Sometimes I take the wrong message from advertising. You know those adverts where they hysterically proclaim that there are many more bacteria on your chopping board than there are on your toilet seat? Well I assume the message they are intending to put across is something like this: "Aaaagh, ohmyfuckinggod, what have I done, I've poisoned my child, I'm a SUCH A BAD MOTHER I MUST BUY MORE OF YOUR CHEMICAL SHITE!" I, on the other hand, take the message to be this, pretty much: "Ah [...]
Tonight the Devil's round up takes you on a musical tour around the British Isles... Bear Response Team From: London, United Kingdom Pop doesn't come much poppier than this. There's more life in this song than a millions Coldplay albums in a tramp's vest. Go Try Bear [...]
With the New Year fast approaches, here's the last in my series of Artists Albums of the Year for 2011. To finish off the year we have some pretty fine choices from the likes of Aerials Up, Inspector Tapehead, Miaoux Miaoux, Woodenbox, The Seventeenth Century, Edinburgh School for the Deaf, Ghost Pants and Sojourner. Villagers by Becoming a Jackel chosen by Debbie Kate ( Aerials Up ) On a bored [...]
11.David Thomas Broughton - Ain't Got No Sole The first song we heard from DTB's fantastic album, and perhaps the poppiest of the lot. Catchy, unusual and immensely hummable. 12.Kurt Vile - Baby's Arms Another album from which it is tricky to extricate just one song as a highlight, but for some reason I'm giving this the nod above Jesus Fever or Puppet to the Man . I think it's the most late night and glass of red winey song on the album, but it's close. 13.The [...]
Right, all the amateurs have had a go, and we've seen disturbing amounts of Bon Iver and PJ Harvey on lists from Bradford to Boston this year, but it's time for those of us who really know what's good and what isn't to step up and set the record straight. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the definitive list of what's been good this year, so you can all stop pretending to care what Drowned in Sound or Pitchfork think, and find out what you should really be thinking about music. That's all bollocks of [...]
It's a relatively manageable week, this one. It's quiet enough, until Saturday, which has a couple of rather unfortunate clashes, but there are definitely some great gigs on. Pick of the bunch would, for me, be the Mazes and Milk Maid show at Sneaky's on Wednesday, but the Emily Scott album launch also looks rather promising, with the presence of extra strings for both herself and Yusuf Azak adding a bit of extra incentive. Once again I seem to have managed to start the week with a little bit of a hangover, annoyingly, so I have [...]
Changing their name from Deserters Deserve Death (because they ended up getting some dodgy emails from people who thought they were associating themselves with the Third Reich, if I remember correctly) seemed to work pretty well for Edinburgh School for the Deaf. At least from my perspective it seemed to allow me to hear them with fresh ears, after their initial guise seemed to elude my attention altogether, for some reason or another*. Anyhow, although the penny finally dropped, it might end up being a case of too little, too late, because just as I started to really [...]
This week's podcast is named the Northcast because I was just up in Inverness at GoNorth, which is I suppose the biggest official Scottish music industry chatfest. I am getting better at these, I have to be honest. The music industry is heavily based around status and I do not do well when I suspect people might be looking down their nose at me, consequently my first few were quite a challenge to escape from before I picked a fight with someone I shouldn't, but as my general stature within music, and Scottish music in particular, has slowly [...]
Well there's no real way of stitching this little lot together coherently, so I suppose a big old pile of stuff in no sensible order is the only real way to do it. Edinburgh School for the Deaf have a new single out. It's digital download only, so I can't very well put it up here for you, but you can expect a song in this week's podcast, so keep an eye out there. For those disinclined to wait, you can simply pop over here and buy a copy from [...]
Straight outta Edinburgh, Scottland come Edinburgh School for the Deaf . Their moody, fuzzed out maelstrom on the A-side to their virtual single is a sound not unfamiliar to their geography, and then the virtual B-side figuratively flips that sound on its ear getting introspective, delicate and quiet (also not unfamiliar to their geography). The only complaint I have about this record is that it ain't a physical record. It's part of Bubblegum Records For Singles Project which limits each single to 200 downloads. I'll take a download but I'll still pine for a 45 [...]
I always find that the best way to find about new music is to listen to you peers and in the past couple of months two of my fellow bloggers, Manic Pop Thrills and Song By Toad, have both been raving about this week's newest addition to the Scots Way-Hay club. My attention pricked, their [...]
Mrs. Toad's Lettuce The above picture shows how our veggie patch is doing, for those of you who give a flying fuck, which admittedly might not be many of you. Sunday was spent lying about in the garden reading books, which was nice and relaxing after getting pished late into the night with Monster Island, These Single Spies and Kid Canaveral after the Henry's gig on Saturday night. This Saturday we will be collecting for the RNLI in Stockbridge, so if you want to help out please do get in touch as we will [...]
Anyone managed to avoid my relentless plugging of this weekend's Ides of Toad gig? No, thought not, there's nowhere to hide when I start riding the spam train down the middle of the information superhighway. Or er... something like that, anyway. Anyhow, the Ides of Toad gigs are now booked up all the way through to the Summer, at which point they will take a break over the Edinburgh Festival as I get a bit more involved in Lach's Antihoot , which will be returning to the Teviot (I think they call it the Gilded Balloon over [...]
I always find that the best way to find about new music is to listen to you peers, in the past couple of months two of my fellow bloggers, Manic Pop Thrills and Song By Toad , have both been raving about this weeks newest addition to the Scots Way-Hay club. Having heard their name banded about by such respectable sources pricked my attention, their scuzzy shoegaze sound took me a couple of listens before it clicked but once it did I was hooked. Formed from the ashes of St Judes Infirmary songwriters Grant [...]
More Ides of Toad action this week, as Kid Canaveral, Thee Single Spy and Monster Island take to the stage at Henry's. I hadn't been to Henry's for so long before The Leg, Louis Barabbas and Zed Penguin show, and I'd rather forgotten that it is actually a cracking little grubby indie club. One of those places whose drawbacks actually seem to add to its charm, so please come down this weekend, and come down early to make sure you catch Monster Island. And there may be some excellent gigs happening in Edinburgh this week, but there are [...]
This is one of those weeks where there could be two of you and you'd still probably not quite manage to get to all the decent gigs in the city this week. Personally I am going to try and keep it a bit calm, but I have my doubts as to whether or not I am likely to succeed. Mrs. Toad, no doubt, will be wildly impressed. I had fun down in London last week, incidentally. As I mentioned, I did a quick interview with Tom Robinson for BBC 6Music while I was there and, in typical fashion, [...]
I never really knew much about Edinburgh band Deserters Deserve Death, never mind seriously getting into their music. They appear to have vanished now, and in their place appear Edinburgh School for the Deaf. Going to their MySpace or Facebook fan pages there seems to be little reason given for the change of name, whether [...]
I think I have figured out why Fence Records hate the internet. Or at least, I feel like I am starting to get some insight into what is an intensely troubled relationship. The two of them just don't get along at all, and the mutual antipathy has boiled over into outright hostility this afternoon, with the rush to buy Homegame tickets from the Fence website actually breaking the whole internet. So while I wait for normal service to be resumed, and with it the opportunity to buy tickets for Homegame this year, I thought I might record a [...]
I never really knew much about Edinburgh band Deserters Deserve Death, never mind seriously getting into their music. They appear to have vanished now, and in their place appear Edinburgh School for the Deaf. Going to their MySpace or Facebook fan pages there seems to be little reason given for the change of name, whether it be simply a new direction for what is essentially the same band, or a re-jig enforced by a shuffle in personnel. In any case, I was in Avalanche Records on the Grassmarket the other day (getting [...]
Song, by Toad
The Devil Has The Best Tuna
Peenko
the finest kiss
Dear Scotland
Catcall – ‘The Warmest Place’
This Is Not The End (Gui Boratto 2012 Mix)
The Animal Kingdom: Gallo del Cielo
Rihanna Gets Nude For Nude
