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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: Paper Beats Rock on 14 Jan 2006, 08:08
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From wikipedia on indie music-
"Indie artists of any particular time often go against the prevailing trends (for example, the twee pop movement that started in the 1980s was a reaction against the testosterone-fuelled swagger of rock)."
Twee is baby talk for sweet and it means anything that is overly sweet or knowingly cute.
I like a lot of stuff that could be considered twee because I think it's a nice change from the usual depressed emo type stuff that seems dominant at the moment.
Some examples that a lot of people on here would know are Broken Social Scene (esp. Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl), some of the stuff by The Books and even some things like The Postal Service.
My favourite band that I catagorise as 'twee' is Freezepop. They're an American band but they seem very heavily influenced by Japanese culture and they write a lot of songs about crushes that are just so muthafuckin' sweet that they make my teeth melt by listening to them.
What are the happiest/most sweet music that you guys like?
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Wow, I just checked and I don't have a single upbeat/cheerful song in my playlist. Well, a few tracks here and there sound pretty sweet but have lyrics about pedophiles and drowning your lover and whatnot.
Guess I'm just not one for happy music.
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Is that a Dresden Dolls ref? Just reminded me of 'Missed Me', which is most definately NOT twee.
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I like If You're Feeling Sinister :)(go off and see a minister)
Other than that Tilly and the Wall is kinda twee and a danish band called Moon Gringo's debut called Boy Girl Beat. It was sort of brainy twee, with lyrics like "My lunch is stressed but I read The Junkie twice" and completely adorable.
I like some Architecture in Helsinki songs too :)
But generally I am also a bit on the mopey side...
I mean I am listening to Einstürzende Neubauten right now, which is about as far from twee as you can get.
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...would you consider the Aquabats as twee? Because otherwise I got nothing.
Oh, Talking Heads!
uh...
Yeah. I have nothing.
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I'd count Boy Least Likely To as twee. I do love some good Boy Least Likely To.
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What about Plus-Tech Squeezebox? Those guys are pure comedic japtronic genius.
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A thread about twee with no mention of Belle & Sebastian? Pfft.
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Well... I did mention them and so did Spinless albeit in a sneaky indirect way ;)
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Well... I did mention them and so did Spinless albeit in a sneaky indirect way ;)
Ack, I was scanning for band names, not albums.
Okay, how about... Rilo Kiley. I think.
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When she is not being nasty like on "It's a Hit"
But The Frug is as twee as they come :)
Spinless: Aren't the Shins a bit too miserable to be twee, they are gargantuan and all, but are they twee?[/quote]
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Do the Beatles count? Or Yes?
Otherwise I got nothin'.
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Oh, if the Beatles count, then yes. But only if it's the Beatles where they stopped touring and therefore stopped sucking.
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Zombina and the Skeletones are kinda twee, but they also eat your brains. That combo of kiddies keyboard, little girl vocals and garage rock guitar is pretty cutesy though, even if they're singing about turning you inside out. It's sort of part OLD old-school pop-punk (ie Undertones, 'Horror High School' even references Teenage Kicks) part indie pop and part rockabilly. They're pretty much the only band I would ever call 'adorable'.
'Horror High-School', 'Nobody Likes You When You're Dead', 'The Grave...And Beyond!', 'The Count (Of Five)' and 'Can't Break a Dead Girls Heart' are suggested track.
(http://www.artbaltazar.com/TasteZombina_copy.jpg)
Apart from that, I think twee stuff is pretty much execrable bilge. Sorry.
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Oh, that reminds me, I really need to get some more of them too. What DC++ servers are you on? Because I want to steal your music.
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I like pretty much everything by Belle and Sebastian. Camera Obscura is also good.
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For the benefit of this discussion, I'd include "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO in this category. It fights the world and wins. :)
(probably because I'm thinking of I Heart Huckabees as well.
What about some of Jon Brion's singer/songwritery solo stuff?)
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Hell yeah, I love that song.
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I've never made twee a big part of my life, but I've gotten into some groups that are or were at least on the fringe of the scene. Older bands like 14 Iced Bears and the Vaselines probably fit more closely with the post-punk scene, but both definitely have twee elements. As far as newer stuff goes, much of the cutesy twee stuff tends to be more electronic in nature, like Figurine or PINE*am.
Of course, Belle and Sebastian is always worth mention, though for being the flagship for twee they tend to take a more mature, arranged approach to their music than most other artists in the scene. Our musicologist at Gracenote won't even classify them as Twee Pop, instead throwing them into Baroque Pop. I disagree on the grounds that their aesthetics and audience strongly identify them as Twee Pop, but whatever.
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What the hell is baroque pop?
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It's pop that is, like, baroque. Man.
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Baroque Pop as a style originated in the mid 1960s as the flipside of Sunshine Pop. It used similar orchestrations but was infused with a melodramatic edge which differed. Much of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds would fall into this category, as would a lot of the later work of Phil Spector. Scott Walker is another important figure in the genre.
Popular Baroque Pop artists today are The Divine Comedy, Rufus Wainwright, Badly Drawn Boy, Sondre Lerche, Kings of Convenience, Elliott Smith, The Postal Service, and Iron & Wine.
It's a very elastic genre. I would call the Beatles' original (ie, Phil Spectorized) Let it Be the classic example of Baroque Pop: lush instrumentation, perhaps slightly psychedelic, lots of emotional range.
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Do we count Ben Lee as twee?
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http://forums.questionablecontent.net/viewtopic.php?t=8098
I don't know what the hell nickyandthefuture is playing at. He's the goddamn Tsar of Twee round here. That thread, and the article it linked, look pretty useful. Just ignore all the posts with 'opinions' on pitchfork.
Other than that, I got nothing. My Knowledge of twee indie pop stuff is extremely limited, and I really, really disliked what I heard.
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Have you tried www.indiepages.com? They have pages of links to more indie bands and labels than you could shake a perigosto stick at. :)
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Yeah, twee has been kinda my "thing". (Not my only thing, but I seem to like it a lot more than the majority of people on this board).
Twee has historically been fairly tongue-in-cheek, but I think with a lot of people the impression of infantilism puts them off from seeing that. Sometimes, twee-ness was used as a vehicle for making a concept more unsettling than it would otherwise (I mean, "Rory Rides Me Raw" by the Vaselines is a bit disturbing). Amelia Fletcher sang so sweetly that most people never noticed the surprising number of Heavenly songs dealing with rape and abusive relationships.
Which isn't to say that sometimes bands are twee for no greater purpose other than that it's fun. I guess this is something that either you like or you don't. Even I think it can go too far: a band called Busytoby, which was two people who were oh-so-disgustingly in love with each other, made an album called It's Good to Be Alive, which comprises songs about how in love with each other they are, and it makes me want to punch things.
One of the major centers of indie pop was Sarah Records. When they closed, this was their epitaph:
Sarah Records
a day for destroying things...
... because when you were nineteen
didn't YOU ever want to create something beautiful and pure
just so that one day you could set it on fire
and then watch the city light up as it burned?
Didn't you want to do that every day of your life?
Nothing should be forever.
Bands should do one single and then split-up,
fanzines finish after one flawless issue,
lovers leave in the rain at 5am and never be seen again -
Habit and fear of change are the worst reasons for ever doing ANYTHING.
Stopping a record-label after 100 perfect releases
is the most gorgeous pop art-statement ever
and says more about pop-music than any two-part digipak
limited-edition coloured-vinyl 7"
grimly authentic lo-fi ten-track EP
(or any other marketing gimmick)
ever will.
Sarah Records is owned by no-one but us,
so it's OURS to create and destroy how we want
and we don't do encores.
We want to burn in bright colours and go pop,
to be giddy, impulsive and silly,
to kiss people in new places -
EXQUISITELY
- and dare to tear things apart.
The first act of revolution is destruction
and the first thing to destroy is THE PAST.
scary
like falling in love
it reminds us we're alive
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The Lucksmiths are pretty cool. Obviously Belle and Sebastian. I was also going to say Kings of Convenience, but apparently they're "baroque pop"...
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belle and sebastian <3
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I am twee as fuck.
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Okay, come to think of it, there is at least one group I can think of that I love that might be said to have twee influences, which is current 93
For: Sleighbells, recorders, nursery rhyme singing, songs mentioning kittens, ponies etc., called an album 'All the Pretty Little Horsies', wrote a whole concept album about Noddy, song titles include 'The Ballad of Bobby Sunshine', 'Oh Merry-go-round', 'Happy Birthday', 'A Voice for Catland'.
Against: Tape loops of nazi speeches and people shouting 'JESUS WEPT', white noise, screams, songs mentioning rape, genocide, and the occult, called albums 'SixSixSix: SickSickSick' and 'Lucifer Over London', the concept album was called 'Swastikas for Noddy', song titles include 'Falling Back in Fields of Rape and Smoke', 'Into The Bloody Hole I Go', 'The Inmost Night', 'Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil' and, in the greatest move ever, 'The Seven Seals Are Revealed At The End Of Time As Seven Bows: The Bloodbow, The Pissbow, The Painbow, The Faminebow, The Deathbow, The Angerbow And The Hohohobow '.
Actually, Current 93 are just fucked up.
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gee.
the sarah records epitaph makes me sad and smile all at the same time.
i guess that's what twee is to me, really:
the integrity of diy, the motivation of punk, the beauty of pop, and the honesty of self.
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would something so dazzalingly sweet sounding as the New Pornographers fall under Twee?
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Hahaha, man, some twee is just NUTS. I mean like puke little pink hearts happy. Lol I don't know if I particularly like it, but I can sure respect it's shameless regard for music. One song I heard is actually the theme song for Powerpuff Girls. What's happier than that?
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the thing i love about twee is that it can be sad and posi at the same time.
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apples in stereo! not strictly twee but they make me smile.
i like heavenly/marine research too. someone already said about sarah records, who were really, really cool. i love the field mice, and the orchids.
oh man, the power puff girls themetune rocks, man!
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the malcolm in the middle theme, while being quite rock laden, is fairly twee in concept. just play the chords with ukulele and lay the same vocal tracks down, and its twee as fuuuu
i think they might be giants are on the synth-cusp of twee. at least within the geeky indiepop radius.
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While you could say the New Pornographers have twee elements, I would hesitate to call them twee because they're a little heavy-- not quite delicate enough. Having a girl singer and using peppy synths does not alone a twee band make. If I was to micro-genre them, I'd call them Power Pop Revival (or more specifically, Late 90s Canadian Power Pop Revival).
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If we're talking straight-up happy music, how about that Polyphonic Spree? Almost sickeningly happy, if you ask me...
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If we're talking straight-up happy music, how about that Polyphonic Spree? Almost sickeningly happy, if you ask me...
happy =/= twee.
so cute you could vomit = twee.
polyphonic spree is somewhere in there, but there are more elements of psychadelic-synth pop in their music.
twee is usually VERY minimalist.
polyphonic spree has like 3,000 members.
so.....
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Twee/ MORE LIEK WEEE ANM I RIETE?!
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wowzas.
TWEE? MORE LIEK TWEEGAY, AMIRITE?
ROFL, UR GOOD AT THIS
DUDE, I KNO
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LOLZ
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If we're talking straight-up happy music, how about that Polyphonic Spree? Almost sickeningly happy, if you ask me...
happy =/= twee.
Well, I never said it was twee. I was just broadening the scope of this thread. Or derailing it :P
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I think it was mentioned earlier, but if you enjoy what is being said to be twee here, go research sarah records - the best fuckin twee you can get!
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No-one has mentioned Cars Can Be Blue yet.
There's something about the juxtaposition of bubblegum pop and lyrics about fucking and abortions that really tickles me....
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Holy fuck! Someone else who likes Cars Can Be Blue!
Gotta kill this baby before it's a crime!
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That is probably my favourite line on the whole damn album
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In Flames is pretty damn twee, right?
lalalala gather the faithful and propose a toast
to the epoch of indifference lalalalala