Ahoy there, playmates TIMOTHY HOPKINS CD (DECEASED) All is quiet in the trousers-hopkins-hall household. Mostly because Tim hasn t moved in yet. However, his record player has, which has led me to invent a hilarious pastime to while away the long summer evenings. For this hilarious pastime you will need the following equipment: one (1) glass of weak lemon drink; a selection of assorted popular music lps. First drink your glass of weak lemon drink. Then find a tune guaranteed to offend Mr Hopkins delicate P!O!P! sensibilities. Then play it very loud. So far I have played The Pixies Come on, Pilgrim; Laughter, Tears and Rage by post-Propaganda ZTT losers Act; Introspective by the Pet Shop Boys; Aja by Steely Dan; Exile on Main Street by The Rolling Stones; Blue Bell Knoll by The Cocteau Twins and Babelogue by Raymonde. We still have one week to go, so any further suggestions will be gratefully received at the usual address. NOW THATS WHAT I CALL NOODLY ARTROCK DROSS YOU MORON Iron Mike Jones burbled: Early Brian Eno? Yes please! You can never have too much Eno in your life. This year is proving to be a bit of an Indian Summer for ludicrous pop-conceptualists, with both Scritti Politti and Art of Noise remerging with confections of perfection, much to my delight (and I suspect, Mr Joness). Actually, I don t think theres any such thing as an unconcious influence when youre as self-conscious as Mr Merritt. I still think he should call his forthcoming soixanteneuf-er More Songs about Songs and Songs. Mike also mentioned funny Americanisms; I have always wandered about the phrase ass-backwards which roughly translates as wrong way round. But surely it should be ass-forwards? No? ELECTRIC HONEY Perusing The Guardian Guide this weekend I noticed an ad for the forthcoming Cropreddy Festival, where Fairport Convention will once again kick out the jams, motherfucker. Halfway down the bill, who should I see billed but The Honey Band. So thats what hes been up to, the sly devil. Talking of Honey and folk rock, I was interested to see that the ringletted minstrelle Kate Jugsby has been nominated for a Mercury Music Award this year, along with The Manic Street Preachers and The Stereophonics (shurely some redundancy here). The Guardian call her an outsider, so I think the Mighty Arm of Sinister oughta rig this award too. MUSIC FOR GIRLS Carsmilesteve mentioned in a throwaway fashion that his mates band were going to be playing with Baxendale in London on Saturday. You should definitely all go, cos Baxendale are the cats pyjamas, the mules eyebrows, the dogs bollocks, and the best pop group Ive seen all year. Even the fact that singer jumped off the stage and landed on my bad foot the last time I saw them cannot douse my ardour. I share this opinion with Dickon Edwards and Matt Haynes and Darren Hefner, so I must be right. THE BIG SHEEP This month I have mostly been reading the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. If you go to Waterstones at the moment you can get a big discount on his new book South of The Border, West of The Sun which is very B&S-friendly, all about falling in love with a young girl with a wonky leg and listening to scratchy old records. All his other books are fantastic too. Actually, I had a gander through the archives, and it seems that people were telling you all this ages ago, but I had never heard of him before, which goes to show how much attention I pay. Ive read more good books this year than I have heard good records, which must mean I am getting old. Until next time Stevie Trousers xxx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+