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Belle & Sebastian
[belle & sebastian website]

The Boy With the Arab Strap This title sounds so dirty, I hardly want to pick up this album. The first track, "It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career" is a terrific little piece of pop bliss, but the album kind of peters out after that. After the first track? Uh, kinda. The more B&S you listen to, the more you realize this is music that should be tinkling softly over speakers in the dressing room in some lady's boutique in SoHo. You just want somebody to scream or die or bleed or something. Man, somebody hit that f'n drum with some conviction! Plink, plink, plink. Something about this album makes me want to just throttle these guys. What happened to the sarcasm and the wit? I suppose there's nothing wrong with easy-listening music, but what the hell is with the spoken word crap? It sounds like some dude from Trainspotting chatting over bad 007 bad guy music. More whimsy does not equal a better listening experience.

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant Ugh, who's the dude with the deeper voice? Track three starts and I'm convinced that he has somehow eaten the fey singer from tracks one and two (and the rest of the collection I have). This track, "Beyond Sunrise," reminds me, for some reason, of the catacombs of Sacre Coeur in Paris. It's musty, dark, monk-like and stagnant. In other words, it stinks. Then the chick starts singing on track four and I'm about to eject the CD. Where are the interesting lyrics I have come to expect? Where's the dude with the lisp. Ah, track five, there you are with your soft organ and slow, slinky groove--and you say the word "bloody," which I just love. Reading up a little on this band, I think I'm starting to realize that I only like the songs written and sung by Stuart Murdoch--and I use the term "like" kind of strongly in a lot of theses cases. The rest are throw aways. Save your money and buy something by a band with some consistency and conviction.

If You're Feeling Sinister Sounding like the title of a forgotten Smiths album, If You're Feeling Sinister is an odd album that somehow mines the dark underpinnings of the sunny world of the pop life. It's not as if they're murderin' muthafuckers or anything, but they do point out the hypocrisy of the older generations, the fact that not everyone subscribes to the genteel way of life and the struggle of just generally getting along. It's like The La's got together with the swishiest side of Morrissey and had a child with The Vaselines. If that doesn't sum it up, I don't know what would. It's a decent little album filled with light ditties that don't necessarily inspire, but fulfill an odd curiosity to listen on.

The Life Pursuit

Storytelling

Tigermilk What the hell is going on here? That is the only question one can ask when the lispy, Scotsman whines the line "My brother had confessed he was gay to take the heat off me for a while. He stood up with a sailor friend; made it known upon my sister's wedding day..." at the beginning of the very first track on the group's debut album. This stuff makes The Smiths look like Metallica. Wimpy is the adjective that first comes to mind, but that adjective may describe the sound but not the content of the music. These are some clever songs that can tickle both the funny bone and the soul (gag). There's a nice feeling of nostalgia and suburban comfort built into the soft melodies and tones of each song. Despite all this, I still feel kinda funny inside listening to this twee pop, and generally only bump it through headphones in the confines of my pink bedroom in the folds of my pink comforter, under my pink satin sheets.