Jay is poofed? Well there's a thing! I've often suspected that somewhere out there are a panel of super-intelligent lurkers, who sit licking their pencils and scribbling notes while they listen to our sinister nonsense, only rarely pushing back their chairs to make a sharp-as-paper comment that leaves us all awestruck, then sit down again. These suspicions were confirmed when, looking through my inbox, i found an email from one Robin Stout that attempted to be an explanation of why Belle and Sebastian aren't twee, but deteriorated into a story about when he went to Sports Day and his car broke down. This example of below-average intelligence was followed by; Peter, who pondered: << i've never been sure what emo / twee / etc are. but then again i am weirded out by people who insist on these quasi-teutonic classifcations for music. and i always get chided by my friends with REAL indie street-cred for saying that. (because they think it's totally justifiable to say, "oh yeah, this is post-punk ska with a little disco influence" etc.) i think the best description of b&s was "sunny pop with rainy lyrics" but i can't remember where that came from. >> Perfect, succinct. A thousand heads nod as one. and Michelle, who quoted: << "Yet what remains so compelling about Sinister is that it has none of the cliches that would come to typify its imitators. Stuart Murdoch's characters are neither timid nor frail. They're restless and horny and pissed-off, flipping fingers at the loutish football hooligans clogging the local pub. Other twee twerps are all flinches and shivers, but Belle and Sebastian has nothing but confidence-the kind of big-balled, brawny braggadocio that comes from knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that everyone else is beneath you." >> And i think that that just about hits the mark, too. Good to have you both with us, Peter and Michelle. I hope you're not going to put down your pencils just yet. Thanks for the article, Michelle. I'm not sure that I know what Magnet is, exactly. Magnet is a furniture shop, non? Seems strange that they should review records in their furniture catalogue, but it's a funny world. The only other thing I have to say on the subject of twee is that I can never understand how people who are big fans of Belle and Sebastian can still misunderstand how un-twee many of their songs are. Someone told me once that they used to listen to them a lot, but they've got no time for happy pop songs anymore. I couldn't understand this. Some of their songs are the saddest songs I've ever heard. +++ I'm getting into internet radio. Not only does it give me Lauren Laverne every morning it let me hear a Tender Trap song called "Friendster" and Darren "Hefner" Hayman's new band The French. Thinking of these two bands, something occurred to me. Maybe Belle and Sebastian should split up. Stuart Murdoch should form another band with a funny name. They would have a different sound, a different direction, but the same intelligence and panache. I would quite like this. Is this dangerous talk? +++ I wish I lived in California. Not because of any concerts, really, I just wish I lived there. Robin x [ by express delivery : http://www.superatomic.co.uk/blog ] _________________________________________________________________ Find a cheaper internet access deal - choose one to suit you. http://www.msn.co.uk/internetaccess +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+