Sinister

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October 2003

86 participants
132 discussions

Sinister: fuzzy
by R.Playforth＠sussex.ac.uk 01 Oct '03

01 Oct '03

I don't know how I feel about the new album. Not that I've heard it, I just mean how I feel about the prospect. I don't think I feel anything. I just think: there's an album coming out. I don't have it in me to be a fan any more. Of anything. I still have music that I love to listen to; Buck 65 makes me marvel, Busted make me grin, Camera Obscura make me smile and cry, Go Betweens make me warm and fuzzy, Beyonce makes me shake my booty, etc etc. And Belle & Sebastian still do some of the things they always do. But they don't creep into an empty space in my head and live there any more, because that space isn't there. Nobody else's words or lyrics fit my life perfectly now, because I've worked out my own words (less eloquent though they may be). I can still be moved by music but I can't be defined by it. I can't turn to Stuart Murdoch to solve a problem, but I don't really need to. There's a trend, in my life as well as in some of my friends', to shift away from the 'meaningful' music I loved as a teenager - Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins and REM, and yes, B&S - and towards frothy chart pop. I thought for a while that this was just because I've grown up and I'm not such a repellent little snob. But thinking about it, it's also because some 'meaningful' music is only meaningful when you haven't got a meaning of your own yet. Once life has solidified around you a bit, even 10 minutes of intense wailing and verbiage doesn't quite cover all the bases. Better to leap around to S Club 8 and mentally stave off impending death than pretend that Coldplay feel your pain. And that's why gigs and albums and DVDs by Belle & Sebastian are just gigs and albums and DVDs to me now. I feel like a traitor, but then again B&S have always been more than the sum of their indie parts, just by virtue of indirectly causing Sinister and all its seismic interpersonal happenings. By which I mean to say: I couldn't have met half the people that give my daily life its sparkle were it not for Belle & Sebastian. That's no mean feat. So of course I'll buy the album and shell out for a ticket to see them in Brighton - finally! - and follow their fortunes with extra fondness, even if I won't spend any more time musing on the track order and the new direction and the lyrical conundrums that I would for anyone else. Hope you're all well and ready to embrace autumn (or spring). New seasons seem either to bring very good or very bad things, but nothing ever stands still. I'm going to be a student again next week, which is doing all kinds of scary things to my sense of identity. Maybe I *will* return to angsty music after all... Oh, and Glasgow lot - I'm hitting your city in two weeks time. It's been far too long, and I can't wait :) love Archel xxx PS. I refuse to believe that Maddieminx isn't still reading on the quiet, so: yo! Maddie! check your email! PPS. Very very happy birthdays to Stacey dahling and Laura Llew, two of the presiding spirits of Sinister and both deserving of gifts and adulation to the max! PPPS. Extra hugs to Ken Chu. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: He asked for it... Unfortuantely it wasn't quite what I wanted to give him.
by Jay Eckard 01 Oct '03

01 Oct '03

My, my Sinister! Young Mr Stoutish said we should send in reviews of DICKYWUSS. I figured, "Hey! I write reviews! I can do that tout suite!" You see, part of my job at my radio station (WXDU) involves me reviewing new Music, and of course I snagged the new B&S when it came in. So here's my station review, hopefully useful, but concise enough to fit on the cover of the CD. I'd be interested in what you collectively think. Hugs to Girls and Kisses to Boys, GayJay PS: Ifn y'all like this review, there's plenty more just like at www.jaylemurphreviews.blogspot.com... The Review: Artist: Belle and Sebastian Album: Dear Catastrophe Waitress Label: Rough Trade Rating: 4.5 *s out of 5 Whoo-hoo! A new start for B&S works wonders! Moving from their long-time label Jeepster, finding a new producer in the form of Trevor Horne (yes, the one who did TaTu) and having ditched Bel Campbell from their line-up during their US tour last year have all combined for their best album in a while. Horne lends them some forgotten hader rock sounds (Yes, forgotten. Keep in mind the band was born as a Metal Band called Rhode Island. Yes it was.) that create some great pop music like the title track, track one and eleven. They keep a strong grip on the pop sounds they're famous for, but tweak them a bit. There's all the orchestral strength you remember, but it shifts into brassy, more voiced sounds rather than oodles of strings. (2) And just cause they're Belle and Sebastian, there's some great twee stuff -- Lord Anthony, track 9, has been done for at least 5 years live and finally get the studio treatment it deserves. It's a heart-breaking little tale of Anthony, beat up at school and crossdressing... The .5 reduction comes from the Noise Factor Horne brings with him: in several tracks, esp. in the last track (the poorest outing), it stops being The Funk and starts to be The Pest. But still A Damn Fine Album. Worth all those days in 97 I spent drooling over Stuart Murdoch. All Tracks clean Recommended tracks 11!!, 1, 9 Play if you like: Good music. This has it all. -- "The Posby falls into a Trance In which it does a little Dance." Edward Gorey _________________________________________________________________ Add MSN 8 Internet Software to your existing Internet access and enjoy patented spam protection and more. Sign up now! http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/byoa +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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