Because of electiony things and my trip down South this weekend I am writing this after an evening out drinking gin, and a night spent watching the election and drinking wine whilst Mrs. Toad snoozes on the couch.

Voting for the fucking Tories, honestly what a bunch of idiots this country has turned out to be (see graphic).  If you’re minted, you can afford to vote with your conscience.  If you’re less than wealthy then voting Conservative is basically just voting for aggressive, hostile rhetoric over self-interest, which is just weird.

I am getting sick of this ‘voting for change’ pish which is being dropped into chat all over the place.  Change?  Change?  Seriously?  Are you fucking kidding me?  Change would have meant the Lib Dems becoming a serious third party, which I actually think would have been good news.  Multiple parties implies something closer to proportional representation, and it happens and works across Europe.

Adversarial two-party politics is a weird concept, when you look at it.  You end up with Celtic v Rangers, United v City, God Bless America vs Evil Communist Russia – it’s just such a simplistic and superficial narrative to apply to a question which is actually quite nuanced and complex I am not sure how we ended up here.

Anyway, delurking, that’s the message for today.  Delurk, unlurk, exlurk and say hello.  That’s what these Friday posts are for, and I will be on a train all afternoon and eager for some sort of entertainment so please come out with some bollocks.  Any old bollocks will do!

1. Name your independent political party.
2. Make a spurious election promise.
3. Suitable insult for your opponent.
4. Something vs what?  Name a new deathmatch!
5. What the fucking fuck happened to the fucking Lib Dems?  Eh?  Fucksake.

Blur – Death of a Party

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Supergrass – In it for the Money

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Pulp – Pencil Skirt

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Belly – Gepeto

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The Bluetones – The Fountainhead

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I’m not sure why the end of the noughties should necessarily lead to any kind of retrospective of the nineties, but it has.  I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that I just feel it’s way too early for me to figure out what I make of the noughties.

So, given that it must be about time for the nineties revival (actually, probably best give it another year or so) and given that the nineties are now quite a long way away and given that, erm… well I dunno. Given I was poking around at that stuff recently and listening to some Pulp and Gene and Blur and stuff I figured I might as well pop the whole bloody lot into a podcast.

Toadcast #97 – The Nineties

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01. Pearl Jam – Even Flow (Unplugged) (4.16)
02. The Stone Roses – (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister (12.23)
03. Belly – Untitled & Unsung (18.37)
04. Echobelly – Insomniac (22.13)
05. Blur – Yuko & Hiro (29.00)
06. Gene – Wasteland (36.14)
07. Ben Folds Five – Underground (38.49)
08. Blur – Country Sad Ballad Man (44.56)
09. REM – Parakeet (52.03)
10. Radiohead – Everything in its Right Place (59.30)

I’m kind of curious to know what the 90s revival is going to spit out. I mean, it’s presumably inevitable that some time in about 2012 or so we all start looking back at that decade with a sort of patronising, nostalgic affection, but I am still struggling to entirely picture it.

Firstly, perhaps because of my age, I don’t yet look at the 90s with a kind of horrified fashion thrill that is something like revulsion mixed with fascination. This kind of curious horror preceded both the 70s and 80s revival, for me, but I can’t quite see what was so incredibly 90s about the 90s just yet. I’m sure it will come.

I also can’t quite picture the music that will have to be critically re-appraised. The 90s was the era of Britpop, basically, but Britpop doesn’t really sound either laughably old-fashioned or woefully misguided to my ears. Sure, there were shit bands, but the movement itself doesn’t make me cringe enough to be the pre-cursor to a good ironic reinvention. Maybe this will come with time.

Still, I may not be able to imagine quite what music the 90s revival will seize upon and drag back up to the peak of Mount Revisionism just yet. I can’t picture quite what that smug prick of a hipster will put on the stereo with an unbearable look of arch irony and condescending, self-satisfied superiority while all his friends gape in awe at his audacity. ‘Oh my god, dude, that’s like so nineties.’ Mind you, perhaps not. Because things being ‘like so‘ anything is just like so nineties to begin with.

Anyway, I remember making a tape once which I called Learn to Bop With the Brits, which was basically a 90s Revival tape made in about 1998. It had some Wonderstuff, some Inspiral Carpets, a bit of Morrissey, some Echobelly, a bit of James and god knows what else on it. The tape itself is long gone, and I barely remember what was on the thing, but it wouldn’t make a bad starting point for that 90s revival that we’re presumably all going to succumb to in the next four or five years.

Inspiral Carpets – Saturn V
James – Sound
Belly – Untitled & Unsung
Wonderstuff – Welcome to the Cheap Seats
Morrissey – Seasick, Yet Still Docked

More errant podcastery from your favourite slippery green amphibian. This week I find myself yelling abuse at JC who writes a terrible blog called The Vinyl Villain and is currently stranded in Toronto for a few months, far away from his Glasgow home. JC was pretty much the first blogger to take any interest in Song, by Toad in its formative days and I have always been rather grateful for the encouragement Jim showed me back when I was starting out.

As such I thought I’d play a few songs from his favourite groups, a couple of things he’s brought us in the last few months and some songs about missing folk, seeing as he’ll presumably be pining like a teenager for the lovely Mrs. Villain. Well, that or masturbating himself into a zinc-deficient coma, of course.

Either way, hope you’re enjoying yourself JC. Here’s some bloody songs for ya!

Toadcast #5 – Distant Villainy

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1. Belly – Trust In Me (01.54)
2. Maximo Park – Girls Who Play Guitars (08.30)
3. The Doledrums – Midweek Dreamer (12.50)
4. Waylon Jennings – Dukes of Hazzard Theme (15.20)
5. Billy Bragg – Wishing the Days Away (Ballad Version) (18.33)
6. Alex Cornish – This One’s For You (24.28)
7. Adam Balbo – Rock Ballad (31.02)
8. Elbow – Fugitive Motel (36.24)
9. R.E.M. – Half a World Away (41.21)
10. The Doledrums – He Said (47.14)
11. The Meteors – Out of Time (51.21)
12. James – Say Something (55.33)
13. Thunderegg – Long Way From Home (59.50)
14. The Pendulums – Brand New Song (66.52)