Comacast? Yes, because of the imminent onset of a post-Festival coma. After trying to juggle two gigs of my own, two gigs I wanted to attend, the Antifolk-off and the visit of a good friend I haven't seen in a couple of years and the Retreat Festival this weekend I think I am now ready to officially declare August over and collapse into a somnolent stupour. In short, I need to sleep. A lot. Mrs. Toad came back from a ten-day holiday last night as well, and that always restores a sense of equilibrium. [...]
Well after an extremely successful Ides of Toad on Saturday (a massive thanks to the excellent bands, and to the fucking loads of people who came along) I think this week I shall be putting my feet up and letting other people do the work for a bit. And what a fuck of a lot of work they've been doing, too, because this week is a bit mental in terms of excellent gigs at which to drink yourself into an early grave. So much for the pre-Festival wind-down I discussed last week. As well as having [...]
Fast because I need to squeeze eleven songs into an hour because I just didn't want to trim the playlist, fast because I want to get out into the back garden asap to enjoy the sun, and fast because um... well, just because. I dunno. Fuck you, anyway, this is the one-hundred-and-eighty-first stupid name for one of these damn things I've had to come up with. The names were bound to get worse over time really, weren't they. Anyhow, once this is done, I expect to get a couple of hours out in the garden before buggering off [...]
Let's get one thing straight, no matter how fucking busy I am today I will be out in that damned garden by four o'clock this afternoon with a beer in my hand or there will be hell to pay! I am currently working on the Scottish Enlightenment Toad Session, due to go up tomorrow, and it's going to be tight, but dammit the weather in Scotland is this nice so fucking rarely that days like this must be seized, with some determination. Actually, if we can get it to stay this nice for a couple of [...]
For those of you who missed this week's podcast (and if you did, then shame on you indeed) then you will know that Mrs. Toad and I went down to London for the weekend to visit some old school friends. It was a little odd. The couples with kids asked the married couples about marriage and the couples who were married asked the ones with kids about kids, but none of the couples who were married were the ones with the kids. If only any of our gay pals had been there we'd probably have been able to [...]
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 [...]
Snow! Awesome! Actually, we haven't got that much snow here in Edinburgh but I am sufficiently snow-starved that I am pretty excited nevertheless. Not as excited as the penguins at Edinburgh Zoo will presumably be of course, but excited nevertheless. Yusuf's three album launch shows last week were fantastic, but I am pretty pooped and will be taking it quite easy today. We've the Savings and Loan's album release to work on for Monday, but apart from that the label is now entering a rather quiet Winter - well, apart from our official Song, by [...]
I feel I could start these listings posts with 'Christ, 25th October, already?' pretty much every single week at the moment. Not that the world is getting away from me exactly - in fact it all seems to be slowly locating some semblance of normality after a couple of months trying to get my head around my new full-time responsibilities - it's just that I have been constantly busy since I left Proper Job and in those circumstances time just buzzes past at a frightening rate. This weekend we finally got into the territory of proper cold. Not [...]
I actually meant to post this a couple of weeks ago, when we seemed to be having an 'Edinburgh bands cover one another's songs' love-in here on Song, by Toad, but I somehow managed to get distracted (I know, I was amazed too). This is Enfant Bastard's chip tune version of Withered Hand's rather brilliant For the Maudlin, and I honestly don't know if I'd have recognised it if not for the title. Once you realise what it is then it becomes massively obvious of course, but out of musical context it's amazing how [...]
So, a holiday coming up (an actual one this time - no computer, no work, no nothing) and so many things to get done. I reeled them off in the van this morning when I was driving Mrs. Toad to work and she asked me if there were actually enough hours in the day to get everything done, and I had to answer in the negative. Not even if I didn't actually sleep at all. So now it's just a case of choosing what not neglect, which for an obsessive like me is not a comfortable decision to have to [...]
For those of you not so keen on the cut and thrust of the bleeding edge of alt-folk, there is the opportunity to do something to satisfy a couple of the other senses this week. On Thursday 5th August there is a bit of a foodie event taking place at the Drill Hall on Dalmeny Street, called World Kitchen . Also, on Thursday, after having your ears assaulted by my dubious DJing skills, you may wish to pop down to the Wee Red Bar for the inaugural Chops club night. Myself and [...]
Okay, there aren't any titans, but there are plenty of clashes in this week's gig calendar. Look at Saturday for instance - The Fall, The Leg or Bear in Heaven? - it depends on the precise length and angle of your fringe I suppose. Well, that and the cut of your jeans. And Wednesday, what do I do? Go and butter up Yusuf Azak and try and get him to join the label, or go and butter up the Foxxes and try and make sure they stay? That's the music industry for you: so many arses to kiss [...]
Jason Lytle The ex-Grandaddy-man is giving away a free copy of his Christmas album 'Merry X-Mas 2009' featuring seven piano improvised instumental songs, you can download it here . El Dog Scottish Alternative, Post-rockers, El Dog are giving away a free download of their Christmas single, 'Let It Snow', their take on the classic festive song. You can get yourself a copy from here . Enfant Bastard Edinburgh experimental electro-punk, are giving away [...]
This is the beginning of what Milo has already pointed out is going to be a monumental period of carousing. Last week was very, very quiet in terms of gigs, but if you paid any attention to that then the sense of security into which you might have been lulled would very much have been a false one. Because it all kicks off in earnest this week, and if anything next could be even heavier. Livers of Edinburgh beware! From my own perspective I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, in the [...]
Well the truly mental Edinburgh August schedule is nearly past and I have to confess that, for the purpose of writing this post anyway, that is something of a relief. This week I am involved in a couple of things - firstly, Thursday's Born to be Wide in the Speakeasy at Cabaret Voltaire, Olaf Furniss's regular night of chat and help and networking and stuff like that. This week I have been asked to put together a playlist of unsigned Edinburgh bands for the Wheel of Fortune. There's something of a grey area in that signed/unsigned stuff, so I might [...]
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 [...]
Dear God I never thought of what I do as an endurance sport before - after all, it's really just a case of endlessly farting on about some tunes which I happen to like - but this year's Festival is going to become just that. This week has been punishing enough already, and next might be even heavier going. This week so far I have been to a fucking superb performance by Jesus H. Foxx on Tuesday at Electric Circus, supported by my first real experience of Art Fag, who tortured songs by Meursault and Enfant Bastard with [...]
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 [...]
It's been a while since we had an update on exactly what on Earth is going on at Song, by Toad Records, so I thought I might let you all know what our plans are for the rest of the year. Partly for shits and giggles, partly because I am really excited, and partly as a desperate marketing ploy to wear you down by constant repetition into accepting that everything we ever release will be the best thing you have ever heard in the world. It will be, you know. So, in chronological order, here's an [...]
Song, by Toad
Peenko
A-Trak - "Round of Applause" / "Where My Money At" (MP3 Download)
Diplo - "Climax" (MP3 Stream)
Out This Week 2/14
Gotye – Somebody I Used To Know (Jakob Liedholm Remix) : Must Hear House / Indie Remix [TSIS PREMIERE]
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
