27 Dec 2009

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...


3 comments:

herbie said...

wow, thank you for including brown recluse!! it's an honor as i always keep up with your dj events online. hope to make it out one day. and that feeling of love 7" is so great, yes!

Matt said...

nice list! lots of parallels with mine! quite a few things i still havent checked out though. so many good singles this year to keep track of.

Johan L said...

I have never loved a download link more! Thought I would never hear some of these songs, but there it was, and it felt like finding that special needle in a stack of needles!