Hiya Sinisterines! Lots of people seem to have their hands on some sort of version of the new DCW album already, including myself and Ben. Maybe I just focus on the negative too much, but it seems like a lot of people who have heard it say they don't like it so much. To everyone out there who hasn't heard it yet, Ben and I think it's brilliant and we can't stop listening to it, so never fear. You just might like it, too. I think that if I didn't have it, I'd be sort of dreading its release because I'd almost be afraid of disappointment. But I'm excited - I can't wait to buy the real thing soon, too! The reason I like DCW so much is because it seems to be B&S on a different level. I don't need to hear the same type of thing from a band on every album, I like a bit of variety. This one has a great energy to it. It still sounds like B&S, but it's fairly upbeat. My favorite song is "Stay Loose". I think the influence of Trevor Horn really comes through on this one, and it's very '80's sounding. But there is a breakout bit in the middle that it very bare and you can hear how the song sounds without the effects - essential acoustic. Plus the opening line is "I was choking on a Corn Flake, you said 'Have some toast instead'" which just goes to show that the old Sinister Rachels breakfast theme has been influential on Belle & Sebastian, too! I like this song because I think it's a good ending track to the album, as well. But honestly, there is not one song that I don't like on the album. "Asleep On A Sunbeam" took a while to grow on Ben, but now he loves it, too. Speaking of breakfast themes, I must apologise for not responding about the LA treasure hunt sooner. Yes, the treasure was hidden at Iguana vintage clothing. It took the 3 girls who won (Mandy, Crystal and Esther) something like 8 hours to complete the treasure hunt. The treasure was tickets and passes for the LA show, and a cigar box that Stuart sent including a pink pig nail scrubber, a '60's style Scottish post card, a great pink brocade neck tie, a scarf, a cd of a Belfast gig, a 1938 Scottish Exposition Pin, a Belle et Sebastien child's book, and then I put the cigar box inside a box of Belle & Sebastian cereal that I made. Peter Crooks and I worked very hard to organize that treasure hunt, and I was very happy that 3 such nice people won it. We were very surprised that they found it so fast, though! In other news, MARIANNA LONGMIRE (the NEW Ken Chu of this season,) arrives at LAX on Sunday morning. She will be staying with myself and Mr. Bapps for 10 days and she will even be here for MY BIRTHDAY on Tuesday! Hoorah! We are beside ourselves with excitement! I dub next Thursday "Llewsday" as it is a certain LL's BIRTHDAY on that day! You still have time to shower her with gifts! Damn, us Libras are so cute, aren't we!?! You just can't resist! I hope that you're all well and having fun! love, Rachel fruitloop-Apps __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+