine where you can get it.  For the last five years I have been here we’ve had glorious Mays and stunning Junes and just as you start to think that this year it might just happen, it all turns to shit until early October, when we get a couple of pleasant weeks before the inevitable descent into eight months of fucking darkness once more.

This Sunday is of course the All Day Scottish Special at the Old Queen’s Head in London, where local (and less local) favourites Yusuf Azak, Rob St. John, eagleowl and Meursault will be playing at what is the official London launch party for Meursault’s new album All Creatures Will Make Merry.  Any London Toads, it would be lovely to see you there.

Thursday 3rd June 2010: Glissando, Debutant & Field Mouse at the Roxy Room.

Slanted and Enchanted promotions make their Edinburgh debut, with this three-act bill at the Roxy Room.  Phil from Debutant is currently working on his debut album (there’s got to be an hilarious pun in there somewhere, I just can’t be arsed to think of it) at the moment and if his Facebook status updates are anything to go by, there could well be a self-released CD-R available at this show.  Glissando are doing this tour as a two-piece, I believe, but don’t quote me on that because I am not entirely certain.

Debutant – Definition

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Thursday 3rd June 2010: Teenage Fanclub at the Picture House.

Erm, is it permitted for a Scottish-based indie kid to confess that he was never that into Teenage Fanclub?  Well I wasn’t, not that I listened to them enough to ever really know, but they are famous and they are popular and they get namechecked by bands all the time, and they are also playing in Edinburgh this week, so I thought I might as well mention it.

Kid Canaveral – Teenage Fanclub Song

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Friday 4th June 2010: The Unthanks at the Queen’s Hall.

Another famous band I am listing more because they seem to have had a lot of attention recently than that I am personally all that fussed about them.  I’ve heard them do some brilliant stuff in their previous incarnation as the Winterset, but know absolutely nothing of their Mercury-bothering recent work.

Rachel Unthank & the Winterset – Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk

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Sunday 6th June 2010: The Wave Pictures at Sneaky Pete’s.

Ah, now this is more like it.  The Wave Pictures are one of the best bands in Britain at the moment, as far as I personally am concerned.  They have a new EP out rather soon – The Sweetheart EP – and their knack for simple tunes and bittersweet lyrics is clearly in the rudest of health.  We even had the opportunity to record a Toad Session with them this weekend, but as most of the team who actually record the sessions will be down in London that was sadly impossible.

The Wave Pictures – Canary Wharf

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This is called the Dolecast for… well, for obvious reasons.  I am on the downward slope to imminent joblessness, with my last day at Proper Job now pencilled in for the 23rd of June – the day before Glastonbury, rather handily.

Actually festivals are something of a feature this Summer, as there’s that one, Kelburn, Rockness, Fusion out in Germany, and then Knockengorroch, which I will be driving out to the very second I hit ‘post’ on this.  We’re also looking at going out to Musicfest Northwest this year as well, and of course the rather splendid Fence Away Game.

So erm, yes, maybe I should have called this the Festcast or something like that.

Toadcast #124 – The Dolecast

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01. The Wave Pictures – I Shall be a Ditchdigger (03.09)
02. Fur Hood – Tweetle Beetle Battle Beetles (12.27)
03. Fear the Fives – Devil’s Tongue (15.39)
04. Southern Tenant Folk Union – South Ythsie (20.19)
05. Benni Hemm Hemm – Retaliate (29.11)
06. The Douglas Firs – Grow Old and Go Home (33.09)
07. Magic Bullets – Lying Around (37.12)
08. Perfume Genius – Lookout, Lookout (41.25)
09. The Effort – Adjust (46.54)
10. Tusk Tusk – Crazy Little Birthmarks (55.56)

So, erm, I’m back from Austin and trying desperately to grind out a day at Proper Job, after flying into Edinburgh at seven this morning and coming straight to work without even time for a shower.  My colleagues, particularly the ones who sit close to me, will no doubt be thrilled I made the effort.

So, how did Friday, Saturday and Sunday at SXSW go?  Well only Friday was much of a music day, to be honest, with not all that much on on Saturday in the first place and the revenge of the ten-day cumulative hangover destroying all energy for anything other than drinking Margueritas in the sun on Sunday.

Friday was a very good day of tunes though.  I got up at about two in the afternoon (I did this all the way through the festival, and highly recommend it as an excellent tactic for avoiding hangovers) and sauntered into town to catch the tail end of the Scottish Showcase at Latitude 30, and then scarfing some dinner with Peej, C&B and a stray New Zealand lady called Michelle and heading up to Antone’s for the evening showcase.

It seems to me that this is the best way to do SXSW, I reckon.  Instead of spending a pile of cash on a badge or a wristband, just catch a lot of the free day parties, and then pick one really good evening showcase and pay your way into to it for about fifteen dollars.  As long as you don’t particularly want to gig hop in the evening and don’t mind missing the odd thing here and there, this seems like the cheapest and most sensible tactic to me.  And when I say missing out on some stuff all I really mean is that you might have to compromise and see something merely excellent instead of truly amaaazing, so it’s hardly a tragedy.

At Antone’s we caught five bands: Plants & Animals, Basia Bulat, Quasi, Shearwater and Liars.  I’d heard talk of Plants & Animals before but never listened to their stuff, which is something I will be putting right asap, as they were really excellent – top guitar-bothering and loads of energy.  Basia Bulat was just boring, basically, and genuinely disappointing as I was hoping her live performance might help me see what other people see in her recorded material, but if anything it was even more dull live.

Shearwater – Landscape at Speed

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Quasi are a band I know nothing much about, but they were spiky and noisy and most enjoyable, and I know I was pretty wasted by this point but the two main attractions – Shearwater and Liars – were both brilliant.  Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg has always been one of the more impassioned performers you’re likely to see, and I really like their material as it is, so seeing the two combined has been an absolute treat both times I’ve seen them live.

Liars were equally furious, but present a somewhat surreal image, as a band.  Basically, they are fronted by a deranged Australian who, were he in a less well-establised band, would instantly be accused of being a cut-price Nick Cave.  The rest of the band basically just look like a rather young bunch of polite Manhattan design students – preppy and polite and like their conversation might be just slightly too pretentiously intellectual to be all that bearable.  The look of them is at such odds with the raucous, dirty noise they make that I spent the whole gig wondering just a little if someone was maybe playing a joke on me.

Liars – I Still Can See an Outside World

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Waking up (late, again) on Saturday I was rather shocked to find that Austin was fucking freezing, all of a sudden.  After two days of splendid sunshine this was something of a rude suprise, and after three nights of brutal drinking it seemed to knock the stuffing out of pretty much the whole festival.  C&B was up early enough to catch an excellent Wave Pictures and a rather jaded-sounding Slow Club at a day party, but we basically spent the day supping beers and shooting the breeze with Peej, Mrs. Peej and Mrs. Peej’s sister.

The bars were really nice, and confirmed my growing jealousy at the sheer number of excellent music venues Austin has at its disposal, most with big, wide, accessible stages and  really meaty sound systems.  Lucky fuckers.

Sunday was a lot warmer, but with little to no music on and even less will to seek it out, we basically spent the day wandering around on South Congress, eating breakfast tacos, contemplating the purchase of ludicrous cowboy boots and finally settling down to drink Margueritas in the sun.  I didn’t really suffer from hangovers because I generally slept them off, but by Sunday I’d lost any real drive to traipse around seeing bands, and a day spent chilling in the sun listening to Vic Galloway telling massively inappropriate jokes and erm… drinking even more Margueritas was a perfect way to bring the expedition to an end.

Trying to get yourself heard, as a band, above all the extraneous noise and attention-whoring must be a nightmare but for a music fan, provided you relax and don’t take the whole thing too seriously, SXSW is a pretty fucking brilliant festival.

I don’t mean to irk the purists in the first sentence, but I am not quite the slavering Daniel Johnston acolyte I might be.  I went because I find his stuff intriguing, because loads of bands I love hold him in such high regard, but largely because I was curious about how someone quite so halting, awkward and, lets face it, weird ended up being such a cult hero for so many people.

I arrived late, due to radio commitments, so I missed pretty much everything up until Laura Marling’s support slot which was… decent.  Whenever I see someone like her who is, if not actually famous at least indie famous, I find myself wondering ‘If I didn’t know who she was and this was the first time I saw her in some ropey club or other, would I be falling over myself to release her records?’  In this case the answer is definitely no.  She seemed nice, she can certainly write a tune, but I am left pretty much entirely unmoved by her music I am afraid, and the solo acoustic setting did nothing much to improve on my impression of the album, which was equally indifferent.

Johnston on the other hand is a different prospect entirely.  He seems comfortable enough in the presence of the crowd, even reassured by it, which is slightly contrary to the (admittedly arbitrary) picture I’d managed to build in my head of him.  The first few songs are just him and an electric ukulele, and I don’t know enough to say for certain, but it seemed very much like he could barely play it.  I don’t know if this is simply a skill he has been unable to acquire despite what must be tons of hours of practise, or whether he’s actually really good and just plays in fumbling style, which I suppose is possible.  It seemed a lot like the former to me though, I have to confess.

These songs, despite the playing, and maybe because of the more basic sound, are the ones I like the most.  There’s something captivating about his stumbling musicianship and uncertain delivery which resonates so perfectly with his lyrics that it makes the songs seem all the more true in this format, something which the more polished band numbers can’t ever quite achieve.

When the Wave Pictures come on to play as Johnston’s backing band the results are a little patchy.  It’s not the fault of the band at all, but I personally just felt that some songs worked better than others, and there were defintely times when the plain vanilla bass and drums simply eroded the individualism of Johnston’s songwriting.  It could be a little smothering, basically.

Then again, maybe that’s how he sees himself.  For someone who seems to utterly disregard most basic songwriting axioms when he sits down to write, the three Beatles covers in this set seem to imply that he does harbour more straighforward pop instincts in there somewhere.  Even with their weird structures, his own songs are often successful because they do still contain a lyric simple yet so honestly, obviously true that it has the same impact as a memorable rhyming couplet.  And for all he can barely play them, he can certainly write guitar hooks.

Maybe that’s why the Beatles covers get such a cheer – maybe that kind of sudden statement of unselfconscious joy is at the heart of his popularity.  It’s a weird kind of shotgun marriage: the awkward, uncomfortable, vulnerability which is broken here and there with the musical equivalent of a sunny smile.  He has the shakes something rotten, and his lyrics are raw and unflinching, and he sounds like his voice will crack at any moment, and yet when he decides to hold a note he obviously can do, and he seems genuinely cheered by the love coming from the crowd.

So for all I don’t know his music that well, I can see from this gig how people get so engrossed in Daniel Johnston.  It really is all just out there for you to see: there seem to be no barriers at all between him and his audience.  And despite the age of Johnston himself, all the awkward but nevertheless very hip teenagers in the Queen’s Hall seem to be beside themselves in rapture.   But I think by the end of the night, that I just about get it. It was an odd gig though – really good, but almost more of a social experience than a musical one in many ways.  For me anyway.  For a good proportion of the people there it was as damn near a religious experience as they are likely to get.

Daniel Johnston – Life in Vain

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Daniel Johnston – True Love Will Find You in the End (His only encore – now that was a privilege!)

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Well this is a bit of a big week for Song, by Toad Records.  Apart from the fact that the Loch Lomond/Builders & the Butchers split 12″ is now officially available to buy, we also have the Meursault single launch on Saturday, with three of my favourite bands.  We’re releasing four A-sides on two 7″ singles, on clear vinyl: new recordings of William Henry Miller Parts One and Two are going back to back with A Few Kind Words and the Dirt & the Roots from Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues.  Officially, neither single is being released until the first week of December, but they will be available at live shows from this week onwards, including all tour dates the boys are playing over the next few weeks – details on their MySpace page.

Edinburgh’s best DIY arts venue, The Bowery, officially opened a year ago this week (or so), and the single launch just happens to be their first birthday party. The Edinburgh University Settlement, however, are getting rid of Ruth and Jane and taking the whole place over, so by the end of December the Bowery as we know and love it will cease to exist.  I am trying to get in touch with the Settlement themselves to find out exactly why they are doing this, and what alternatives they are putting in place, but in terms of the artistic community in this city this looks like nothing short of a bloody disaster.

Basically, this means that we have two months left to enjoy the place and show our gratitude to Ruth and Jane for the incredible amount of hard work they have put into giving us all such a special place to go and drink and to see live music, so please come along as often as possible over the next two months in order to give them the best send off we can manage.

Wednesday 4th November 2009: Daniel Johnston, The Wave Pictures & Laura Marling at The Queen’s Hall.

As marquee gigs go, this is the best Edinburgh has had for a long time.  Apart from the general elusiveness of Daniel Johnston himself, this is treat for the entire lineup.  In terms of wonky, off-kilter, sometimes painfully personal lyrics you won’t find better, but the key bit is how deceptively poppy the songwriting can be from both Johnston himself and support band the Wave Pictures.

Daniel Johnston – Foxy Girl

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Thursday 5th November 2009: Withered Hand, Candythief & James Lowe play the Leith Tape Club at the Iso Lounge.

This is a really cracking lineup for the Leith Tape Club.  Most people here will know Withered Hand’s brilliant anti-folkery, but I highly recommend the flamboyantly orchestrated pop of Candythief as well.  I’ve no idea how it will strip back to the bare-bones approach necessitated by the Tape Club, but I’m keen to hear it.

Withered Hand – Withered Hand

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Saturday 7th November 2009: Meursault, Withered Hand & Jesus H. Foxx at the Bowery.

As lineups go, if I were the sort who spent his time masturbating to music, I would spank myself raw to the mere thought of this one.  Probably whilst lying in a bath full of lovely clear vinyl!

Meursault – A Few Kind Words

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Saturday 7th November 2009: Sara & the Snakes, Mitchell Museum & The Last Battle play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

It’s good to see the Limbo chaps back in the saddle.  Mitchell Museum are mental live, and the Last Battle have formed from the ashes of local band Thieves in Suits, and since then I have heard some really good things about them.

Mitchell Museum – Arthur Loves the Shadows

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Saturday 7th November 2009: Mark Eitzel & Franz Nicolay at Cabaret Voltaire.

Hmm, I’m not sure you really want all these good gigs on on a night when you’re trying to have a successful single launch, but this lineup looks really interesting.  Hailing from American Music Club and The Hold Steady respectively, I don’t know too much about either man’s solo material, but the bands they are/were both in before can be pretty bloody excellent.

Mark Eitzel – Patriot’s Heart (Live)

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It’s a rather varied week of gigging this week, with Richard Hawley at the Queen’s Hall at one end of the spectrum and the Japanese War Effort at the Traverse Bar tonight at the other.  There are a few side-notes worth mentioning as well – like the vanishing Whispertown 2000 gig at Sneaky’s on Saturday which I would have liked to go to, but which I assume was cancelled and the appearance, for free, of 4AD’s Big Pink at Sick Note, late at Cabaret Voltaire on Thursday.

I think I can manage maybe a couple of these shows, but probably no more because if I don’t start showing Mrs. Toad some proper attention pretty damn sharpish there may end up being a little jar of pickled toad testicles on a shelf somewhere in our house.

Monday 12th October 2009: Japanese War Effort at the Traverse Bar.

The Japanese War Effort are one of my favourite bands (well okay, we all know it’s just Jamie) in Edinburgh at the moment.  I personally think his recorded stuff has been a little variable, if I’m being honest, but if you’re prepared to pay attention, Jamie is an engaging live performer whose live assembly of his loops and beeps, and the occasional emergence of an actual song from in amongst them, is always worth seeing.
Jamie says it’s somewhere under the Usher Hall, and when I Googled I got this, so good luck to you.

Japanese War Effort – Chocolat Froid

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Tuesday 13th October 2009: Richard Hawley at the Queen’s Hall.

Richard Hawley is one of the best live performers you’ll see.  Charming and witty without being in the slightest over-bearing, he brings his domestic, heartfelt crooning to life on stage to extent he doesn’t always quite manage on record.  It’s fucking expensive though – £21 quid, are they mental?

Richard Hawley – Born Under a Bad Sign

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Wednesday 14th October 2009: Girls, Swanton Bombs & St. Jude’s Infirmary at Sneaky Pete’s.

The band intent on making themselves utterly un-Googlable have named their band Girls and their album Album.  Fuckwits.  It doesn’t matter though, I still really like their music, which is scratchy and rough low-fi indie – breaking back and forth to something warmer from time to time, which makes for a nice dynamic, if you ask me.  I’m still listening to their album, but there will be a review on the site fairly soon.

Girls – Headache

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Wednesday 14th October 2009: Glaciers at the Bowery.

This is rather experimental and peculiar, apparently, so I can imagine it moistening the gussets of a fair few of my readers.  Have a listen on the MySpace link, but it sounds really rather interesting to me – very mysterious and atmospheric, which rhythmic, looping vocals and wheezing backdrops.

Thursday 15th October 2009: Meursault & the Red Well at Cabaret Voltaire.

This is a Mill gig, so you may have to drink unspeakable beer all night.

Friday 16th October 2009: Stricken City, North Atlantic Oscillation and My Cousin I Bid You Farewell at Sneaky Pete’s.

I know next to nothing about these bands, but Stricken City seem to be doing a nice job of re-interpreting female fronted 90s Britpop bands.

Stricken City – Tak O Tak

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Friday 16th October 2009: Panda Su & Last Battles at the Bowery.

Last Battles are about as fresh out of the box as it gets, I think, and I have yet to see them live, but it all sounds very promising if you have a listen to the MySpace stuff.  Male/female duets do it for me every time!

Sunday 18th October 2009: The Wave Pictures, Stanley Brinks & Freschard at Cabaret Voltaire.

I fucking love the Wave Pictures, and I fucking love the Wave Pictures live as well.  The roughness of their recordings translates really well into a free and relaxed live show, and the band generally seem to be really enjoying themselves.

The Wave Pictures – Your Heart is on Your Sleeve

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After the ramshackle growl of their home-recorded four-track albums, released on CD-Rs in the back rooms of pubs, this acoustic affair comes as something of a surprise to me, I have to confess.  The sound, more than anything, seems very different.  Given the amount of material the Wave Pictures have at their disposal there are some oldies on this, such as old favourite My Kiss, but the sting has somewhat gone out of the music with the arrangements being as they are.

The lyrics also seem to have moved somewhat beyond the half-snarled, half-wailed alienation of previous records, there is here something a little more resigned and domesticated.  Earlier stuff was still quite kitchen sink in its lyrical scope, but there is a little less anguish to this stuff.  Consequently the whole album, for all Tatersall is clearly a first class lyricist, seems to lack punch, to be honest.  I’m enjoying it, but I’m far from blown away.

To give you an idea, have a listen to the version of Canary Wharf below and compare it to the plugged in version we filmed at the End of the Road Festival last year- the amount of bite missing is palpable, if you ask me.  But then again, maybe I’m just pointlessly pining for the way things were and secretly hoping they’ll never change, despite criticising people who don’t explore new things.  Music fans have been known to do that, you know.

The Wave Pictures – Canary Wharf

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The Wave Pictures – Bumble Bee

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Here’s a video of the band playing Canary Wharf live at the End of the Road Festival last year:

Mrs. Toad (malingering old bag) and I are going to be live on Fresh Air at 6.30pm tonight, and I’ll post the playlist here as we go along.  This way any foul remarks can go here and not sully Fresh Air’s fine reputation as an upstanding family station.

Click on the big Listen Live button on this page to tune in.

01. King Creosote – No-one Had it Better
02. The Japanese War Effort – St John
03. Broken Records – Wolves
04. Eels – Fresh Blood
05. Jason Lytle – Flying Through Canyons
06. Jason Lytle – On a Piece of Wood I Go
07. Jesus H. Foxx – I’m Half the Man You Were
08. Yusuf Azak – The Key Underground
09. The Wave Pictures – Canary Wharf
10. Wilco – The Jolly Banker
11. Phil & the Osophers – They Threw a Shoe at You
12. The Leisure Society – The Last of the Melting Snow
13. Alberto Veto – Through Her Teeth
14. Rock Plaza Central – Don’t You Believe the Words of Handsome Men
15. The Limes – Dead Furniture
16. X Lion Tamer – Life Support Machine

Cheers folks, been fun.  See you next week 6.30pm-8pm once again.