Belle and Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister (33 1/3) (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: northern soul, troubled teenagers, field mice, Melody Maker, Arab Strap, Could Be Dreaming (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Plagenhoef knows his subject matter inside and out and has gone the extra mile to research and contextualize the work- a necessary task, since the band refused to be interviewed for the project...it's nice to see a modern classic get some due recognition." -- Under the Radar Magazine

Product Description

At the time of its release in 1996, If You're Feeling Sinister was a romantic and defiantly independent artifact - a fully formed, pristine seashell of an album quietly washed ashore, waiting to be discovered by anyone who cared to look. Here, Scott Plagenhoef lovingly investigates the record's creation and influence. He tells the story of the unusual band that created it and conjures up a time, at the dawn of the Internet era, when it was still possible for perfect pop music to retain a veneer of genuine mystery.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 105 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (September 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826428185
• ISBN-13: 978-0826428189
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 4.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #602,377 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Thirty Three and a Third Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Entertaining if completely Off Topic 33/13, April 14, 2008

By	Brandon Whitfeld "caulfield0" (nyc) - See all my reviews

The fantastic 33 1/3 series takes genuine risks in giving their cherry-picked writers stylistic free reign (Joe Pernice's "Meat is Murder" was gentle coming-of-age fiction, after all) but there's something a little bit pretentious and indulgent about simply just pretending to examine a 1996 indie classic and seemingly having no idea that your focus has run absurdly rampant and that you've used the word "titular" waaay too many times to keep me in my comfort zone.

I'm not sure why I'm surprised. Author Scott Plagenhoef is a Pitchfork editor after all, and the book's self-important drone, relentless pursuit of precious Glaswegian novelty and esoterica, and surprisingly dense prose is right out of that hipster haven's hallowed halls. The book, rather than settling for a breezy deconstruction of a rather remarkable record, overdoes itself and becomes something of a lengthy TREATISE on THE CREATION OF BELLE AND SEBASTIAN and the HISTORY OF TWEE IN THE MODERN WORLD and THE RIGHTFUL PLACE OF INDIE MUSIC IN THE POP CULTURAL LANDSCAPE.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy parts of Plagenhoef's digressions into C86 and Edwyn Collins and Morrissey's asexuality and the rise of the pop group Bis, Britpop's rise and fall, Damon Albarn's silly drunken interviews, Damien Hirst, Oasis vs. Blur, but it would have been real nice to have read A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT "IF YOU'RE FEELING SINISTER", dude!

Plagenhoef has his moments. Describing Stuart Murdoch's battle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and his coming out of it as if out of a dream, with his songs and his band fully formed, explains so much about the soft, seductive beauty of the band and its ability to create its own starry universe; it's also an interesting theory about the formation about art in general, beauty coming from sickness, melody from mummified mayhem, but Plagenhoef doesn't go there. He's a writer excited about his first book and he wants to show off his (admittedly vast) knowledge of the indie music landscape and usage of the word "titular". Sorry to bring it up again, but c'mon.

While those searching for a thoughtful and verbose essay on rock music might be tickled, the book isn't likely to satisfy Belle and Sebastian fans; Plagenhoef, despite the book's title, seems to want to focus most of his energies on the recording of the band's first album, "Tigermilk" (with a lot of focus oddly going to "Fold Your Hands" as well) and ultimately doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know. In fact, I've already read a lot of these opinions on Pitchfork, and despite a well-received biography of the band already having been published, a Magnet Magazine interview about Belle and Sebastian some years back was way more in-depth, focused, and interesting than anything offered here.

There are those 33 1/3 and Pitchfork fans who will praise Plagenhoef's talent for pop cultural nostalgia and his wide scope. However, I think a great 33 1/3 book should be able to talk about the formation of the band, its place in the world, as well as give the reader a detailed summation of the individual album under review. I found this to be the case with the impressive "Doolittle" (WHY this album rules the Pixies' canon) as well as Neutral Milk's "In The Aeroplane Over the Sea" (an unbelievable dissection of the step-by-step creation of an insane indie classic) and I had hoped for more with one of my favorite albums and bands of all time.

Scott Plagenhoef has clear passion and solid merit as a rock journalist, but in my eyes, he didn't succeed with his assignment.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretentious disaster, December 4, 2008

By	Wedgwood Reader (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This book is an absolute disaster, a self-important pile of crap that represents everything wrong with Pitchfork and everything wrong with writing about music.

It wasn't really even about the (wonderful, wonderful) album, more about the writer showing off his knowledge of indie pop history and his cred (based on liking the "right" bands) in a meandering mess that occasionally discussed the songs and the band. It's amazing that he could take something so beloved and honest, claim to relate deeply with that something, and then write about it in such a selfish, pretentious, and awful way. I actually wanted to punch the writer.

The only saving grace of the book was the one paragraph where he admitted that Just a Modern Rock Story is an infinitely more worthwhile read. At least he got that part right.

I've been interested in the 33 1/3 series for a while, but this is the first one that I've read. I'm turned off now.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Belle and Sebastian and the Internet, December 19, 2008

By	Maggie "maggie79" (United States) - See all my reviews

This book is as much about the internet and what it means to be a music fan as it is about Belle and Sebastian. And I don't consider that a bad thing, really. I disagree with a lot of what Scott Plagenhoef has to say, but he says it well and with passion. Plagenhoef is not so much concerned with If You're Feeling Sinister as he is with the entire early part of Belle &Sebastian's career and how the band related (or deliberately didn't) relate to their fans, and how fans themselves experienced that once secretive band.

Where I believe the book runs aground a bit is when Plagenhoef turns it into an elegy for a "better" time when people really "listened" to music, as opposed to now when most people just "hear" it as background noise on their mp3 players. I find this kind of nostalgia for a past time a little suspect, and honestly, it was only with the advent of the internet and being able to listen to radio stations like WFMU from thousands of miles away that I began to be adventurous with music. But even though I disagree with many of his conclusions, it was still a very interesting read and it got me thinking about what we've gained and lost in the past decade.