Sinister: from Banchory, Banchory & Barnes

[gogron]

Fellow Sinistreens,

    This is my first posting to the sinister mailing list. I will,
therefore, briefly introduce myself. My name is Gordon, I am 29 and work
as an 'architect' (final examinations lurk... it takes ages to become
one) in Scotland. If I am known at all to readers of this list, it is
under the indulgently pompous persona of 'Rousseau' in the associated
chatroom. The grandiloquent ellipticality demonstrated there to
occassionally controversial effect does actually have some of the 'real
me' in it, so if you can't stand Rousseau, then you know whose posts to
skip!

Belle and Sebastian
    I'm currently enjoying the *Tigermilk* album. I'm still not sure
about the suitability of the lyrics, largely sighs over things not going
quite right, and the music, which is winsome and jaunty. A more
comprehensive companionableness is offered, I suppose: sympathy in the
under-par times and happy if you are. For example, the notes upon which
this email is based were written one sunny lunchtime to which it played
as a perfect soundtrack.
    It should be said that I'm skirting only on a superficial critique
of an album that all of you know very well. I don't wish to be
impertinent in seeming to 'sum up' the album as 'not a dull track on
it/love it to bits' but you get the gist of my affection for the band
and its output and, dare I admit it, I only bought *Tigermilk* a couple
of days ago.
    I bought *If You're Feeling Sinister* in 1996, Virgin Records,
Oxford Street. With reference to a recent posting, nobody's arm was on
fire at the time. It was on one of the listening posts, I donned the
headphones, fancied the girl on the cover, thought 'this is a breath of
fresh air' and made the purchase. I also liked the song titles and
especially the descriptive bit on the back,which is indicative of the
particularly engaging style of Belle and Sebastian and, I think more
significantly, the whole culture surrounding them: I like the people
that like them.

The Religion Thread
    My standing on the matter (for what it's worth) is this: One should
first of all distinguish between the concepts of religion as it pertains
to the functioning of a society and as it intimates the spiritual.
    Religion is, in the first sense, a vehicle for the dissemination of
rules and aspirations of and for behaviour such that a society might
progress along a traditional path. To disagree with religion here is to
posit an anarchic potential or else is an explicit preference for an
alternative societal model, such as secularism.
    In the second sense, religion offers a shared framework for
experiencing the potential of life beyond the concepts established
within mundane experience. To disagree with this is either to suggest
that beyond mundane experience is nothing or to put that aspect of one's
existence in an inexpressably personal form.
    I reckon it is possible to further analyse specific acts in the
first category, and beliefs in the second in order to establish,
respectively, their desireability and truth.
    The above stance precludes me from being either 'for' or 'against'
religion as a hermetic and monolithic entity.


Stop Press
    Fold yer hands, child, is currently available from Sainsbury's
supermarket at £9.99 a pop.

Another Concert
    I recently attended a small pop concert in Edinburgh, at a good
venue called *the Attic*. I was thinking of writing a little review of
it for you lot, being pop fans and all, but my mind wandered somewhat,
to the effect below... by the way, I use non-prose writing when it comes
naturally. I make no claims for it:

    songs from the Attic

    (an architectural term in two etymological senses and
    ... with love to Athens)

    were I to say
    the whine of feedback makes my day:-
    and the beer-soaked dinky wee floor;
    cigarette butts galore,
    was an aesthetic pre-amble, then:-
    need I say more?

    some people want catharsis;
    some spread their arms wide,
    some are happy;
    -to be part of it-
    others hide.
    Some pose
    Expectantly, because it is what they are accustomed to,
    and all around is noise;
    musical noise of the rock-god whore.

    'STARSKY': the band,
    starts with a slow number:-
    lots of phased guitar.
    A soundless, sweaty clap at the end
    reminds me of speechless, sweaty dancing,
    leaden drums offering the lumpen rhythmic cue,
    to the love of my lost teenage angst;
    the inarticulate passion that,
    inexpressible and unactable I rationed out
    I did not even want
    Except for the feeling:
    I want that feeling again

As always for a first post, one is anxious about all that one does and
says, but in reading your own posts I have felt companionship, comfort,
amusement and occasional reading, which is something I've enjoyed so
far. I look forward to being part of that.
Gordon



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