Sat, 30 July 2011
We nearly missed our anniversary again this year, but fortunately caught the fucker just in time. We were heading off to Leith to get some scran and I was sitting at the bus stop thinking about how it was nearly August and then asked one of those stupid questions you ask when something is really obvious, but actually so obvious you become unsure of it: "It's July, right?" When your wife forgets the thing entirely as well I guess it makes no difference, so instead of going to see something daft at the pictures, we went to a fishy place, had a seafood platter and bottle of champagne, before going for (a couple too many) cocktails at The Raconteur round the corner from our house. Five years married. Oh how happy we looked. That didn't last*. 01. Mazes - Summer Hits (00.22) *Of course it fucking did, don't be silly. We're the happiest fucking couple I know, despite spending 90% of our time together swearing at one another! |
Sat, 23 July 2011
This is called the Barbecast because we finally went out and replaced our shitty old one this morning, and today we intend to christen the new one. The previous one had actually rusted through, and the only way to hold the burning coals in place was a shonky combination of chicken wire and tin foil. Not ideal. It's funny though, the two nations who go about barbecueing things the most actually know nothing whatsoever about the barbecue. Dear Aussies and Americans, if it is powered by gas rather than charcoal it IS NOT A BARBECUE. It is simply a cooker you keep outside. Cultural differences ... blah blah ... practicality ... witter ... special smoked wood chips ... etc etc etc.... BOOOORING! You're wrong, you don't know what you're talking about, it's not a barbecue unless you have to light your own coals. Full stop. Non-negotiable, this is simply a fact of life: if it is gas-fired then it is a cooker, not a barbecue, irrespective of whether or not you use it out of doors, and you can stop calling it that and kidding yourself you actually barbecue, because you don't. And that is that. 01. Grandaddy - AM 180 (00.22) |
Sat, 16 July 2011
Video: Vimeo - YouTube Lach is the man behind the Antihoot, the New York open stage which gave rise to the term and the movement called Antifolk. People bandy the word about so much these days it's almost become as nebulous as the term 'indie', but it had a very specific origin and a very specific meaning back at the beginning. Last year Lach brought the Antihoot to the Edinburgh Festival, and we recorded a Toad Session with him while he was here. When we figured out that we would actually be releasing his new album as well, and that he would be returning to Edinburgh this year - running both the Antihoot at the Gilded Balloon as well as a free fringe show called Lach, the Waitress, the Walls and the Weirdos in The Speakeasy at Cabaret Voltaire - I figured we might as well wait a little while to publish this session. Well Lach is back now, his album comes out on Song, by Toad Records on Monday and we are starting to get ready for both the one-man show at Cab Vol, and also the Antihoot itself. If you want to play at the Antihoot yourself, then just get in touch. The rules are that you get either two songs or eight minutes, whichever is shorter, and that has to include your setup, so no brass bands please, but otherwise pretty much anything goes. Also, this year we'll be picking a semifinalist each night, by a combination of audience acclaim and executive decision, and inviting them back to the Anti-idol on the last three nights of the show. Those three nights will be recorded, with the best dozen or so performances being released on a Best of the Anti-hoot album on Song, by Toad Records. As per usual with the Toad Sessions, the full interview podcast is immediately below, followed by free mp3 downloads of all the session tracks (zip file here), videos of the individual tracks themselves (all video here), and finally the tracklist for the podcast. There aren't as many pictures as usual, but that's because we were a little short-staffed this time, and Dylan was too busy with the video camera to produce the usual number of pretty pictures. 01. Lach - A Quiet Distance (Toad Session) (12.40) |
Sun, 10 July 2011
The Raincast is so called because we have had three days of sporadic, but at times absolutely torrential rain here in Edinburgh this week. The leak in our ceiling has sprung back into action with some vigour, although this time it manifested itself in a manner which didn't ruin all sorts of my vinyl, which was generous of it. We really must get that looked at before the whole bloody ceiling comes crashing down. The rest of my day will be spent sticking things into envelopes to publicise the Lach release, which is really, really soon, as well as the new album by Trips and Falls, which isn't out until the end of September. I will be back on the gocco printer hand printing the artwork for that one though, which isn't something I've done for a while, so rather looking forward to it. Anyhow, in the meantime, have a wee listen to this. It's an interesting mix this week, from the utterly obscure, to the borderline famous, to the might almost have been nearly famous five years ago, but not really likely to crack it now. And then Radiohead. Yes, I've finally listened to King of Limbs. At last. 01. Barry Adamson - Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis (00.29) |
Sat, 2 July 2011
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 to Henry's for the Edinburgh School for the Deaf, Zed Penguin and Spook School gig. These things have to happen on bloody glorious days, don't they. Ah well, at least it wasn't a Toad Session this time, like it usually is the moment we get a sunny day. 01. Yo La Tengo - Outsmartener (00.25) |
