You have no idea how many times I’ve read about people referencing Captain Beefheart when describing the music I love, but for some inexplicable reason I have never really explored his music.

The other day someone shared the video above on their Facebook timeline thingy and for the first time I actually listened to some Beefheart.  And you know what, pretty fucking good don’t you think.

After that I happened across this phenomenal video for The Blues Are Still Blue by Belle & Sebastian.  I am not convinced they gave permission for this directly, so it is yet another case of the sort of thing SOPA and IP fundamentalists will be stopping.  Nevertheless, Stuart from B&S is clearly chuffed to bits with the video, which goes to show that a large amount of grey area exists in copyright violation between what dying commercial behemoths want to demand from the government and what artists actually feel harms them.

Anyway, after that I was buggering about on the internet some more (I told you this was going to get tedious, didn’t I) and then I happened across some early Nirvana videos.  Really early Nirvana videos.  In fact, if the YouTube blurb is to be believed, some of the very earliest ones.

Those of you who listened to the Slackercast this weekend will know that I am in the process of digging back through some of the early US indie rock and slacker rock which is inspiring so many of today’s lo-fi garagey bands.  I was kind of aware of this stuff at the time, but only vaguely.

Most of the music I was into, even in my last years of high school, when you’re supposed to be being all rebellious, owed more to my parents than my peers, so I actually didn’t get as deep into this kind of stuff as you would think.  Pretty good videos though, eh?

Oh, and while I was buggering about I also happened across this trailer, which takes the form of a parody of recent low-budget British films.  And let’s face it, whilst it’s a little heavy-handed it’s still pretty funny, and rather accurate.

And so umm.. yes. I’ve been buggering about on YouTube. Fascinating, this shit, isn’t it.

After a day of indolence yesterday I am back on the horse, so to speak, to bring you our favourite time-wasting indulgence: the Five Friday Favourites. I can’t think of anything more tedious and unfair on Friday than being expected to actually do the work which we are paid to sit at our desks and do, so I spend the day pottering about on the internet, sorting out artwork for Toad releases, playing silly computer games, and keeping a nice Photoshop rendering ready to pop up onto my screen should anyone happen to walk by.

What are your plans for the weekend, then? I have to do some tedious DIY stuff on Saturday like wiring up the light in the kitchen and stuff like that. Then of course there’s the small matter of installing Mrs. Toad’s gigantic fucking Mirrorball in the living room. Yes, mirrorball. It’s at least two feet across as well, so if I don’t kill myself by trying to balance on top of the ladder then I may snap my spine in half trying to lift the sodding thing up onto its hook thingy. Mind you, think how cool the Toad Sessions are going to be with that bloody great thing in the room. Splendid!

This week’s five have been submitted by Dylan from Blueback Hotrod, official Toad photographer and proud sporter of the Golden Leek award for excessive Welshness. He insists that it is currently Mo-vember, when we should all be growing beards and moustaches for charity. This sounds like a load of old bollocks to me, but I can’t be bothered to look it up, so we’ll just have to take his word for it.

See all the Edinburgh lot tomorrow night in the Bowery for Alex Cornish, and as for the rest of you, get your weekend greetings in here, and wait for tomorrow’s podcast. Have fun Toadlings.

1. Best celebrity moustache.
2. Optimum sideburn length.
3. Nasal hair: trim or pluck?
4. When does beard sculpture go too far? Discuss.
5. Your own best personal achievement in the field of facial topiary. (Alternative ladies’ question: favourite knitting pattern.)

And this week’s five random songs come from an enormous pile of music I downloaded from my friend Morgan a while back, but still haven’t had the time to go through properly.

Linton Kwesi Johnson – Bass Culture
Captain Beefheart – Grown So Ugly
Red Sovine – Phantom 409 If you’re thinking ‘surely not that Phantom 409′, then the answer is yes, that Phantom 409. Fucking cool, eh.
Serge Gainsbourg – Couleur Cafe
Fela Kuti – Viva Nigeria