Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 09:24:47 +0000 
     From: Andrew Norman (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) 
     Subject: Lush, Cocteaus, Stereolab


Thislisty heaven in the shops yesterday - new albums by Lush and
Stereolab, and the new Cocteau Twins single.

Cocteau Twins - Tishbite.
The tune of the A-side is naggingly familiar, perhaps "Goodbye
Blackberry Way"?  B-sides are good, "An Elan" has a hint of "O
Superman" and there are a couple of passages where the guitars sound
almost "Head over Heels" -ish.  As others have said, there's nothing
too surprising here, but that's a good thing since the last time the
twins surprised me was by including large chunks of "Meditations for
Women who Read Too Many Self-Help Psychoanalysis Books" in their
lyrics.  Odd phrases are audible in these songs, but nothing
stomach-crawlingly awful.  The sound is somewhere between
"Victorialand" and "Heaven or Las Vegas".  Combined with the last two
EPs, I think there's a definite return to form.


     Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 10:39:35 -0700 
     From: Jens Alfke (jens@APPLE.COM) 
     Subject: Quick reviewlets

Picked up some stuff this weekend that I feel like blurting out
commentary on for the benefit of youse listies:

Cocteau Twins "Tishbite" EP #2 (Fontana)
"Tishbite" is fairly forgettable, with a lot less instrumentation than
I'd expect from the Masters Of Overproduction -- you get a guitar line, a
bassline (plucked not strummed!), vocals, and the usual beatbox. "Round"
sounds more like traditional Cocteaux, but is rather by-the-numbers and I
didn't really warm to it. Moreover it demonstrates that they _still_ have
problems figuring out how to end songs.
But! "An Elan" is extremely cool, one of the best things I've heard from
them in ages and ages, and an indication that they "get" the whole
ambient/drone thang that's been going on, even without Mark Clifford's
help. The first half is built of a single tapping beat, a single strummed
Guthriestyle chord, and some subdued Liz vocals. Very hypnotic. It then
slowly builds into one of those patented Cocteau Twins gorgeous climaxes
-- this is one of the few songs I've heard from them in the last, oh,
seven years or so that really makes the hairs stand up on the back of my
neck. Glorious feeling.