I'm a bit baffled by the new-look take-no-prisoners Nickie Dastoor and his slagging of Free Design. Haven't we moved a little bit beyond liking bands just because everyone else on Sinister likes them? I didn't even realise this is something that happens. But (if I'm understanding this rightly) hey, they're a Sinister cliché now so don't even bother checking them out. Nick, isn't your argument getting self-defeating - the only difference being the bands we're not allowed to like rather than the ones we all should?

I seem to be confusing a lot of people of late. Not least myself. I'm pretty sure I wasn't saying what Mark thinks I was, though. I think The Free Design are GREAT. Neither am I suggesting that anyone on Sinister is pretending to like them just because so many other people do. I was just making reference to their status as one of those previously obscure bands that through tapes and recommendations have become popular with a lot of people quite rapidly. People like them because they like them. Why so many people? I don't know - they obviously appeal to a lot of the same people as Belle and Sebastian appeal to. If I use the phrase 'overlapping aesthetics' please don't think I'm a big ponce who is suggesting that Belle and Sebastian fans all base their musical tastes on some book of P!O!P! rules. Although if anyone has a copy of the Big Book of P!O!P! Rules, I'd love to borrow it. What I *was* saying was that having records by them is not half as 'cool' as it once was, because so many people seem to have them these days. I'm not using 'cool' to men 'good' - I'm using it in the 'pop snob' sense (and pop snobbery is, I think we all agree, A BAD THING, even if I wouldn't deny that I am guilty of yielding to its charms myself). To me, pop snobbery is all about being proud of having records that no one else has. Not about having records that everyone in some youth subculture (eg indie kids) *does* have, which is what some people seem to have been implying. Props to Martin for admitting his 'Family Cat' dating rule, though.

I think I must just not be getting this cos Nick is a far brighter being than I am and I'm sure I'm missing something.

You sweetie you. Sorry for not shutting up now like I said I would do before. The new-look take-no-prisoners Nickie Dastoor xx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+