Leith is the place I moved when I first came to Edinburgh in 2005, so it's always been my favourite part of the city. I love where we are now of course, but it's a bit posh, and I prefer a place to be a bit scruffier and rough round the edges. Leith is a brilliant combination of the two, in my opinion, and I still kinda wish we lived down there, even though I don't really want to leave our current house. Well, not after what we've just had to spend repairing the roof, that's for fucking sure. [...]
Hmm, given I have to spend some time writing up the half a dozen bands I saw at the Great Escape who I want to tell you about I suppose it's good that there doesn't seem to be all that much going on in Edinburgh this week, from a live music perspective. At least, I can't see all that much which would be up my street, which is what this post is about, so let me know if I've missed anything obvious, because I usually have. Still, after the damage done to my liver by £300 bottles of [...]
After months of waiting, AuxSend.tv is back with new episodes and this week's features none other than the amazing Nick Coward and the Last Battle . You can also catch Aux Send coming soon to a PBS station near you . Read more about the episode on AuxSend.tv Nick Coward and the Last Battle will be releasing their new album "Thieves" on March 15 with a show at the Camel with guests the Snowy Owls [...]
So, apart from complaining about the snow is there much going on this week? The answer, I think, is not all that much so I thought I might take the opportunity to plug our next BAD FUN gig at Henry's. There are, however, a couple of things going on in which you might be interested, so let's get that dealt with first, shall we. Neu Reekie are hosting a rather interesting-looking Burns Night thing at Summerhall , but it's sold out so umm... well, tough tits really, if you don't have tickets yet. Something you [...]
Morning, good people, how are things out there in the wilds of the internet? It can be a crazy and dangerous place out there I know - I think even David Cameron has some fans out there, but they might just be exaggerated fairy stories made to scare the children, I couldn't say. Anyhow, there's an awful lot of stuff going on this week. First and foremost, we are recording with a band I have temporarily named the Wolf Crystal Ghost Toads for now, until we find them a proper name. More about the exact project later, but [...]
Christ, it's suddenly Winter! Never mind Autumn, it's gone from being sunny and lovely on Saturday, to shitty and cold by yesterday. Balls. Ah well, as Billy Connolly (sort of) said, 'what the fuck do you expect, you live in fucking Scotland for fuck's sake'. Anyhow, shitey weather aside, this week see the first of Song, by Toad's BAD FUN nights, held downstairs at Henderson's at St. John's at the foot of Lothian Road. There will be bands, there will be DJs and there will be nice beer as well. What more could you possibly ask? [...]
Wow this week is busy - there are even two awesome gigs happening on Sunday night, which is rather unusual. As it happens, I don't really know how many I am going to manage, all told. Maybe one or two. After last weekend's efforts I think laying off the drink a little may prove to be an eminently sensible decision for a little while. This means you can probably safely attend most of these gigs without running the risk of me being there and either getting drunk and calling you something offensive or, and this might actually be [...]
So, erm... as the cultural black hole of the Edinburgh Festival lumbers towards us like a hungry giant, blithely trampling all before it as it stumbles clumsily towards the Magners tent to gorge itself on what can surely be chemically proven to be one of the world's nastiest ciders, I find myself wondering what the fine people of Edinburgh can do in the face of such a knee-trembling onslaught of shock and awful. Plenty, it turns out is the answer. So, after tearing my hair out waiting for the fucking Mixcloud uploader to start working again so I [...]
Once again I find myself listing a pile of gigs I can't possibly attend myself. And, frustratingly, there is a shitload of interesting stuff on this week. Specifically, the Gerry Loves split 73 launch on Thursday and the Tinderbox Orchestra stuff at the Queen's Hall on the weekend look bloody amazing. I'll still be charging about like a fanny though, and unable to get to any of this. Annoyingly. Ah well, you'll have a good week at least! There is also a slightly confusing one, in that on the Sneaky Pete's website [...]
As there was no Friday Freebies last week as I was still up north recovering from my post-goNorth hangover, this weeks post is a bit a monster. A good friendly monster, filled with lots of free goodness... The State Broadcasters I haven't really posted much about what has been going on with the label I co-run, Olive Grove Records, for a while now. Not because I have intentionally tried to keep the two apart, more so because I am a bit forgetful, once I have been doing all of my promo stuff [...]
Near the start of this self indulgent ramblefest that has been 33 I wrote about the Aye Tunes Vs Pennko gigs. Returning to that self indulgent theme, today I'm going to write a wee bit about the gigs I've put on by myself, which have imaginatively been titled Aye Tunes Presents. I'd have shortened that to ATP, but I'm pretty sure there'd be objections to that. #1 - 21st January 2011, Stereo Goodness, that feels so long again. I suppose it is quite a while ago, nearly a year and a [...]
Near the start of this self indulgent ramblefest that has been 33 I wrote about the Aye Tunes Vs Pennko gigs. Returning to that self indulgent theme, today I'm going to write a wee bit about the gigs I've put on by myself, which have imaginatively been titled Aye Tunes Presents. I'd have shortened that to ATP, but I'm pretty sure there'd be objections to that. #1 - 21st January 2011, Stereo Goodness, that feels so long again. I suppose it is quite a while ago, nearly a year and a [...]
GoldFlakePaint One of my favourite non-Scottish blogs, GoldFlakePaint celebrated their second birthday last week. To mark the occasion they have compiled a cracking wee compilation album featuring some of their favourite artists. Released on limited edition CD and as a free download, the compilation features tracks from some cracking artists, including a few Scottish acts such as PAWS, Sparrow & The Workshop and Loch Awe. You can download the album for free via Bandcamp , also while you're at it check out GoldFlakePaint's site as it comes highly recommended. From The [...]
Father Sculptor Sadly it looks like Johnny Reb have called it a day, the good news however is that some of the band have gone on to form Father Sculptor, a cracking wee pop band, who I think it's safe to say might own a few Smiths records. Their new double A-side single 'Ember/Blue' is free to download on Bandcamp and it comes highly recommended. Ember / Blue by Father Sculptor The Last Battle Edinburgh folk-pop outfit The Last Battle are set to [...]
There are two main things happening this week, as far as I can tell. One is the above-mentioned Ides of Toad gig of course, and the other is Record Store Day. I am ambivalent about Record Store Day, I have to confess, as it seems to encourage the worst kind of scalping and eBay profiteering, and it also seems like a poor apology for not spending more time in record shops year round. But at the same time it can be a really nice day, and encourages people back into shops with some really nice, limited edition products. [...]
The Muppets win at everything. That's all I have to say on the matter. In other news, Mrs. Toad and I went out into the garden this weekend, to try and tackle the small jungle which has slowly been developing since the Summer. The weather has been so spectacularly shit since July and August that we just haven't been out there, so our window boxes have all died and every bed was overrun with weeds. Still, due to our particularly indelicate methods of gardening - a little closer to slash and burn than anything you might [...]
I really don't like these lists very much. It is pretty much impossible to say who will have a good year, who will plod along as usual, who will split up or vanish without a trace, or anything else. It's also hard to say what counts as having a good year. Playing to a wee tent at at festival? A "triumphant" sell out gig to about 150 people in Glasgow or Edinburgh? The whole exercise always seems a tad pointless to me, you'd be better off sticking some band names on the wall and throwing darts to select them. That [...]
I really don't like these lists very much. It is pretty much impossible to say who will have a good year, who will plod along as usual, who will split up or vanish without a trace, or anything else. It's also hard to say what counts as having a good year. Playing to a wee tent at at festival? A "triumphant" sell out gig to about 150 people in Glasgow or Edinburgh? The whole exercise always seems a tad pointless to me, you'd be better off sticking some band names on the wall and throwing darts to select them. That [...]
The Twilight Sad Kilsyth's finest sons are all set to release their much anticipated third album (proper), No One Can Ever Know, next month. Having heard the album I reckon it's going to take a lot of folk by surprise with the new direction they've taken. As a wee teaser of what to expect, you can download Another Bed from it for free via both the Skinny and Spin . Aloha Tigers! My good friend Ian, who used to run the blog Have Fun At Dinner has set [...]
Song, by Toad
Richmond Playlist
Peenko
Aye Tunes
Aye Tunes
Cher’s “Woman’s World” is Now on iTunes, Finally
Deer Tick – “The Rock”
Escucha el ruidoso regreso de M.I.A.
White Lies Stream Track From New Album
