If You're Feeling Sinister
If You're Feeling Sinister is the second album by Scottish indie pop band Belle and Sebastian. It was released in 1996 on Jeepster Records in the United Kingdom and in 1997 by Matador Records in the United States. It is often ranked among the best albums of the nineties. Band leader Stuart Murdoch has stated the album is probably his best collection of songs. In 2005, Belle and Sebastian released a live version, "." Recording and production. After the release of their debut album "Tigermilk", Belle and Sebastian were approached by a number of record  labels. They signed with the independent label Jeepster Records in the interests of staying independent creatively. Jeepster was willing to accept some of the group's other demands, such as releasing no singles, not doing press or promotional events, and not appearing in promotional materials. The band began releasing the new material, written by Murdoch, after signing with Jeepster. The album took five days to record and three to mix, slightly longer than "Tigermilk". It was recorded in the same studio as "Tigermilk" and engineer Tony Doogan worked with the band's previous engineer to maintain a similar recording style . Band member Sarah Martin, who had recently joined the band at this point, likened "Tigermilk" and "If You're Feeling Sinister" to The Beatles' albums "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" in the sense that the two albums were recorded quickly after one another. The cover photo was taken by Murdoch of his friend, Ciara MacLaverty; like Murdoch, MacLaverty suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome. Critical reception. "If You're Feeling Sinister" received critical acclaim. "Pitchfork" placed it at number 14 in its top 100 albums of the 1990s. Later, the readers of "Pitchfork" voted the album the 31st greatest album released between  1996 and 2011. "Rolling Stone" featured the album at number 75 on its list of "100 Best Albums of the Nineties," while "Spin" included the record at number 59 on its "125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years" list. "If You're Feeling Sinister" also appears as an entry in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" as chosen by music critics. The album was placed at number 8 on "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll for 1997. The album was ranked No. 481 of the Top 500 Albums of All Time by Rolling  Stone in 2020. In 2007, as part of the "33⅓" series, Scott Plagenhoef wrote a book about the album. In February 2013, Pitchfork.tv released an hour-long documentary about the album directed by RJ Bentler. For the documentary, every band member who played on the album was interviewed. It featured archive photographs and videos from the band's early days.