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London Belongs to Saint Etienne

Saint Etienne have proven themselves to be the most astute of the indie-dance-pop acts that flowered up the UK in the early 90s-- and also one of the most durable. Throughout their career Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley, and Pete Wiggs have been blessed with the time and dedication to pursue many other related passions like producing, remixing, running labels, releasing solo projects, writing, overseeing compilations, and providing soundtrack scraps. Now the movie Saint Etienne Presents Finisterre - A Film About London by Paul Kelly and Kieran Evans will be released on DVD by Plexifilm on September 20 in the U.S., after being shown as backdrop to Saint Etienne shows and in filmhouses in the UK and Europe.

Rather than simply a video collection for the band or a travelogue for the English city, it's kind of both at once. The DVD adds staple features like audio commentaries, detailed liner notes, and essays to the film itself, which includes reminiscences by Saint Etienne acquaintances and London luminaries like Lawrence from Felt (and Denim, and Go-Kart Mozart), legendary punk personality and "Sniffin' Glue" zine-ster Mark Perry, recently unearthed folk singer Vashti Bunyan, Nick Sanderson of Earl Brutus (ex-Gun Club, Jesus and Mary Chain and World of Twist), Vic Godard (former leader of the Subway Sect), artist Julian Opie (renowned in the world of London pop for painting Blur's Best of... CD cover), and outstanding London-loving author Shena Mackay.

The Brooklyn-based Plexifilm has itself been on a bit of a roll lately. Aside from Finisterre, the company has hit DVD gold recently in releasing Justin Mitchell's Drive Well, Sleep Carefully - On the Road with Death Cab for Cutie, Hans Fjellestad's Moog, Jason Kulbel and Rob Walters' An Evening with Saddle Creek retrospective, Sebastian Schrade's Low in Europe and Eve Wood's Made in Sheffield - The Birth of Electronic Pop which sidle up nicely on the DVD shelf occupied by the company's other titles like David Byrne's Ilé Aiyé (The House of Life), Sam Jones' I Am Trying to Break Your Heart - A Film About Wilco, the 30-year anniversary reissue of the Sun Ra sci-fi flick Space is the Place, and the Galaxie 500 video/visual collection Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste.

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/saint-etienne/tales-from-turnpike-house.shtml">Saint Etienne: Tales From Turnpike House
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Posted by David Nadelle in on Wed: 08-03-05: 12:00 AM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink
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