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

I think it's lovely. I didn't return to the last album much because I felt there wasn't enough Sarah. Here she's purring in your ears. It sounds gorgeous. I'm surprised how experimental it is. I will return to this one often I think.

^^agree on all counts

I mean, they've always been strong with evocative interstitial, ambient, and instrumental tracks... No Rush, Wonderlyte, and Alone Together are standouts after a couple listens, strongly dislike Hear My Heart

lol Wonderlight, Preflyte is the lyte

This is overall great, but sometimes the lyrics can be just a little...cringey. I actually like the spoken word stuff best ('Settle In' and 'Wonderlight'). Some of the rhyming in the more traditional songs is a little too on the nose for me. lol

about to listen to the new one but i just discovered that "he's on the phone" is kind of a cover, that's fascinating how it came about

Etienne Daho “Weekend a Rome”, Right? Which is actually much better song

there's some gorgeous bits on the new album like "nightingale" and "preflyte" which both sound like they're the intros to 20-minute balearic epics but most of this is fairly forgettable

the spoken word parts are too close to asmr for me idk

it also feels akin to finnisterre (1 of my favs) but not quite hitting the mark

i really want to hear the version of this album in my head where "nightingale" just goes on forever

ba ba ya ba ba ba ya ba ba ya ba ba ba ya

I like this loads and find it much more substantial and discernably them than the last album (which was nice enough but I didn't go back to much; bits of it could have been e.g. Bonobo). I really don't need them to make albums of polite bangers anymore and generally love the more abstract bits of their recent records the most, and this is entirely that

Wasn’t the last one only abstract bits?

Yeah but sort of sonically flatter ones, and mostly sans Sarah

I love it to bits, not least the surprising amount of abstract guitar all over it

Closest antecedent is the Tapestry CD from Tiger Bay 25th anniversary edition — short fragments of Tiger Bay songs reconfigured for 3am listening

the CD was $35 while the vinyl was $56

I was at a merch table a few weeks ago, which was covered with 12" LPs. I said, haven't you got any CDs? The guy was surprised, but rummaged around in a bag for a while and eventually found them. He said, you're the first person during this tour who's asked for CDs, what's your deal? I was like, c'mon, vinyl is BS. He smirked knowingly.

Heads up:

We’re excited to bring you news of a brand new single we’ll be releasing this summer.
It’s entitled ‘Glad’ and was co-written with our friend Tom Rowlands of the Chemical Brothers.
To help us celebrate the release the good people at Electronic Sound magazine are running a cover story and in-depth article where we’ll be discussing our forthcoming LP due out in September.

just posting this new thing here cos there's obviously a huuuge st etienne influence, but it's also a gorgeous song in its own right...

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

Neggy Gemmy - Mysterious Girl

ooooh yes this is a nice sound for her. I wonder if it's influenced also by Vitesse X, who in turn has a lot of old school Saint Etienne in her

ha, i had the same thought!

New single news:

In similar fashion to our recent ‘Alone Together’ CD we’re offering a 4 track CD EP for ‘Glad’.
The three exclusive B-sides won’t be available in shops or on streaming platforms.

The full track listing is:
1. Glad
2. Theme From Shapiro
3. Missing Pieces
4. Fire
As with ‘Alone Together’ the 'Glad' CD EP is housed in a gatefold card wallet and we will press to order.

(Sadly the shipping cost over here is literally twice the price of the CD itself.)

b-b-but I thought they carved out a tariff exemption for sample-heavy indie pop?

We live in troubled times.

It feels a curious model for selling CDs, even if it might circumvent the issues around the recent album's bonus disc.

Basically, you have to order it *unheard* unless you happen to be around to listen to the Lauren Lavern show?

I would assume at this point that the vast majority of their fanbase is more than happy to buy their stuff even if they haven't heard it. Especially if they haven't heard it.

"To actually play a copy would remove the mystery."

Goddamn! They’re calling it a day!

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/saint-etienne-announce-final-album-international-out-5-september

Leave 'em wanting more, etc. I bet they reunite on a yearly basis to record an Xmas single for their Fan Club.

got kinda teary eyed seeing the album cover

Tried to sum them up for fellow Americans on my Patreon.

they say they're not breaking up just not recording new albums so i figure they'll keep touring occasionally as they feel like it?

the single's fine

Similarly moved. By rhombuses. Strange

Would probably have bought the CD single but was in a bad mood last week (and had spent loads). Ah, well.

the single's fine

very fine indeed

There may be other versions but Rough Trade is selling pre-orders with a bonus disc.

Oh nice, ordered one.

Appreciate the heads up! Ordered one as well.

Here's the official store version:

https://saintetienne.ochre.store/format/1733577-international

Just realized I never received my copy of the Night in the mail! Assume they've been shipped out by now.

‘We want to stop in our prime’: Saint Etienne on their final album, turning down Cher’s 'Believe', and why pop is a dying art

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/may/30/saint-etienne-interview-final-album-international

hadn't the story about higgins originally offering them "believe" before, they'd do a good version of it

This bit:

More recently, 2021’s I’ve Been Trying to Tell You used the melancholic vaporwave genre to examine late-90s nostalgia (they were disappointed that no one worked out that its track names were all horses that won on the day of Labour’s 1997 landslide).

<3 terrific

https://www.racingpost.com/results/513/wolverhampton-aw/1997-05-01/236860

B-but... Penlop came 3rd in the 2:45 at Wolverhampton... "slowly into stride, soon well outpaced, headway 2f out, ran on well inside final furlong".

Ha xp!

‘I’ve been trying to tell you ‘ is such a fantastic summer evening album. One of my favorite things they’ve done

pond house is easily in my top 20 of everything theyve ever done which is p high praise

where is the new LP thread. The new (last?) is confusing me. I'm not sure I really think it's great. Please tell me I'm wrong.

* song/ single ahem

Here ya go

Saint Etienne -- International