Hello... Well, I think Belle & Sebastian are now officially everywhere. Or at least they were today. Firstly, while returning from lunch, I detected a familiar sound emanating from the battered old speaker which thrust itself proudly out onto the street from "Outer Limits." Outer Limits, by the way, is a record store, and that familiar noise was, yes, Belle & Sebastian, playing "Sleep the Clock Around." I found it a bit surprising, as I usually only hear either A) Garage rock B) Various cool 60's records or C) Punk rawk coming from said speaker. The guy who works there is mighty cool, though, and Magnetic Megan found an Orange Juice 7" there, so nyah. Then I had bought my flatmates "Christmas" presents, to make up for the fact that I had forgotten when it was actually Christmastime, and better 2 months late than never. One of them was a copy of Sinister, which my flatmate loved, and actually said she was thinking about buying it. Hm, I guess I've already done half the conversion work. I am inclined to agree with the school of thought which says the more B&S fans, the merrier. I kind of like that, and I like that at least one of the bands I like best is one that other people like too. I guess I shouldn't complain, it's not as if New Order had a shortage of fans. Having said all that, no one's stopped me and said they liked B&S when I've worn my shirt, though a B&S fan from Athens did come into the chat the other night. However, I can also see that it is nice when you can see a band you like 10 feet in front of you, talk to them and tell them you like their music, and not see their eyes glass over, and even ask them to do a song on a compilation you're doing without immediately getting turned down. Or better yet, ask them a question about their band and they offer to send you two 7"S and a flexi ;) That's just a lovely feeling, and I don't think anyone could say that wanting that feeling is wrong. Having said that, I never felt that way about B&S, who have always seemed to be a band that a lot of people liked, and somewhat unreachable, though not entirely so. As a consequence, I never felt my heart harden as they graced the pages of CMJ, who reported in this week's issue about Tigermilk and the upcoming side-projects. And even if one of the virtually unknown bands I liked became a big thing, it would only make me happier. There's always someone unknown doing something interesting and new, after all. Incidentally, I was just at my office hours today, and I perused said new issue of CMJ. Indeed, Spiritualized are nowhere to be found on the charts (though you won't find me lamenting) and I believe Ani Difranco is at the top. I'm pleased to note the Mojave 3 album is number 3 though. B&S are still in the top 50 somewhere, after I believe 21 weeks. And on the subject of how the next album will sound... B&S have never seemed like a band which reinvents themselves to me. I expect the 4th album to be a very similar record in sound to previous ones, with perhaps a slightly differing tone to all the songs. Perhaps this is because they put all the most different-sounding songs on their EPs? Certainly with 3...6...9 and Lazy Line Painter Jane in hand you could claim this, but you might have to hide TINKERTOYS behind your back and cross your fingers when you said "Yeah, *all* of the EPs." fweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep (that's the sound a button makes when you play it) /"\_/"\_/"\ Mick McMick/Sandcastle Records <<->> bp224996@ohiou.edu \ / Sandcastle Records Homepage: ICQ#5056758 | | http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Amphitheatre/4972/ | | "I am always wishing to make people | | in the world happy with my smiles." | | -Mr. Friendly +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+