Fuck me I'm twee
A great bulk of twee music is all about being self-referential, it's a genre that really has a "scene". It wasn't quite so bad around the start of the genre, you won't exactly hear a lot of namedropping on The Field Mice tracks -- but nowadays, with Tullycraft and Los Campesinos! and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, there's a lot of referencing of certain landmarks of the scene. It's certainly in a comforting sort of way, twee isn't an exclusionary clique by any means, but it's a dense, tightly-knit body of artists, labels, and works and it unites as a common interest and often a musical inspiration.
So, in a show of this, I'm going to take this post and show how much of a dork I am by "deconstructing" Tullycraft's Twee, a single from their 2002 release, Beat Surf Fun. It's a fairly prominent song for the band, with the lyric "Fuck me, I'm twee" becoming a community catchphrase, on top of the always popular "twee as fuck".
Well she wakes up every morning
To the sound of Sarah Records
On a compilation tape
Her friend had sent to her from Paris
Well it's not to say she didn't like
The college station
but her days left in this town
Were counting down to graduation
She said hey hey hey
With less than three weeks to go
She tried to justify the goth scene
But the relevance was low
And she said hey hey hey
Won't you listen to me
Well you can keep the punk rock
Ska rap beats and house
Fuck me I'm twee
Sarah Records is one of the big iconic twee labels. There's a ton of them individually, but three well-known big ones: Sarah Records, K Records, and Slumberland. Sarah Records was started in 1987 in Bristol, grown out of C86 comps, and featured a lot of twee brass. Notable bands are The Hit Parade, Even As We Speak, The Field Mice, Boyrace, Another Sunny Day, and my personal favorite from the label, Heavenly. Sarah Records is now defunct.
She packed her Little Teddy totebag
Saved some tickets for herself
Picked out her favorite Lucksmiths single
Took the Cher Doll off the shelf
She grabbed her Slumberland guitar case
And her 14 Iced Bears ring
Took down her IFOJ poster
And 'The Band Who Would Be King'
And she said hey hey hey
I'm taking 2nd to steal
You know you won't meet barker's beauties
Unless you learn to spin the wheel
And she said hey hey hey
Won't you listen to me
Well you can keep the punk rock
Ska rap beats and house
Fuck me I'm twee
Little Teddy Recordings was founded in the UK in 1991 for some now-defunct band I've never even heard of. It's a smaller label, mostly a DIY deal to serve as a vehicle for previously mentioned band, but they put out one of Tullycraft's first releases (Old Traditions, New Standards), as well as releasing the single for Twee back in 2002. I'm not sure about them now, but I don't think they've had any releases since.
Lucksmiths were a group from Melbourne, had a style that I like to characterize personally as Belle and Sebastian meets The Smiths with only the good aspects of either (So, no droning B&S vocals, and no MORRISEY and much better lyrics than The Smiths). Disbanded just a year ago, pretty sad really.
Cher Doll Records is another label, one of the first American twee labels set up. Formed in '93, it had a few mildly notable releases, one of those being Neutral Milk Hotel's very first single. Otherwise, their releases were limited to boring groups like Orange Cake Mix or The Lovelies, and -- Tullycraft's album City of Subarus.
Slumberland Records is one of the previously referenced big three, formed in Washington D.C. in 1989. These guys are still around, and right now they're notable to putting out The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, as well as dropping whatever singles Boyracer and Rose Melberg are still churning away at. Some notable folks from the label include Black Tambourine, Go Sailor, The Softies, Boyracer (after Sarah Records went defunct) and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. As well as...
14 Iced Bears, who are something of geezers on this list. They came from the C86 scene, formed in 1985. Beat Happening predates them by about three years, but they're certainly one of the earlier groups. They released largely on Sarah and Slumberland.
IFOJ is The Incredible Force Of Junior. Another Seattle group, largely unnotable, they're mostly namedropped for contributing member Chris Munford to Tullycraft proper.
"The Band Who Would Be King" is a 1993 documentary about proto-punk outfit Half-Japanese. Not actually twee, really! But, part of the crossover between the twee and punk scenes, and paying good homage to what came before. A quick sidenote on the crossover between twee and punk too -- Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening was good friends with Ian MacKaye, and when he organized the International Pop Underground Convention back in 1991 (with K records being the vehicle), he got Fugazi on the roster, as well as riot grrl outfit Bratmobile, and sludge metal group The Melvins.
She said I may not beat my sister
At this stupid game of uno
But at least I know the difference
Between a Boscoe and a Bruno
Sick of stickin' around just like those magnets on the fridge
But when I finally leave this town
Please don't throw aggi from the bridge
She said hey hey hey
There's just one thing I know
You'll find more Posies in the used bin
than there are people at the show
And she said hey hey hey
Won't you listen to me
Well you can keep the punk rock
Ska rap beats and house
Fuck me I'm twee
Boscoe and Bruno is Frank Boscoe and Frank Bruno. Frank Boscoe was the lead of Vehicle Flips, a small group on Harriet Records (home to The Magnetic Field's first release). Frank Bruno was the lead of Nothing Painted Blue. Similar names.
"Throw Aggi From the Bridge" is a single by early Slumberland group, Black Tambourine. They released two incredibly solid EPs in '91 and '93 respectively, and blended a sort of mix of twee and shoegaze. They're definetely one of my favorite groups. Their lead, Pam Berry, is also notable for being one of the co-editors of the indie 'zine "chickfactor", which Belle and Sebastian did a song referencing on The Boy With the Arab Strap. Slumberland recently reissued Black Tambourine's EPs and 6 unreleased songs into an eponymous album. It's pretty good, worth checking out.
The Posies are a late-80's early-90's alternative rock group that, much like any alternative rock group from that time, have desperately oversaturated used bins with their discarded albums. I'm serious about this too, alternative-nation-era rock is fucking up my used album searching experience. I swear to god if I can't rifle through a bin without finding 20 copies of Bush's Sixteen Stone -- not that I'd begrudge anybody getting rid of that album, but you know there is also the trash (Bush diss). The Posies really aren't that bad at all, and they're heavily associated with the fantastic group Big Star, but you know, just too many used albums.
So, in a show of this, I'm going to take this post and show how much of a dork I am by "deconstructing" Tullycraft's Twee, a single from their 2002 release, Beat Surf Fun. It's a fairly prominent song for the band, with the lyric "Fuck me, I'm twee" becoming a community catchphrase, on top of the always popular "twee as fuck".
Click to viewWell she wakes up every morning
To the sound of Sarah Records
On a compilation tape
Her friend had sent to her from Paris
Well it's not to say she didn't like
The college station
but her days left in this town
Were counting down to graduation
She said hey hey hey
With less than three weeks to go
She tried to justify the goth scene
But the relevance was low
And she said hey hey hey
Won't you listen to me
Well you can keep the punk rock
Ska rap beats and house
Fuck me I'm twee
Sarah Records is one of the big iconic twee labels. There's a ton of them individually, but three well-known big ones: Sarah Records, K Records, and Slumberland. Sarah Records was started in 1987 in Bristol, grown out of C86 comps, and featured a lot of twee brass. Notable bands are The Hit Parade, Even As We Speak, The Field Mice, Boyrace, Another Sunny Day, and my personal favorite from the label, Heavenly. Sarah Records is now defunct.
She packed her Little Teddy totebag
Saved some tickets for herself
Picked out her favorite Lucksmiths single
Took the Cher Doll off the shelf
She grabbed her Slumberland guitar case
And her 14 Iced Bears ring
Took down her IFOJ poster
And 'The Band Who Would Be King'
And she said hey hey hey
I'm taking 2nd to steal
You know you won't meet barker's beauties
Unless you learn to spin the wheel
And she said hey hey hey
Won't you listen to me
Well you can keep the punk rock
Ska rap beats and house
Fuck me I'm twee
Little Teddy Recordings was founded in the UK in 1991 for some now-defunct band I've never even heard of. It's a smaller label, mostly a DIY deal to serve as a vehicle for previously mentioned band, but they put out one of Tullycraft's first releases (Old Traditions, New Standards), as well as releasing the single for Twee back in 2002. I'm not sure about them now, but I don't think they've had any releases since.
Lucksmiths were a group from Melbourne, had a style that I like to characterize personally as Belle and Sebastian meets The Smiths with only the good aspects of either (So, no droning B&S vocals, and no MORRISEY and much better lyrics than The Smiths). Disbanded just a year ago, pretty sad really.
Cher Doll Records is another label, one of the first American twee labels set up. Formed in '93, it had a few mildly notable releases, one of those being Neutral Milk Hotel's very first single. Otherwise, their releases were limited to boring groups like Orange Cake Mix or The Lovelies, and -- Tullycraft's album City of Subarus.
Slumberland Records is one of the previously referenced big three, formed in Washington D.C. in 1989. These guys are still around, and right now they're notable to putting out The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, as well as dropping whatever singles Boyracer and Rose Melberg are still churning away at. Some notable folks from the label include Black Tambourine, Go Sailor, The Softies, Boyracer (after Sarah Records went defunct) and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. As well as...
14 Iced Bears, who are something of geezers on this list. They came from the C86 scene, formed in 1985. Beat Happening predates them by about three years, but they're certainly one of the earlier groups. They released largely on Sarah and Slumberland.
IFOJ is The Incredible Force Of Junior. Another Seattle group, largely unnotable, they're mostly namedropped for contributing member Chris Munford to Tullycraft proper.
"The Band Who Would Be King" is a 1993 documentary about proto-punk outfit Half-Japanese. Not actually twee, really! But, part of the crossover between the twee and punk scenes, and paying good homage to what came before. A quick sidenote on the crossover between twee and punk too -- Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening was good friends with Ian MacKaye, and when he organized the International Pop Underground Convention back in 1991 (with K records being the vehicle), he got Fugazi on the roster, as well as riot grrl outfit Bratmobile, and sludge metal group The Melvins.
She said I may not beat my sister
At this stupid game of uno
But at least I know the difference
Between a Boscoe and a Bruno
Sick of stickin' around just like those magnets on the fridge
But when I finally leave this town
Please don't throw aggi from the bridge
She said hey hey hey
There's just one thing I know
You'll find more Posies in the used bin
than there are people at the show
And she said hey hey hey
Won't you listen to me
Well you can keep the punk rock
Ska rap beats and house
Fuck me I'm twee
Boscoe and Bruno is Frank Boscoe and Frank Bruno. Frank Boscoe was the lead of Vehicle Flips, a small group on Harriet Records (home to The Magnetic Field's first release). Frank Bruno was the lead of Nothing Painted Blue. Similar names.
"Throw Aggi From the Bridge" is a single by early Slumberland group, Black Tambourine. They released two incredibly solid EPs in '91 and '93 respectively, and blended a sort of mix of twee and shoegaze. They're definetely one of my favorite groups. Their lead, Pam Berry, is also notable for being one of the co-editors of the indie 'zine "chickfactor", which Belle and Sebastian did a song referencing on The Boy With the Arab Strap. Slumberland recently reissued Black Tambourine's EPs and 6 unreleased songs into an eponymous album. It's pretty good, worth checking out.
The Posies are a late-80's early-90's alternative rock group that, much like any alternative rock group from that time, have desperately oversaturated used bins with their discarded albums. I'm serious about this too, alternative-nation-era rock is fucking up my used album searching experience. I swear to god if I can't rifle through a bin without finding 20 copies of Bush's Sixteen Stone -- not that I'd begrudge anybody getting rid of that album, but you know there is also the trash (Bush diss). The Posies really aren't that bad at all, and they're heavily associated with the fantastic group Big Star, but you know, just too many used albums.