Sinister: If I were an animal I would not be a mouse I would be a HAMPSTER - GRRR!

[robin stout]

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 ]

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