Sinister: a piece about them now that they've made it

[Scott Plagenhoef]

hello people:

Poor Sarah! -- plunked into the back of Bel's video and bumped from the
cover of the single in favor of Adrienne Payne. She's the Martha Wash of
B&S.

Brandt wrote:
For the life of me I don't know how they could
expand this song for the 12" (anyone have a running
time on the 12" version)

Well, apparently Matador has delayed the vinyl release -- supposedly it will
be out next week. Maybe someone else knows for sure. The CD version is 4:05
and the entire CDS is just over 9 minutes, so that 20-minute chart limit is
almost certainly not an issue.

I can actually see "Dick Slap" extended rather easily. It basically is three
distinct parts ("Weathershow"/Jean-Jacques Perrey chug; Motown/Philly Soul
bit; plaintive, piano-led bit) each of which tops out at a maximum of two
minutes. The last one might easily be dropped for the 12´´ and the other two
could be expanded rather easily as they are both short -- or there could be
extra bits that aren't on the CDS. All pointless speculation, of course.

Anyway, I'm there will be loads of press for the band over the next few
months -- and not all of it needs repeating here -- but, due to the bizarre
locale and the overall hilarity of the feature, here is a little bit on the
band that appears in the current US version of Vanity Fair. (Tom Cruise,
with very greasy-looking hair, is on the cover; Struan and Isobel have wee
pictures of them on the inside)

Anyway, laugh riot starts here: (from pg. 236)
TEA AND HARMONY
Belle and Sebastian Bears Its Soul
While U.K. lad bands such as Oasis and Blur feud on the pages of glossy
magazines, Belle and Sebastian, the seven-member Glasgow band, is making
music for the world's more sensitive souls. Founded four years ago by
30-year-old choirboy Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian prefers perfroming
in churches to big arenas. The band is perplexed when it comes to the media
("Is this a ladies' bridal magazine?" one member asks V.F.) and they are so
modest they can't bear to have their pictures taken. Worshiping in the House
of Unattainable Loveliness, they make pristine melodies using trumpets,
strings, even recorders, and sing about beautiful young track stars,
homesickness, and "Judy" who dreams about horses. To Belle and Sebastian
fans‹-"twentysomethings who work with computers," as trumpet player Mick
Cooke describes them‹‹the group's oblique lyrics, even when they verge on
nonsense, express pain and elation exquisitely. But with their fourth album,
FYHCYWLAP, confused, free-floating sexuality has given way to a more 70s
soulfulness, and the band's twee image may be starting to crumble. As
cellist Isobel Campbell puts it, "I think people have this fantasy that we
get together and drink tea and eat cake."

So, the New York/LA cultural establishment has its say. In the same issue
they also tackle the debate about which Affleck brother is currently "in."
(Hint: It's not Casey!)

bye.
scott. 

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
    +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
    To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
    send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
    majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students"  +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list"  +-+
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper        +-+
 +-+   "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000   +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+