March 2003 - Sinister - missprint.org

Sinister: Ackers Trust
by Kieran Devaney 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

On the way up to my room after dinner yesterday, just getting out of the lift, I perceived from outside the door to the main corridor that someone was playing music at an unnecessarily loud volume. Not big news really, and in the short space between the lift doors and the corridor all I discerned of said music was a loping beat and a similarly undulating bassline. On autopilot, my thought pattern immediately switched to distaste What rubbish have they got on now? I thunk, or words to that effect. On opening the door I was able to properly hear the track, the woozy synth line that I could now hear over the top of the aforementioned components made the whole thing naggingly familiar this, however didnt alter my judgement on the tune one jot, after all, theyre often blasting out things Ive heard before. It wasnt until Id gotten all the way down the corridor, found my keys, opened my door and sat down inside my room that I recognised the song. It was in fact Aquarius by popular beat-combo Boards of Canada (its the song with the counting sample and the guy saying orange! over and over), a group which I would purport to be a fan of not a huge fan, but I do like the album on which that song appears a fair bit, in fact Id been listening to it just a couple of days previously. Incidentally at this juncture its worth pointing out (not in a show-offy way, but if youre impressed then feel free to be, I dont mind) that I recognised the Boards of Canada track which they flogged to Mercedes (I think) on that advert almost straight away, ditto when theyve been the background music on various BBC trailers for shows Ive been able to spot them behind whatever dialogue is going on over the top so why then was I unable to spot possibly their best known tune for a good minute and a half while it was playing at top volume just outside where I live? Its a tricky one, and reconstructing the situation without making me look bad is yet more tricky. See, it sort of goes like this I get out of the lift and hear music, music that loud equals irritation, I become vaguely irritated. Thats the easy part. The more problematic part is my judgement of what I hear and my immediate dismissal of it its music being played by people I dont like therefore I dont like it. That sort of thinking, which is the sort I automatically employed is awful, terrible stuff, and the roots of all sorts of unsavoury consequences if followed through to its logical conclusion. That knee-jerk reaction was the one that clouded my judgement and rendered me unable to recognise a song that I like a lot, is very familiar to me, and which Id played myself just a few days previously, and its quite a disturbing thought that my perception can be that easily changed. And not just that, but the idea that Im still making aesthetic or even moral judgements about these people worries me too what business is it of mine that they like a piece of music that I also like ok they play a great deal of stuff that irks me, but Im sure I play a lot of stuff that irks them also. Quite what they think of my petty retaliations at their Doors marathons or repeat plays of MC Hammer by turning up Fushitsusha or whatever just that bit too loud I really couldnt say. The point is surely that my take on all this is outwardly Their tastes are nothing to with me, so as long as they dont impinge upon my freedom or privacy with them or try to force them on me then I have no right to complain so I can take issue with how loud they were playing Boards of Canada, but the fact that I passed judgement, and passed it so quickly is in direct contrast to the above and indeed to my own tastes. Ill have to be more careful in future, but its an important lesson anyway. That aside, today was most pleasant one of the things I really like about Sheffield is that because I dont know it all that well, or I only know a tiny bit of it well, there are still huge swathes of ground that Im unfamiliar with, its so nice to be able to just wander without any particular destination in mind in a new place. And round here there are so many little avenues and side roads that you can quite quickly find yourself in a place that doesnt have to be Sheffield anymore, that could be anywhere at all. That sense of escapism is important. Of course its nice too to be grounded, and to know exactly where every next turn is leading, to be able to go either way at a junction and still be able to get home in time for tea. Thats the kind of comfort I have at home I suppose. But that isnt to say that discovering new things isnt possible on familiar ground, far from it, theres always a new level of detail to be uncovered, or a new perspective youve not thought about yet. When I went home for Christmas for example, riding about a bit on the number 97 bus, which I used to get usually twice every day when I went to school, I was shocked at how little had actually stuck in my memory I think by last year I sort of assumed that so much had I seen those same landmarks and rows of houses and shops and stuff that my eye was fixed on looking for marginalia, details, or else for novelty from people on the street outside or on the bus. I hadnt really been seeing the bigger picture, as it were. But after four months of absence those places that I expected to seem drearily familiar actually seemed comforting, and interesting again, as though I had forgotten what attracted me to them in the first place, so eager had I been to look past that. Wood for the trees I guess. Well I talked about Plone the other day, annoyingly I have left their record at home and thus cant listen to them at all, but more importantly I went on about headphones and listening on the bus to them. And I was thinking about this a bit, and I suppose its a sort of post-Cageian idea, but Ive really gone off the idea of wearing a walkman anywhere, for fear of missing something. Its great fun walking around with something like Merzbow on your headphones (I did this a couple of times through Birmingham City Centre), where everything sort of turns into this big deflating miasma, the bob of heads becomes shreds of sculpted noise everything is sound. But lately I wonder if this is the right way to look at things, its a bit like those awful jokes about lonely hearts columns (the ones that say stuff like Cuddly = Obese) when the real columns themselves are much funnier and more interesting, why have noise music as the soundtrack to your catastrophe when the real sounds are potentially more unpredictable and more musical, and less musical and more interesting and less interesting than any record all at the same time if youre listening hard enough. I mean, Walkman (Walkmen?) are fine and all, and I suppose nothing else can really approximate that completely private and internal listening experience and, as I say, they can alter your perception of your surroundings in novel ways but it kind of irritates me when I see people with headphones on all the time. What happens if our private soundtracks become the norm? It worries me. Fantastic news for you though If you know Sheffield at all youll probably have been past the University Arts Tower, which is a beautifully put together building I think, very stark. Anyway just as you walk up towards it, as I did today, on the right in the distance is a big hill, which isnt all that unusual for the Peak District, but what has often puzzled me about this distant rise are the long white channels that run down its length at skewed angles, marking a strange, artificial contrast against the green and dark background of the rest of the hill. For a time I thought it might be some sort of building site, that was my assumption when I first saw it in September, that the big furrows were sand or something, part of a construction, but that didnt really follow what on earth would they be building so far out and so high up? Months passed and nothing seemed to be changing out there, no matter how hard I strained my eyes to look, so my original guess just couldnt be correct. The winter months grew mistier and the nights drew in and my squiffy timetable meant that I was around the Arts Tower mostly when the distant peak was shrouded in fog or darkness, so much to my frustration I didnt really have much opportunity to discern quite what that puzzling landmark could be. Perhaps if you saw it youd get it straight away, and youll probably wince when I finally reveal what it is, but for a while it took on mythic status for me, the building idea, the best one Id had up to that point kept returning with niggling regularity I considered taking a bus out there, trying to find it on maps, but to no avail. I remember walking up there once and asking whoever it was I was with at the time, I forget who it was now, but I remember the non-committal shrug they gave, and the clipped, uninterested Dunno how could they just not care? How exasperating. The Christmas holidays loomed and I was no closer to discovering the truth, could it be some sort of message encoded into the very landscape? But a message to whom? And saying what? Disappointed, I left for home where the various distractions of the festive season and family and new years put the mysterious white channels in the hillside to the back of my mind. Returning in late January the conundrum once again presented itself to me it just couldnt be a building site, unless an abandoned one, the spark of my intrigue burst aflame once more, with yet more fervour even than I had mustered prior to Christmas I devoted time and energy to pursuing the truth. For whole minutes I would stand and stare at the hillside, poring over each detail. I was sure on clearer days that I could see movement in the channels, little languorous black blips steadily descending people? Machines? I just couldnt work it out. I consulted maps, but they were no help, I couldnt properly place the location and every feature seemed nothing like what I could see. One day in February I determined to go out there, or at least get a better vantage point so that I could properly make out the strange markings, off I strode through unfamiliar territory, but I was soon lost and a sudden explosion of heavy rain forced me into retreat. Back in my room and soaked to the skin I dejectedly gave up my quest that old Pynchonian They did not want me to find out, it was something important, critically important, but I couldnt, just didnt have the power to find out. Thats why I couldnt find it on any maps, my friends disinterested shrug wasnt that, but fear he mustve known. These things are often intuition. I resigned myself to ignorance, tried to avert my eyes when approaching the Arts Tower, tried to put it to the back of my mind. And I met with some success, though I couldnt resist the occasional glance I managed to let other things occupy my mind, sometimes even traversing that road with nary a thought to my mysterious hill. I was doing well. And then today, lovely and fresh and clear as it was this morning I was walking up to the library, which is just next door to the Arts Tower and I couldnt tear my eyes away, this was the best view Id had of it for ages and as I slowly moved along, the pale sun glinting off the still damp tarmac and car windscreens, rows of people pushing past me in both directions, the murmer of conversation, the shrill wind and everything all dissipated as three small words entered my head, three words that held more satisfaction to me than whole volumes, whole libraries of carefully worked metaphor and silken phrase, rang sweeter and truer than whole vistas of melody I had worked out what the strange hill was, had discovered its well-kept secret. In three small words was captured the very kernel of all earthly gratification. And do you know what those three words are? Ill tell you: Dry. Slope. Skiing. Whisper them. Oh and on the way downstairs to post this out of the window I saw the last glimpse of a rainbow disappear into the sky. - Kieran _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.co.uk +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: That festival in Barcelona
by Jordi Trenzano 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

Hi hi It's been ages since I haven't posted to the list. And i've been subscribed since.....autumn of 1998....oh time..... Well, for those of you who don't know me, i'm just a boy, a tall freak aged 24 (from Barcelona who will not repeat some of the illustrated nonsense that I once posted to this list. I run a B&S mailing list (since autumn 2000....oh time....) that may cause some headaches for those of you who like the quiet and peaceful tone of sinister, as we have tons of messages about lots of different topics. If you fancy practicing your spanish, come and have a look . If you're subscribed to yahoogroups, that's it. http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/segundosdeluz/ I was referred on that list some weeks ago by the lovely miss Elenita 99, who I will have the pleasure of meeting again (after more than 2 years....oh time) at the primavera sound festival . For those of you who want to know more about the festival, let me give you the confirmed line up. If you find some names (like Tokyo Sex Destruction) on this list, that is probably because they belong to spanish bands. The confirmed line-up: 2 many DJ´s Adam Beyer Adam Green Arab Strap Audience Baxter Dury Beef Belle & Sebastian Console Definitive Jux Live featuring EL-P, Mr.Lif & RJD2 DMX Krew Ellen Allien Erol Alkan The Folk Implosion The Future Bible Heroes The Go-Betweens Gold Chains Grupo Salvaje I am Kloot Ikara Colt John Parish Julian Cope L'Altra Le Hammond Inferno Märtini Brös Mary Gauthier Michael Mayer Migala Mogwai The Montgolfier Brothers Nacho Vegas Roni Size & MC Dynamite DJ Rupture Scratch Perverts Soledad Brothers Sonic Youth Standstill The Streets Super Collider Teenage Fanclub Television Thalia Zedek Tocotronic Tokyo Sex Destruction Umek The White Stripes Yo la Tengo ---- The festival takes place in Barcelona on the weekend of may 23/24. B&S are playing on the 23. Tickets cost 62 euros, and their website is www.primaverasound.com They claim to have 25 more bands yet to announce. For those of you who want to get more info or a place to stay (only for girls, that's it :P) e-mail me privately. Or if you want to join me on the search for mr.Peter Miller. Anyway, i'm leaving. Cheers Jordi ______________________________________________________________ For up-to-the-minute music news, reviews and specials visit http://www.nme.com Get free e-mail (anyname(a)nme.com) now at http://www.nmemail.com The sender of this e-mail is NOT an employee or associate of NME, nme.com or any other IPC magazine. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: concepts
by Alex Goffey 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

Hi Sinister! ...she wears denim wherever she goes... I'm wearing denim now, and I was wearing denim last night when I went to see Teenage Fanclub. My first time seeing them and oh, it was magical! I'm sorry, I know this isn't a Teenage Fanclub list but oh, they were great. I never knew four middle-aged Scottish men could be so captivating, and of course sing the best harmonies ever. Hearing 'Sparky's Dream' played live has once again made my life complete. Oh, the taxi driver on the way home thought I was 22, very weird. ...says she's gonna get some records by the Status Quo... OK, well that's not the case, but I nearly bought a Beach Boys greatest hits on vinyl for $2 today. I bought Camera Obscura a couple of weeks off Sinister recommendations and I love it to bits. So I'm probably right behind the times on this but the strings on 'Eighties Fan' are so B&S to me. So very pretty! I am going to have to end up buying the Polyphonic Spree record soon, too, because I just found out that they are playing Roskilde this year wahoo! In three and a half months I'll be jaunting around Denmark and Sweden and London, no doubt causing havoc and whatnot and blowing whatever small amount of money I have. It'll be the best time, though and I can't wait. I am watching The Office. David Brent is so infuriating! xox Alex ========================================= The best looking boys are taken The best looking girls are staying inside http://www.geocities.com/veruca_salt_97/ http://darlingalex.diaryland.com/ _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail now available on Australian mobile phones. Go to http://ninemsn.com.au/mobilecentral/hotmail_mobile.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: whatever i do it's never enough
by Christine Irene 10 Mar '03

10 Mar '03

hi everyone. i am coming off of one mutha of a crazy weekend. i jetted off to dublin at the invitation of gavin friday. we stopped by the brazen head to share a pint with some friends of his. then daniel lanois approached me and asked that i co-produce the new U2 album with he and Brian Eno. ok, that so did not happen. actually i went out for stuffed french toast with my friend katie. then i stayed round the house rolling around on my tummy ball and watching movies. i watched, in no particular order >From a Whisper to a Scream: The History of Irish Music An Affair to Remember (which always makes me bawl my eyes out) Never Been Kissed ( I love this movie) Pygmalion Written in the Wind Sleepless in Seattle Tom and Jerry: The best cat and mouse moments Office Space (I believe you have my stapler) If you haven't seen this movie, GO NOW!!!! you can find it at most video shoppes to rent or you can buy it for about $15. Cabaret The Secret Garden Jaysus, what a pathetic weekend. In my defense, I was sick. I didn't even go to my Amnesty International meeting last night. :o( I also came to a conclusion this weekend. I spent a lot of time in my head, milling around thoughts and trying to reach some sort of conclusion about the direction my life is headed in. I *think* i have decided that, in order to get out of all of my medical financial woes, i must declare bankruptcy. for the past 9 months i have been trying to get my medical bill paid down, trying to get caught up/ahead on the credit card bills that fell behind due to buying meds and the like. i have gotten nowhere. i send all of this money out each month, and find myself in more trouble than i was in before. it's funny how things happen. this time last year, i had immaculate credit. not a single blemish. if someone would have come up to me and said "by march of next year, you will be totally destitute and will have crushed your entire financial being" i would have laughed directly in their face and said "no way hose b! i am really responsible, really careful. that would NEVER happen to me!" i suppose its one of those never say never things. i am sort of relieved about this though. i mean, a couple of years from now, my credit will be perfect again. i can buy a house. go to ireland and england. plus, the absent the weight of financial stress, i'll probably feel better physically. whatever i need to tell myself. i still feel like an absolute failure. i mean, i am more than reasonably intelligent. i was in mensa for christ sake. at least i can take pride in knowing that i am really good at fucking my life up. anyway. enough of that. time to go and put the little 'un down for a nap. hi to eoin, whose name i can pronounce correctly thank you very much. and to sean :o) ....no one ever said the luck o' the irish was good... ~stine __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: Tiny Sparks
by a.s.t.r.i.d＠nme.com 10 Mar '03

10 Mar '03

Ey Sinister, How are you all doing? Good I hope. School is treating me good right now, we ARE doing geomentry which I suck at, but what the hell! I get to spend nine weeks on doing an essay about Swedihs literature history during the 20th century (well you had to do about something in Swedish history during the 20th century, so I only came up with the literature-thingy). We're going to record in a studio soon for my aesthetics class (which quite obviously is music). I wish I could take arts too though. Ah. Today someone said I looked like I lost weight. I like to believe that, even though I ate so much chocolate today that I deserve to burn in hell or something. I mean, the second stock of chocolate I bought today was because I got an instantcrush on a boy walking home from the bus and then I had to go in the very small shop and he was picking out sweets so I bought some chocolate. Oh well. I might as well eat it. Hehe. A shout out to my people: Francisco, Miss Alex, Ken Chu (just to get popular with him, haha). I keep having nightmares where my mother walks out on me, or gets angry with me. I'm only 16, I shouldn't have those dreams. Hmmm. But I also dreamt I was wearing white leggings with red cherries on them so maybe I should just ignore them. On friday I'm going skiing for the day in a place called Romme, with my school. Hurrah! it's always so much fun. Watch out in the slope for me. I will fall into a lot of people, as usual. Take care, love n pancaces Astrid x ______________________________________________________________ For up-to-the-minute music news, reviews and specials visit http://www.nme.com Get free e-mail (anyname(a)nme.com) now at http://www.nmemail.com The sender of this e-mail is NOT an employee or associate of NME, nme.com or any other IPC magazine. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: It's all all right
by robin stout 10 Mar '03

10 Mar '03

So I was thinking, you know, about this and that, and I decided that I don't know much about anything. I've always wanted to know about the stars and the planets and the shape of the universe. I knew a man once who was a proper genius and he could tell you the weight of Saturn and the names of the phases of the moon. I wish I could do that. If you were to go for a walk with me under a deep blue star speckled sky, and if I were feeling in an especially romantic mood, we might have a conversation that went like this: Me: Oh look, up in the sky, it's Orion, can you see? You: You mean where those three stars are in a row? Me: Yes, that's right, those are his belt. Over there's the Plough: the one that looks like a saucepan. You: Oh, yes I see. It's not much like a plough is it? Me: No. "The saucepan" would be much better, but I don't suppose the Greeks had those when they named them. They were all eating roast boar, I imagine, and didn't care much for boiled potatoes. You: What's that one up there? It looks like a teapot. Me: Erm, I don't know. That one down there, though, is Orion's dog, erm, Dennis. You: (dubiously) Oh. What's that funny squareish one over there? It looks a bit like a plastic bag. Me: I don't know. You: It's really big, though. Me: Yes, well, erm.. Oh look! Over there! A hegehog! I'd end up being exposed, as usual, for the know-nothing sausage-brain I really am. The same could be said on the subject of books. I love books. I love their pages and their smell. I like to run my fingers down their spines. I like the way letters and words form faces and patterns, ripples on a sand dune, cracks in a cellar wall. But I wouldn't say I know much about books. I don't read enough. I spent last Wednesday night laughing about the same joke on the same page, without turning over. An attitude like that will get me nowhere. Don't ask me about music, either. My cd collection almost reaches the roof and is in danger of toppling and burying me, but I couldn't tell you who they sound like, or who plays the drums on this one or that. At a pub quiz you may as well send me off to the bar when it's the music round. Now my record player, I understand that. A needle and a spinning groove. Take it all apart and put it back together with superglue. I can cope with that, but it's not much use to anyone else. So what got me thinking about all these things was a conversation I had in a pub in Nottingham with a Dirty Vicar who had earlier been DJing some truly uncompromising sounds. He'd been drinking a bit and his dog-collar had slipped a little, but seemed all together to be quite a top fella and far more with it than I was. He asked me about Sinister. "Oh look!" I said, "Over there! A hedgehog! A hog in a hedge!". But it didn't fool him and he asked me again. I had to confess I didn't know much. I mean, I met the Pinefox once, but I couldn't understand what he said. I'm no expert on anything. I told him about this and that, about that and this, but i couldn't tell him much and think i probably made a lot of it up. I felt a bit of a fraud. But then, it occurred to me this morning that no one is an expert on these things. It's not just me. And there's nothing to really be an expert on. I mean, all you need to know is right there in your inbox, isn't it? I've just come off the phone after booking a ticket for the B+S/Delgados gig in May. The man I spoke to was quite scary, but the hold music they played helped to calm me down. I guess I'll see lots of you there, including, with a bit of luck, Paulo, who is my new favourite sinister person ever. I'm also hoping to hop over to Edinburgh for a bit, killing two birds with the same jet engine, so to speak, so i'll prolly see some of you edinburgh types too, with a bit of luck. auf wiedersehn r o b i n x [ by express delivery : http://www.superatomic.co.uk/blog ] _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.co.uk +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: No Mean City. . .
by Brian McNeill 10 Mar '03

10 Mar '03

So I attended my 1st Winchester Club On Friday and had a braw time. So thanks to Juce and ally & co, ya done a fine job! Glasgow is apparently the safest city in the UKto live in. . . Well, after 5 murders at the weekend I'm not so sure. In fact what's your alibi Matt from Mobile?! (He just looks the type to me ;) All that and the water tower here in Drumchapel was all lit up on Thursday in psychedelic colours. (Great move, I mean bugger Crptosuridium, we will give ya something nice to look at as yer ill. Something to ponder as yer arse resembles a well chewed orange. And the fitba, well. . . cheers brian _________________________________________________________________ Worried what your kids see online? Protect them better with MSN 8 http://join.msn.com/?page=features/parental&pgmarket=en-gb&XAPID=186&DI=1059 +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: das schweigen von marcel duchamp wird uberwertet
by Kieran Devaney 09 Mar '03

09 Mar '03

Outside Virgin Records in Sheffield City Centre seems to be the kids new meeting place. Shooed from the steps of the City Hall by the police they gather there now in loose bunches, all hugs and skateboards and hooded tops they clamour and languish - a big middle finger to the uninterested shoppers. Often Ive thought about taking their picture and taking it back home to Birmingham to show to the sk8er kids there who hang around the town hall steps. I think everywhere has them; hordes of the disenfranchised all stuck swearing at the dismal March skies. Often Ive thought about taking their picture, as I say, but never more so than on Monday I was walking past Virgin Records, a troupe of them there draped variously over one of the benches, grinning, one of them, more a postcard punk type than nu-metaller, replete with tartan trousers and a Mohawk (Im seeing more and more of those at the moment), pulled up the sleeve of his tatty leather jacket. My eyes, and the eyes of his friends were immediately drawn to the five or six inch or so long cuts running horizontally across his arms, he kept grinning, seemed proud even eyes agog, the girl sitting right next to him on the bench looked horrified, the scarred arm directly in front of her she turned her gaze up to him but didnt say anything. What on Earth could you say to that anyway? A bit later I walked past them again on the way back from wherever it is I had been going (I cant rightly recall myself) and they were laughing away in mock combat, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. This post, by the way, is dedicated to people who are on the list but have never posted, or those who post once after theyve just gotten out of the nursery something along the lines of Hi Im Keith from Stourbridge, Ive just been given a voice, am very nervous, well bye! Oh p.s. I love Belle and Sebastian! and are never heard from again, and to those who post once every six months or so saying something like I only post every six months so Ill see you again in six months. This post is for all of you. I dont mean to sound disdainful here at all, though I can see how it could be interpreted like that, but thats not my intention at all. Im going to tell you a bit about my day yesterday then, it was quiet for a Saturday, you know how it is sometimes. I went out with the intention of changing my train tickets for next Wednesday to the following Friday instead. The station was pretty empty by the time I arrived, and everyone inside mysteriously dry which contrasted pleasantly with my dripping wet you might say that everyone else took umbrellas out with them, or had hoods, I cant help it if my hood doesnt fit properly. Im starting to like Sheffield station more and more, part of the reason I went out was to mooch about there for a bit and sort of try to take in the ebb and flow of people its nice to think that theyve got somewhere to get to, perhaps even somewhere important, perhaps even somewhere crucial. The trip wasnt a success though, the station was mostly empty, perhaps the rain had kept people in, reigned them in you might say, but luckily that meant I didnt have to queue. Unluckily I couldnt change the tickets, apparently you have to do that seven days in advance of travelling I protested weakly saying that it is seven days Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, putting up a finger for each day, but the ticket lady was having none of it. I might still stay until Friday though, all the cool kids are fleecing British Rail nowadays arent they? Theres a poster about it and everything. Apparently when Richard Ashcroft left The Verve, or disbanded them or whatever it was he took to jumping fares on trains for a time because he couldnt feel grounded anywhere I read that somewhere. Its a pity his music isnt up to much really, because thats a nice thought hard to imagine Ashcroft as a sort of nu-Kerouac though, isnt it? A new psuedo-intellectual horizon with each actual one. Or maybe not so hard, there are certain similarities arent there? I think so. Itd be good if Richard did an album based on the life of Kerouac I think he could call it Big Slur. Ha ha ha. Ive been unfair to them both as well, havent I? Well never mind because theres more on the way up to the station there was yet another anti-war protest sort of doggedly taking place, if you can unite everyone under your banner even given the persistent rain then it might give even more impetus and solidarity to your protest, but it seemed the Sheffield coalition couldnt quite manage that. There were a few soggy hardcorists sticking at it, standing right next to the Big Issue seller with his dreary monotone voice, perhaps he deserves a bit more sympathy himself, not in a we should be looking after our own way, nothing as crass as that but given the proliferation of all this gushing support for the anti war movement, perhaps its time for the proper left (imagine those scare quotes much, much bigger, Im not sure how to change the font size mid-flow at the moment) to take a step back and wonder quite what its motives are now. Ive almost forgotten myself. Are those brave souls who help up their Daily Mirror placards in London a few weeks ago on the same side as the people whove been on about Iraq and oil and whatever else for years now? Thats not meant to be a loaded question, nor one which is derogatory to either side really, but this is again maybe where binary breaks down. Only 10 types of people. Ha. I wanted to get a photo of those bedraggled protesters because I thought they looked a bit removed from whatever the popular face of this protest has become, so I went off up to Boots and bought a film, but by the time I got back they had dissipated, leaving the Big Issue seller more or less on his own again, lethargically intoning the same laconic phrases over and over and over, like the locked groove at the end of Metal Machine Music. Its probably something of a cliché in certain circles, but wouldnt it be great to have that played at your funeral, side four of MMM? Imagine everyone filing out the church as that same loop churned on and on, the faint play of the sun through stained-glass windows yet further fragmented through black lace. Thatd be lovely. Thinking a bit more about John Cage too, I wanted to share this poem with you, its called Opening the Cage: 14 variations on 14 words I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry. John Cage I have to say poetry and is that nothing and am I saying it I am and I have poetry to say and is that nothing saying it I am nothing and I have poetry to say and that is saying it I that am saying poetry have nothing and it is I and to say And I say that I am to have poetry and saying it is nothing I am poetry and nothing and saying it is to say that I have To have nothing is poetry and I am saying that and I say it Poetry is saying I have nothing and I am to say that and it Saying nothing I am poetry and I have to say that and it is It is and I am and I have poetry saying say that to nothing It is saying poetry to nothing and I say I have and am that Poetry is saying I have it and I am nothing and to say that And that nothing is poetry I am saying and I have to say it Saying poetry is nothing and to that I say I am and have it Its very apt I think. It makes me wonder though, stuff like that and maybe John Barth as well my old English teacher said more than once that he preferred poems that sounded great when spoken aloud, full of bombast I suppose he was referring specifically to Tennysons The Revenge and WH Audens As I Walked Out One Evening as I recall. But which is more satisfying, laughing at the lit-crit jokes and digs in John Barth or your voice cracking, plein demotion, as you soar through a reading of Lines Written above Tintern Abbey? And what of Barths love for Don Quixote The Odyssey et al, not to mention that the most straight-down-the-line bits of his are easily among his best, and what of Cages love for the didacticism of Thoreau? As Cage himself puts it Which is more musical, the sound of a truck passing a music school or the sound of a truck passing a factory? Today was another lovely day though, its so nice to be able to get up late and still feel like youve done a whole days worth of stuff. Talk of spring being in the air was a bit deflated after yesterdays downpour, but it was back in style today and with a blustery vengeance. Though as I write this there are a few streaks of rain forming against my window. Alas. Better now than earlier on though I suppose. I went for another long, aimless walk, Ive worked out the routes that all but ensure I wont meet anyone I know its better that way. Todays one took me down to the park and along the river I wondered vaguely if its the same river that Jarvis Cocker talks about in that song offve We Love Life I forget the name now (is it Wickerman?), the long one in the middle of the record anyway I expect it isnt the same river, but you never know do you? Im sure Ive been past that particular river, the one in the song, just down the road from The Leadmill, which he mentions in the song as well, but I dont know if thats the same one I walked beside today. Its good to be able to place these things, you know? I remember a few years back when I bought Plones For Beginner Piano (from what I gather Plone have taken something of a permanent hiatus from making music, a bit like Pulp you might say, which is a real shame I think) and put it on my walkman on the bus home the first tune on the record is called On My Bus and Plone are from Birmingham you see, just like I am. So there I was, on a bus, listening to a tune called On My Bus and who knows, it might even have been written about the very same bus route that I was on. It seemed like an appropriate soundtrack, though perhaps I only thought that because of the context, probably a bit of both. I like the idea of laptoptronica being a sort of new folk music, I forget whose idea it is, probably a lot of peoples, its a good idea, and Plone are, or were, a bit like that. Maybe its hard to imagine them as the musical accompaniment to the industrial heartlands of Birmingham, to rows of houses with doors that step right out onto the pavement, but they seem entirely appropriate as a reaction to those pre-fab units that seem to spring up in about five minutes, their flimsiness and brute ugliness. Its such a shame that no one bothers building those lovely factories anymore, the sort that would have Kieran Devaney and sons or whoever the owner was, incorporated somewhere into the brickwork who wouldnt want their name enshrined like that? So many of those buildings are sitting unused, which is a shame. Unsafe I suppose though. Attention to that kind of detail is important though I think. Plone understand that, but they also know that sometimes its ok if the details get overlooked in the great grand gush of pop music. - Kieran _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.co.uk +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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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Re: Sinister: aislers, san francisco spring is summeriffic
by steve peet 08 Mar '03

08 Mar '03

Well, it takes a lot to get me out of lurkdom these days, but this sure caught my eye... Just my luck that one of my favourite bands is playing in San Fran the week before I'm flying out there, still you can't have everything! I'll be in Santa Cruz from 11th till 15th then San Fran till 21st, so if any North Cal sinistrines could let me know where's good to stay or go of an evening or even want to meet up for a beer then drop me a mail (OFF LIST of course!) Cheers Sketcher >From: Ian Connelly <ian(a)pry.com> >Reply-To: Ian Connelly <ian(a)pry.com> >To: <sinister(a)missprint.org> >Subject: Sinister: aislers, san francisco spring is summeriffic >Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 12:36:23 -0800 (PST) > >anyone else on the list going to see the aislers set in san francisco >tonight? probably a long shot, but who knows. but there'll be a group of >us downing beer and bourbon at the edinburgh castle around the corner >before the doors open. there was a great write-up of the aislers in the >local paper this week featuring a quote from stevie jackson calling them >'one of the best bands in america.' > >http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2003-03-05/music.html/1/index.html > >i'm sitting here today 'working from home,' which is a marvellous idea and >which everyone who's compelled to work should do once a week. you can do >it with your shoes off. you can do it with your own pot of >industrial-strength coffee. you can do it with henry's dress playing at an >indiscreet volume. you can do it whilst two manic housecats fighting for >dominance use you as an obstacle in their steeplechase. i'm dishevelled >and a bit hungover from band practice and dj-ing last night - it was my >friend's last night dj-ing at Radio over in oakland, and he let me on the >tables for a dizzying hour or so. most of what i played was crap, but >'eighties fan' sounded incredible at high volume in the crowded bar. > >ah, i've had enough 'work' for the morning. off into the sunshine of the >castro in search of lunch. > >ian > > > >+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ > +---+ 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! +-+ >+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://messenger.msn.co.uk +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: a final term paper
by kevin m. clair 08 Mar '03

08 Mar '03

As it is the season of final papers and such, I imagine this e-mail will contain political science-style citations, though I can't say for certain. I. Chicago, Illinois. Stine (C. Irene 7.3.03) says, "this year i think a group of friends and I are going to go to this place called Gaelic Park. Apparently all of the hip Irish Chicagoans go there." Well, as neither Irish nor Chicagoan, but rather of Irish descent and from the general Chicago area, I couldn't say for certain whether that's true. What I can say for certain is that I'll be In Chicago! on the 17th March, as that is the day my plane from Minnesota lands at the airport for spring break. This should be an exciting event for me; I've only ever seen the river turned green on television, and also I'll be going to see the Streets live and in person that very day. I'm sure other adventures will make themselves known to me in future, but for now the part about being in Chicago again after, um, a month, is the part that I like the best about this. II. How to Be Popular. I seem to have joined the blog webring which idleberry (R.^Sec 24.2.03) is in the business of maintaining. Although my blog is not yet the most popular site on the inter-web, I think that should probably happen in a week or two. III. Recent Weather Occurrences. Many mentions of snow have occurred in passing lately (C. Irene 7.3.03; rrrrobyn 7.3.03). Unfortunately, I cannot yet add to that number, as lately I've been jealous of the snow others have gotten whilst here all we get is cold weather and everyone, myself included, getting sick from it. However! we're supposed to get a bunch more snow tonight, which makes up for it a little. I'll have to spend all my Saturday inside, though, asking trivia questions to people and awarding them points if they answer correctly. That's the sort of thing I do with my weekends. Only usually I have to answer them myself. This generally doesn't have anything to do with the weather, although sometimes there are questions about clouds. IV. The Aislers Set. I don't get to see them play live due to the miracle of birth, and the fact that it occurred seven months too late for me to be 21 on time to get in. But I finally got the copy of the new album I ordered like three weeks ago, and I like it quite a bit. It reminds me in parts of the movie "Breathless" for some reason, and anything that makes me think of the French New Wave must be good. I think I'll listen to it again now. In conclusion, the football season I'm playing on the Nintendo right now isn't going as well as it was at first. But I should write a paper anyway. In like a lion, out like a lamb, -kevin Sources Cited* Irene, Christine. "Hello, My name is Nora Barnacle." Sinister, 7th March 2003. Retro^Sec. "picnics, anthems, and blog rings." Sinister, 24th February 2003. rrrrobyn. "you know me, i take nothing seriously." Sinister, 7th March 2003. --- "You should never wear your best trousers while going out to fight for truth and freedom." -- Henrik Ibsen +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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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