So Tough! So Cute! Best Of 2009

2009 was rather lovely wasn't it? We bought loads of records, got to meet Stephen Pastel, put on fourteen So Tough! So Cute! nights. We drank and danced and made out under the stairs, we had tears in our eyes and fists in the sky. We had friends come visit us to play records and we visited them and played Crass for the weak hearted twee pop fans. We saw great bands and put on nine of them ourselves and we had a song written about our wee club. We said goodbye to friends in Malmö and hello to new friends in London. So thank you everyone who guest-dj'd and played live this year but most of all thank you for making So Tough! So Cute! a fantastic night out. See you in 2010

These are our favourite songs. Songs we could listen to time and time again.
 

Best album of 2009

PENS - Hey Friend! What You Doing?
(De Stijl)
We're making this our album of the year because in the first draft of this list we had included not less than 6 songs from the record and just couldn't pick one track. We simply can't stop listening to songs like Freddie, 1-2, Hide The Kids, Yeah Baby! I'll Take You to Bagel Town, Networking and High In The Cinema. In the twenty-nine minutes the album lasts, it is as if PENS manage to capture all the films of Larry Clark and Harmony Korine and distill them into insanely perfect pop songs. And while every other band this year seemed to take great effort in trying to sound unconsciously noisy, DIY and lo-fi the PENS just did. And they did it brilliantly.

Best Songs Of 2009

(in order of length for some reason)

Graffiti Island - Moon Tan

Crocodiles, Graffiti Island, Dum Dum Girls & Pens split 7" (Art Fag)

Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin - Pop Song

Pop Song 7" (Goodbye Boozy)

Sea Lions - Beautiful Day

Let's Groove 7", (Yay!)

First Base - I Got A Girl
I Got A Girl 7" (Pizza Party)

 

Knight School - Pregnant Again

The Poor And Needy Need To Party LP (Lostmusic)

 

Crystal Stilts - Love Is A Wave

Love Is A Wave 7" (Slumberland)

 

Fresh & Onlys - Grey-Eyed Girl

Grey-Eyed Girls LP (Woodsist)

Pheromoans - Revamper

Revamper 7" (Convulsive)

Cave Weddings - Bring Your Love

Bring Your Love 7" (Hozac)

 

Magic Kids - Hey Boy

Hey Boy 7" (Goner)

 

Frankie Rose - Thee Only One

Thee Only One 7" (Slumberland)

 

Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)

Sun Was High (So Was I) 7" (Art Fag)

Veronica Falls - Beachy Head

Rough Trade Shops Indiepop '09 (Cooperative Music)

 

Home Blitz - Is Anybody There?

Out of Phase LP (Ritchie)

Sic Alps - L. Mansion

L. Mansion 7" (Slumberland)

Blanche Hudson Weekend - Noise And Fury

Letter To Daddy EP (Squirrel)

Times New Viking - Move To California

Move To California 7" (Matador)

 

Yo la Tengo - If It's True

Popular Songs LP (Matador)

Drums - Let's Go Surfing (Knight School Version)

Let's Go Surfing EP (Download)

Plug - Nonchalant Love

Fresh Pleasures 7" (Parlour)

Chain and the Gang - Interview With The Chain Gang

Down With Liberty... Up With Chains LP (K)

 

Tyvek - Summer Things

Blessed 7" (Les Disques Steak)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Can't Hear My Eyes

Can't Hear My Eyes 7" (Mexican Summer)

 

Girls At Dawn - Every Night

The Girls At Dawn 7" (Hozac)

Brown Recluse - Contour and Context

The Soft Skin EP (Slumberland)

 

Feeling of Love - Waiting for the Cheerleaders to Get Drunk

Waiting for the Cheerleaders to Get Drunk 7'' (Avant!)

 

Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction

Young Adult Friction 7" (Slumberland/Fortuna Pop)

Real Estate - Beach Comber

Real Estate LP (Woodsist)

Dinosaur Jr. - Pieces

Pieces 7" (Jagjaguwar)

Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill

I Wanna Kill 7" (Sexbeat)

Wavves - Mickey Mouse

Demos (Download)

And just outside the list we have the Just Joans, Pastels/Tenniscoats, Fergus & Geronimo, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, Summer Cats, Jim O'Rourke, Cathode Ray, Girl Alliance, Transmittens, Standard Fare, Aidan Moffat & The Best-Ofs, King Creosote, Parallelograms, Let's Wrestle...

Download So Tough! So Cute! - Best Songs of 2009 

EDIT: Alternative download

Trembling Blue Stars - Live at UCLA.

Somebody was kind enough to upload these four videos of Trembling Blue Stars playing at the UCLA November 14 in 2002. It's a shame that they don't play live anymore but hopefully that will change when the new record Fast Trains And Telegraph Wires comes out in 2010. The three new songs they played; Frosting, The Imperfection Of Memory and Tropic Of Capricorn, on Mark Witbys' John Peel Day tribute show earlier this year were lovely in their acoustic versions.

Upset The Rhythm playlist

Here's what we played at Upset the Rhythm last friday and a sneak peek at some of the songs that'll be on our best of 2009 list which will be posted Jan. 1, 2010. We had a smashing time playing and seeing Veronica Falls and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, each putting on great sets. We were also a little bit jealous of the lucky winner of the £100 voucher for future Upset The Rhythm nights.

Hooterville Trolley - No Silver Bird
Palms - Leather Daddies
Grass Widow - LuLu's Lips
Phil Wilson - It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl
Estrogen Highs - She Don't Bother

Real Estate - Beach Comber
Ty Segall - Pop Song
Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians Of The British Empire - Christmas 1979
David Peel & Lover East Side - The Lower East Side
Ty Segall - Pop Song

Marine Girls - Love You More
Feeling of Love - Waiting for the Cheerleaders to Get Drunk
Television Personalities - Part Time Punks (Live At The Clarendon 22 May 80)
Fergus & Geronimo - Powerful Lovin'
Sic Alps - Gelly Roll Gum Drop

Half Japanese - Firecracker Firecracker
Daniel Johnston - Rock Around The Christmas Tree
Beat Happening - Teenage Caveman
Plug - Nonchalant Love
Legend! - The King Of Hobart

Chain and the Gang - Interview With The Chain Gang
The Pheromoans - Revamper
Mattias Alkberg Tre - Sundbyberg
The Fall - No Xmas For John Quays
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Can't Hear My Eyes

Urinals - Surfin' with the Shah
Lil' Fighters - The Recoys
Ronettes - Sleigh Ride
Essential Logic - Fanfare In The Garden
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Josef K - The Angle
Tyvek - Summer Things

Upset The Rhythm

Ever since we discovered an orange flyer blue-tacked on the walls of the Rough Trade East* shop, listing almost all the bands we have had a crush on this year, Upset The Rhythm has been one of our favourite clubs. Time after time they've put on amazing gigs and always with a strong sense of DIY hanging in the air. Quite a few of our top live gigs of the year have been at Upset The Rhythm nights and we're very happy to say that we'll be playing records at their xmas party on friday. See you there.

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE
HIS CLANCYNESS
VERONICA FALLS
Friday 18 December
The Lexington

96-98 Pentonville Road Road, Angel, N1 9JB | Map
7:30 | £10 | Buy tickets

*To anyone working at Rough Trade: Please give me a job.

Standard Fare

Important announcement: We are deeply and madly in love with Standard Fare from Sheffield and especially the tracks Philadelphia and A Night With A Friend. Emmas voice totally blows our minds while Danny has this weightless voice we absolutely adore and the songs are made for mad pogoing on the dance floor (Yes, you can bet your arse that we'll be playing this at the next So Tough! So Cute! and Baby Honey nights).

The A Layer Of Chips blog has written a nice write-up of the coming album The Noyelle Beat where you can download A Night With A Friend which has apparently been retitled Nuit Avec Une Amie. It's not out until march 2010 but you can order their singles and the split with Slow Down Tallahassee from Thee SPC and also download their christmas song Tinsel Politics for free.

The last ever Twee As Fuck

Last night we said goodbye to Twee As Fuck. We got there just in time for another amazing set by Veronica Falls, who we've seen 5 times since our move to London. They keep getting better and more intense every time we see them. Now if only they would release something. Preferably this year so we can put them on top our or best of 2009 list



The Comet Gain sadly didn't have Rachel with them and didn't play You Can Hide Your Love Forever, which has been an anthem for our nights in Malmö. But they did a fantastic version of My Defiance which we managed to capture on video

So Tough! So Cute! resident DJ at new London club Baby Honey

We're really happy to announce the first night of the new club Baby Honey we'll be doing with Rory and Anastasia of Twee As Fuck.

The first night is on Jan 8th and we have 3 great bands playing live for us:
Would-Be-Goods
Tender Trap
Bobby McGees 

After that there will be indiepop dancing till late so please come and make this first night a fantastic beginning!
Tickets are here

Baby Honey #001
Friday 8 January 2010 at 9:00pm
Buffalo Bar
259 Upper Street, Highbury Corner
London N1 1RU
United Kingdom
Show on Map

facebook event
last.fm event
songkick event

Big Pink Cake NYE Indiepop Party - updated

We're happy to announce that we'll be playing records at the Big Pink Cake New Years Eve indiepop party at the Joan Collins Lounge of the King's Cross Social Club in London.

DJ's:
Matthew - Big Pink Cake
Clare - Sarah Records
Daniel - So Tough! So Cute! (Sweden)
Marianthi - Spiral Scratch/Atomic Beat Records
Jennifer - Color Me Pop (Chicago)
Rocker - Dandelion Radio/The Flatmates
Rory - Twee As Fuck
James, Sandy & Morgan - Com Out 2nite

Ticket only entry for this event and the tickets are on sale now at wegottickets.com and the Facebook-event has more info

The First Big Weekend

We're having quite a busy weekend this week. This Saturday we're playing records at How Does It Feel To Be Loved at the God Help The Girl after party. It'll be tough task to follow up on the fantastic set Kevin Rowland played the last time but we'll do our best so please put on your best dance shoes and come and dance and sing along to indiepop, girl-groups and all things inbetween. It's between 9pm-3am at the Phoenix and we're on till 12. 37 Cavendish Square London, W1G 0PP, map of the venue is here, £4 members, £6 non members. Membership is free and you can register here and get a nice card. Advance tickets available here.


And on Sunday we'll be doing a So Tough! So Cute! (Version) which means we'll be playing one of our rocksteady, ska, dub and lovers rock sets. This will be taking place at our favourite Sunday hangout, the Hangover Lounge at the Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JB. Map and directions. It's free and you don't even need to be hungover. I'll update this with the times we're on.

Bi-Joopiter Discography

Bi-Joopiter was founded by Paul Rixon and Gillian Elam in 1983. Originally it started as a DIY cassette-only recording label but later released vinyl as well and cooperated with K and Slumberland records as well on some releases. Labels, sleeves and packaging was almost always handmade and often in an unconventional manner. This an attempt to create a complete discography as information on the releases is scarce at best. Artist featured on the label included The Mctells, Rig Veeda, The Twins, Gilroy, Sindy Arthur, Small Factory, Cannanes, The Big Paintings, Emil, Beat Happening, Mousefolk and many more. There is Bi-Joopiter Facebook page

If you have more info, covers or anything else to add - particulary on what appears to be the sub label: By Jupiter Expression - please get in touch to help make this discography complete.

		Various Artists - Pluralism 'A' Bi-Joop 001 C30 "The first in a series which aims to present music diverse in origin and style, from blasts of noise to shimmerings of pop. Includes; twins, lets have healthy children, magisch theatre, rig veeda..... comes with booklet."
		Rig Veeda - Callous Friend Bi-Joop 002 C30 "A collection of early rig veeda tunes, full of songs for summery, velvety, sunday mornings. In an exploding cover!"
		The Twins - A Rose For You My Dear Bi-Joop 003 C30 "A landscape of voices & noises reveals the twins first recordings tiptoeing across your xylophones."
		Various Artists - On Visability Bi-Joop 004 C30 "Features 3 groups; Amadeo (u.k.), Bouncing (ireland), Lets have heatlthy children (belgium). Includes Lets have healthy children accompanying some specially written "marine girls" lyrics."
		Various Artists - Pluralism 'B' Bi-Joop 005 C30 "Uncompromising in the variety of sounds from; ddaa,12 cubic feet, twins, lets have healthy chi1dren, hectors house, rig veeda, bouncing & a. wilson"
		Various Artists - Walking On The Pier Bi-Joop 006 C40 (chrome) "Comes in a card package with prints. Inc1udes dittys from; ashendon, peggy's pocket, one blows, twins, rig veeda, scarlet sunshine, elliot mess, ice brothers...."
		Various Artists - For The Three Headed Man Beyond The Spires Bi-Joop 007 C40 (chrome) "Features 3 groups; THE TWINS entice you on a journey in their big black car, ICE BROS. provide some sparse guitar instrumentals & SCARLET SUNSHINE bounce along with songs for a day at the rodeo." -- Scarlet Sunshine - Back Of Hand Scarlet Sunshine - 100 Miles Away Scarlet Sunshine - Ivy Days Scarlet Sunshine - Return Of The Buckwheat Brothers Scarlet Sunshine - Kennedy Ice Bros - Sour Ice Bros - Up Too Late The Twins - Edie The Twins - Sitting In The Back The Twins - Brother The Twins - Tom's A Cold The Twins - Sore The Twins - Red India
		McTells - McTells Bi-Joop 008, 1986 C30 "Their first tape. Released in '86. Eleven noisy tracks including early versions of Rotten and Virgina. Prepare for a ride through map land,with scratchy guitars, box drums and groaning vocals." -- 1 Rotten 2 Right Way Round (1) 3 English Sinner 4 Virginia Mc 5 Mtb 6 Side By Side 7 Snowy White 8 Right Way Round (2) 9 Take The Car 10 Teddy Bears 11 Across The Sea
		Various Artists - Pluralism 'C' Bi-Joop 009 C40 (chrome) "Draws songs from u.k, Japan, Sweden &. Franse. lncludes; McTells, Emil, Twins, Fire City News, Arvid Tuba, Rig Veeda, Le Syndicat/NDN, Mosdotrio, Urbain Autopsy."
		The Twins & Rig Veeda - A Banana Fish On The Moon Bi-Joop 010, 1986 C40 (chrome) "A bag full of songs. Exploration through feedback &. chime bells. Tunes to hum or play as loud as can be over the trees. Take a trip to the stars. Zoom." -- A1 Baby Comfort  A2 Everytime A3 Oh Yeah, Oh No! A4 Way Back Home A5 This Child A6 Sail The Frosty Seas A7 Shy Girl A8 Falling     B1 Be There B2 Never Mention B3 Creep B4 Mickey Mouse B5 Sign Of Life B6 King Moins B7 Kansas B8 Life Of A Dog     B9 Away
		McTells - Rig Veeda & The Twins - Bi-Joopiter Presents Bi-Joop 011, 1986 Flexi 7" "Rushalong, dashalong handful of tunes." -- A1 The McTells - Sometimes (Flexi) A2 The McTells - Virginia (Flexi) A3 The Twins And Rig Veeda - Creep
		Emil - S. St. Stammer Bi-Joop 012, 1987 C20 "Songs to make your days go faster. To the ponit tunes rich in their simplicity." -- 1 When She's Fine 2 Take Me With You 3 Solipsism 4 Verity 5 Sometimes 6 Precisely 7 Golden Girl 8 Sunny 9 Heading East 10 Snare (...Sorry)
		One Blows - Continental Gateau Bi-Joop 013, 1987 C40 (chrome) "Loud & trashy, noisy guitars and interesting backing sounds."
		McTells - Expecting Joe Bi-Joop 014, 1987 C30 -- 1 If Only If 2 Trash Can 3 Expecting Joe 4 Villier Street 5 Everything Heaven Sent You 6 Concern 7 Theme 8 That 9 English Weather 10 Never Look Down 11 Sometimes 12 It Happens 13 Side By Side
		Sindy Arthur - What About Bi-Joop 015, 1987 (co-release with Frank records) C20 "Scores of tiny noises played with gusto. Hip hoppy drums with manic guitars sung over by peculiar girl-ish voice." Note: Sindy Arthur consisted of Gina Hartman of the Marine Girls and Mark Flunder of the Television Personalities. -- A1 Waiting For A Raincoat A2 Girls On Reins A3 The Big Close Up A4 Real Shocks A5 Peggy's Pocket A6 Roger Mayne A7 The Beat B1 What About B2 Rave On B3 Tetchy B4 Maybe Girl B5 Sketches B6 Suitcase B7 Hot Pavements B8 Where's The Coat B9 About What
		The Big Paintings - Tea with Quinten Crisp Bi-Joop 016, 1987 C20 "Tea with Quinten Crisp with a paisley shirt. A must for TVP fans." Note: I've based the spelling of "Quinten" on how it's spelled on the insert but it could be "Quentin" -- 1 All The Time 2 I Like It Here 3 Instrumental One 4 Penny Picture Postman 5 The Girl With Green Eyes 7 Untitled
		Various Artists - Pluralism 'D' Bi-Joop 017, 1991 C30 Came with an insert, the flying girl postcard, and a large airmail sticker. -- 1 Sindy Arthur - I've Got Something Good 2 Gertie Bauer Und Die Jungs - Disco 3 McTells - Jackson Holly 4 D.D.A.A. - No Chance To Dance 5 Kitchen Cynics - Underneath My Dufflecoat 6 Jackson - Joe From Mexico 7 The Cannanes - Robert 8 Emil - Ed Windblaze 9 Nostalgie Eternelle - No Interstice 10 Buy Off The Bar - Cracked-Up 11 Beat Happening - Indian Summer (Live) 12 La Sonorite Jaune - Comme Un Zephyr
		Kitchen Cynics - A Girl Eats The Moon Bi-Joop 018, 1986 C40 "A box full of songs from Scotland. Twirling guitar and swirls of melody bring you tunes still glowing from the summer. Comes with a kitchen cynics print, with a special extra print for first 3 orders. Stars are kisses which the sun sends to the moon!" -- 1 Our Love Was Built To Last (Like Simon Dee) 2 Underneath My Dufflecoat 3 Double Rainbow Day 4 Fab Technician 5 Another Rainy Song 6 Pandora's Socks 7 Fungus Man 8 Winter Since You've Gone 9 Sun Rise Again 10 We (You And I) 11 Once Two Perfect Strangers 12 Little Deaths 13 Quick Sand
		McTells - Wind Up Bi-Joop 019, 1988 7" -- A1 Them       A2 Secret Wish B1 This Afternoon B2 Take The Car B3 Uncle Joe's Funeral
		Various Artists - What Feet Bi-Joop 020, 1989 C30 -- A1 Mousefolk - Grannies A2 Big Paintings - I Like It Here A3 Sedgewicks - Broken A4 Driscolls - Call Me Anything A5 Pale Saints - Wasting My Time B1 Remember Fun - Apple Of My Eye B2 Keen - Daddy B3 Sedgewicks - Why Now Girl B4 Cheese Engineers - I Once Fell In Love With Somebody Wearing Slacks B5 Mousefolk - Don't Love You
		Various Artists - Pioneer Bi-Joop 021, 1989 C30 -- A1 Emil - Inside My Heart A2 Emil - Verity A3 The Legend! - Doughnuts A4 The Legend! - Room At The Top A5 The Legend! - Price Of Friendship A6 McTells - That A7 McTells - Trashcan A8 McTells - Them A9 McTells - Jesse Rae A10 McTells - Expecting Joe A11 Beat Happening - That Girl A12 Beat Happening - Crashing Through B1 Beat Happening - Look Around B2 Beat Happening - Do You Wanna Play House B3 Beat Happening - Foggy Eyes B4 Beat Happening - I Love You B5 Beat Happening - Drive Car Girl B6 Beat Happening - Midnight A Go Go B7 Beat Happening - Heather's Song B8 Beat Happening - In My Memory B9 Beat Happening - Bewitched B10 Beat Happening - Black Candy B11 Beat Happening - Bad Seeds
		Gertie Bauer Und Die Jungs - Gertie Bauer Is Good For You Bi-Joop 022 C30 "a special surprise from germany. are they serious ... is  this swell maps on holiday. play loud & join in"
		Buy Off The Bar - Parboiled Bi-Joop 023, 1988 LP -- A1 Stretch Out     A2 One Of These Days A3 No Money For The Lavatory A4 Illegal Shed A5 Shot By Both Sides B1 Shopdropping Emergency B2 World Of Camera B3 Empty Theory   B4 Fade Away
		McTells - Cut Up Bi-Joop 024, 1989 LP -- A1 4th Gear Shift     A2 Spreading The Net A3 Funck A4 Bitter End A5 One Thousand Other Songs A6 Jackson Holly A7 Last Time B1 Angela B2 'Round The World B3 Joe And Jim B4 Go-Betweens B5 Teddy Bears B6 Virginia M.G. B7 Push
		Beat Happening - Sea Hunt Bi-Joop 025, 1991 7" -- A Sea Hunt B Knock On Any Door
		The Cannanes - Broken Bottles Bi-Joop 026, 1992 7" -- A Broken Bottles B1 Pizza Addict B2 Eating Biscuits
		The Big Paintings - Lucky Charm Bi-Joop 027, 1992 7" -- 1 The Strangest Secrets Of A Daisy Head 2 This Does Not Mean A Thing 3 Long Overdraw
		Small Factory - Find Where You Are Just By Following Your Markers Bi-Joop 028, May 1993 (Co-released with Slumberland records; SLR 26) 7" -- A Lose Your Way B Scared Of Love
		Gilroy - Renaissance Girl Bi-Joop 029, 1995 7" -- A Renaissance Girl  B1 Sophists B2 Spanked
		Gilroy - Get Grubby With Gilroy Bi-Joop 030 ,1996 7" -- A1 Lube Tube A2 Cut & Run B1 I Want What She's Having B2 Lube Tube (Again)
		Bartlebees - Girl Of A 1000 Dreams Bi-Joop ??? 7" -- Girl Of A 1000 Dreams You Tear Me Apart Tonite Let's All Make Love In Leeds
		The Twins & Rig Veeda - Boy Saves Hedgehog Bi-Joop ???, 1987 C? -- Big And Mean By The Sea Garbage Man Green Some Happy Times Heaven's Gate Humour Me Not Jack Mess Roosevelt's Golden Dream Say! Sento Train Ride You Mean Everything To Me (Waltzing Twins)
		Various  Artists - Dead Eye One DED01, 1992 VHS -- The Mummies - Shut Yer Mouth McTells - All The Time Pounding Serfs - No Big Story Dawson - Bearsden To Baghdad (Via The Erskine Bridge) Mousefolk - Sleepwalk The Cannanes - Broken Bottles Beat Happening - Knock On Any Door Big Paintings - This Does Not Mean A Thing John Wayne Army - Devil's Highway Heavenly - She Says Thee Headcoats - A Town Called Squaresville
		Various Artists - On Visibility BJE 7 (By Jupiter Expression sublabel), ? C? -- A1 Let's Have Healthy Children - A Silhouette Against The Sky A2 Let's Have Healthy Children - To A Resurected Kitten A)Andantemoderato B) Allegro A3 Let's Have Healthy Children - Love Song A4 Let's Have Healthy - Children Bill B1 Amadeo - Sculpture Girl B2 Amadeo - Red Wine B3 Bouncing - Mahogany B4 Bouncing - Ringing B5 Bouncing - James Bond Theme B6 Bouncing - A Solo Bouncing
		Various Artists - On Pluralism BJE 66 (By Jupiter Expression sublabel), 1983 C? -- A1 Portion Control - Realapse A2 The Violins - It's Nothing Like It A3 Twins - Weeping A4 Rig Veeda - True Love A5 Magisch Theater - I Am Damned B1 Helium Brother - Celebration B2 Let's Have Healthy Children - Introduction B3 Liberty Blue - I Am
		Inserts and flyers
		Postcards Screen prints of; Banana fish, Dancing McTells, Flying Girl, Shooting stars
		Clippings
		Online articles and interviews Nude Magazine Issue 7 xPQwRtz blog
	Compiled by Daniel Novakovic with help from Crayola Sarandon. Thanks to the members of the Anorak forum with help with scans. I've tried to use my own and Crayolas scans but some images are taken from online sources. If you see yours, unfairly uncredited, please contact me so I can either credit it or take it down.