- Sinister - missprint.org

Sinister: MIME-Version: 1.0
by robhalcrow＠tiscali.co.uk 28 Mar '15

28 Mar '15

I've just been playing Girls In Peacetime... Has taken me a while to get into it. Really liked Nobody's Empire straight away. Getting into the others. Most of them anyway. What else? I saw God Help the Girl with a friend...I wanted to like it. We both did. Didn't work for me though. Or my friend. Maybe I'm just too grumpy. Maybe we both are. What else else? I would have done the Stuart David book competition if the digest had arrived before the closing date. Haha. Never mind. If you won one, I hope you enjoy it. I really do. It's nice to see the odd Sinister message pop into the email. I'd had a look round the site from time to time. Enjoyed the completely outdated knackeredness of it. Right up my street. I'll keep this short. In fact, I'm stopping now. Robert +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: Chris Geddes demo
by Jean-Christophe Pacaud 28 Mar '15

28 Mar '15

https://soundcloud.com/chrisgeddes-1/perfect-couples-first-day-demo +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: Looking backwards
by FP 16 Mar '15

16 Mar '15

So, Sinister still works. And I still have the same phone number. I can prove it, too. I found myself in a sticky situation the other month. In the office, taking a toilet break. I sat down, but, too late, realised there was no paper left. Oh. Too late. Incidentally, I heard the new B&S single the other day, inadvertantly, on 6 Music at 7 in the morning, opening the Mary Ann Hobbs show. And it was...well, interchangeable. I can't help feeling as if up to (and including) DCW, B&S albums always had some sort of memorable moment, some sort of touching chord change; and since DCW, everything they have produced has been blandly interchangeable, all produced in just the same way, all with the same orchestral parts behind it, all much of a muchness. There are only two toilet cubicles, and there was someone else in the other. I'll just sit it out, then, wait for him to go and sneak my arse across. Hmmm. He's not moving either. He's very quiet, in fact. Almost as if he's run out of paper too. Oh. We spoke: it was one of my staff. He was, indeed, also out of paper. Bugger. I haven't listened to much B&S for a while - in fact, it must have been a year ago they last popped into my life. Sitting in a random Midlands motorway services, feeding warm milk to one of the kids, Stuart M's face appeared broadly across the News 24 coverage bracketed up on the wall. Aspect ratio problems, maybe. God Help The Girl at Sundance. I haven't seen God Help The Manic Pixie Girl either; I'm not entirely sure I want to. The trials of a young woman with issues seen through Stuart's lenses? Ho hum. My phone was in my pocket, because it's always useful to have something to keep you occupied on the toilet after all, isn't it. My own phone, not my work phone, but it still had the numbers of some of my staffers programmed into it. I tried the first one: no answer. Tried another: bums. The first again. Ring ring ring. Weird to think that I should have staff working for me, that I should have kids, indeed. I tried to play Fans Only to them when they were younger but they didn't seem particularly excited. My daughter, though, does rather enjoy dancing to Bauhaus and The Cure, good choices for a toddler. Her twin brother prefers to run around randomly screaming, which I understand is rather more traditional for the age group. I only discovered today, thanks to Mr Casarotto (formerly of this parish)'s Twitter account, that there's a Duplo Trains phone app. It's amazing what you learn being a parent. Mind you, if you want Lego trains, I randomly found some by Ben Apps on the internet the other year. Ben, if you're reading: I'm impressed. Sinister life events. We've covered all of the traditional ones off now between us as a list, haven't we? All three. So we escaped from the toilet eventually, as you've probably guessed. However, although I had my staff's numbers, it turns out, they didn't all have my not-work one. So they googled it. And what comes up if you google my phone number? The Sinister archive, apparently: the phone numbers of me and GEA, letting everyone know them ready for a meetup in Embra. I have the same number still. I don't know if GEA does. Back when I first discovered Sinister - 17 and a half years ago, in the fourth floor University Library computer lab because you didn't usually have to queue there - it led me into a world of music I didn't really know about, and didn't know I had been missing. Sarah Records, for example. Everyone was saying that B&S were like a Sarah band, that if Sarah had still been going they would have signed them. I couldn't even remember hearing of Sarah, although - I worked out many years later - I probably bought the NME in which they announced they were closing down. The closest I'd come to such things were bands like Lush on the rockier side, or Stina Nordenstam on the quieter side. Nowadays, I'm a mature grown-up. I have children, a responsible job, I commute to work every day from a station that appeared on a Sarah 7", and I go to see art exhibitions explaining the history of Sarah Records. And, all of a sudden, I got it. I saw straight away that Sarah would never, not in a million years, have signed B&S. B&S, after all, put Stuart's ideal girls on their album sleeves, the sort of girls he wanted to write songs about and make films about. That just wouldn't wash. Back in '99 I spent my summer away in the Scottish islands. I was away there whilst TBWTAS was released; I had someone post it up to me. I heard Tigermilk for the first time, courtesy a girl called Cat Toms who had it on tape with her. I was deeply sad at the time, surrounded by beautiful, wild moorland, and by night darkness, black lochs and wild Atlantic winds. I lay catatonic on beaches when I was supposed to be working, and I was never brave enough to throw myself into the dark, inky, mirrored nightwaters for the seals to bear me away. I've never been a brave person. If I'd waited twenty years, I was thinking the other day, before going to university, I'd probably have done a lot better at university. I'd have seen through the bullshit, got all the work done, organised my arguments more effectively and generally done better at all of it. But if I'd waited twenty years, I wouldn't have been the same person now. Would I have liked the same music, though? I'm still touched to the core by the first few B&S albums despite all that I've learned since then. Which led me to think: I went to see them again the other year. A bit different to the first time I saw them, at Carnegie Hall. What surprised me the most: Mr Jackson's afro. Do B&S, now, still like the same music that they did themselves 20 years ago? Do they think themselves they're at their peak, now they're invited onto national radio to sing things out of tune? Or do they wish they were still writing songs as good as the songs they wrote back in time? Stuart David, of course, is kind of outside of it. I must try to get hold of his book. At the book group I occasionally go to, we read an Ian Rankin crime thriller a while back; and Stuart D - or rather his alter ego Peacock Johnson - popped up in it as the villain. The other book groupers were mildly amused to discover I'd met one of the characters from the book that month, especially as he was fictional after all. I'm going to try to make sure the children like B&S, even though they probably won't. I'm going to try to make sure they like making music, more importantly. And I'm going to try to make sure they appreciate serendipity, and quiet corners, and the fact that things fade and wither. Maybe they too will find a band, and discover something magical. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: Stuart David's book and the spectucular prize draw thereof
by honey＠missprint.org 16 Mar '15

16 Mar '15

Hullo you lot, Right. I promised a week or so ago that I'd be sending on an exclusively-fashioned finely-honed Sinister-specific (lip-smackin' etc) competition to win a pre-release copy of Stuart David's fine new book on the origins of the band which I can't recommend enough. This is it. Book blurb: https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781408705155, Stuart's blog about it: http://www.stuart-david.com/?page_id=175 Pets Win Prizes: http://missprint.org/sinister/allnightcafe/competition.jpg Rachel from the Little, Brown Book Group (spectacularly the name really includes a comma) is offering 16 (wait for it) copies of the book to those who enter, drawn randomly from your entries. The lucky winner gets the book, a tote bag (how very B&S!) and a poster signed by Stuart, which I'd like to think but can't guarantee is signed in his blood. Five more get the book and tote bag (see pic above) and ten more just get the book. The rest of you get a polite round of applause. I'm not great at statistics but I'd say you have a reasonable chance of winning. Rachel has assured me your email or postal addresses won't be used to spam you subsequently and will be deleted after the draw's over. So that's good then. But firstly a word or two from Stuart to you, yes you: "Although I wasn't fully conscious of it at the time, it was all the people from the Sinister list I was talking to while I was writing this book. So if any of it means anything to any of you crazies, that's enough. It doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks." I'd really appreciate posts from winners after you've read the book, so please remember to come back and tell us what you thought, good or bad. In fact I'd like it if you posted on entering too but you don't have to. I really want to know if others enjoy it as I did and besides, you won it here. Don't forget Mum. Mail from the publisher below and details on how to enter. Please try to ignore the quote she's included from me as it's hardly Booker Prize worthy - Chris's review is much better. The book though is very, very good. Honey x ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Little, Brown says: On April 16th, we're hugely excited to be publishing Stuart David's memoir of Belle and Sebastian's formative year: In the All-Night Cafe. It's affectionate, fascinating, evocative, magical and charmingly written - everything you would expect. But don't take the publishers' word for it - it comes highly recommended by some Sinister people too: Honey says: "I can't recommend it enough. It doesn't have an ounce of twee other than a good bit on a beach, and is written with a very singular voice: it's more of a story than an attempt to produce one of those dreary blow-by-blow diaries of gigs and tours. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say it ends with the Tigermilk party, which I love. It's mostly about him and Stuart M hanging around and finding out how songs work and how records work. I am dying to tell you some funny stories from it but let's just say "if you want to shag him, you should just ask him out"." Chris Jones says: "It made me swoon and feel just marvellous. The re-animation of Sinister is very timely, because it will take you on a beautiful nostalgic journey back to those heady late 90s days and make you fall in love with the band all over again. As they creep towards a slick, professional, internationally touring pop behemoth/contemporary cultural irrelevance (delete as you see fit) it was beyond wonderful to be reminded of why we all fell head over heels for them in the first place. I've been listening to the early stuff all over again, supplementing it with the newly learned scraps of joy from Stuart's book, and boy have I enjoyed it... The fact that I've been able to read Stuart David's book at the same time has made me fall in love with them all over again - I've been listening to the 90s stuff with a totally fresh view. It's been utterly beautiful and I've found enjoyment in places I never did first time round. It's a great fanboy read - I've been reading it on the bus after work and am so sad that I'll have finished it soon. It's put a bit of much needed indie sparkle back in my life." For a chance to win a limited edition early copy of the book (10 runners up), with a tote bag (5 runners up), and maybe a poster signed by Stuart (1 winner), just email marketing(a)littlebrown.co.uk before midnight on Sunday 22nd March with your name, post address, and subject: "All-Night Cafe". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: You offered and I ran
by Gayle E. Anderson 28 Feb '15

28 Feb '15

Sinister, Well, hello there. Isn't this nice? I don't have an awful lot to say, or anything at all, really. Its a Saturday night, I am home alone with a mug of fruity herbal tea listening to an album called 'The Falls' by a band called Snowblind. I'm not sure how long I have owned this album, I estimate four years. This is the first time I have listened to it. Its rather nice. I had heard one song by Snowblind before I bought the album ('Cut') having bought the CD single from a record store in Falkirk called Sleeves. Sleeves would sell CD singles that were second hand or that no one wanted for 40p each, or 3 for ??1. I would visit regularly in my mid teens and splash out on CD singles from the bargain bin/rejects corner. I picked them by their covers. It worked out pretty well. I used to pick library books the same way. That worked out pretty well also. So, you know what they say? Well, they're wrong. Sleeves doesn't exist anymore. The space it once occupied is a butcher shop now. Which is REALLY boring. So, you keep on dancing. GEA +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: Dear Sinister
by Laurel Girvan 25 Feb '15

25 Feb '15

Just as a public service announcement I'd like to clarify that I am not Laurel Violet and I haven't even listened to the new album by whatstheirfaces or frankly anything they've done since FISHYCLAP, which was all right, I thought, as far as it went. I did get to see some youngsters who looked strangely familiar play their instruments and hop around in an overly crowded ampitheatre last year and felt actual feelings on a level I hadn't expected to, since having my heart removed and replaced with gears and levers some years ago has rendered me mostly impervious to human emotion. You never know, I guess. A close approximation of warmth and friendliness to you all, or at least the external manifestations of it, Laurel +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: Dear Sinister
by Laurel Violet 24 Feb '15

24 Feb '15

All of your emails are making me smile, smile, smile till I think I better stop reading them at work because there is usually not much to smile about while processing people's divorce papers. But it is so good to see some activity on this list again. Reminds me of meetups in Chicago and Ken Chu's autograph and baking a banana bread for the band and getting to sing harmonies. I have often thought about writing and never did. Last summer when I saw Our Band live in Austin for the first time in 10+ years, finding happily that I could still feel all those feelings I felt when I was Young and not at an age that seemed mythical when I first found B&S. When I was embroidering a back patch for my Twee Battle Vest with the B&S fox t-shirt, certainly. And then again when the new album came out -- I waited all day, stubbornly avoiding that it was all already up on Spotify, so I could go to the record store, buy my copy, and listen to it with my full attention in my room at night. I guess this is all to say I am glad that y'all are still here, because I don't have too many friends in the Real World who have this set of feelings. Thanks to Honey for giving us a kick in the pants. Laurel http://dosomethingprettywhileyoucan.tumblr.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: Allie, what would KEN CHU?
by Rachel Apps 23 Feb '15

23 Feb '15

Dear Sinisterines, I think it's time for an EPIC SUMMARY of the past week's posts, which I haven't had the honour of positing for many many years! Honey found the key to the old attic door! Also talked about Stuart David's book, and something about cookie consent... Then Keith Watson shouted through the door, "Does this thing still work?" but it may or may not have really been Keith according to Gmail. ...and then Ian H. confirmed that it did, indeed, still work. Also that it may have been an imposter Keith. Also, reminisced about buying Tigermilk and all the friends made on Sinister. Funnily, that message may or may not have been really Ian... Gmail is really suspicious. After that, Ian A. wrote of Jane Eyre and "One never knows what one shall find in an attic" and I liked that because I immediately thought of Jane when Honey mentioned an attic. Now I want to buy a hand-woven egg cup from Jane Eyre's Etsy account. "Wild abandon could be too much like hard work. It can be difficult to be spontaneous when you're staring at your feet." There should be an Easterhouse song just because it sounds good. I will bring elevenses, sing about Easterhouse and take tea on the lawn with you, Ian. Though I have to admit, I have not given up Hello Kitty or hair dye, but I also like a nice bit of Jarlsberg. Eric (the half a bee) then posted what he tried to post in January, which was why we began to discuss whether Sinister worked any more or not, and why I wrote to Honey asking if pretty-please it could be mended. Eric wrote about "Gipwod" being streamed on radio in America and something about a tin can in Japan. Mummy i've grazed my knee (AKA Chris J) expanded on Eric's name for the new album with the name GIPPYWAND, and I like it! Jonathan Skinner posted from a hotel in Warsaw. It is so nice to hear where everyone is now. Jonathan, San Francisco is one of my most favourite cities. It is lovely to hear that you live there now and are happily married. Awww! Lawrence posted that B&S finally played a show in NZ and he also mentioned a Facebook Sinister List Page and that maybe one should be invented. And then he and Eric made one, and so if anyone wants to join that Facebook page they should give a shout. There are about 100 of us on it now. The Duke of Harringay posted about car washes and listening to old familiar b&s, and that he likes the new album but wonders what everyone made of the God Help The Girl film. I have to confess, I've not seen it yet so can't comment. GHTG album didn't really captivate me and so I didn't make it a priority to see the film. I would like to, though. ... and then a post from newbie Matt in Brisbane! Hello Matt! *waves wildly* I think the last post before the latest flurry was in 2013. Adrian then posted about "reliving my naughty teens/early twenties in some mid-life crisis" like some embarrassing dad. I've been doing similar with my undying passion for the band Suede, but my kids are still a bit too young to be embarrassed, I still have all that to look forward to. You're a great dad for being willing to endure a metal core concert with your daughter! Dean posted about being in Sheffield eight years ago in a pub for a meetup and about upside-down badges and meerkats. Bjort T posted about a live version of This Is Just a Modern Rock Song from 1995/96 and Alan seemed to remember it was on The Tube. Mummy i've grazed my knee (AKA Chris J) then said it's from the July 1996 Mark Radcliffe session. The Duke posted a link to his b&s Flickr set which had some interesting artefacts in it. He also found a box o' memorabilia on a shelf and wondered if it would be worth scanning some things to share with us. I'd love to see some more! He also said the Public Service Broadcasting LP is good. As I am rarely exposed to new music, I am going to look for that. Then Honey posted again and even mentioned me by name in helping to resurrect the list! *preens* and also said "I'm waiting for a song-by-song dissection of the new album from one or more of you, preferably in rhyme form (iambic pentameter would be fine, I'm easy). I'll get you started with the suggestions that Enter Sylvia Plath is all quite Dollar and The Party Line is most definitely a homage the great and dearly-missed Kajagoogoo." I'm afraid I'm not up to that challenge, Honey. The many years of sleep deprivation I've endured have turned my brain to slush. I'd like to hear what Ken Chu has to say about it, though. There was also a mention of the bandchat section of Sinister from which Stuart David flounced with "<StuartD> Listen, this is pish, I think I'll leave" Then Honey banned herself from the list by consecutively posting links to Stuart David's book on Amazon using unusual characters in the url. But urged us to use our ingenuity to search for In the All-Night Cafe by Stuart David. Mummy i've grazed my knee (AKA Chris J) has read it and swooned, so I think I will have to get it. Gummi Joh posted about listening to b&s with his little girls and that his four-year-old said about the Tigermilk poster hanging on the wall: "the girl is breastfeeding the tiger because the tigers mother was ill and the woman loves the tiger so much and wants it as a pet." which I think sums up the picture perfectly! Mummy i've grazed my knee (AKA Chris J) wrote an epic post linking to a review of GIPPYWAND that Sam Walton wrote for Quiet and Loud. Then he also posted his own review that he had sent to Sam. I really enjoyed reading that, it's made me think more about how I feel about the album and I really relate to the end bit where you said "Honestly though, for a band 20 years into their career this is a stonker of a record and bodes really well for the future. The fact that I've been able to read Stuart David's book at the same time has made me fall in love with them all over again - I've been listening to the 90s stuff with a totally fresh view. It's been utterly beautiful and I've found enjoyment in places I never did first time round." Now I REALLY want to read that book! An update from me, my LIST CRUSH Ben Apps (Mr B) and I celebrated 12 years of wedded bliss at the New Year. "Now I look at you, you're a mother of two" - we have two "list babies" who are actually grown up little boys in school, the eldest will be eight in June and the youngest will be five in May. We're still living in the London area. Ben and I are both really enjoying GIPPYWAND, perhaps he'll post and say "hi" sometime, too! love, Rachel fruitloop +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: [SPAMm(6.4)] lp?
by Bjort t 22 Feb '15

22 Feb '15

There is a version of This Is Just A Modern Rock Song, that I prefer, it's live..."only lucid when I'm riding buses" instead of "writing songs". Also I know it's from 1996/1995 but what was the show again -.- -N +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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: The Church Upon the Hill is Looking Lovely
by Chris Jones 22 Feb '15

22 Feb '15

WARNING - THIS E-MAIL BREAKS ALL SINISTER RULES ABOUT LENGTH. I'M REALLY REALLY SORRY SINISTERINES! Oh my word...it was only the other day that Sam Walton (of this parish, former member of the York Sinister Massive) and I were reminiscing about Sinister and wondering whether it still worked. Honey must have heard us. I was 15 when I joined this list, a giddy mix of hormones, faux teenage hubris, real terminal shyness and a lust for some mysterious boy/girl duo I first heard on the Evening Session via transistor radio back in August 1997 as I watered my neighbour's garden for the princely wage of £1 per day. They were singing this rousing number about a girl who caught some kind of venereal disease from licking railings. The next day, I caught the bus into Ipswich and purchased the 7" from Rex Records. I still maintain that I can trace everything which has happened in my life back to that balmy summer's evening. Sinister was a window into another world from the wilds of rural Suffolk - I had never met another fan in person. Everything I learned about the band had been through Lamacq and Whiley, Radcliffe and Riley, the NME and something called 'the internet' which cost 1p a minute after 6pm. I used to post under the name 'mummy i've grazed my knee'. I'm 32 now. I can't do that anymore. Onto business though...I have oodles of B&S content. Firstly, that Stuart David book... I have read it. It made me swoon and feel just marvelous. The re-animation of Sinister is very timely, because it will take you on a beautiful nostalgic journey back to those heady late 90s days and make you fall in love with the band all over again. As they creep towards a slick, professional, internationally touring pop behemoth/contemporary cultural irrelevance (delete as you see fit) it was beyond wonderful to be reminded of why we all fell head over heels for them in the first place. I've been listening to the early stuff all over again, supplementing it with the newly learned scraps of joy from Stuart's book, and boy have I enjoyed it. Next up, live... I was lucky enough to see the band play in Manchester Cathedral last year. My first B&S gig was Scarborough 2001 (if memory serves me right, there is a sillustration of the time us York lot all met the band on the beach and I discovered Mick Cooke keeps chocolate in a bag with his shoes). I have seen them over a dozen times since, but there was something slightly magical about this show - it was very small, not overly augmented by auxiliary musicians and felt a bit like the old days. Of course, it was also full of keytar, Stevie Jackson songs that are politely tolerated and overt religious references...but it was warm and lovely. I was slightly concerned as I walked through the door that, after all these years, I might not care any more. I needn't have worried. I'm now terrifically excited to see them in Leeds this May. The album... Isn't it rather brilliant? Eric suggested GIPWOD - I've been using the working Sinisternym GIPPYWAND. Sam Walton wrote a lovely review of it for Loud and Quiet - I'm sure he won't mind me posting the link, and if he does...too late :) http://www.loudandquiet.com/2015/01/girls-in-peacetime-want-to-dance-by-bel… I'm aware that there used to be a rule about spending no more than 15 minutes on a Sinister e-mail because otherwise we all got swamped. I've already broken that rule because I'm just so exited that all this is still working and wonderful people are still out there. Before reading Sam's review, I wrote to him (using something called Facebook - it'll never catch on) to offer my views. With your permission, I'm going to paste what I wrote to him here - it's not all positive, but it's honest. If you are already bored of trawling through all my nonsense, I apologise. There's a documentary rubbishing UKIP on soon. That will cheer you up. "First off...I love the album. It's a brilliantly diverse pop record - the likes of which nobody else is making - and made all the more excellent by some first rate production. Of course I am hugely nostalgic for the three day live take CaVa sound on Tigermilk and the church hall recordings on LLPJ and 369, but pound for pound this is the best sounding record they've made. There are negatives no doubt - all the songs (with the exception of Allie) are at least 30 seconds too long. There's some unnecessary noodling and it's in danger of feeling a bit bloated at times. The final track, no matter how many times I listen to it, remains completely superfluous. I'd hesitate to say it's the worst thing they've done - not because it's a bad song per se, but because it's so bland. And I think therein lies the step up that this album reflects. Write About Love was so freaking dull! It was the sound of a middle aged band trying to get played on Steve Wright's Radio 2 show. Calculating Bimbo, Little Lou...just turgid nonsense. I really had no hopes for this record. I had resigned myself to settling for a superb back catalogue 1996 - 2006 and leaving it at that. Even the songs which verge on the side of nonsense now are rescued by being interesting (and incredibly well produced) - Everlasting Muse, Perfect Couples...even The Party Line (which was written by Bob, apparently). They are fun and different and I love them in their own way...although Perfect Couples has the worst lyrics of any B&S song and I can't stand the way Stuart says 'pop' in The Everlasting Muse. The highs on here are incredibly high though - Nobody's Empire, Allie, Book Of You, Ever Had A Little Faith and the epic Play For Today, which has shot into my all time top 10. Sure, some of the 'electro' direction is a bit hammy - it's like they've tried to out-St Etienne St Etienne on Enter Sylvia Plath - and I will never cease to be astounded that one band has managed to produce two female singers who really just breathe in tune (Dee Dee Dum Dum's vocals on Play for Today really show up Sarah's efforts). It's so much fun though...and the tunes are still there. Massive tunes. Sure the string arrangements are typically naff and OTT, and I mourn the loss of Mick Cooke's trumpet, but it's pop hook after pop hook and I won't complain about that. I'm particularly pleased with ...Little Faith...it is such a beautiful, unexpected treat and the production is perfect - stripped back, loosely played (even to the extent that there appears to be a bum keyboard note towards the end) and absolutely evocative of the period from whence it came, but still in keeping with the remainder of the album. My other major gripe though - and as someone who is 90% about style and tunes I never thought I'd say this - is Stuart's lyrics. Unlike many, I have no issue with the fact that EVERYTHING now has to have a God/praying/faith reference. That's what he's into and it's fine. He's being honest. For those who still want songs about buses, first kisses and municipal pools...they are being created using a different outlet. God Help The Girl is old skool B&S - Stuart knows that at 46(?) he can't get away with singing that stuff, but he can still write those songs and get someone else to sing them. If you yearn for 90s B&S, just hope that he makes another film. Incidentally, I have almost finished reading the proof copy of Stuart David's B&S autobiography... and God Help The Girl is definitely NOT a whimsical work of fiction. It is about the formation of B&S. My problem with the lyrics returns to the issue of blandness. The religion seems to have stopped all the interesting, edgy stuff. There will never be another song about listing your biggest wanks, being into S&M and bible studies, seeing other people, going with boys and girls...all the stuff which totally drew me in first time round. I was transfixed by Stuart's world of Bowlies...but that world has been sanitised now. He hasn't left it behind - it's very much here on GIPPYWAND (I will suggest this to Sinister) - but without all the smut and intrigue that I am presuming his new found religious calling prevents him from singing about. Even the song titles could have been created by a random B&S title generator - but the really interesting vignettes are no longer there. We're just left praying around the old kitchen table when previously we'd have been getting a kicking with a melted toblerone under our dress before popping home to watch Man About The House and play with ourselves. When I saw them in Manchester Cathedral last year, Stuart joked about it, but it was obvious he felt uncomfortable doing the sweary songs in a sacred place. Honestly though, for a band 20 years into their career this is a stonker of a record and bodes really well for the future. The fact that I've been able to read Stuart David's book at the same time has made me fall in love with them all over again - I've been listening to the 90s stuff with a totally fresh view. It's been utterly beautiful and I've found enjoyment in places I never did first time round. It's a great fanboy read - I've been reading it on the bus after work and am so sad that I'll have finished it soon. It's put a bit of much needed indie sparkle back in my life." Thank you for listening Sinister. And thank you for existing and for bringing me joy and whimsy by the bucket load. I'm very happy you're still here. Much love chris x +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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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