saint etienne

To the archives!!!

This allows me to mention the Ramones today, as I must.

[in the background Dr.C starts looking cross-eyed, makes smoking gestures]

by the way robin, we miss you on alt.fan.momus!

But if you, like I did, can find _Good Humour_ with that extra disc of b-sides attached, GET IT!

Oh and He's on the phone is the work of God.

Method Of Modern Love - sadly not a Hall & Oates cover more a 'hey Call The Shots was nice maybe we can finally get that top 10 hit?'

also COLA BOY REMIX

This is GREAT.

Is that the thing Richard X was supposed to be producing for them or is that still in the pipeline?

this one is X-produced yeh

wow that's really good

Yep, thirded or fourthed or whatever. Fucking awesome!

: D

I want to believe...but it sounds a bit bland to me.

must be playing a different track for me cause zzzzzz

sarah cracknell brushed past me at a cinema the other day.

Foxbase Beta

Journey through the past, part 5.

Rumours have been flying left right and centre, but we can finally confirm that disco dynamo Richard X has taken Foxbase Alpha and re-arranged it into a brand new beast called FOXBASE BETA. Using the original masters, adding cellos, electrix, choirs, and the spirit of Brian Cant he has created something really special - spruced-up yet reverential, it is essentially a 2009 up-date of Foxbase Alpha, given a shot of vodka and a loving caress. We're chuffed. It feels unnervingly like jumping into a Tardis.

FOXBASE BETA will be issued, via the fan club, as a limited, numbered 2CD set of 3,000 copies, which will also include FOXBASE EXTRA, three unreleased recordings from the original album sessions: a just discovered coda to Girl VII (we'd forgotten it existed), a summery instrumental called Richard III, and the first, very different, take of Kiss And Make Up, which was the very first Saint Etienne recording. We cut it one afternoon in January 1990, and then Only Love Can Break Your Heart in the evening! It was all so simple then. These tracks won't be available anywhere else.

There will also be a 'directors' commentary' on the bonus disc. Informative, yes. Pithy, quite possibly.

An un-numbered, single disc edition will be available at gigs and through Rough Trade. It will also be available for digital download (with the commentary but without the bonus tracks).

For club promo, a 4-track 12" is currently at the pressing plant, including extended Foxbase Beta version of Only Love Can Break Your Heart (plus instrumental mix), the FBB version of Girl VII (grrrreat), and Gothenburg's Balearic princes Air France's mix of Spring. We'll have 200 copies of this available through the fan club. As soon as we have them we'll let you know.

Foxbase Beta will be available to pre-order on Monday 21st of September. More details next week.

England in the World Cup finals, 3 Of A Kind's Babycakes playing on my hi-fi, Foxbase Beta finally put to bed. Late summer, early autumn, and all is good.

love

Bob xx

what is that sound? some kind of metal, spoon-like implement against wood?

It was all so simple then. These tracks won't be available anywhere else.

Ah, but it's not that simple now, Bob.

looking forward to this, i was having a bit of a richard x / girls on top retrospective while i was working the other day.
kiss & make up + only love in one day, thats a pretty productive day imo.

http://assets.umusic.co.uk/saintetienne/FBBCoverMedium.jpg

Bob Stanley interview in The Quietus: http://thequietus.com/articles/02685-saint-etienne-s-bob-stanley-interview-reissues-and-the-problem-with-britpop

ok i think i am in love with that girl.

Samples of the FBB versions of "Girl VIII" and Only Love..." are up on their myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/saintetienne

I think X did a good job on Girl VIII but not on "Only Love...". That bassline is a bit tedious IMO.

Was just listening to "Method of Modern Love" and remembered the little New Order bit:
"There's no sense or reason why we're shot with a bolt of blue..."

who wrote the sleeve notes for the latest batch of deluxe versions?

also coming soon "songs for the dog and duck" ...

free 3 track live ep for signing up for the fan club right now. great 'folk' version of Like A Motorway.

richard x is working with sound of arrows too.

so foxbase beta is going on sale tomorrow, but in the e-mail i received it doesn't say what time it's going on sale, just "tomorrow morning"...

Anyone else going to the Shepherd's Bush Empire show? Annie is supporting, just like she did the last time I saw StEt live in London.

http://www.ekmpowershop8.com/ekmps/shops/saintetienneltd/tracklisting--audio-samples-4-w.asp

It's up now - surprisingly, the site is not dying under the load unlike the last few times they've tried this...

omg the new mix of Only Love Will Break Your Heart that just came out on 12" is KILLING ME - total 105 bpm balearic hotness!

choice

very into this on first listen. probably the most excited I've been about them since belatedly hearing Sound of Water & Finisterre in the later 00s.

I think this is fabulous - it's like if Charles Webster tried to recreate One Dove's Morning Dove White.

Gonna listen this weekend, have a fondness for the casino classics remix album from the early nineties, British electronic bigwigs from the time, all present...underworld, chemical bros, the aloof, Andrew Weatherall, aphex twin.

St ettiene - Angel (broadcast mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gd3Kzu3L0Q

St Etienne - Who do you think you are : Aphex Twin mix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwLbqbc3ZEc

The film is basically ‘46 minutes of shirtless youths vibing’ so the record cover is absolutely not out of step with the aesthetic of the overall project.

That sounds more dismissive than intended but if you know Alasdair McLellan’s photography, you’ll know what to expect from the film.

I was initially disappointed by the two songs that came out early, but hearing this all together in album form has completely changed my mind. This is a great album. Kind of glad there aren't many lyrics. Though I love Sarah's voice, I feel the lyrical content has been one of the things I haven't enjoyed on the recent albums. I have liked the recent stuff but they're not albums I want to put on when I get in the St Etienne mood. This one seems like it will fit my mood quite well this fall/winter.

sounds like a bonus disc for a Saint Etienne album without the actual album

Yeah that's how I found it on first listen also. I love lots of their drifty more ambient stuff but this seems too slight to me so far.

Same

I don't know: I found the lyrics on W&M pretty sharp.

Loving this wholeheartedly on the third playthrough. So Tough was always my favorite and this evokes it in all the right ways.

I’m happy to hear the So Tough box set is coming. So Tough and You Need A Mess of Help are the albums I want to hear most often. I wonder if anything will be included on the box set that isn’t on the 2cd reissue.

Penlop is nice, but it was nicer when Manual remixed Dressed in Black for Blue Foundation in 2014

i probably would have really liked this album if they'd written songs over the top of these tracks

as is there's some nice moments but this approach for a full album doesn't really capture my interest enough

Halfway through and totally loving this. Might already be by favorite of theirs since Tiger Bay as they went back to that vague floating vibe they lost somewhere along the way.

St Et records *often* don't hit me right away, feeling at first like collections of unassuming chord progressions cycling endlessly. The song'y elements traditionally assert themselves later, but in the relative absence of actual songs (ufo otm) the, er, raw sonic textures will need to do an awful lot of work over subsequent listens.

Just as I write that 'Blue Kite' comes back on shuffle and, yeah, the textures *can* be very appealing, so there's hope.

yeh I'm consciously remaining open to this one finding its place with time/repeated listens

really intrigued by this move though - its a very unassuming LP to release as a Proper Album - not song-y but also not quite as immersive as stuff like Railway Jam or Johnny in the Echo Cafe

i do like the autumnal vibe tho

re the "weird internet music" referenced in that observer article - does that mean vapourwave kind of stuff? i could see Nobody Here being an influence on this

I'd definitely play a < Saint Etienne's guide to "weird internet music" >.

I'm old so I'm hearing an "album's worth of 4th track on the CD single" thing to this (but that's a good thing).

Is it the first full St Et thing that Pete is crediting with producing?

*credited*

(Wine may have happened).

Weird. There's a Natalie Imbruglia interview in the Guardian (the interview does note that it's the Australia Guardian) that's very much "The 90s are trending" and felt certain it was going to slightly hang on this. No mention of it, obvs.

xp to myself - duh i went back and read that interview and they do specifically mention vaporwave as an antecedent of the “warped, woozy” Youtube music that influenced this one

have steadfastly resisted any buy-in to 90s nostalgia but am beguiled by their “early 90s was more interesting than collective memory currently allows” thesis

I love the record, the visuals and the overall pitch but tbh Im not hearing anything 90s related in the music (apart from that Imbruglia sample)

Well, that's because the collective memory of the 90s doesn't allow that.

(Tbh, I don't think I'd have never noticed the Lightning Seeds sample).

If I hadn't read the interview I'd have no idea it had anything to do with the 90s at all, although I'll admit it's growing on me. I've already listened to it far more than Home Counties. Sounds really great on a nice stereo.

Oh, it's at number 14, not bad

Actually, I reckon you could sneak some of this onto one of the recent DNTEL albums and I wouldn't really notice.

I just misread it as "I've Been Trying To Kill You" and tbh it works?

Xmas single:

https://saintetienne.ochre.store/

the main track on the Christmas single is pretty cool!

Ah yeah they played that when I saw them live the other day. They were great btw

Super grateful that it sounds nothing at all like Christmas music.
Now I just need to work out how to get the CD...

just plunk down your $23 on their web site they'll ship it right to your door

just plunk down your $23 on their web site they'll ship it right to your door

― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Tuesday, 30 November 2021 1:47 PM (three hours ago)

a) This presupposes that their website will actually send me an email when I request a forgotten password (hasn't happened), and
b) This also presupposes that it won't be at least an additional $23 to ship it to Australia. Which I can't confirm until I can login apparently.

Actually, maybe ochre.stores are individual to the subdomain? I'm kind of hoping it turns up on Bandcamp anyway, or general distro.

OK, I have logged in. It is a total of USD 20.28 to Australia, or a little under 30 AUD. Is that reasonable for a 4 track CD, one track of which is an edit?
Well, obviously not lol, but what is reasonable these days?

Appreciate that they have a .wav/.flac option (if you go to the page for just that item, https://saintetienne.ochre.store/format/867144-her-winter-coat), just for that reason. Shipping costs doubling (or more) the purchase price, I settle for non-tangible downloads. Oddly, the .wav price under the Download section - $2 - is for the single track, not the 4 song EP. If you scroll down to the Digital Track List section, they're individually priced at $2. Can get all three (or four, if you want the edit) for $6 (or $8).

yeah I almost just ordered the FLAC for US$2, but fuck it, I've got like 50 Saint Etienne CDs already why not get #51

Liking this EP. I have to say I really dig this ambientish phase (probably imposed by COVID) they’re in. I had lost touch with them after Finistere or so.

while we are having our usual fun dunking on their pricey fan club releases, should probably note that all proceeds from the christmas single DO go to charity

Reasonable point, well made.

That said, music buying has changed so much. I have loads of Saint Etienne CD singles, originally priced between 99p and £3.99 - I think but am not entirely sure that "Avenue" was one of the former - and I'm fairly certain I subsequently bought the accompanying albums.

The sample source for Her Winter Coat made me chuckle.

Anything on these releases essential?

https://saint-etienne-official.myshopify.com/products/pre-order-fairfax-black?pr_prod_strat=collection_fallback&pr_rec_id=6b333c8be&pr_rec_pid=7878303711460&pr_ref_pid=7878308790500&pr_seq=uniform

Fairfax High is a must if you’re into Good Humor

Ta. I must admit I *think* I own most (if not all) of "Fairfax High" without owning the actual release.

It's a superb album. Equal to if not better than Good Humor. It has a bit of the vibe of their earlier albums. Hit the Brakes is a stand out track that could have been a single.

I've got the original as the bonus CD disc to Good Humor, and most (maybe all?) the tracks are on the Good Humor reissue which I've also got, but I would have serious trouble resisting buying this if I saw it for sale in a record store.

It's easy to find on CD, either the original US release of Good Humor with bonus disc or the deluxe CD reissue from a few years back... don't think it's ever been on vinyl before though!

presales on the vinyl editions of the Character of Saint Etienne, Good Humor, and Fairfax High are live...

This year's Xmas collection is now available to order. 'Built On Sand' on vinyl + a 2-track 10" (Music For Hermione)

Gah! Music for Hermione sold out ...