I am not cold in the sense that the temperature is all that low, more in the sense that I have been just a little too chilly for a few hours now and it is really starting to get me down.  Moan moan.  Song, by Eeyore etc etc.

Anyhow, Cellar 35 in Aberdeen was excellent last night – what a top wee space.  It is basically just a scruffy basement, but they’ve got a couple of carpets down and sofas and the atmosphere is really, really nice.  It helps a great deal that the staff were brilliant and helpful, but in general I thought it was a great place to put a small gig on.  John from the Kiosque tells me that it doesn’t get used all that much, which is a shame, as anything acoustic would really work well there.

They’re getting a new PA system too, which means they’ll be able to handle bigger bands soon, and apparently the new owners are making a big push to put more gigs on there – honestly, I would wholeheartedly recommend it.  It’s an ideal space and Jamie and Emma were absolutely great – and of course a big thank you to everyone who came along, and to Amber Wilson for playing and The Last Battle for stepping in at the last minute to complete the bill.

It’s basically December after this weekend isn’t it?  The time of the office Christmas Party.  I can picture myself sat here on my own with a Marks & Spencer’s individual Christmas dinner and a sad little party hat on; the only person at my own office party.  I suppose that’s not really fair though is it, because all the bands should really be there, and Dylan and Fee of course, and Wee Matthew and Andy who does the website stuff and Mrs. Toad as the Grand Matriarch.

I may sleep off Yusuf’s three album launch gigs on Sunday, but next weekend we will probably go and get ourselves a Christmas tree and so on and so forth – holly, all the usual shit.  For some reason my usual grinchery has vanished this year and I am really looking forward to Christmas.  I am looking forward to the tree, and I am even looking forward to my parents coming to visit, even if they are rather inevitably going to end up tutting at me on the Weekend of Doom when our label party is followed by eagleowl’s and then Kid Canaveral’s and then the hospital, all in the space of three days.

What’s got into me for Christ’s sake, this is most un-Toadlike, particularly after my birthday humbugging (Humbuggery?  It really has to be humbuggery doesn’t it.).  As long as I avoid the shops and the telly, which has been all too easy since ours was nicked, I think this should be an ace December.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of seasonal pish, here is the latest in FOUND’s Free Music Friday series: a remix of Au Revoir Simone’s Fallen Snow.

1. How would you rate the ambient temperature in your office/classroom/lab/bedsit?
2. What’s worse, a freezing cold toilet seat making contact with your arse, or car seats that get so hot in the sunshine that your legs stick to them if you are foolish enough to sit down in shorts?
3. Anyone started thinking about their end-of-year best of lists yet?
4. Having a good meal anytime this weekend?
5. Is there a particular ‘making time to sit down and listen to music’ time coming up this weekend?  And what will you listen to?

These songs all come from a compilation made for me by my pal JC from The Vinyl Villain to mark the occasion of the launch of Song, by Toad Records, some six months before we ever actually released anything, back in July 2008.

The Ukrainians – Batya (Bigmouth Strikes Again)

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The Delgados – California Uber Alles

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The Monochrome Set – Jetset Junta (Remix)

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Ballboy – All the Records on the Radio are Shite

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The Lilac Time – The Girl Who Waves at Trains

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There’s not much of a unifying theme to this podcast, but there are a healthy number of breaking tracks in the playlist, so I guess calling it the Newcast will suffice for want of anything more inspired.

There’s new tracks from the impending singles by Kid Canaveral and The Left Outsides, a good few new bands you’ve never heard of, a couple of JC’s selections for the Toad Records Launch Night and some of the tracks from the sampler that I gave away at the party itself.

There’s also the first Recorded and Produced by Toad song in the world: Fearing Lothian by Uhersky Brod.  The band are friends of mine and we used the Toad Sessions recording equipment to put togethera demo for them.  It’s the first time I’ve ever recorded anything, so I presume there must be all sorts of issues with it but, well, you’ve got to start somewhere.  It’s a cracking song, whatever I’ve ended up doing to it.

So I hope you enjoy this rather disjointed collection of songs, because for all the lack of any real coherence it’s a good collection of songs nonetheless.

Toadcast #31 – The Newcast

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01. Cinerama – Health & Efficiency (03.57)
02. David Cronenburg’s Wife – My Ukrainian Girlfriend (12.39)
03. The Ukrainians – Batya (Bigmouth Strikes Again) (16.14)
04. The Lucksmiths – T-Shirt Weather (21.34)
05. Porlolo – There is No I in Athens (26.22)
06. Uhersky Brod – Fearing Lothian (33.17)
07. Sparrow & the Workshop – Grizzly Bear (38.46)
08. The Futureheads – The Beginning of the Twist (43.24)
09. Kid Canaveral – Teenage Fanclub Song (47.11)
10. The Left Outsides – The Third Light (53.15)
11. King Creosote – Ear Against the Wireless (61.34)
12. Eagleowl – Blanket (64.50)
13. Rob St. John – Domino (72.22)
14. Les Enfant Bastard – Plastic Bag (79.27)
15. Dinosaur Pile-Up – My Rock ‘n’ Roll Demo (85.43)
16. Computer vs. Banjo – Give Up on Ghosts (95.06)

Well I voted last week for the first time in my life. I can’t believe it has taken me until past the age of thirty to finally do this, but there are some slightly mitigating circumstances (read: feeble excuses).

Basically, this is only the second time I have been in one place long enough to actually get on the electoral roll during an election, and the first time I was too lazy and disorganised to actually get my arse in gear to do anything about it. Most other years I have been living in shared flats where I never registered, or just moving so frequently that The Man couldn’t quite keep up with me – sort of a half-arsed modern vagrant.

Living on the boats down in London virtually no-one was registered because that meant being hit up for council tax, which we were all keen to avoid anyway, so this is the first time I’ve actually been sufficiently legit to scrawl my X on a few bits of paper and generally participate in the wonders of modern democracy.

Now, as an avowed cynic, I rather see voting as being somewhat akin to choosing which particular junkie you’d like to have come round and burgle your house, so I am not feeling overly optimistic about the whole process, but I do think it’s important not to give the scheming weasels that superior Get Out of Jail Free card that they have a habit of sniffing down their noses at us: ‘Well if you don’t participate in the democratic process, then you can’t very well expect your voice to be heard, now can you?’

Well I am participating in the democratic process, you slippery eels, and I still don’t expect my voice to be heard, because you will be so busy polishing the ringpieces of big business and helping yourselves from the tax payer funded mini-bars that I doubt you’ll find the time to give my voice even a second’s consideration.

To mark this momentous occasion I thought I’d post one of the sillier songs in my music collection. The Ukranians were formed by ex-Wedding Present guitarist Peter Solowka and one of their songs found its way onto a Cooking Vinyl compilation I picked up back in about 1995 or so. This song is mental, but huge fun, and can be found on their album Kultura. They’ve even been known to throw in the odd Smiths cover (all in Ukranian, of course) as well, so it may be worth a punt if you’re feeling particularly frisky.

The Ukranians – Polityka

[Edit: Following Stewart's contribution in the Comments below I feel compelled to point you to their site and recommend you go and listen to the Anarchy in the UK snippet in their music section. Next time there's a Contrast Podcast about cover versions, I am baggsying that one - pure genius!]