After a slow start I’ve finally, slightly reluctantly, got into the Edinburgh Festival spirit. Although I enjoyed covering shows as a reviewer for the Edinburgh Evening News many moons ago, I have to admit I also have mixed feelings about it – after all the huge influx of tourists and increased pedestrian and road traffic is an almighty hassle for residents who are working and trying to get on with their lives (of quiet desperation – or is that just me).

However a lot of this is just bitterness because every time I’ve gone out during the festival I’ve had a brilliant laugh, an it’s most likely that my mixed feelings are just based on my jealousy of all the lucky swines who are prancing around for  month getting boozed up while I have to get up for work.

Because of this I never really get round to sitting down and planning to attend any fringe shows, but if the opportunity comes up through a friend I’m more than happy to go along to something. And it’s hard to beat boozing outside, shaking random celebrities’ hands and telling them ‘I love your work’ (at the weekend I drunkenly accosted the bloke from the Gadget Show and renowned luvvy Alan Cumming both of whom were very friendly, if slightly terrified) and taking advantage of the extended opening hours (5am!) at least once during August.

BROKEN RECORDS & BART FROM EAGLEOWL AT LACH’S ANTIHOOT

As usual I’m more attracted to the music stuff that’s happening – the only actual show I’ve been to so far was Lach’s Antihoot on Saturday night – again it was unexpected, I’d been at the cinema and got a text from Dylan who told me Bart from eagleowl was playing. As the Antihoot only starts at half past midnight and goes on to 3, I couldn’t resist hopping on a nightbus after seeing the film at Ocean Terminal  (Inception – which I thought was very good indeed).

The antihoot is on at the Gilded Balloon Nightclub at Teviot (tickets), which was packed and really buzzing, and as well as Bart’s short but sinister song which I think was called ‘Don’t Put That in Your Mouth’ or something similarly suggestive (the video below was suspiciously similar),  the guys from Broken Records played a couple of songs from their new album, both of which sounded great.

We were also treated to an extract from the late night Fringe comedy show ‘Lesbian Bathhouse’ which featured some surprisingly raunchy wet t-shirt action, and other treats included an inspired monologue about vans by the bizarre comedian Paul Foot, a brilliant RnB parody by ‘HP’s mate whose name escapes me’ who has sadly not recorded any of his songs yet but MUST (Pub Grub is a classic) – and a really varied selection of stand-up and songs, most of which was very good, some of which was amusing for all the wrong reasons, but which ultimately led to an extremely entertaining night.

FAMOUS DRUNK & THE DEVIL’S BUTTERMILKERS DO LACH’S ANTIHOOT

Being a masochist, and despite being stressed to the max every time I attempt to play live (and never learning that if I actually practiced the guitar it might make it less traumatic) I’ve signed up to play the antihoot next Saturday night. Having played the Sidewalk Café in New York where the antihoot has been for years, I couldn’t really not take part when Lach brought it to Edinburgh. My friend Iain and I are playing as ‘Famous Drunk’ – and then he and his lovely lady Aileen will be taking to the stage as ‘The Devil’s Buttermilkers’ (you might guess the connection if you’ve been reading the blog recently!).

WITHERED HAND,  STEVE MASON & RETREAT!

I’m also hoping to go and see my favourite Edinburgh-based songwriter Withered Hand and the legend that is Steve Mason (The Beta Band/King Biscuit Time/Black Affair) who are playing as part of the Edge Festival. Also, hotly tipped locals The Last Battle are supporting Mr Hand, and I’ve not had a chance to see them yet so that would also be a good reason to go.

Then the following weekend is the return of the wonderful Retreat! Festival which has a stellar line up of Edinburgh’s best bands (including that bloke Withered Hand again).  I can’t overstate the importance of promoters like Bart and Emily from Retreat!, and Tallah from the Antihoot for making sure the best local acts are involved in the festival this year more than ever before, and actually convincing me to leave the house – not an easy task.

Free Retreat! Sampler:

100 years might have been a more realistic target. Yes, 100 days ago I pledged to get my shit together. I then wrote a humungous and long-winded week 1 update in which I said I would keep a journal each day to monitor my progress. And then.. silence.

So what happened? Well I didn’t keep up the journal. But I did clear most of the backlog that was stressing me out at the time, I quit writing for the Skinny Magazine which enabled me to blog more regularly and on a greater variety of topics which interest me (though I’ve now realised that I’ll probably never be able to keep to a strict weekly schedule), published my first fanzine, started doing podcasts again, and got a few other things sorted. And today I had a rehearsal for the first gig by my new band, Famous Drunk. Plus painted a skirting board. What more do you bloody want?

Actually I’m still working on sorting myself out. Because most of my problems are self-made. That could take a lot longer than 100 days, but I’m going to keep on working at it. So, I’m grateful to you for putting up with my inconsistency on this site in the meantime. I really appreciate everyone who continues to read/visit. 

Catch up on how other folk have done at the 100 Days website (tonight there’s a special gig in London to mark the last day). Oh, and if you did better than me, feel free to link to your good work in the comments!

Now that Frankie Boyle has left the TV show of the same name, this is the only Mock the Week worth watching reading, except because it’s Scottish it’s Och The Week – what do you mean it’s offensive and reinforces lame stereotypes? In fact I feel it suggests a kind of bittersweet resignation about the fact that the week is over already and.. (Note to Self: please come up with a better name next week Milo).

There is a shitload happening in Scottish music each and every week… can I really hope to cover it all in one day? Or even, one big fat blog post full of juicy, delicious and surprisingly nutritious goodness? Probably not but I’ll try.

Off The Beaten Tracks

I spent yesterday afternoon freezing my baws off at various locations around Edinburgh attending a wonderful session that Meursault performed for the Off The Beaten Tracks website (see pic above) – the results should be up sometime next month so stay tuned.

Free Scottish Music Compilation

An excellent free compilation of very decent Scottish music can be found over at the sickeningly good Have Fun At Dinner blog run by the sickeningly fresh-faced @ohjawbone who is one of the few youngsters to be decent at blogging and therefore makes me feel even more obsolete than normal. It’s a great compilation, especially the Steve Mason version of the Ambulances ‘Cease To Exist’, excellent tunes by the French Quarter, How To Swim and Spaghetti Anywhere and of course the Kays Lavelle’s Hours which got even more plaudits this week than it had last week.

Podcast Fun

The first ever Mogwai Rock Action is up on Radio Magnetic now – and it’s got some very very good tracks including teasers from the new album by the beep-tastic Errors. (thanks to Glasgow Podcart for the tip)

Whilst we’re on the subject of Glasgow Podcart, they celebrated their first year doing their thang this week, and they’re another sickening bunch, being consistently bloody productive and enthusiastic and stuff that I just don’t understand. Mr Peenko interviewed Halina as  part of his Community Service series and it’s well worth a read – as is Sean’s birthday blog post. I can totally relate to his past musical experience and the realisation that maybe he just wasn’t cut out for being a musician as that is something i’ve been through too. Though I am still putting out my third solo EP later this year so the world will just have to suffer (evil laugh)

Gigs

I’ve nearly given up writing about gigs because I just haven’t been arsed going to any recently, and I don’t really know why. Still maybe it was just Seasonal Affective Disorder or something, and the nights are getting lighter..

Glasgow’s Hinterland festival is back, in case you missed the fuck off big jpeg above this paragraph. I didn’t manage to make it through last year and heard there were a few teething problems, but this year I’m told it’s all going to be fine, and the line-up certainly suggests it could be a good way to spend a day -  as well as having some great Scottish bands, it has Jeffrey Lewis and The Wave Pictures, who I lurve. and there are still early bird tickets available for a frigging tenner, what more do you want?

The Fucking Fall

And finally, honorary Scotsman and king of the mentalists Mark E Smith has done something sensible for once, and signed to the ever-awesome Domino Records for the next Fall record ‘Your Future Our Clutter’ – and they’re playing in Edinburgh on 24th April so probably best to book tickets asap – the new album is meant to be a blinder. details