Sinister: that sound...that shop...that soup...

[P. Miller / A. Ubieta]

Nigel Turner wrote:

>
>
> At the risk of deepening Andy Dean's homesickness, and
> drifting further off-topic, 'cause.....err...... I reckon
> Utlima Thule is probably the last record shop on planet
> earth that'd stock Belle & Sebastian stuff (it's a great
> shop, but it specialises in "Krautrock" and prog stuff.
> Julian Cope name-checked it in his "Krautrocksampler"
> book, and can often be seen "hanging out" in said shop.
> But the guys that run it are, um....rather strange).
>

Yes, few people see the prog element in B&S.

I've only ever been to Ultima Thule once, but it's like a
parallel universe. The fabulous furry Freeman brothers are
indeed strange, but really very nice indeed. In the hour or
so that I was there, one of them (they are indistinguishable
to the untrained eye, like the Max Walls who run that shop
on Byres Road together with Jim Foetus) brought the other
one some leek and ham soup, which they later had a
conversation about. Apparently there wasn't much ham in it.
Kosmische, eh? All this to a constant background of
wurp-wurp-wurp-wurp cosmic music. And they've got the Star
Trek warp drive screen saver on their computer. While one
brother is in the shop, the other one's upstairs practising
his Klaus Schultze drum pummelling technique. I had great
difficulty deciding what to buy, because I'd had the Cope
book for ages and failed miserably to find any of the music
in cosmic Spain. The best one I got was a second hand (whose
hand?) copy of "Yeti" by Amon Duul II for about six quid. I
have subsequently bought more Amon Duul II things. My
favourite is "Wolf City". In fact I think I'll go and listen
to it now....wish me luck.

>
>
> Peter, where is "here"?  Not Leicester, presumably.
> (Spiritualized are playing "there" tomorrow

Bound to pay a visit to Ultima Thule.

> , oops...sorry Andy!).  But yes, I have seen Will Oldham
> playing with the Palace Brothers (great band...sort of
> warped, self-indulgent country music) in Norwich about 4
> years ago.  They were supporting Tindersticks, with whom
> Belle & Sebastian have often been compared (phew, got back
> on topic!)
>

Here is exotic San Sebastian. Or rather there. Because I
live and compute just outside. Will Oldham is playing as
part of a series of subsidised(!) concerts to keep groovy
young kids off the streets and away from the temptaions of
drugs and petrol bomb throwing, both major recreational
activities round here. Previous beneficiaries of the
council's genorosity include Morcheeba, who were really good
- honest!, and Red Snapper, who were good too, but Morcheeba
were more...erm...entertaining. Tickets cost about two
pounds, so you can't really grumble at that. Unless you are
a taxpayer.

About the Stylophone:

Former Stylophone owners will have noticed that on "Mayfly"
it is played in the correct "sliding" manner, as
demonstrated by Rolf on the instructional flexi disc. Not as
easy to master as you may think, as I recall, so three
cheers for Belle and Sebastian's Stylophone player! And
three cheers for me for a dramatic last minute return to the
topic of our favourite oddball popsters!

Peter



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