Song, by Toad

Hello folks. Well we are back from Romania, not entirely in jail although it was close, and not entirely burned to a crisp either, although Mrs. Toad was rather in danger of entirely melting on one or two occasions. Go here for the full story – you just have to scroll down a bit.

Anyhow, we return to the second half of the Pale Imitation Festival and there are some absolutely brilliant gigs still to come in our very own celebration of local Scottish music in the heart of the (over-priced, imported rubbish of the) Fringe.

Tomorrow we have eagleowl, on Saturday we have Adam Stafford (whose new album is fucking amazing, by the way) and then next week it’s the Supermoon show at Summerhall and the Night School Records show with Happy Meals and then the closing party. So many good bands. So much beer to drink.

And my mum’s here, so erm, so many disappointed stares to withstand.

All tickets here.

Remaining shows:

Thursday 20th – eagleowl, Now Wakes the Sea, Faith Eliott

Saturday 22nd – Adam Stafford, Wolf, Tryptamines

Thursday 27th (at Summerhall) – Supermoon & Rob St. John

Saturday 29th – Happy Meals, Apostille, Clip Art

 Hiya folks, once again in advance of the glorious Pale Imitation Festival we have a podcast exploring all the weird and wonderful bands who will be playing in Edinburgh during August for your wild and enthusiastic entertainment.

Because you’re coming along, right? All of you?

Oh god do please come. Please. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!

Ah fuck that, it’s really undignified when I grovel isn’t it. Fucking come along or you are missing the fuck out on seeing the best under-the-radar bands in Scotland at the most reasonable of prices (a fiver per show or a season ticket to the whole damn thing for £25 – all tickets here) in one of Edinburgh’s most legendary underground venues. (Literally. It’s actually a cellar.)

It’s a bit haphazard, but it’s a bloody great festival, the beer in Henry’s is really good these days and the wonderful Kitchen Disco will be providing cakes and DJing on every single night because they are massive heroes and they are the reason the terrorists will never win.

Toadcast #318 – The Palecast Vol.3 by Song, By Toad on Mixcloud

Direct download: Toadcast #318 – The Palecast Vol.3

Subscribe to the Toadcasts on iTunes

Subscribe to the Toadcasts on Mixcloud

01. Numbers Are Futile – Monster (00.17)
02. Beam – Hex (08.12)
03. Bat Bike – Willing (18.52)
04. Sharptooth – Queen of Scots (26.37)
05. Min Diesel – War Band (28.32)
06. Adam Stafford – Atheist Money (35.07)
07. Wolf – Tricks and Bones (42.56)
08. Tryptamines – Black and White Blues (47.57)
09. Supermoon – Klopfgeist (55.45)
10. Happy Meals – Electronic Disco (1.03.57)

Hello folks, it’s well past time to announce the third annual Pale Imitation Festival. Remember T on the Fringe? The Edge Festival? Retreat? Well this isn’t nearly as good as any of those. But this is Edinburgh, where fun and culture are strongly frowned upon, so we are just going to have to make do.

All tickets, including the super-bargainacious season ticket, which gets you into all gigs, can be bought here, unless you just want individual tickets to see Supermoon and Rob St. John at Summerhall in which case this is the page you want. All the other gigs will be at Henry’s Cellar Bar as per usual – one of the key engine rooms of the Edinburgh live music scene for years, and now with extra added nice beer! I know! Amazing!

Once again, this is a fantastic celebration of the best underground music Scotland has to offer. There are established Toad favourites, plenty of Song, by Toad Records bands, a flash night out at Summerhall, plenty of new bands never to play the festival before, and we close on the 29th with a showcase of one of my favourite Scottish labels, Night School, and then a late night party with music and dancing.

In a massive show of endurance and sugar, the glorious Kitchen Disco will be DJing every single night of the festival as well, bringing you awesome tunes and delicious cakes (the latter of which will generally be tenuously related to the bands on the bill through some dreadful pun or other, but will taste amazing whatever they’re called).

It’s going to be fucking awesome, people, get your damn tickets!

Saturday 1st August – Numbers Are Futile, Beam, DTHPDL

Thursday 6th – Garden of Elks, Bat Bike, Passion Pusher

Saturday 8th – Sharptooth, Lush Purr, Breakfast Muff

Thursday 13th – Spinning Coin, Min Diesel, Dune Witch Trails

Saturday 15th – Save As Collective (featuring Jonnie Common, Glamour Muscle, River of Slime & MC Almond Milk)

Thursday 20th – eagleowl, Now Wakes the Sea, Faith Eliott

Saturday 22nd – Adam Stafford, Wolf, Tryptamines

Thursday 27th (at Summerhall) – Supermoon & Rob St. John

Saturday 29th – Happy Meals, Apostille, Clip Art

 I know I can be a bit of judgemental prick when it comes to this kind of thing, but when someone thrusts a copy of their vinyl into your hand at a record fair with a mumbled ‘you might think it’s shit but, er, yeah whatever’ and then shuffles off to the do the same for everyone else along the whole line of stalls, the they’re usually right. I usually will think it’s shit.

It’s always best to treat these things as guidelines rather than rules, however, and bear in mind that some of my favourite music has come from following up on the most half-arsed, ill-expressed emails I’ve ever read, so no matter what you’re expecting, always best to just have a listen anyway.

It took me a while, but I am glad this self-titled debut by Tryptamines found its way to me, because not only is it a really good album, but it’s one of those totally out of the blue surprises (I’ve not seen anyone else really covering this anywhere, or even anyone talking about it on social media) that makes you feel lucky to be one of the few who is actually paying it the proper attention.

There are seven songs on this album, all fairly long ones, and generally composed of low-key, trippy atmospheric stuff not a million miles away from the downbeat end of the Beta Band’s canon (I think – I’m actually not all that familiar with the Beta Band).

Some of this is woozy ambient soundscapes, some of it more upbeat, but it still reminds me a lot of the more indie end of the trip-hop movement which seemed to blossom in the nineties. The mixture of gorgeous cello and piano in songs like Absolutely Everything contrast really well with some of the more crackly, less organic moments and a little like BEAM (who I wrote about yesterday) it gives this a wonderfully warm and accessible feel.

Some of it may be odd, but it is never abrasively or awkwardly so. And it’s really beautifully executed too, none of this ‘lo-fi band finding their feet’ nonsense, the sound of the record is all wonderfully assembled and really nicely balanced.

Thank fuck I don’t pay attention to my own stupid prejudices, eh.