Hi Sinisterines and -ettes, DISASTER RELIEF First off, the hurricane which struck the land mass known as North America about two weeks ago, specifically its chin (the Southeast! Where I live!), forced me to flee with my trusty Buick between my legs. A well-deserved break of 12 days followed, during which I luckily was able to download "Step into my office, baby" from Insound.com before they took it down (did anyone else notice this? Is anyone else mystified by the mp3's disappearance?). The song is pretty amazing, in my opinion. Having not heard any more of the album, I really don't have anything to add ballast to my raving, or temper my love of it, but yeah: it's grand. The beginning felt like such a departure, such a welcome departure, that I was nearly entranced by the handy Windows Media Player 'ambient bubble' visualization (which always struck me as being particularly tailored for stoners). I'm going to buy the album the day it comes out, like the shameless fanboy that I am. DATE-RAPE ROCK GETS ITS 'WHITE ALBUM' That's right, John Mayer. The man him-fucking-self. Released a new album in the beginning of September I think, by the name of "Heavier Things". Album cover features just a picture of him and his guitar. Suggesting a 'back to basics' approach perhaps? Indeed. With his new follower (Jason Mraz, an addition to the post-Mayer canon of D-R rock) doing quite well for himself (and by 'quite' I mean: he's on VH1. Aww.), John obviously wanted to reclaim his position as king of the prognathic-jawed. Let me just talk for a second about his new video. He is playing guitar and singing on a street. People start to walk over to the wall of amplifiers which sits at a cul-de-sac, ignoring poor John in the process. Only a very perceptive and tightly-clothed young lady (this video was evidently filmed in a very cold studio as well. Ahem.), whose perspicacity may even be a direct result of her breast size, stops and smiles coyly at John, realizing that he is the source of this INSANELY GORGEOUS MELODY. Basically, the moral lesson presented by this awesome piece of film is that playing music makes you a pariah at first, but what the fuck does that matter when you consider the enlightened groupies? I can almost hear the fluorescent tubes of thought humming to life above a thousand frat-boy (is there a U.K. equivalent to this stereotype?) heads- "Damn, you mean. Wait. Is this video saying what I think it is? Yes. Good God. That girl is so hot. I can get girls that hot, with the help of this song?.", etc. The sales of "Heavier Things" will be fueled by mothers who have discriminating tastes in dishwashing liquid, and guys who use impregnation as relationship therapy. The only mitigating factor in all of this comes from the August issue of The Believer, which contains an interview with Questlove, the drummer of The Roots. He says that he played with Mayer a few times in the studio, and that JM is writhing within the constraints of his major label deal, and longs to make an album that is (as Questlove says) on par with D'Angelo's "Voodoo", which he apparently has the talent to do. Pretty cool. I hope he does it. THE DECEMBERISTS Are pretty much the equal of B&S, in storytelling song power. Castaways and Cutouts is also my vote for the (reissue) make-out record of this year, just beating out Neil Young's "Hawks and Doves". I can't get enough of a band that has lines like "but the angles and the corners/even though my work is unparalleled/they never seem to meet". Hot damn! The boy can write a song. I would recommend this album to anyone who likes fun. I HATE FUN I was recently shamed into dancing the Charleston in front of 30 of my own employees (long story). Of all the retro dances that you might choose to do, I'd suggest refraining from the Charleston. It's not a particularly dignified dance, and I'd say that, all things being equal, I would rather have gone with the Watusi. Not my choice though. off to consult my dancing atlas, Kevin P.S. Happy après-belated birthday to Laura Llew- you're the only person I've ever known to use the word defenestration outside of my 10th grade European history class. Awesome. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+