Song, by Toad

It’s busy week, in the absence of Mrs. Toad, and ends with me actually DJing twice in the space of two nights towards the end of the week as well once at some point on Friday, although I’m not all that sure where – Cabaret Voltaire I think – and then the following day at the Bowery at MarchéMarché , which should be good fun.  I have been promised that on no account am I expected to motivate people to dance, which probably helps matters considerably.

Oh, and I’ve just realised that I am approaching a hundred kilos in weight – 215 pounds, or 15 Stone 5 for those of you still living in the dark ages – so it might be time for just a little less beer, slightly fewer biscuits and for yours truly to get off his fat arse and do some exercise.  Bloody  hell, reality can be a bastard when it prevents you doing exactly what you want when you want, can’t it.

Tuesday 20th October 2009: Findo Gask & Everything Everything at Cabaret Voltaire.

Everything Everything I don’t know so well, but Findo Gask are a band who I really love, despite their distinct lack of material, considering the length of time for which the band has existed.  They have a couple of terrific singles to their name – electronic, danceable and infectious as fuck, with just a little sadness in the mix as well – and the only time I’ve seen them they were excellent, but that was a while ago now.  So I’ll be along on Thursday as much to see what they’ve been doing with their time, as to take the chance to enjoy their live show again.

Findo Gask – Va Va Va

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Tuesday 20th October 2009: Bat For Lashes & Yeasayer at The Picture House.

Personally, I think Bat For Lashes are pretty fucking dismal, honestly.  However I know a lot of my readers will be really up for this, so I thought I’d better mention it, just in case anyone was unaware this was happening.

Wednesday 21st October 2009: Mitchell Museum & The Scottish Enlightenment at Electric Circus.

These White Noise gigs start so bloody late they can fuck those of us with day jobs over for the rest of the week.  Still, I like Mitchell Museum, and the Scottish Enlightenment are returning to the fold after a very quiet couple of years.  They have a new album to show for their silence though, and have sent me a few songs through to sample, which I appreciate.  I’ve listened to them through a couple of times now, but not enough to really have anything clever to say about them yet, so I’ll just include one below and let you decide for yourselves.

The Scottish Enlightenment – Necromancer

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Wednesday 21st October 2009: Clues, Munch Munch & Over the Wall at Electric Circus.

I know nothing about Clues, bar this one promo song, and that the press bumph mentioned some famous bands like Arcade Fire and so when talking about their history.  So not much information, but the song itself sounds very promising.

Clues – Perfect Fit

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Thursday 22nd October 2009: Maps, Epic 26 & The Foundling Wheel at the Ark.

I quite fascinated by Maps, more from the descriptions I’ve heard than anything else.  I don’t actually know their music at all, despite their Mercury nomination a couple of years ago, but a band described as sonter shoegaze indie electronica sounds like a worthwhile punt to me.  Another plus is that these lot should be loud enough to silence the general chattering which the odd shape of the Ark tends to invite.

Friday 23rd October 2009: Meursault, Jesus H. Foxx, Y’All is Fantasy Island & the Occasional Flickers at the Bowery as part of the Oxjam Festival thingy.

The Bowery lineup is obviously the most Toad-friendly, with two of our bands on the bill, but there’s stuff happening all over the city on Friday.  It’s called Oxjam Take Over Edinburgh, I think, and one ticket gets you a wristband which will get you into everything – from the in-store performances at the Oxfam Music shop in the centre of town during the day, to this, to Sneaky Pete’s to Cabaret Voltaire and all sorts.
Full lineup and tickets here.

Meursault – The Furnace

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Saturday 24th October 2009: MarchéMarché at the Bowery.

This is actually a craft fair, not a gig, but yours truly shall be DJing at the event, so that’s all the excuse I need to plug it to within an inch of its life.  Promises promises, as Mrs. Toad is no doubt muttering to herself at the moment.

Saturday 24th October 2009: My Latest Novel at Cabaret Voltaire.

I haven’t had a chance to see these guys at all recently, and I’ve heard hugely variable reports from the gigs they’ve played here recently.  The last album was no better than decent, in my view, but I loved Wolves and I still really want to catch them when I can.

My Latest Novel – All in All in All is All

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How many of you are there?  There’s only one of me, which looks like it might prove troublesome this week, particularly late on when the clashing gigs really start to stack up.  I am just back in Edinburgh after the Jason Lytle interview, which went very well in terms of being a most pleasant sort of chat, yet didn’t provide a particularly obvious hook on which to hang an article.  I may have to listen back and digest for a couple of days before writing it, I think.  It’s odd to suddenly find yourself in conversation with someone whose music you’ve been listening to for over ten years, though, so I guess that in itself might be an interesting angle to take.

This week’s activities on Toad will involve beginning to work on that interview, the writing up of a couple of gig reviews, and editing a big pile of Broken Records live videos.  So in other words it’s going to be fucking busy again.  I am also going to have a chat with Andy about redesigning both this website and the label site.  I find myself feeling inordinately guilty about not designing it myself, oddly.  This whole site has been entirely DIY so far, so that’s probably the reason, but at the moment I need it to be able to do things which are well beyond my own rudimentary understanding of code, and I simply don’t have the time to begin with, so there you go.  I’ll have a big input of course, and the Toad sketches will remain, but basically I’m going to try and let Andy get on with it as much as I can.  As a designer myself, at Proper Job, I know there’s nothing worse than a client who stares over your shoulder constantly while you’re trying to do your job.

So that’s it, this is being posted in the wee hours, and I am going straight to bed so that I can at least pretend to be functional in the morning.  I actually find a lack of sleep worse than a hangover in terms of its damage to my productivity these days, so these half one bedtimes really do have to stop.

Thursday 2nd April 2009: St Deluxe, French Wives & Team Turnip play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

St. Deluxe are the new hot tamales around town, apparently.  I’ve had a listen to their MySpace and they do indeed sound pretty decent, although with such a brief listen I’m really in no position to say much one way or another.  They’re quite a rough and noisy band though, where French Wives and Team Turnip are a little poppier, but all three groups on this bill sound like good value to me.
St Deluxe – New Wave Stars

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Thursday 2nd April 2009: Tim & Sam’s Tim & the Sam Band With Tim & Sam at Cabaret Voltaire.

Tim and Sam and so on and so forth are big favourites of me old pal Drunk Country over at the Waiting Room, so he’ll be chuffed to know that they’re putting in an appearance in these parts.  I am rarely ever much of a fan of bands who play instrumental music, but I think that’s probably laziness on my behalf, and certainly these chaps make fine music under any circumstances.  It’s even better live, according to DC, so I’d recommend this one.  It’s a late one though, I think, so check the times before turning up.
Tim & Sam etc.. – Join the Dots

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Friday 3rd April 2009: Frightened Rabbit & Meursault at the Bowery.

I am fairly (but not entirely) sure that Frightened Rabbit are intending to play an acoustic set at the Bowery on Friday instead of their more usual melodic indie rock, and I do believe Meursault are following suit and unplugging all their electronic faffery as well, so this should be quite a special one.
Frightened Rabbit – I Feel Better (Live)

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Friday 3rd April 2009: Jesus H. Foxx, Y’All is Fantasy Island & the Hindle Wakes at Sneaky Pete’s.

Jesus H. Foxx will be mentioned some time later today when I write up their gig at the Bowery from last Friday, but believe me they are sounding very, very good at the moment.  Where previously they seemed to be fairly single-faceted (is that physically possible – never mind) there’s a lot more depth and a lot more confidence to their music these days.  They have an EP on the way too, which I am very excited to hear indeed.
Jesus H. Foxx – Trying to Be Good

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Friday 3rd April: Thomas Truax, Withered Hand & Greg Dodgeson at Cabaret Voltaire.

Is Dan from Withered Hand playing every single gig in Scotland at the moment?  Ah well, good for us if he is.  Apart from the music, Thomas Truax’s truly amazing homemade instruments make this a gig you really should attend.
Thomas Truax – The Butterfly & the Entomologist

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Saturday 4th April 2009: The Wee Rogue, Rob St. John & Ben Wetherill at the Bowery.

I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me beaten up by an angry mob of nice, sensitive young men, but this is probably the least ‘anti’ of the many great anti-folk gigs you can find in Edinburgh in any given week.  I mean that in the sense that the ‘anti’ part is something I tend to treat as describing a certain lack of prettiness in anti-folk music, but even as specific a genre description as anti-folk is a bit too broad for that sort of thing these days.  Where was I?  Oh yes, expect fine, fragile and lovely music.
The Wee Rogue – Into the Mist

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Saturday 4th April 2009: The Gothenburg Address, North Atlantic Oscillation & San Sebastian at Sneaky Pete’s.

Should the loveliness at the Bowery prove just a little too gentle for you then Sneaky Pete’s is probably the place to be, where there will be Post Rock a-gogo.  It’ll be loud, I’d imagine, so get there early, find a spot facing the stage and just let it all wash over you.
San Sebastian – New

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Sunday 5th April 2009: Come On Gang, Vendor Defender & The Kays Lavelle at Sneaky Pete’s.

Come On Gang should be in a fine mood after their SXSW adventure, so their punk pop should have even more zip to it than usual.  It’s going to be a busy week at Sneaky Pete’s.  Is their booking getting better and better or is it just that I’m only just starting to realise that I should be paying more attention to what they’re doing?  Good stuff, anyway.

Christ, it’s going to be like Fred Karno’s bloody Circus in Edinburgh this week (did your Grandma use that phrase all the time too?)  Particulary towards the tail end of the week there are all sorts of good gigs, of which I will be attending… precisely none, unfortunately.  We’re away in London this weekend, and I am in Glasgow on both Wednesday and Thursday nights, would you believe.  Incredibly frustrating.

We are nearly finished work on the Samamidon Toad Session, and a bloody good thing too, because Johnny Lynch, aka the Pictish Trail, will be coming into Toad Hall on Friday to record the next one.  The plan is to get these two recorded and posted by the Fence Collective’s Homegame festival, which is now on the weekend of the 17th, 18th and 19th of April because we should end up generating a hell of a lot of work there, between interviews, live reviews and stuff like that, so it will be important to have the decks clear by the time that comes around.

Wednesday 28th January 2009: Come On Gang, Jesus H. Foxx & Chutes at Cabaret Voltaire.

The first gig of the year from my pals at Fresh Air, Edinburgh’s student radio station.  It’s happy, spiky indie pop all the way, so if you fancy a bit of a dance and a chance to hear the SXSW-bound Come On Gang then swing by Cabaret Voltaire on Wednesday.
Come On Gang – Spinning Room

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Thursday 29th January 2009: Meursault, Y’all is Fantasy Island & Mitchell Museum play Limbo at the Voodoo Rooms.

What a bloody lineup – two of Edinburgh’s finest accompanied by a band who have been going for about a year and whom I have rather shamefully yet to see.  And I can’t go.  Fucking ARSE!  Between the exuberance of Mitchell Museum, the racket of YiFI and the passionate howl of Meursault this should be a really top evening.
Y’all is Fantasy Island – With Handclaps

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Thursday 29th January 2009: SL Records night at Cabaret Voltaire, with Withered Hand, Paul Vickers & the Leg & Lords of Bastard.

SL Records are going to have the very enviable pleasure indeed of releasing a Withered Hand album some time in 2009, the swine.  They’ve been around for a while though, with Paul Vickers & the Leg one of their stalwarts.  Looks like a good night.
Paul Vickers & the Leg – Umbrella Propella

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Thursday 29th January 2009: Popolo play Sick Note at Cabaret Voltaire.

Ever since their appearance on the early Ten Tracks compilations I have been curious so see these lads.  It appears to be entirely intrumental, relying on thumping electronics to create an edgy dancefloor atmosphere.  Fascinating.
Popolo – Or Optimism

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Sunday 1st February 2009: Ex Lion Tamer, Milophobia & Vessel at Cabaret Voltaire.

Another blog in Edinburgh hatches a record label, this on run by my good friend Ed from 17 Seconds – yes the same chap who spent the tail of last year fending off an angry swarm of DMCA complaints after his enthusiastic help in getting Glasvegas a major record deal.  Well, his own label treads rather different territory, with first signings Aberfeldy indulging in the sweetest of pop, and second signing Ex Lion Tamer inhabiting a slightly more 80s electro-disco territory.
Ex Lion Tamer – Life Support Machine

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It’s actually fairly quiet this week, prior to the commencement of the Leith Festival next week, so I may take the opportunity to spend some time with my lovely lady wife and do nice normal bonding things like going for walks and sitting in the garden with a cup of tea. This instead of the more usual and rather less satisfying recent habit of her sitting on the couch reading a book and occasionally looking up at my back as I frantically try and get things sorted for Song, by Toad Records, mix a demo EP for a friends of mine and edit the latest session videos.

You really would forgive the lass for being far, far less tolerant of this sort of behaviour than she is.

Tuesday 27th May 2008: Broken Records & Jyrojets & Root System at Cabaret Voltaire. Cancelled, sorry!
Broken Records? Who? I haven’t seen much of these guys since they started gadding about the country being famous, but this week I will certainly be catching either this show (which is free, by the way) or alternatively their acoustic set at the Voodoo Rooms on Thursday.
Root System – I Know

Thursday 29th May: Vetiver & Adrian Crowley at Cabaret Voltaire.
What I know about Vetiver could be written on the back of a postage stamp, but people I trust (i.e. Bart & Euan who you probably know from the comments section) are very excited about this one, so I’ll defer to their judgment. Adrian Crowley is well worth seeing as well: a slightly broody, atmospheric songwriter who gets lumped in with folk sorts but not, as far as I can tell, because his stuff especially resembles folk music.
Vetiver – You May Be Blue (Live)

Thursday 29th May: Broken Records (Acoustic) & Y’All is Fantasy Island at the Voodoo Rooms.
Apparently Broken Records are bringing everyone except Gill, their bass guitarist who has been given the week off for good behaviour, so acoustic it may be but don’t expect it to lack their customary clatter. I’m intrigued by this set actually, so of the two shows this week I might forgo the free one and pay for this instead. For Broken Records acoustic stuff, try a Toad Session recording of their debut single:
Broken Records – If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch It (Toad Session)

Saturday 31st May: The Byrons & Sara & the Snakes at the Hive.
I love the Byrons: Sam batters the living shit out of his drums and Ed breaks his guitar. In fact I think they’re that ace that I’ve invited them to play the Song, by Toad Records launch night on the 14th June. The recorded stuff is really nice too, but a definite departure from their current live setup which is much more raucous.
The Byrons – Anglais

It’s a jam-packed fucker of a week in Edinburgh this week.  On Wednesday there are no less than three gigs that I want to attend, and we even have some sold-out cutting edgeyness to boot – unheard of for the unofficial Least Rock ‘n’ Roll City in the Universe, Including Bath.  The Kills and The Courteeners are both playing here this week, but seeing as the latter is sold out and I had no intention of going to see either I am not sure this merits further mention.

Monday 14th April: The Radar Brothers at Cabaret Voltaire.
They’re signed to Chemikal Underground and sound a little bit like early Grandaddy did in their gentler, more reflective moments.  Every reason to take a chance and go along.
The Radar Brothers – Hearts of Crows

Wednesday 16th April is where it all gets messy.  There are  three gigs to attend tonight, much to my frustration:
Hollow Heart Parlour at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
This is a folk night, with the excellently-named My Kappa Roots headlining this week.

Y’All is Fantasy Island, Gasgiant & Rob St. John at the Wee Red Bar.
Euan at Trampoline has put together another brilliant lineup, with Gasgiant (I know nothing, sorry) and very well-regarded indie-popsters Y’All is etc etc.. joining the brilliant hush-folkster Rob St. John for what should be a brilliant night of upcoming tunesmithery.
Y’All is Fantasy Island – With Handclaps

Broken Records Single Launch Party at The Bongo Club.
The fact that this feels like partly my party too perhaps helps explain the culture of liggers and groupies that grows up in the music industry, but a combination of being one of the first to spot these guys, the fact that they did the first Toad Session and of course the fact that a combination of beer and their live show is the reason Song, by Toad Records exists makes this one more personal than most.  Congratulations lads, I’m really looking forward to getting irredeemably pickled in celebration.

Wednesday’s Conundrum: Euan at Trampoline and the lads from Broken Records have tried to come to a compromise so people can see everything.  The last band at the Wee Red Bar will be over in time for people to high-tail it down to the Bongo Club to catch the Broken Records set and any Broken Records ticket-holders will get a deal on the door at the Wee Red as well.  Myself, I have really thought about it and I am going to be at the Bongo Club all night.  The reasoning?  Well this is a really special night for a group of lads I consider friends, so as much as I would like to catch YiFI and Gasgiant, I will get a chance to see them again, and I saw Rob at Homegame quite recently.  So apologies to Euan for not supporting his excellent Trampoline night this time, but it wouldn’t really feel right somehow.

Friday 18th April: The Mystery Jets at The Hive.
I’ve never been to the Hive before, and this gig is just a little pricey, but I’ve been rather enjoying the new Mystery Jets songs, so I might pop along to see what they’re like.
The Mystery Jets – Flakes

Sunday 20th April: The Wave Pictures at Cabaret Voltaire.
Yes, the fucking Wave Pictures!  Oh yes, yippee, hooroar!  I can’t believe these lads are playing here, but fuck me I’m delighted.  Free oral sex for whichever genius booked them – male or female!  You have got to get your arses down to this gig in the name of all that is rough, scratchy and faintly out of tune.  And to make matters even better, support comes in the form of an acoustic (well, bassless and drumless) set from The Kays Lavelle.
The Wave Pictures – My Kiss