Posts tagged twee
Posted this on my personal tumblr, and realized that it’s relevant to this blog.i get bored, so i make things.
I could keep this blog blowing up about QUARTERBACKS all the time, especially since I received their tape in the mail today (actually yesterday what is sleep), and was so so so happy. #1 fan, so don’t even front. But, okay, I’ll spare you.
I just got back to Oregon after a 1-2 week road trip, and I’ve been mostly anti-Internet due to availability/having more fun things to do.
Anyway, I’m about to ramble, so here’s what this is really all about:
If you like cute, and you like ukulele, and you want to listen to music that makes you think of the best summer you’ve ever had, then Madeline Ava is the answer.
Her album “Still Gonna Be Fine” was released somewhere around March, I believe, and I don’t even know, I think it’s perfect. I know I think/say a lot of things are perfect, but really.
Her songs have this really narrative, dreamy, nostalgic quality, and I want to say more, I just get so giddy and wrapped up about music that I really like. Just think folky and ukulele-y and super super sweet vox and summer and more.
She’s from Indiana, which I think is neat, because I rarely ever hear about people/music from Indiana, but maybe I just don’t pay enough attention, but also, okay, continued rambling.
Anyway, I warn you, the minute you listen to this album, you’ll want to marry her, I swear.
You should download it, because, y’know, $3 (or more) is so worth 14 lovely tracks.
Also, she’s playing a good handful of shows with QUARTERBACKS on their summer tour. If you’re not a loser/you live in the Eastern part of the country, just go. Like, just go for it, because it’ll probably be a boatload of fun. I mean it. Jeez.
:*
I feel like this is the perfect day to make this post, because it’s hot and oppressive outside. In a dreamy kind of way.
I don’t know if any of you pay attention to what’s going on at SUNY Purchase (unless you go there), but from what I’ve observed, there seem to be some really great things happening with music, over there.
On that note, I’d like to introduce you to Boy Crush, a bedroom pop project out of Purchase.
Up top, or wherever that link shows up, you can listen to the latest single “Dreamcatcher”.
While this doesn’t completely fit in to the same strain of pop I’m sure you all are mad stoked on, this is pop enough to justify having a spot here on Pajama Party. I’ve listened to this song an embarrassing number of times, I’m not going to tell you how many. I laid in the grass at the cemetery, and just left it on repeat. I suggest you do the same, or something similar. Things will get hazy, and you’ll forget about the fact that you have a really gnarly sunburn developing.
Keep on the lookout for more, or check out Sean’s other project high pop, which isn’t very twee, but still worth listening to.
Remember that post about Secret Beach from a little while back? You should. They’re selling physical copies of their single, so spread the news, or buy one yrself, duh.~Secret beach Talk to the White Girl single is here for purchase! Limited to 100 hand-numbered blue disc copies!!!!!~
Tracklist: Talk to the White Girl, Pillow, Brother
PAYPAL BUY IT!
dear QBs,
thnx for making the trek up to Syracuse. hope you felt welcome. hope you felt complete. you killed it.
love,
meagan
I make mixes from time to time. It makes me feel like an asshole, but it’s a relaxing exercise.
For the past week or so, the weather in CNY has been phenomenal, so I needed a short mix of twee songs to complement the sunny days.
we’ll be sweethearts when it’s summer
1. “Summer’s On Its Way” - Acid House Kings
2. “Sea Hunt” - Beat Happening
3. “California” - The Aislers Set
4. “Bigger Than An Ocean” - Go Sailor
5. “Let’s Go Swimming” - Allo’ Darlin
6. “Clear Skies” - Blueboy
7. “Sunny in California” - Aberdeen
8. “Forests and Sands” - Camera Obscura
Secret Beach is the band of a friend of a friend. I’m always apprehensive about listening to bands of friends of friends, but when my friend mentioned that the band was pretty twee, I couldn’t resist. How many more times can I say “friend”? No, sorry, I’ll stop.
Secret Beach hails from New York. They have a handful of little EPs/demos + a full length on their bandcamp, and I think it’s all pretty wonderful. A lot going on in a good number of the recordings, skipping past the basic guitar stuff and incorporating a variety of other instruments, which I think is swell, because sometimes I get bored with the drums+bass+guitar formula. This music sounds like it was made in somebody’s bedroom, with a lot of love. I don’t know how to write, so I’m basically saying that you should check out this band, because they’re cute and they make good stuff.
This song “kiss/wink emoticon” is kind of my jam, right now.
This blog is still just an ugly little newborn baby. It’s hard to tell what will come of this. What this will grow up to be. But we’ve got some stuff in the works, kids, and I want to take this seriously. I’m hunting down little bands, cruising through Bandcamp and Facebook, trying to find tiny projects that I think people should pay attention to. I’m working on a list of shows to attend. I’m figuring out what’s going on in Portland so that I can transition this blog to dat West Coast feel, when I return in May. I know I’m just a little girl, and my opinion is still just a tiny speck of dust on that cassette player you’ve been meaning to get fixed, but I think that there’s some potential. We’re in this together, and even if we aren’t, I can always pretend.
While I try to get this show on the road, and to occupy some of your/my time, here’s a list of my top 5 favorite Beat Happening songs, starting from the bottom and working our way up.
5. “The This Many Boyfriends Club” from Jamboree
This is the first Beat Happening song I ever heard. Naturally, it has a very dear place in my heart. A good friend told me about Beat Happening while we were, coincidentally, baking an apple pie. He turned on this song, and at first, I wasn’t so sure about it, but after I told him to play it again, it stuck. Later that week, I went to Everyday Music in Portland, and picked up their first album. I fell in love immediately, even though my older sister made fun of me for it. I’m putting this at #5, because it’s not always the most listenable song.
4. “Pinebox Derby” from You Turn Me On
Beat Happening has a nice little handful of ooky spooky songs, like most of the songs on Black Candy. For whatever reason, Pinebox Derby always sticks out to me, and maybe it’s because when I was younger, I was really into witchy vibes, or maybe it’s because the word “pinebox” is in the song, and I’ve always been fascinated with coffin imagery (I have a coffin stick-and-poke tattoo on my arm), but this song is such a jam to me, and I love to walk around the cemetery and listen to this, because it’s got a groovy feel and it makes me feel like less of a wimp.
3. “Bad Seeds” from Beat Happening
I’ve always been a little bit of a misfit. I went through phases of trying to be a badass during my younger years. I was a punk in high school, and I thought my shit didn’t stink. I still feel that way from time to time, when I break the occasional bottle or spray paint things on outdoor staircases, or briefly participate in some friendly basement moshing. This song epitomizes all of those feelings for me. It’s cute and catchy, but it’s still got that no-fucks-given kind of attitude, which I possess from time to time, and I can really dig it.
2. “Tiger Trap” from You Turn Me On
I can’t even begin to explain how much this song gets to me. I don’t know why, but when I’m feeling especially morose, I go to this song. I wish I had more to say about it, like I had with the other songs, but there’s not much that I can say. I really love the lyrics, and I love the way that Calvin sings. The way he holds his notes in this song is so perfect. I like to listen to this song when I’m laying on my bed, at night, staring out the window, thinking about things that I can’t quite figure out.
1. “Run Down Stairs” from Beat Happening
I think I’m putting this song at #1 because it really just defines what my life is like most of the time. I’m shy, and I have issues talking to boys, and people in general. I go on long walks by myself, I dance by myself in my dorm room, and I stay up late at night for a variety of reasons, but mostly because my brain just doesn’t want to turn off sometimes. Pretty much everything about this song is my life, and I love the fact that Heather sings it, because the feminine vocals just help me relate to it more.
Sorry this was so long-winded. I’m trying to get this blog started off right, and I think it’s important for you all to get an idea of what I’m like/where I’m coming from when it comes to the twee genre.
I’d be interested in having a dialogue with any one of you. Let’s make this corny. What are YOUR top 5 favorite Beat Happening songs? I’m actually, honestly curious. If you read through this whole thing, thanks for being attentive. Be on the look out for more posts. This is happening. It’s all happening.
