Matthew of Big Pink Cake DJs So Tough! So Cute! at Retro in Malmö 2nd April

Matthew Rimell of the friendliest indiepop club in the world the Big Pink Cake in Bristol - home of Sarah records - will be joining us behind the decks! Matthew played an amazing set that had the crowd dancing and gasping for air when we visited Bristol last year so it'll be a pleasure hearing him spin some top pop tunes in Malmö. Expect a cavalcade of classic Twee, C86 and Indie Pop as well as a hand picked selection of punk, garage pop and soul sounds!

SO TOUGH! SO CUTE!
DJs: Matthew of Big Pink Cake + STSC Selector
Saturday 2 April
Retro, Norra Skolgatan 24, Malmö
22-03 | 20kr | 20 yrs (Mail us before 12 on Saturday to be on the under-20 list)
Facebook event

Friday 25 March So Tough! So Cute! at The Drop in Stoke Newington

Prepare to shack those hips, pump your fists - obviously with a limp wristed pop fan fist - and pogo like you've never pogo'd before because we are back at Stoke Newington, London! We've got tons of new tunes to play and dance to as well as our cookie jar of handpicked roarin' soul sounds, angry teen girl punk, bookish indiepop and no-thanks-three-cords-are-good-enough-for-us punk! Also a tune or two from the girls standing and smoking just outside the school yard looking smart and the shy boys trying not to get caught looking at them.

SO TOUGH! SO CUTE!

DJs: STSC Selector

Friday 25 March

The Drop (downstairs of the Three Crowns Pub)
175 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 0LH
11pm-04am | £3 | Facebook event

Playlist from Too Cute To Puke #04 at Tempo Bar & Kök

Hoopy doo! That was F-U-N! Thanks to Buffy & Co at Tempo and to everybody that turned up. It feels really good that our little grrrl focused night is appreciated. And thanks everybody for the nice comments about the poster we did. Luv you! Here's what we played:

She Trinity - He Fought The Law
Karen Verros - You Just Gotta Know My Mind
Nico - I'm Not Sayin'
Saint Etienne - You're In A Bad Way
The Limiñanas - Je Ne Suis Pas Trés Drogué

Best Coast - When I'm With You
45 Grave - Riboflavin-flavored, Non-carbinated, Polyunsaturated Blood
Grass Widow - Walking Out on Love
Morgan & The Organ Donors - Wild
Ipso Facto - Balderdash

The Cookies - I Never Dreamed
Brigitte Bardot - Harley Davidson
PVC - Galehus
Frankie Rose And The Outs - Candy
Go Sailor - Ray Of Sunshine

Autoclave - Dr. Seuss
Camera Obscura - French Navy
Essex Green - Uniform
Fear Of Men - Phantom Limb
Those Darlins - Screws Get Loose

Veronica Falls - Right Side Of My Brain
The Shop Assistants - I Don't Want To Be Friends With You
Donnas - Da Doo Ron Ron
Help Stamp Out Loneliness - Angelyne
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Brooklyn Phone Call

Dawn Penn - You Don't Love Me
Jane Birkin - Lolita Go Home
Kizza Ping - Männen
Poison Girls - Pretty Polly
The Shangri-Las - Out In The Streets

Happy Birthdays - I'm Still Not As Happy As I Would Have Been With You
Bleached - No Friend Of Mine
Brave Irene - No Fun
The Limiñanas - I'm Dead
Free Loan Investments - Kick His Balls Out

Coasting - Kids
Dressy Bessy - That's Why
Crocodiles - Nothing To Be Done
La Femme - Sur La Planche
Land Of The Loops - Fresh Pond Parkway

Action Pact - London Bouncers
Animals & Men - The Man With The Spiked-Toed Shoes
Diane Renay - Watch Out Sally!
Little Pattie - We're Gonna Have A Party Tonight
Funstix - Funstix Party

Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
The Flirtations - Nothing But A Heartache
Donnas - Hey I'm Gonna Be Your Girl
The Okmoniks - Not That Good
Glass Torpedoes - Someone Different

The What Four - I'm Gonna Destroy That Boy
France Gall - Don’t Make War Captain, Make Love
The Girls - Chico's Girl
Rondelles - Drag Strip Race
Jacqueline Taieb - 7 Heures Du Matin

Alicja-Pop - Walking The Cow
The Exciters - Doo Wah Diddy Diddy
Bette Davis And The Balconettes - Big Pussy Sound
Chiffons - Nobody Knows What's Goin' On (In My Mind But Me)
Bow Wow Wow - Aphrodisiac

The Dreamletts - Really Now
Sister Nancy - Bam-Bam
Marcia Aitken - I'm Still In Love
Lio - Housewife Of The Year
Girls At Our Best! - Getting Nowhere Fast

Thee Headcoatees - Ca Plane Pour Moi
Mika Miko - Attitude
Internet Forever - Cover The Walls
The B52's - 52 Girls
LiliPUT - Nice

Millie - My Boy Lollipop
Jocelyne - Nitty Gritty
The Pinups - Lookin' For Boys
Kirsty MacColl - A New England
Fabienne Delsol - Le Roi Des Fourmis

Miss Chain And The Broken Heels - Rollercoaster
Bratmobile - Gimme Brains
The Supremes & The Four Tops - River Deep, Mountain High
Säkert - Vi Kommer Att Dö Samtidigt
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

Melba Moore - The Magic Touch
Althea & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking
Lily Allen - Smile (Mark Ronson Remix)
Cars Can Be Blue - Fuck Me
La La Vasquez - Williamsburg

Garbo's Daughter - Mascara Stains on My Pillowcase
Bristols - Can't You See That He's Mine
Thee Headcoatees - Teenage Kicks
The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Rough Mix)
Derrick & Patsy - Housewives' Choice

(Image taken from the ComicPunx blog)

Too Cute To Puke #04 at Tempo Bar & Kök on Saturday 19th March

Too Cute To Puke is back at Tempo on Saturday to show the world that girls invented punk rock and not England. We've got a bunch of new stuff like Brave Irene on Slumberland, which is Rose Melbergs new band project. You might recognize her from Softies, Tiger Trap and Go Sailor. New and pretty awesome Fear Of Men on Sex Is Disgusting, Those Darlins aka Funstix, Help Stamp Out Loneliness from their debut LP and  Garbo's Daughter who is back with the Spin And Melt 7" on Surfin' Ki.

Other must plays include Morgan & The Organ Donors, Action Pact, The Pinups... we got a re-crush on early the Donnas so we'll play some of that. LiliPUT of course. By the way, don't miss Jenny Woolworths three part interview with Kleenex/LiliPUT. We found a few tracks featuring Heather of Beat Happening that we're going to play as well as some great tracks off Calvin Johnsons "We Will Bury You Female New Wave Punk 1977-'82" mixtape.

Finally managed to hunt down Coasting and Bette Davis & The Balconettes 7" so those will be spinning. Internet Forever which we totally missed the first time round. Glass Torpedoes,  Anorexia, Rondelles, 45 Grave,  uhm.. oh yeah the Swedish punk girls Kizza Ping which we're blatantly going to steal from the great Gunilla mixtapes blog.

All this great girl fronted music plus beer, cheese and sourdough bread with fennel.What could be better?

Too Cute To Puke
Tempo Bar & Kök, Malmö Sweden
Saturday 19 March | 22-01 | Free

4312

Tyvek - 4312. Maybe the best song of 2010. So great to see them play live.

Photos and playlist from Retro Malmö 5th March

Last night was rawkin'! So much fun to see everybody dancing to a selection of tunes that maybe were not as obvious but went down really well. Here's a some photos from last night and the playlist is further down. If you want you can go tag yourself in the So Tough! So Cute! photo album on Facebook. Our next night is on 25th March at the Drop in Stoke Newington followed by a visit in the lovely city of Gothenburg.

Here's what we played!

Sea Pinks - Japanese Knotweed
Gizmos - Bible Belt Baby
Jake Jones - Our Bloody Secret
Thee Makeout Party - 2 Ez 2 Luv U
Swell Maps - Midget Submarines

Josef K - Heads Watch
Chain And The Gang - Detroit Music
Grass Widow - Old Disguise
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - I'm Your Man
Bilbo Baggins - Hold Me

Bass Drum Of Death - Heart Attack Kid
Avtalet - Tuffhetsfiltret
Charles De Goal - Synchro
Nazis From Mars - Cosmic Rebel
Coasting - What You Wanted

Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers - I Gotta Go Now (Up On The Floor)
Pheromoans - Soft Targets
Cock Sparrer - Is Anybody There?
The Okmoniks - Not That Good
No Age - Here Should Be My Home

Question And The Mysterians - "8" Teen
Friendo - Pass Times
La La Vasquez - Horror
Bette Davis And The Balconettes - Big Pussy Sound
Raindrops - The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget

Wire - Mannequin
Zebrassieres - Beach Fight
Wake - O Pamela
Sonic Youth - Youth Against Fascism
Sebadoh - Rebound

The Cure - How Beautiful You Are (Clearmountain 7")
Jaill - The Biggest Nugget Of Them All
Veronica Falls - Right Side Of My Brain
The Jameses - Caribou
Nikki & The Corvettes - He's A Mover

Yvonne - Modern Love
Allo, Darlin' - My Heart Is A Drummer
Herman Dune - When The Sun Rose Up This Morning
Love - A House Is Not A Motel
Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music
Brigitte Bardot - Harley Davidson

Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books
The Chiffons - Every Boy And Every Girl
Magnetic Fields - The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side
Essex Green - The Late Great Cassiopia
Joy DivisIon - Love Will Tear Us Apart

The Cure - Boys Don't Cry
Pulp - Babies
Wavves - King Of The Beach
Them - Gloria
T. Rex - Get It On

Hefner - The Hymn For The Cigarettes
The Starlets - You Don't Love Me
The Jaynettes - Sally Go Round The Roses
April March - Chick Habit
Easybeats - Friday On My Mind

Pixies - Debaser
Lio - Le Banana Split
Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love... (With Someone You Shouldn't've)
La Femme - Sur La Planche

Tyvek - 4312
Best Coast - Crazy For You
Bäddat För Trubbel - Sånt Är Livet
Nobunny - I Am A Girlfriend
Funstix - Funstix Party
Hunx And His Punx - You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll

Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Single Version)
White Wires - Pogo 'Til I Puke Tonight
Jacuzzi Boys - Island Ave.
Nerves - Hanging On The Telephone
The Babies - Run Me Over

Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction
Aislers Set - The Red Door
Dream Bitches - Me And The Major
Belle & Sebastian - Dirty Dream #2
Veronica Falls - Found Love In A Graveyard

Wire - Dot Dash
Garbo's Daughter - Private Party
The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron
Velvet Crush - Walking Out On Love
Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?

Smiths - Sweet And Tender Hooligan
Broder Daniel - Cruel Town
The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There
Kraftwerk - The Model
Au Pairs - It's Obvious

The B52's - 52 Girls
Sonic Youth - Dirty Boots
No Age - Glitter
The Velvet Underground - Foggy Notion
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

Bob Hund - Jag Tror Jag Är Kär
Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
Marsha Gee - Peanut Duck
Nerves - When You Find Out
GG Allin - Don't Talk To Me

Black Lips - Bad Kids
The Pleasure Seekers - What A Way To Die
My Favorite - Working Class Jacket
Colleen Green - Green One
Seapony - Dreaming

Eternal Summers - Pogo
Monkees - Last Train To Clarkesville

So Tough! So Cute! Favourites at Retro Malmö

We're back at Retro in Malmö on Saturday! Bringing teens sounds to a revolution come and gone by putting tambourines on the drums. We're no good is what they say but we just play our records in a different way. Big queue last time so come down early to avoid disappointment!

SO TOUGH! SO CUTE!
Saturday 5 March
Retro, Norra Skolgatan 24, Malmö
22-03 | 20kr | 20 yrs (Mail us before 12 on Saturday to be on the under-20 list)
Facebook event

London Weekend

Oh boy what a great time we had in London! We ate a bunch of yummy food, particularly the Avocado/Poached Egg/Hollandaise sandwich at Flat White and the peanut butter pairfait at Pizza East were to die for, and we had the best coffee as always at Present. We also went to the beautiful John Stezaker exhibition at the Whitechapel gallery. But most importantly we saw great friends and bands and bought loads of records which we can't wait to spin on our next night.

On Thursday we met up with some friends for a few pints at the Old Blue Last before venturing down to CAMP Basement to see Wetdog and Cloud Nothings. Sadly Wetdog cancelled but the Cloud Nothings from Ohio more than made up for it. Not really knowing what to expect of them, as we'd only heard a few song before hand and barely remembering them, we took a serious punch to the gut by a simply stunning live performance. Wow, fucking wow. The band, and particularly the drummer who mangled the drum kit to bits, thrashed and twisted noise into pop songs like it was the last rock'n'roll concert on earth. Really impressive and fun and we can't recommend enough that you go see them if you can.

Video: Cloud Nothings - All The Time | Cloud Nothings - Turning On | Cloud Nothings - Can't Stay Awke

Photo by Sumire

Friday was the So Tough! So Cute! night at the Drop and be honest, we're blushing when thinking of the reception we got. Hundreds of people dancing, jumping and making out in the corners and just having the best fun ever. Lots of Swedish friends turned up from Popfest, the Dance Magic Dance girls and Sex Beet and Jerry Tropicano were there and were as lovely punk as ever. Sumire from Twee Grrrls Club in Tokyo turned up with presents and was a super cool surprise and so many more people just spinning around and coming up with some great requests for songs. The decks almost toppled over a few times as the wee basement tumbled beneath all dancing feet. Amazing.

Saturday, after some shopping and recharging (Cheese strings!) and visiting Sex Beet doing a DJ-set at Top Shop where the staff didn't seem to appreciate their selection of pop tunes, we ended up back in Stoke Newington to witness the release of the long awaited Pheromoans LP. After finding some seriously great and sold out records and spending a fortune at the mini distro set up in a dark corner the best band in the world took the stage. Yes, we're talking about La La Vasquez of course. Sporting So Tough! So Cute! badges for the night the band, with a seriously pissed off looking Freya, took the stage and played an, at times pretty dance inducing, set as they strolled along post-punk baselines and shambolic guitar pop hooks and drums that recalled Shop Assistants and Beat Happening. Very lovely.

Video: La La Vasquez - Goddess | La La Vasquez - Buoy | La La Vasquez - Not Right | La La Vasquez - Horror | La La Vasquez - Thinking Is Easy

La La Vasquez setlist

Then came Pheromoans and blew our minds. The Fall comparisons are usually silly but the Pheromoans with their jagged and angular take on Dragnet/Live At The Witch Trials era Fall-sound and vocalist Russells deadpan delivery together with repetitive sound, like a factory constructing Warholian cans of racket by the millions, brought forth by the workers/band the band makes it hard not to. A bloody amazing gig. Short, loud, fun and just so fucking great sounding. Apart from the sweet cover of Shark Fucks by the Tronics we got to hear all the songs we wanted and the album It Still Rankles out on Convulsive has been glued to our record player since we got back to Sweden.

Video: Pheromoans - Revamper | Pheromoans - Slime Days | Pheromoans - Soft Targets

Pheromoans setlist

After the gigs we set course to the Victory and squeezed by all hipster punks to see Let's Wrestle take the stage, well floor actually. They were so much better than last time when we saw them perform at Rough Trade East. Ridiculously tight and loud the trio ripped through their set and brought to mind Dinosaur Jr before J Mascis started doing two hour minute solos. We might actually have take a second look at the album as we don't remember them having these great songs. A perfect short set that ended with a mosh pit and shredded guitar strings.

Sunday brought the last day of the London Popfest where we had hoped to be knocked out by the Notes who had a really good record out last year (On double 10" LP! How great is that!) but either somebody forgot to plug them in or the ringing in our ears from the previous nights of rawkin' took over because the band, which barely moved to and were to modestto  ask for the crowds attention sadly just disappeared on the Lexington stage. A shame as the Notes where the band we'd looked forward seeing the most. Youngfuck were a pleasant surprise with their St Etienne sounding pop but again, they also just disappeared and only got our attention when the beats got going and grabbed us by the private parts, very politely we must add, and asked us to dance. After that the hunger and hangover took over and we went for pizza wondering if a crowd standing in your face in a tiny smelly basement would have made the Notes and Youngfuck being a bit more fun and exciting on stage.

All in all a fantastic weekend and we hope to see you at the next So Tough! So Cute! in Stoke Newington on 25th March