Art : Fashion :: Heaven : Las Vegas
"But I was, like, *there*, man"
Dear Fans, Friends, and Followers,
Happy New Year!
Whether it’s summer or winter where you are now, I hope you’re finding just the right musical vibe to keep you company.
I was digging around in the internet archive — the web’s musty attic — today and went down a rabbit hole looking at ye olde versions of CocteauTwins.com and came across this groovy vintage 1995 animated GIF by Neil Landry, who created a lot of graphics for us back then. (We used to call the website “Treasure.” Get it?)
(If you can’t see the mesmerising animation, it’s probably your email client. Try looking at it on Substack.)
I also came across the one time Elizabeth posted anything to the forums (also in 1995):
"Would anyone be interested in sending Cocteau Twins a personalised lyrical interpretation of the song "Pink Orange Red"? Your thoughts would be appreciated. Elizabeth"
I have no idea if anyone actually sent any (we had an email form that sent messages directly to Robin). The “lyrics” she sings on Twinlights sound mostly like the ones off Tiny Dynamine, anyway, so perhaps she didn’t like what she did get and figured, “‘Endrosis-osis’ it is!”
And…? I managed to retrieve a QuickTime-360 VR file (translation: a 3D/VR photo that you could take with a special 360-degree camera and output to QuickTime format — it’s a still photo you can move around in, similar to today’s pano/360-degree photos) that artist and photography Ted Grudowski did with the band when they were in Seattle on the Milk & Kisses tour in ‘96. If anyone knows how to view these things using contemporary tech, let me know! It would be great to repurpose it for contemporary eyes.
Lastly, I dug up some photos of September Sound I’d forgotten about. They reminded me that I happen to have a gorgeous promotional brochure (created by Blue Source1, who did the artwork for Milk & Kisses) in near-mint condition, given to me by Robin Guthrie, which I have now scanned and uploaded to the “Archive” section of the website. (If you’re a gear geek you’ll love it!) I visited the place a couple of times, and I can attest that there was more tech in there than NASA. It was also a beautiful space, with giant framed Cocteau Twins artwork, lovely warm-coloured walls, wood floors, and modern furniture, and even a Four-Calendar Cafe inspired toilet seat (it was clear acrylic with a bunch of those little trinkets Walter Wick used in the sleeve art embedded in it). And the tea was lovely.
Here’s what’s up in the meta-Cocteau-verse lately…
Museum (fashion) pieces
Depending on your age — and a lot of us older Cocteau fans are well past 50 now — you may have had the experience of witnessing something you love and identify with go from being au courant and cool to being associated with nostalgia, some retro-whatever-revival, or (gasp) a historical artefact, and wondering when, exactly, that transition occurred. (And if you’re younger and have not experienced this, just wait.) Sometimes it’s a cringey feeling; other times it can be gratifying, especially when a younger, hipper generation connects with it in a fresh way, and you get to reclaim a little of that coolness for yourself.
No doubt many of us got that recently when fashion designer Marc Jacobs (age 59, same as Liz) and his ‘Heaven by Marc Jacobs’ line announced they were collaborating with the former band members, graphic designer Paul West, and photographer Andy Rumball on a capsule collection of clothing and accessories inspired by — you guessed right — the enduringly popular Heaven or Las Vegas (which, BTW, is 32 years old; does that make it a millennial?).
The limited collection is available from Jacobs online and for a limited time at a Los Angeles pop-up shop, where also on view were a range of Cocteau Twins and Heaven or Las Vegas memorabilia, neatly organised and displayed in glass cases.
From the press release:
…Heaven have created a limited range—the first of its kind with this band—that celebrates the album’s enduring appeal and the explosive colour and energy of its classic sleeve design. The capsule collection consists of a baby tee, mesh skirt, slit top, album logo hair pin and album logo ring. Prices range from $35 to $145 with all items available to purchase from marcjacobs.com, Heaven Fairfax (LA) and Dover Street Market in New York, Los Angeles and London.
In addition, an exhibition dedicated to Heaven or Las Vegas is now open at Heaven’s Fairfax store in Los Angeles where Paul West’s original artwork and album memorabilia is being displayed to the public for the first time. It runs until December 12th.
A lot of the items on display were simply gorgeous, and no doubt a lot of folks out there (including me) have your own versions or copies of these things somewhere. Still, it’s kinda cool to see them presented in such a thoughtful, reverent way and in the context of new fashion aimed at a younger audience, who have discovered Cocteau Twins — and Heaven or Las Vegas, in particular — and can’t get enough.
If you live in L.A. or were in the area and able to see this in person, drop us a comment and let us know how it was up close.
Coc-tails, anyone?
PRESENTED BY SCOTT HEIM (Twitter: @Scott_Heim / Instagram: @scottheim926)
If you don’t drink, feel free to skip this part.
(Scott Heim, author, poet, popular McSweeney’s contributor, and a dear friend of mine, has been crafting Cocteau Twins-inspired cocktails the past few years and posting them to social media for his friends to drool over. We thought perhaps some of you might be interested in these, so we’ll be including one in each issue of this newsletter.)
‘The Tinderbox (of a heart)’
2 oz. Rye whiskey
1 oz. Cynar (an artichoke amaro)
1/2 oz. Sfumaro (a rhubarb amaro)
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. fresh mandarin orange juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Garnishes: marasca cherry (with a few drops of syrup); sliced lemon peel
Pour all ingredients with 2-3 large cubes of ice, and shake for 2 minutes; slide everything (ice, garnishes, all) into a rocks glass (while listening to Cocteau Twins).
Flavor profile: dry, smoky, and very bitter but a slightly sweet finish.
8.5 million listeners from 183 countries
Apparently it’s not just us.
“Thanks from all of us, for spending all that time this year listening to CT ❤️❤️❤️” - Simon Raymonde
The song “Sea, Swallow Me” was played 20,540,791 times on Spotify alone.
Holy shit.
Pod-people
When I started this newsletter in 2021 an extension of the website, it was mainly to help curate the surprisingly large amount of Cocteau Twins-related content that exists — and continues to be produced — online, which is a testament to the timeless appeal of their sound, really. It’s a fun endeavour, but it involves going through a lot of mediocre crap. Podcasts are an excellent example of that. If you can tolerate the occasional overly-confident mansplainer (who hasn’t done their homework) or “too-cool-for-school” reviewer who is clearly only doing it for the clicks/streams, they can be a fun listen. It remains a mystery to me, though, why someone would devote a half hour to recording a podcast about music without actually featuring any of the music. Some of them are simply talking.
Here are some I’ve listened to recently that were entertaining, if not always excellent.
“The J Files” from Double J
”The J Files” is an Australian podcast “for people who love music.” Each episode is a nicely produced mini music history lesson, taking listeners through a band’s story in 30 minutes. This episode, from August 2022, is a lovely listen — not likely to be anything new to you — but a nice audio bio, with a lot of music and really great interview clips with Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde.
“When The Birthday Party came to [the UK] I mean, me and Liz used to follow them about, we’d hitchhike everywhere… We were like 19 years old, we thought they were just the best thing ever.” - Robin
“Discograffiti,” Episode 3
Recorded in November 2021, it’s a fun listen, though it falls somewhat into that “confident mansplainer” category, and one guy kept making rude remarks about Will Heggie. They don’t include any music, but it’s sort of interesting, and I can’t say I radically disagreed with most of what they had to say (aside from the rude comments). Both hosts offer up their picks for the top 3 must-own albums and their pick for worst album.
“Bandsplain,” by Spotify
I’ve linked to this one before, and it’s worth your time (it’s long, at 2+ hours). The host, Yasi Salek, maybe uses the word “vibe” too much, but she’s otherwise great. She has as her guest on this episode former Rolling Stone writer Claire Shaffer, a Cocteau fanatic, to bring in some more perspective and colour. It features loads of music, too, so their conversation has more aural context in addition to being professionally produced.
“Stereo Embers” interview with Robin Guthrie
This episode is from early 2022 — recent vintage Guthrie — which means a delightful listen filled with thoughtful reflections and musings on his life and work. Robin’s brogue hasn’t mellowed one bit, so unless you’re a Scot you may need to stop and back up a couple of times to comprehend what he’s saying, but it’s worth it. I love listening to Robin talk about his work, both in and out of Cocteau Twins, including his sense of humour (and humility) about the band’s relationship with the press and their fans, and how generous he is towards his former bandmates.
“It didn’t help that Elizabeth and I — are — both painfully, like, shy, and reluctant to… ahhh … just — this is 40 years of practice just gettin’ me speaking now — but I’ve always found this really difficult, especially when at a certain point journalists would come into interview situations with us… they’ve got their own preconceptions of us based upon the music we make.”
“Records Revisited”: Heaven or Las Vegas
With special guest Kay Hanley (Letters to Cleo), hosts Ben Montgomery and Wayne Fugate lead a conversation about the Cocteau Twins’ most popular album. (Skip to 00:27:00 to more or less cut to the chase.) They listen to a clip from each song, rate each one (1-10). It’s cute.
In other news
Fellow Scot (from the same county, in fact), co-founder of The Associates, and producer of Cocteaus’ EP Peppermint Pig Alan Rankine passed away on 3 January. Rest in peace.
Simon curated a playlist for BBC “Escape”, available until 20 January.
Simon’s book is actually happening — and he assures that Cocteau Twins fans will be very happy with it. Stay tuned…
If you have not yet purchased your own copy of the Bella Union re-release of Simon’s Solo Works 96-98, you can still order copies online (including signed copies).
C-O-C-T-E-A-U-B-I-N-G-O-B-O-N-U-S
Our last instalment for this issue is really only for die-hard nerds who maybe had edibles for dessert and are up late with literally nothing else to do: Cocteau Twins Song Title BINGO. Egads. Something absolutely no one asked for. I have no comment on my own state of mind when I made this.
BINGO Card (dynamically generated per person)
Wheel-'o-Song Titles (spin the wheel each round until someone wins)
You’re welcome.
That’s all for now. (Leave a comment or drop us a line!) Meanwhile, take good care.
Spooning Good Singing Gum,
Michael
In the emailed version of this, I incorrectly identified the design studio as “Tomato,” who are the folks who made the videos during this time period. Sorry.
Truly wonderful newsletter. Really enjoyed it - thanks a lot.
Thanks, Michael!