31 Dec 2011

Year's Not Long


Whilst preparing what to play at tonights New Years disco at How Does It Feel in Brixton London we thought we should recap 2011. It feels like the year just ran away from us in January already and we've been playing catch up since then. We fell crazy behind on new music discoveries and compiling mixtapes due to life and jobs getting in the way, but on the other hand we did tons of club nights, bought loads of records and made lots of new friends but also lost a few on the way. So it was a pretty swell year all in all.

This is what we did manage to accomplish this year in terms of music and clubbing:


- Our femme fronted music only club night Too Cute To Puke really got going and is probably the most satisfying thing we've done this year. We've got big plans coming up for TCTP in 2012!

- We did a total of 28 So Tough! So Cute! and Too Cute To Puke nights in the UK and in Sweden including tons of guest-DJ sets that took us to London, Göteborg, Lund, Copenhagen and Helsinki.

- There's been quite a bit of heated discussion in Sweden concerning venues, festivals and clubs not booking female artists so we're very happy to say that, out of 21 guest-DJ sets at STSC, 12 of those were done by ladies.

 -We had 9 guests compiling some pretty awesome mixtapes for the blog so thank you Jaspin of Hissyfit, Freya of La La Vasquez, Sven-Eric & Ola of KlubbIndiean, the Mongonaut, Ylwa, Elina of You Are The Light, Luke of Sex Beet, the Poppets and Skinny Girl Diet.


There are so many moments that made this year an amazing year and it is a futile task to list them all but there are a couple of special ones we have to mention that really stuck to our memory: The Broder Daniel special which saw Retro set a new attending record and kids dressing up like nineties indie pandas like it was, well, the nineties; Spanish speaking dancers exploding in smiles when we put on Davila 666 version of Hanging On The Telephone; everybody singing along to Beat Happening - Teenage Caveman at the Beat Happening and Vaselines special, everytime we played Another Sunny Day - You Should All Be Murdered, GG Allin - Don't Talk To Me or Crass - Banned From The Roxy; the 25th February when we clashed with London Popfest and thought that the venue would be empty but then instead had one of the best nights ever; the first few songs of Bob Stanleys DJ-set when there was only us, a few early bird friends and the rest of St Etienne chugging bubbly wine and dancing on the dancefloor; the '100 Best Indiepop Singles (Ever)' special where we played the list in order and had people squeezing in front of the poster with all the songs that we had stuck up on the wall; and last but not least: everybody making out at basically every night in the UK.

A couple of thank yous: Guest-DJs and mixtape compilers - thank you so much for taking the time and doing this with us. Clubs that have booked us; the bar staff at the Drop and at Retro and our amazing door boy and girl: Roland and Gemma and Gracie for hooking us up with them; Jassiie Freak for a lot of the club photos and love and support; Sandra for a bed in the UK, everybody who helped flyer in London and poster boy extraordinaire Catalan for plastering Malmö with posters and everybody else we might have forgotten. Here's a drink to you all and we'll see you in 2012.

But what about the best of the year lists with records and stuff? Well you'll have to wait until the year is actually over but until then take a look at all the photos from the various nights here.

12 Dec 2011

B-dum B'dum - Pop Punk Night & Guest Mixtape 16 by Guest Selector the Mongonaut


We've had an uncontrollable urge to pogo since our last punk special so we've decided to put on another on under the name B'dum B'dum. So please come down, have a few, sniff some glue, jump up'n'down for a bit and have a snog in the toilets.

We'll be playing '77-'81-ish UK punk, Power pop goes punk, Nuggets, Garage Pop, KBD, Proto-punk, Garage Punk revival. Sorry, no Crust or HC. We're too twee for that sort.

To get a feel for what's to be expected we asked our good friend the Mongonaut to make us a mixtape and oh my did he deliver.

Without The French, Punk Rock Would Just Have Been Pub Rock With Shorter Hair

1. Nasal Boys - Hot Love (1977)
2. Phil Walmsley's Skrewdriver - Antisocial (1977)
3. The Numbers - Sunset Strip (1978)
4. Les Scooters - Hygiene (1978)
5. Butthole Surfers - I Hate My Job (1984)
6. Pigs - They Say (1977)
7. Catatonic Youth - Piss Scene (2009)
8. The Victims - High School Girls (1978)
9. Screaming Urge - Homework (1979)
10. P.F. Commando - Svenne Pop (1979)
11. Eppu Normaali - Poliisi Pamputtaa Taas (1978)
12. Lost Kids - Cola Freaks (1979)
13. Slaughter & The Dogs - Cranked Up Really High (1977)
14. Icky Boyfriends - Pigs (1993)
15. The Wasps - Teenage Treats (Peel Session, 1978)
16. The Beez - Easy (1979)
17. Kim Fowley - Face On The Factory Floor (1981)
18. Wimple Winch - Save My Soul (1966)
19. Business - Harry May (1981)

Get it here punk


B'dum B'dum - Pop Punk, Teen Beats & Teenage Kicks
Saturday 17 December
Vinylbaren at KB, Malmö
40:- 23:30-00:30 then 80:-
Facebook event

5 Dec 2011

You Are The Light By Which I Travel

Yes, oh bloody hell yes, we're going to Finland! Home of vodka, great films and of course one of the truest and most evil Black metal bands ever: Impaled Nazarene. God we love the Ugra Karma LP.

Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, we've been invited to play records at You Are The Light in Helsinki Finland. As you might recall Astro-Sofia played ST!SC! in London in October - such a great set - and now it's our turn to return the favour. We've been looking forward to this immensly these last few weeks and already have the records packed, passport renewed, shirts pressed and brogues polished.. It's going to be amazing. As the nights theme is Girl-groups we'll bring plenty of girltastic and ye-ye records with us! See you all on Friday!

Oh we're gonna play a few tracks at the Indian Summer vintage store earlier the same day.

You Are The Light - Christmas Girl Group Special
Friday 9th December
Helmi, Eerikinkatu 14, Helsinki
23-04 | Free
Facebook event

4 Dec 2011

Playlist And Photos from the Vaselines & Beat Happening Special


Woah, the Vaselines and Beat Happening special filled up quite nicely didn't it? We had a great time finishing up our 2011 season in Malmö. Our favourite part of the evening was the one-two knock out punch of Mika Miko - Capricorinations and Trash Kit - Natascha which worked amazingly well and the goose bumps we got from everybody singing along to the "We cry alone" bit in Beat Happening - Teenage Caveman. Beautiful.

Thanks everybody who came down and all of you regulars that have joined us over this past year to dance and support independent, DIY and original music. We couldn't have done this without you so thank you. We'll be back in 2012 both in the UK and in Sweden. There's two bonus events left though were we'd like to see you. B'dum B'dum - our Pop Punk, Teen Beats & Teenage Kicks special at Vinylbaren, Malmö special on the 17th December and, if you happen to be in Finland, at the You Are The Light club next Friday.

See more photos at the Facebook page (You'll have to like it to be able to tag people) and the playlist is a bit further down.









Here's what we played:
Edwyn Collins - Down The Line
Amelia, Peter, Scott + Calvin - Ambulance Driver Blues
Jake Jones - Our Bloody Secret
Eugenius - Indian Summer
La La Vasquez - Buoy

The Halo Benders - Devil City Destiny
Sea Lions - Pretty Girl
Vaselines - Dying For It
Beat Happening - I Let Him Get To Me
Bleached - Searching Through The Past

Big Troubles - Sad Girls
Royal Headache - Psychotic Episode
Vaselines - Dum-Dum
Dressy Bessy - That's why
Beat Happening - Bad Seeds

Swearin' - Kenosha
Sebadoh - The Freed Pig
Breeders - Divine Hammer
Vaselines - Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam
Chain and the Gang - Detroit Music

Bette Davis And The Balconettes - Big Pussy Sound
Pheromoans - Men In Black Satin
Beat Happening - Cast A Shadow
Household - Go Away
Fear Of Men - Phantom Limb

Beat Happening - Midnight A Go-Go
The Pastels - Truck Train Tractor
Vaselines - Rory Rides Me Raw
Amy Linton / Stewart Anderson - The Lights Are Out
Siddeleys - Bedlam On The Mezzanine

Vaselines - Teenage Superstars
Fire Engines - We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang
Primal Scream - Imperial (Demo Version)
The Clean - Billy Two
Vaselines - Molly's Lips

Modern Lovers - She Cracked
Wax Idols - Gold Sneakers
Moustache Of Insanity - We Need More Awesome
Comet Gain - Record Collection
Vaselines - Slushy

The Cure - I'm Cold [Studio Demo]
Oh-Ok - Lilting
Dentists - I Had An Excellent Dream
Rocketship - Your New Boyfriend
Smiths - Still Ill

Beat Happening - Noise
Heavenly - Atta Girl
Television Personalities - 14th Floor
Bleached - Electric Chair
Colleen Green - Y Do U Call Me?

Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love... (With Someone You Shouldn't've)
Vaselines - Son Of A Gun
Devo - Whip It
Daniel Johnston - Mountain Top
Joy Division - Transmission

The Undertones - Here Comes The Summer
Best Coast - Happy
Tullycraft - Twee
Jaill - Beggar Sincere
Wire - Dot Dash

Wavves - King of the Beach
Beat Happening - In Between
Belle & Sebastian - Me And The Major
Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill
Bob Hund - Allt På Ett Kort

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Thee Headcoatees - Teenage Kicks
Vaselines - You Think You're A Man
The Magnetic Fields - Strange Powers

Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Field Mice - Emma's House
Felt - Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow
Chesterf!elds - Completely & Utterly
Tiger Trap - My Broken Heart

Go Sailor - Together Forever In Love
Talulah Gosh - My Best Friend
Vaselines - The Day I Was A Horse
Bubblegum Lemonade - Just Like You
Jacuzzi Boys - Cool Vapors

Kids On A Crime Spree - I Don't Want To Call You Baby, Baby
Veronica Falls - Found Love In A Graveyard
Nirvana - Son Of A Gun
Terry Malts - Something About You
Plastic Bertrand - Super Cool

Hefner - Hello Kitten
Jonathan Richman - I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar
The Halo Benders - Don't Touch My Bikini
Pavement - Box Elder
The Babies - Breakin the Law

White Wires - Pogo 'Til I Puke Tonight
Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself
Belle & Sebastian - I'm A Cuckoo
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
Bob Hund - Helgen V. 48

Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
Smiths - This Charming Man
Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Beat Happening - Bewitched

Broder Daniel - Work
Ebba Grön - Profit
Breeders - Buffy Theme
X Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours!
The Gun Club - Sex Beat

Donnas - Hey I'm Gonna Be Your Girl
The Zoltars - Party At The Batcave
Mika Miko - Capricorinations
Trash Kit - Natascha
Vaselines - The Day I Was A Horse (Live)

Ash - Girl From Mars
GG Allin - Don't Talk To Me
Crass - Banned From The Roxy
The Fall - Totally Wired
Beat Happening - Teenage Caveman

Vaselines - You Think You're A Man