By Danielle Gibson & Kenny McMurtrie May 08, 2013 Being in at the start of something new is always a buzz so tripping along to Electric Circus in Edinburgh for the venue's first ever Big Day In was weighted with a fair degree of expectation, albeit just exactly of what wasn't necessarily clear. Initial act Machines In Heaven were already a couple of songs into their set when we arrived and secured a seat. The Dennistoun-based quartet, with their brand of glitchy [...]
By Kenny McMurtrie May 02, 2013 Edinburgh's Electric Circus plays host, this Bank Holiday Sunday (May 5th), to the Big Day In event. The full line-up is handily displayed on the image to the left and you can obtain tickets by clicking here . John-Paul Mason and Tallah Brash , the dual brains behind the day's goings on, were good enough to answer a few questions that we put to them:- MG) Is this the [...]
Well, I don't know how many of you were there, but didn't the Meursault Liquid Room show go well on Friday! The place was rammed, gin was consumed in some quantities and even the hangover the next day wasn't all that bad. The sun was out, and it's that glorious time in Edinburgh when the weather is starting to improve, the sun is out and the tourists haven't really turned up yet in any great numbers. Nothing against tourists, of course, just their absence does make the place rather pleasingly peaceful. There are some interesting things happening in [...]
Originally featured on Eaten by Monsters There are few artists I'm enamoured of enough to start throwing excessive punctuation around willy-nilly. Chief amongst the marks I try to avoid is the exclamation point. That said, Jonnie Common 's latest single is really, really great! It's not been long since Common' s last single, the enigmatically titled JWC008 . That one was released with the quirky MacGuffin of a hand-printed glass stamp. Following that, the digital/cassette-tape format for Figurehead feels positively pedestrian. Mercifully, the music [...]
As you can probably tell from the shambles the blog has been this week, Mrs. Toad is away again. I always seem to have an inordinately hard time keeping my shit together when she's not around, because her regular 9-5 schedule keeps me vaguely on the rails. When she's away, however, it all goes to shit. I don't need to get up in the morning, why not watch one more episode of Breaking Bad or whatever. Then before you know it, it's half seven in the morning, and my sleep cycle is more fucked than if [...]
Man Edinburgh's being a little tease at the moment. It's cold, but the sun is out, and from the safe confines of my office it's all too easy to look out the window and think that Spring really is in the air. Of course, once you go outside such myths are dispelled, but there's nevertheless something immensely cheering about bright sunshine, even if it's cold. In fact, probably especially if it's cold. This week's podcast is relatively poppy, actually. Some awkward stuff in there I suppose, but for the most part it's possibly a [...]
Jonnie Common, by Olga Tyukova Out this week on Red Deer Club records is the new single from Jonnie Common, formerly of Glasgow's Down the Tiny Steps. Admirably, Figurehead comes in two versions, an upbeat 'Wet' version, all loping bass, big drums and glitchy drums, and a 'Dry' version, more sparse sounding with flourished of acoustic guitar and the sound of the sea. There are also remixes by FOUND and grnr. Lyrically, it's an intelligent piece, perhaps a reflection on past naivete and losing friends leaving a band. The new long player drops later this year, [...]
den red deer club hatten wir bereits desöfteren in der mache (stealing sheep, jess bryant, david a jaycock, benjamin wetherill usw.). es handelt sich dabei um eine unternehmung aus manchester, die nicht zuletzt die stadteigene kultur unter die lupe nehmen wollte. was sie auch tat, indem sie livemitschnitte und compilation an den mann brachte. später wuchs sich das projekt von duncan sime zu einem ordentlichen label aus. heute schauen wir mal kurz auf jonnie common , einen jungen kerl, der bereits sein drittes release auf red deer herausbringt. es handelt sich um eine [...]
Our next BAD FUN features well-established Toad favourite Jonnie Common , with support from FOUND's beep-master general River of Slime and BAD FUN debutants, the Newcastle (somewhat tangentially) by way of Edinburgh Shift-Static . Tickets can be found here , and of course it would be splendid to see you there, should you be so inclined. Last Saturday's gig was amazing fun, although The Black Tambourines managed not to smash the place to pieces this time, so I suppose it was relatively subdued by their standards. Despite Jonnie's recent exile in the very [...]
The Stiffcast is not the cheap innuendo I am sure you assume it to be. No no no, not that sort of stiff, the sort where every joint and muscle in your body aches because you are woefully out of shape and attempting to run around like a teenager. That sort of stiff. Yes, after three months out with a groin strain (no sniggering at the back, please) I have tried to go back to the gym and to five-a-sides over the last week or two with what can only be described as somewhat [...]
Morning all, and welcome back to the Friday Fives, where I bring you five things which have caught my attention this week, and in which you reciprocate by either adding your own wee things in the comments section, or mocking me for my buffoonish, shallow choices. Because you would do that, wouldn't you, being the internet and all. Anyhow, let's get going shall we, so we can commence with the talking of bollocks and you can distract me from the tedious accounts work I will have to spend my afternoon doing. Blech. 1. Paperman [...]
There's nothing Jonnie Common 's made that I don't like. There's something about his folksy lo-fi charm married with his exquisite electronic noodling that just hits all the right spots for me. His Master of None LP was as close to perfect as albums get, and this new release is yet another strong addition to his canon. What really piqued my interest, however, was the gimmicky way this 19 minute EP is presented. JWC008 comes as a screenprinted glass badge. I'm always wrestling with ways to combine the physical and digital sides of [...]
What the fuck am I doing calling something a Currycast, I hear you ask. Music cannot be curry-themed, and nor is it. This is called the Currycast simply because I am visiting my Granddad in Manchester and he has just asked me to cook a curry for him tomorrow night. I have never cooked curry before, and Mrs. Toad makes such a fine one that I have never really been motivated to have a go, myself. Why bother making the second-best curry in the house, after all. However, I made a gigantic leg of roast lamb today, so [...]
Jonnie Common is a mental genius. A genial genius, but mental nevertheless. His Master of None album was one of the true highlights of last year, and after a quiet spell up on one of the isles of Scotland he's back with a new release. The PR campaign has been so relentless and efficient for this EP that I'm not sure he even told his wife about it, but I managed to stumble across this wee video and it seems that despite his best efforts, Mr. Common has failed to keep the whole [...]
A former Edinburgh band now based in London, Dems ' songs have a gauzy fragility; a gentle, soft-focus tone that soothes and reassures. I can float along to them and drift off into fond daydreams, reflections on things I'd do differently given another chance. But there's also a joyous, very-much-alive feel present here too: something shrill and true, like fresh air on a Sunday morning.
Well, after a thin couple of weeks there are some rather excellent things happening in Edinburgh over the next few days. Except I won't be here because of a wedding. Drat. People really shouldn't get married. Mrs. Toad and I are married now, that's all the weddings there need to be. Alternatively, I suppose, if people weren't getting married all the time I might well take no holidays at all, so I suppose I should be a little less ungrateful and just take the opportunity to put my feet up. Anyhow, the Ides of Toad makes [...]
Jonnie Common is a Glasgow-based sonic boom of majestic devilry forged in the pottery kiln fires of Highland Perthshire, or so says his website, and since being introduced to him via SongByToad I've not found any reason to dispute that description. The latest reason to love Mr Common comes in the form of an unlikely poignant ballad about the love that exists between a boy and a T-800 Series Model cybernetic organism otherwise known as The Terminator. " I'll Be Back " is a tribute to the film that made Schwarzenegger's name, and hopefully [...]
Welcome to Toadcast number 215. This is called the Kingcast because I have been on a bit of run promoting gigs recently, with three in the last eight days or so. Given almost none of my friends or music associates came to these gigs and that the list of attending guests on the Facebook event pages made for pretty grisly reading, I was grimly expecting the gigs to be absolutely awful - barely attended wastelands of funlessness - but every single one was brilliant. The people who came were almost all people I didn't know, with a few [...]
I am not doing predictions, mostly because I can't. I have no idea what is going to be big this year and what isn't, and even if I think a band is going to release something amazing that probably doesn't matter, because bands I love rarely ever get all that famous anyway. But in any case, and in no particular order, here are some things I liked about last year, and some things I didn't. Some stuff I'd like to see more of and some things I am looking forward to, and some things I am not. "Something [...]
Geographically speaking, I don't think I could be further from Scotland and still be in the UK. You'd never guess that from reading this blog however, as Scottish acts seem to be dominating my tastes for the last few years. 2011 has been no exception, and four albums on this list have their roots firmly planted north of the borders. As well as being a year for Scots, 2011 appears to be the year of the Return To Form. In itself this is a good thing, as recent years have seen more disappointing highly-hy ped albums than good ones, but it means there's a [...]
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