- Sinister - missprint.org

Sinister: Ruudy and his dream of horses
by kenneth.chu＠uclh.nhs.uk 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

Well hellow there, See, remember way back in September last year when B+S did that lurverly Don't Look Back thingie and they did the whole of IYFS in order from start to finish? Remember? The one that was great, yeah? It was so good that it inspired me to make the next 10 sinister posts from that day to be titled by IYFS puns, in track listing order. Except whilst posting from an airport in my haste in November I cocked it up and so the order got all fucked. So 7 months on, 2 gigs later here's the last one of the lot. 10 posts in 7 months! You must have missed me. Nobody wrote about the exciting VIRGIN MEGASTORE EXTRAVAGANZA last Monday! Where B+S played a set in celebration of their new single at the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street, and signed records, and it was all free! It was quite exciting you know, seeing a band I like at the Virgin Megastore, because I always thought that only bands I don't like would play Virgin Megastores. I don't think it's a thing against Virgin Megastores, but more just a victim mentality of me with being fans of the indie musical bands and I get used to being jealous of other fans of bands who do proper publicity and that. So it's kind of fun to have B+S being a bit more orthodox, I guess, these days: with festival tours and Match of the Day air-time and single launch thingies and singles that are off the albums, and songs on video jukeboxes at It's A Scream pubs and all that. Anyway the setlist was something like - Another Sunny Day -[two songs here maybe both from DCW maybe Wrapped up in Books and I'm a Cuckoo but actually I can't remember go me!!] - Brief "Ticket to Ride" interlude - The Blues are Still Blue - She's Losing It So yeah! It was fun. The sinister contingent were represented by at least 5, from at least 3 continents. Get in. Several people have mentioned picnics lately, I wonder if it's because the sun is out and we all remember how good the sun is. There should be sinisterfitba, as well. I played some fitba with some sinister folks and some other folks just yesterday, on Primrose Hill, in fact. You should join in. We should picnic. Innit. Ken P.S.: Who on this bitch is going to ATP weekend 2?? I am going and I seem to like some of the bands playing! I'm scared that I might end up ACTUALLY SEEING BANDS, so I'll be needing people to keep me at the Queen Vic, can any of you help? ********************************************************************** This email is confidential and intended solely for the person or entity to whom it is addressed. If this email was not intended for you please notify the UCLH Mail Administrator at mail.administrator(a)uclh.org. This footnote confirms that the email and attachments contained no viruses when they left UCLH. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Is your belly fat, is your man a twat?
by Ben Apps 09 Apr '06

09 Apr '06

Good afternoon Sinister, Well Belle and Sebastian are absolutely EVERYWHERE now aren't they? After getting home from the recent Hammersmith Apollo gig in London we saw a TV advert for The Life Pursuit! Next, the BBC predictably used The Blues Are Still Blue for their post match montage after Chelsea knocked Newcastle out of the FA Cup. Then, this week I discovered the band appearing at my workplace: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brapps/125644327/ With all the truckloads of cash the band will be making as a result of the extra publicity Rough Trade are paying for this time around, it makes me wonder if the next album will be their post fame comedown album, full of tales of cocaine abuse and how everyone pretends to be your friend. Bought the new single on Monday. The Life Pursuit is pleasant enough without being memorable, which makes it a disappointment in my eyes, and Mr Richard (Presumably a Stevie song as he sings it) sounds like a sixties latineqsue ditty that borrows it's catchiest riff from Blister in the Sun. Still, the The Blues Are Still Blue is a worthy A side and at least the cover photos are monochrome. See yous later Ben www.brapps.net +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Time catches up with all of us
by Forest Pines 09 Apr '06

09 Apr '06

Hello there. I didn't realise there was a new B&S single out this week either. Bah. Clearly I haven't been paying attention very well; I only noticed when, catching up with my email, I read this week's Popbitch, and saw it's expected to go into the top 20 here in Britain. My favourite thing about TLP has to be the deluxe binding. I don't want to put it alongside all my other CDs; it looks like it belongs on a bookshelf alongside The Gashlycrumb Tinies or something similar. I was intrigued, though, as to why the Scottish Railway Preservation Society and the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway (which are one and the same for most purposes) are mentioned in the acknowledgements. I used to work there, but even so it took me ages to work out that one of the booklet photos is the interior of an old British Rail carriage; and the others do look rather like they could be Birkhill railway station. Must Try Harder in future. I was rather shocked to see that Astrid has moved to Beverley. I used to look forward to her regular posts describing her exciting Swedish life, so it's hard to imagine that she's now only a few miles from here. Astrid, if you're reading: I'm in Grimsby, just over the river. If you had asked me to name an English place that foreign people are likely to want to move to, I have to admit that Beverley wouldn't have been an obvious choice. Only yesterday, I was thinking about Sinister picnics. The reason being, I went off to meet people from another internet place for the very first time yesterday. And, I've been to meetups for things many times before - before I was on Sinister, even, I went to annual meetups of a Usenet group I posted to - but I'm still always nervous when it comes to meeting new people. "Don't worry," said one of these people yesterday, "we don't bite." "Unless," said someone else, "you ask nicely! Ahahahahahaa!" Their Evil Villain training course was coming on nicely, I believe. These other people call their meetups munches, rather than picnics, even though they amount to more or less the same thing. It's traditional, apparently. Anyway, that's enough rambling from me - one post to Sinister every six months is *quite* enough. I'm off to take decongestants and maybe go buy that single. CD *and* vinyl - I might not be a big enough fan to know when the record is coming out, but I'm a big enough geek to buy two formats of the same thing. xx FP -- http://www.symbolicforest.com/blog/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: new single - ulp!
by Lawrence Mikkelsen 04 Apr '06

04 Apr '06

hey Sinisterinos once again, a question about downloading B&S music, although this time I shall phrase things such as to not offend Honey or potentially infringe copyright. OK, firstly, how come no one told me that there was a new B&S single out today? Jeeze! Secondly, can anyone suggest a legitimate way I can get a crisp, digital version of "Whiskey in a jar", the b-side from the 7". A copy of said record is winging its way to me as I write this, but I'd really like to iPod-ise it, and have always found that the transition from vinyl-to-MP3 is a) a pain in the arse b) terribly time consuming, and c) not that satisfying from an audio point of view. My issue is that pretty much every legitimate download service is unavailable in New Zealand. iTunes isn't, and every other service I've tried have spat the dummy as soon as they see my credit card billing address is outside of the EU or US. Any suggestions (or emails with attachments) gratefully received. Secondly, there's been little discussion about "Late Night Tales" compilation and I was wondering what people thought? Personally, I think it's a bit disapppointing. It could (I think) have just as easily been called "Chris Geddes: Late Night Tales" rather than "Belle & Sebastian: Late Nigth Tales". OK, so making a mix like this is probably a consensus exercise between seven people with quite different musical tastes, but I can't help feeling like they tried a little _too_ hard to make it as un-indie as possible. I mean, really, Stuart has always been very vocal about the music he likes, but other than "French Disko" I'm wondering where all his favourites are? (And, again, I know there's more to making a mix than just sticking your 20 favourite songs on a CD) Surely Felt would have made the grade? Or Orange Juice, or some of the other 80s indie which was clearly quite an influence. Or something. It's a sad state of affairs when a Steve Miller band song is my favourite song on the album. OK, I really should have started working about half an hour ago ... keep on rockin' Lawrence +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Oh!
by Astrid Wiezell 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

Hello Sinisters. Wow. The list really has come to life again! For a while there I thought you'd all left sinister, kind of like I'd gone to the loo at this amazing party and when I came back, everyone had gone home. Hmm. Not saying I spend a crazily long amount of time on the loo. Oh, see, I can't even get simple metaphor thingies right. How have you all been doing? I'm afraid the sheer amount of posts that waited for me in this mail folder (I don't use this e-mail anymore) is a bit overwhelming, and right now I'm quite sleepy, so you'll have to excuse me for not reading through them all. But I do see a lot of familiar names, and that makes me smile. I live in Beverley in East Yorkshire now with my boyfriend, as he works for a newspaper here (well really based in Hull) and we live in a house together. We rent it from an eccentric posho old lady who has what should be described as "classy" interior skills, but a lot of the time is a bit more sort of OTT Russian style. We have dark red velvet curtains in our master bedroom! A dark wood-bed that is actually pretty, and these hysterical wallpaper on the upper half of 19th century people looking romantic, with little cupids around. A love shack indeed. Best of all there is a beauty table. It makes me feel all fifties, apart from the fact that there is not enough space between the chair we put there and the table's beginning, so a lot of the time I manage hurting my legs a bit. Oh clumsy ol' me. So. I'm unemployed, and when not looking for a job spend my days in silly ways. Like baking stuff, or recording music, or choosing my outfit for an hour almost and then changing three times even though I only need to go to tesco. This autumn I will start uni, I almost count as a mature student! I'll be turning 20 this summer (Holy shit, I'm in my twenties soon?!) and they draw the line at 21. I'll be studying media, culture and society, which seems like a brilliant superace new degree, mainly focusing on media but getting a bit of politics and sociology and film studies and what have you. Hurrah! The best things about living in England are: -Getting to live in a house with my boyfriend -Always feeling like I'm on holiday in the sense that i'm still not used to left-side traffic or the architecture and all that. -The tv shows -Travelling around -The great selection of veggie food -Being able to buy booze at food stores The worst things about living in England are: -I'm far away from family and friends in Sweden who I miss terribly -Including the two house cats! -People eat much fattier, greasier foods and because I can buy 12 bags of crisps for 58p it is quite possible I will. -Cooking and baking (translating ingredients and stuff, and then trying to find them) -Missing out on fun Swedish stuff that couldn't be imported, as it could be in Sweden Soon I will be going home to Stockholm for a week. Oh it's next week actually. Eep! I'm quite nervous. With fitting everything in, and having enough time for everyone (there never is) and just the emotional state of mind I get into... it's strange but sometimes my mum and i or my sisters and i get a bit annoyed with each other or angry even just because it's kind of hard to have a great time and then leave so soon again. I really really really miss them. Well. My new exciting beach 2006-friendly life starts tomorrow, although I have started it a bit already with healthier foods and more regular exercise, but, I need to get up a bit earlier tomorrow so now I'm going to bed. Just popped in to say hello, really. Hope you're all well. MWAHS. Astrid _________________________________________________________________ Chatt: Träffa nya nätkompisar på Habbo Hotel http://habbohotel.msn.se/habbo/sv/channelizer +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: does anyone have a recording of the portland show?
by leigh kelsey 27 Mar '06

27 Mar '06

My friend Amy sang onstage with the band in Portland and she'd love to get a recording of it if anyone has it. The email she asked me to forward is below. xo, leigh ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Amy <knittingpretty(a)gmail.com> Date: Mar 27, 2006 4:09 PM Subject: b&s To: leigh kelsey <leigh.kelsey(a)gmail.com> I was just wondering if anyone who was at the Portland, OR show on 3/23/06 has any recording of the show. I was picked to go onstage to sing "Lazy Line Painter Jane" with the band for the last song, and I would really like to see or hear a recording of this as a memory and to show all my friends. Also, does anyone know if the band was recording this show, or maybe know of someone at Jeepster or the band that I can email and ask for a recording? Thanks! +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Reporting Back from Portland...
by Stuart Gardiner 27 Mar '06

27 Mar '06

OK, so I went to see some band play on Thursday. You might have heard of them. As is traditional, I'll start with an inaccurate setlist, probably missing at lesat one song and certainly not in exactly the right order, but fairly close... Quite a few pleasant surprises in there... The State I Am In (sounding much fuller than normal, and better than ever - maybe they've just got a better soundman now?) Another Sunny Day (why on earth hasn't this been a single yet? It's easily the most radio-friendly song on the album - are they just waiting until the summer to release it?) Funny Little Frog Belle And Sebastian (!!! Not heard that one live for years !!!) Sukie In The Graveyard (the one song from the new album which didn't really work as well live as on the record) Electronic Renaissance (worked remarkably well live. Although I now know why Stevie doesn't normally dance on stage...) Song For Sunshine (because every album has to have its clunker, right? And it's not nearly as bad a clunker as previous albums... I just keep wondering why they sing "Sunshine, the OC" in the chorus, have they become addicted to rubbish TV shows?) We Are The Sleepyheads Dress Up In You (which apparently is approximately 26% a true story...) Slow Graffiti (Yay for another blast from the past...) Portland, Oregon (Stevie's song, performed only once before when they played Portland 5 years ago. A bit cheesy sounding, but one of his better tunes. The lyrics might need some work though - "It's a rainy state, // But it's great when you're on a date") Jonathan David (still sounding as great as ever - I never understood why some people didn't rate this song) Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying Your Cover's Blown (I can understand why people didn't rate this one though... The middle bit's great, the rest is forgettable) I Don't Love Anyone (yes, it still sounds like a Beautiful South song) I'm A Cuckoo White Collar Boy (featuring more evidence of why Stevie shouldn't dance on stage) Judy And The Dream Of Horses For the encore, Stuart asked for requests from the audience, and they got together and decided which ones to play. The winners were: Expectations Lazy Line Painter Jane (as usual, featuring a girl pulled out from the audience singing the Monica Queen part. The difference being, for possibly the first time when I've seen them do it, the girl who came up not only knew the words but could actually sing) So, a massive four songs from Tigermilk, plus another even older song from the Dog On Wheels EP, but no Twattybus or Fishyclap... They sounded fantastic throughout, so much more energy onstage than in the old days (or maybe it's just because I'm not allowed to drink at the moment so I was actually stone cold sober at a gig for the first time in ages? Seriously, it's over two months now since I got really ill, this is the longest I've gone without alcohol since I was about 15...) They were on good form for the between-song banter as well, whether it was complaining about the magically self-detuning guitar, or complaining even more about Stevie's whistling during the subsequent short delay. For the fashion police out there, no real surprises: Stevie in a suit, Stuart in a tight white T-shirt and bowler hat, Sarah in a hoodie, Mick in a checked shirt, Richard gurning behind the drumkit, and Chris completing his 70s throwback look with a pornstar moustache. You know, B&S fandom might not be the same as it used to be - Sinister and Bowlie are both pretty much dead, and most gigs aren't one-off events any more - but the music's better than ever. As the Duke would say, Keep The Faith Kids. Big Stu (noticing that the Decemberists, the Shins and the New Pornographers are all playing ATP, and wishing he could go... All three ex-B&S support acts, and the first two both from right here in Portland...) +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: a new album, a new struggle
by Ian Moore 26 Mar '06

26 Mar '06

Hello again, Shortly after seeing Belle & Sebastian in concert I acquired their new album. Before discussing it, however, may I refer you to this website: http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=10200. It concerns a trip Stuart & Chris made to the Middle of the East to look at the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians and stuff. There are some nice pictures there, including one of Stuart climbing through a gap in that wall thing the Israelis are building. I can't remember whether anyone has posted a link to this before, and I can't check the archives, so maybe you will find the website interesting, or maybe it is all old hat to you at this stage. Anyway, what about that album? And what about that Alexis Petridis fellow? I was amused by how he scoved at B&S fans before expounding the most unreconstructed old-school B&S fan position - that the band essentially went rubbish the moment Stuart let anyone else sing or write a song. God bless him. I’ve realty had it with this lazy position, which neglects to point out the pleasures that derive from listening to a record and hearing several voices singing. Also, this position conveniently forgets the many clunkers Stuart himself has written. I showed my disapproval of Mr Petridis’ review by mailing him a human ear. However, when Petridis moves on from cliché he gets a bit more interesting. For the new album, the band went to America and worked with this producer guy who is apparently relatively well-known, but not so well known as Trevor Horn. However, the album is to some extent of a piece with “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”, being heavily produced in a way that previous B&S outings were not. It’s just maybe not as good. Actually, it’s definitely not as good – where DCW was a career highlight, this is the kind of record where you start to wonder whether you can finally give up on your favourite band. Or so it does on a first listen. Subsequently it goes ever better on the ear, so I may eventually conclude that “The Life Pursuit” is the greatest work of art the human race will ever produce. I kind of doubt it, however, as at this stage I really am beginning to conclude that over all it's not *that* good. But what does it sound like? Like I said, it sounds produced. The songs, particularly towards the beginning of the record, have the kind of jauntiness you get from people who listen to a lot of disco and Northern Soul (without actually sounding that like disco or Northern Soul). Later tracks are mostly a bit less engaging or a bit subtler, with ‘Dress Up In You’ sounding the most like something from one of their pre-DCW albums. Some of the others seem a bit unformed, with ‘We Are The Sleepyheads’ being particularly guilty here. And having two down-tempo whingers to finish off the album was probably a major contributor to my initial impression that this record was a bit duff. On balance, the good tracks are really good, if you like the produced B&S sound that does not sound like classic B&S. And like all B&S albums bar “Tigermilk” the good songs are weighed down by filler (all Murdoch-written – the one Stevie Jackson tune is a charmer). Some people have wondered whether this will be the record that breaks B&S through to the big time. I think not - if they haven't made it to the big-time by now I really do not think they ever will. On the other hand, given how popular B&S are now, maybe it is time to conclude that they broke through some time ago. Maybe so indeed. Anyway, that's all for now. If any of you are in NOTTINGHAM, keep an eye out for me next weekend, as that is where I will be. Bless you all, DV +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Report from concert in San Francisco
by peter arnold 23 Mar '06

23 Mar '06

Dear Listerines, You don't know me but I know you - haha yes! I've been reading your mail these several years. And I went up to the city to see the Belles last night! Here is my homework: Report from B&S gig in Saint Frank, 3/21/06 In the SOMA district of San Francisco there is a kind of ghetto for furniture sellers, in the midst of which is a vast barn with no seats where normally they have wild furniture-roping contests or some such. Except on Tuesday, when they had Belle y Sebastian plus Nude Photographers or whatever (actually they were quite good. I had bought their album and not really gotten into it, but the live show was great esp. the drummer who is a star. Extra credit for thoughtful use of cheesy plastic keyboards.) The main event began at 9:30. The band came on in the usual 2-4-1-1 formation with Stuart leading the attack up front and Stevie tucked in just behind him. A four-man midfield featured an un-named lady cellista plus Sarah, Mick and the marvellous Bobby who made little attacking runs down the right wing (stage right that is). Beans at left back, Richard on the right with the above-mentioned nameless but versatile auxilliary dropping back to cover the near post during set-plays. Stuart had thin striped shirt and burgundian pants. Sarah in red hoodie. Beans with walrus 'tache. A charcoal suit was wearing Stevie. Here's what I remember of the set. They must surely have played Blues are Still Blue (right?) but I can't actually remember that happening! Also the order is really confused in my memory. Stars of Track and Field Sunny Day Sinister Funny Little Frog White Collar She's Losing It Sunshine Jonathan David Sleepyheads Your Cover's Blown Dog on Wheels Sukie in the Graveyard Piazza NY Catcher I'm a Cuckoo Fox in t'snow 'Leccy Renaissance Judy and the Dream (sing along at first!) Simple Things Arab Strap Missing: none of the B&S-classic style songs from That 70's Album (i.e. Mornington Cres., Dress Up in You, Acts Ch.1&2 vs.9-21, etc.) were played. Nothing off TBWTAS until the encore. No amusing cover was performed. None of the songs I personally yelled out (Dream #2, Strng. Bn. Jn., Marx'n'Engels, many others). A loud-voiced fellow called for Rollercoaster Ride, which Stuart heard and called an "intersting choice" before not playing it. But I think what was played hung together really well as a set. It was quite youthful and bouncy and moved along nicely. The only thing I felt the crowd was not quite in the mood for when it came up was Piazza NYC. The up-tempo material from the new album was just great and a big hit with the very young crowd (well everyone looks young to me, but these peoples really were young and many had thick-plastic-rimmed oval spectacles, in the manner of intellectual youth). I really enjoyed Your Cover's Blown. I also liked Jonathan David which I am normally bored by. Stevie and Stuart really hammed it up onstage with that evening's freshly selected Bride of Murdoch from the audience. She was called Jamie which Stuart found to be highly American of her. It was a contrast from last time they were here at the Warfield. Bigger crowd, less intimate, more rock show. Musically they were pretty tight with only the occasional vocal weaknesses in evidence. Y'know who I think has catalysed this new direction? The new post-"Hands Child" B&S? None other than young "Relfast" Robert Kildea. The boy is an awesome bass-player (e.g. on Sukie) and plays a mean lead as well. There's just something about him that gives the band a bit more width to explore which is a good thing. Plus he is easily the most attractive figure on stage, even when he's not there. I felt Stuart's banter was a little stretched in some places but of course everything went down very well with us, the crowd. I have a funny little idea he was waiting for ad-libs to come to him in the closing cadences of Arab Strap but nothing arrived so he just kind of wound it up. But I could be quite mistaken here. I can't wait for them to come back and see how they are progressing but I do wonder - if TLP gets the sales it deserves (and it really is a strong, accessible album) the next tour could be in stadia. Or godforbid the bloody Shoreline Amphitheater. Or the Sleeptrain Mattress Auditorium in Marysville. And this would not necessarily fill me with joy like last noght's wonderful concert. I wish you all could have been there, I feel sure you would have enjoyed it. Perhaps next time my fellow lurkers and I can have a picnic where we meet in a bar and not talk to each other, but just listen to what one of the other tables is saying. We could buy a drink and not have to pay $6 for a small cup of wine inside the furniture barn, which would be nice. Next time, ok? Love from The Quantity, Cupertino, Calif. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: they say that when something happens, you should talk about it
by Ian Moore 23 Mar '06

23 Mar '06

Hi all, (let's try this again... some Tory voting formatting sneaked into the mail when I tried to send it previously) So yeah, reporting back. Sorry, I've been a bit distracted. You know how it is. Anyway, you know that Belle & Sebastian? They played a gig here in Dublin relatively recently, just before their album came out. We lived the dream, not merely going to it, but meeting beforehand with some other B&S fans (including Wookie or Seamus or whatever he calls himself from here) for a walk in the Botanic Gardens, later repairing to a pubbe for some booze. The Botanic Gardens were great crack... we got to stroll around the green houses and then outside we saw the poison garden and the world’s tartiest squirrels. We were also amused by a sign in the greenhouse beside the venus flytraps, warning that triggering the traps for amusement could result in death. Down at the concert we arrived to find that support band The Brakes were already onstage. I found myself thinking that their riffy guitary sounds were just what I needed in my several beers in state, but others thought that they (the Brakes, not the beers) were a bit on the lame side. They are meant to feature some of British Sea Power, a band that in retrospect I reckon were not up to that much. B&S themselves played a stormer… I had become a bit sick of seeing them live, after seeing them four times in a year once. Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the gap had left me much better able to appreciate their live skills and rapport with each other and their audience. They played a fair amount of songs I did not then recognise, presumably from the new album. One particularly epic unfamiliar track was introduced to me as ‘Your Cover’s Blown’… apparently it was a b- side to ‘Wrapped Up In Books’, a single from the last album. Looks like I may have to start collecting B&S singles again. I was also amused to learn that “Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant” is now considered an old Belle & Sebastian album. They did however play more than no genuinely old songs, and hearing ‘Electronic Renaissance’ live means that I can now die in peace. Stuart didn't break his guitar this time. Anyway, it was all a bag of fun, and in retrospect I wished I hadn't pegged up to Belfast for the Tuesday gig. But you can't live your life on rewind, so perhaps it was for the best that I didn't try to re-create the magic of the time I went up a couple of years back to see B&S in the Nelson Mandela hall, in the company of a great many Irish Sini-Bowlie types who seem to have largely disappeared since then (bar the aforementioned Seamus/Wookie and yer man Psi). Great days, Gay, great days, wheh wheh wheh. Um yeah, whatever. I'll be back shortly with some comments on THE NEW ALBUM. DV +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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