The Smiley Smile Message Board

Feel free to consider this a corollary to the power pop thread -- twee can be its sometimes more precious, sensitive friend.

I've been getting into twee pop lately, both the American and European varieties, some more recent but much of it "historical". If I had to make a broad, necessarily imprecise suggestion of differences between the two: American twee, exemplified by K Records, is usually more cutesy -- think: Beat Happening -- while European twee, exemplified by Sarah Records, is often at least as much depressing as it is hopeful -- like The Field Mice or most any Sarah bands. Both have generally fierce allegiances to a DIY ethos, lo-fi recording, and independent labels. The music, befitting its label is also often very melodic and the lyrics are your usual relationship-type stuff. Many of these bands, unsurprisingly, like The Beach Boys. Other influences are also not very surprising: Jesus & Mary Chain, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground, Daniel Johnston, R.E.M., etc.

More modern bands that take up the twee label vary, just as they did in the '80s or '90s. You've got your Camera Obscuras or Allo Darlin's with much more produced stuff but also your Tullycrafts, those fierce lo-fi heroes.

Okay, so what bands do I mean who are twee? Have some songs!

Beat Happening: "Our Secret" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlQnmEKSBak), "In Between" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCyuH6bzYuM), "Hot Chocolate Boy" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy5Q35_aKRU)
The Cat's Miaow: "Third Floor Fire Escape View" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLOH3FjJmOI), "Hollow Inside" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slTCXDMDrrY), "Don't Worry, This Isn't About You" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLSiU7ubEpY)
Tullycraft: "Pop Songs Your Boyfriend's Too Stupid To Know About" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RN09zYiQAc), "I Kept The Beach Boys" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzIHSCGBulo)
Dressy Bessy: "I Found Out", "Fuzzy"
The Softies: "Charms Around Your Wrist", "It's Love" "Snow Like This"
Heavenly: "I Fell In Love Last Night", "P.U.N.K. Girl"
The School: "Let It Slip", "All I Wanna Do", "You Make Me Hear Music (Inside My Head)"
Marine Girls: "Times We Used To Spend", "Second Sight"
Talulah Gosh: "My Best Friend", "Escalator Over The Hill", "Yalulah Gosh"
Television Personalities: "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives", "This Angry Silence"
The Field Mice: "Emma's House", "I Can See Myself Alone Forever", "Canada", "This Love Is Not Wrong"
The Magnetic Fields: "Josephine", "100,000 Fireflies", "When You Were My Baby", "Lovers On The Moon"
The Pastels: "Up For A Bit", "Thru' Your Heart", "Sit On It Mother"
Camera Obscura: "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken", "I Need All The Friends I Can Get"

Okay, I got lazy and stopped linking through that list. Look 'em up yerself!

you just reminded me of The Field Mice, who wrote the most miserable breakup song ever with Willow.

just something in my eye, I swear  ;D

I've plugged this album here before, but Fugu's "Fugu 1" is full of baroque pop/twee/French/SMiLE sounding gems -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzBlfN9IWZA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRBwBQmfeUw&feature=related

Can't forget Belle and Sebastian, the BMX Bandits (seems like almost every member of B&S and BMX Bandits contributed a solo track to the Caroline Now album), the Vaselines, Orange Juice (It's a shame it took until 1992 for Edwyn Collins to get a big hit!!), early Primal Scream, the Mighty Lemon Drops, McCarthy (Tim Gane's pre-Stereolab band), Aztec Camera, Poole (who were kind of both twee and power pop)...

Although I unsurprisingly enjoy the more produced groups that get labelled twee, like Camera Obscura, I've found myself really getting into the more lo-fi groups more -- maybe it's the amateurish, barebones melodicism of Beat Happening that at least seems less... ubiquitous these days, whether or not that's actually true? Or that the more ornate groups veer a bit too much into classicism or reverence that it sometimes feels like a spot-the-infuence challenge. I don't know.

Almost forgot about Rocketship, the Softies, Tiger Trap, Boyracer, the Lucksmiths, Acid House Kings...

I don't know how I neglected pre-69 Love Songs Magnetic Fields for so long... I dare say I like that stuff -- much more obviously aligned with the lo-fi twee scene (The Cat's Miaow even covered "Born on a Train"!) -- better than everything after. The first 6ths album, Wasps' Nests, is great too. (In fact, given 69 Love Songs was the only Magnetic Fields I had heard until last week or so, I had no idea they were even considered a twee band, let alone one so influential!)