Song, by Toad

Obviously, from my perspective there is one big and important gig this week:

Sunday 9th August 2009: Animal Magic Tricks (with Pete from The Leg & Neil from Meursault) at the first Toad House Gig.

Use the link below to buy tickets and please do buy them in advance because we can’t have too many people in the house, and at the same time I would be gutted if it was empty, so it would help us plan ahead a little:

In the rest of the city, however, the Edinburgh Festicle well and truly kicks off this week.  This means that despite a rather quiet build-up, the weekend is just fucking mental, frankly.  My personal choice is going to be Trampoline on Saturday, I think.  I’m really interested to hear what Jonnie Common’s doing on his own, although Rob St. John was excellent at Electric Circus on Saturday and his show at the Portrait Gallery with Emily Scott should be fantastic.  I’ve probably missed out loads, but you really are going to have to expect that during August I think because there’s just going to be so much stuff going on, and not listed in the obvious and usual places either, so I’ll probably miss a fair bit.

I sulk about the Festival, honestly, because it tends to utterly steamroll anything which would actually happen in the city otherwise, but this year there does seem to be a lot of actual Edinburgh stuff taking place, particularly in terms of music.  For anyone wanting a full run down, Bart wrote an excellent summary of what to expect for the next few weeks last weekend, and you really should read it if you want a musically rewarding August.

Tuesday 4th August 2009: Debutant, Plastic Animals & Yahweh at Henry’s Cellar Bar.

This will be quite post-rocky and quite atmospheric and quite noisy.  Yup, noisy. Excellent!

Friday 7th August 2009: Woodpigeon & Woodenbox With a Fistful of Fivers at Sneaky Pete’s.

I have never been any more than a casual fan of Woodpigeon, but I am sort of liking their recent album Treasury Library Canada.  For me though, the real reason to attend this gig is the excellent Woodenbox who can be phenomenal live.
Woodpigeon – Cities of Weather

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Friday 7th August 2009: The Stranglers at the Picturehouse.

No, I am not a Stranglers afficionado, yes I would just be going for the famous ones, no I don’t care.  Sometimes ‘just the hits’ can be great, especially when they’re as great as Golden Brown.
The Stranglers – Golden Brown

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Friday 7th August 2009: The Radiation Line, The Kays Lavelle & Adam Stafford at the Wee Red Bar.

This is the official launch night for the Trampoline August shows, and will be a good chance to hear live versions of things on the approaching Kays Lavelle album.

Friday 7th & Saturday 8th August 2009: Mumford & Sons at Cabaret Voltaire.

Even though I am not really as keen on the band as I was when I first heard them, when they honestly blew me away, they are still phenomenal live.  It’s sort of gospelly banjo raucousness, I suppose, and bloody brilliant.
Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page

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Saturday 8th August 2009: Rob St. John & Emily Scott at the National Portrait Gallery.

I pretty much described why I thought this would be good in the main post didn’t I.  I shall just add that Emily is launching a new album, in case you need even more incentive to turn up.

Saturday 8th August 2009: David Byrne at the Playhouse.

What do I have to say about this?  The man was Talking Heads!  To cap that he’s been incredibly positive about what the internet can mean to young bands and had some very well-considered things to say about how to make the most of the new environment in the music industry.
Talking Heads – Hey Now (Yes, I know this isn’t ‘David Byrne’ per se, but bugger off, I love this album.)

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Saturday 8th August 2009: Jonnie Common, Animal Magic Tricks & Conquering Animal Sound play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

This should be very low-fi and somewhat scratchy but with lovely underlying melodies, if my knowledge of both Jonnie Common and Animal Magic Tricks is anything to go by.  I don’t know Conquering Animal Sound, but then that’s why we go to gigs, isn’t it.

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.