Vaselines & Beat Happening Special at Retro in Malmö

Welcome to a twee-pop-punk-a-go-go-spectacular!

We finish up the season at Retro in Malmö with a night celebrating the Vaselines and Beat Happening, two of our all time favourite bands who, on a summer night in London 1988, shared a stage and instruments and taught the anoraks how to rock'n'roll. This gig in turn ended up on an amazing and extremely rare split cassette put out on Calvin Johnsons own K records in 1991. Cover drawn by Aggi from some Scottish band called the Pastels.

We'll play all the tracks off the cassette and many more Vaselines and Beat Happening favourites and mix it up with C86, Twee, Indiepop, Soul and Girl-groups.

So come on down for a night that will make you feel like waking up in the morning, going to the sea side and realizing you're a horse and gallop about. And please, remember to keep your recess voices outside.

So Tough! So Cute! - Vaselines & Beat Happening special
Saturday 3 December
Retro, Norra Skolgatan 24, Malmö
20-03 | 20kr | 20yrs (Email us to get on the 18yrs list)
Facebook event

(Drawing by Jassiie Freak)

Playlist and Photos from So Tough! So Cute! in London with KlubbIndiean

Thanks everyone for a great finish to our 2011 season in London! We can't believe the Drop fit that many people. Really really good. Our guest-DJ Sven-Eric aced every song and kept the floor going crazy and moving. We barely kept up with his excellent selection of tracks - all but four on original vinyl! See more photos at the Facebook page (You'll have to like it to be able to tag people) and Sven-Eric playlist is a bit further down the page. What a night! See you in 2012 London!

Here's what Sven-Eric played:

The Railway Children – Brighter
The Go-Betweens – Man O’Sand to Girl O’Sea
Razzy Bailey – I Hate Hate
Teardrop Explodes – Reward
Secret Affair – Time for Action

The Shirelles – I Met Him On a Sunday
The Gun Club – Sex Beat
Vaccines – If You Wanna
The Jam – Down in the Tubestation at Midnight
The Tams – Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy

Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster
Easy – Cloud Chamber
Orange Juice – Poor Old Soul
Department S – Going Left Right
Bauhaus – Kick in the Eye

ESG – You’re No Good
Josef K – Chance Meeting
The Soup Dragons – Can’t Take No More
Band Á Part – No Sé Por Que
Belle and Sebastion – I’m A Cuckoo

The Stranglers – Sverige (Jag är insnöad på Östfronten)
Dobie Gray – Out on the Floor
Paper Planes – Disconnected I Know
Eula Cooper – Let Our Love Know
The Monks – Nice Legs Shame About Her Face

Sham 69 – If The Kids Are United
The Cure – Jumping Someone Else’s Train
James – What For
The Wombats – Let’s Dance to Joy Division
Shop Assistants – Safety Net

Field Mice – Emma’s House
Dexys Midnight Runners – There, There, My Dear
Martha and the Vandellas – Jimmy Mack
Fire Engines – Candyskin
Siouxse and the Banshees – Hong Kong Garden

The June Brides – Every Conversation
The Specials – Gangsters
Xray Spex – Oh Bondage Up Yours!
The Wedding Present – My Favourite Dress
The Pretty Things – Don’t Bring Me Down

Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes
Hästpojken – Shane MacGowan
The Bombay Royale – Sote Sote Adhi Raat
Symarip – Skinhead Moonstomp
Althea & Donna – Uptown Top Ranking

The Nightingales - Idiot Strenght
Sandy Nelson – Teen Beat
Azure Blue – Dreamy Eyes
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou – Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me
Laurel Aitken – Hey Bartender
Mattias Alkberg – Bit i kudden skattebetalare

Here's what we played:
Dub Narcotic Sound System - Fuck Shit Up (Version)
The Cure - A Forest (Tree Mix)
The Chills - Pink Frost
The Magnetic Fields - Heroes
The Secret History - Death Mods

David Bowie - Sound And Vision
Smiths - Unhappy Birthday
Malcolm Middleton - Red Travellin' Socks
The Cure - Just Like Heaven (Studio Demo)
Big In Japan - Suicide A Go Go

Devo - Whip It
Honey Bane - Girl On The Run
Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
Modern Lovers - She Cracked
Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books

Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
Johnny Johnson And The Bandwagon - Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache
Jacques Dutronc - Le Responsable
Håkan Hellström - En vän med en bil
Tullycraft - The Punks Are Writing Love Songs
Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?

Shangri-Las - Give Him A Great Big Kiss
Veronica Falls - Thorn in My Side
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Delta 5 - Mind Your Own Business
Go Go's - We Got The Beat

Saint Etienne - You're In A Bad Way
Hunx - The Loco-Motion
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Scattered Pearls
Saint Etienne - You're In A Bad Way
Broder Daniel - Confusion

Orange Juice - Felicity
Shocking Blue - Send Me A Postcard
Nerves - Hanging On The Telephone
Would-Be-Goods - The Camera Loves Me
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Teenage Head - You're Tearin' Me Apart
Lucksmiths - T-Shirt Weather
Belle & Sebastian - Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie
Håkan Hellström - En Midsommarnattsdröm
Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself

New Order - All The Way
Siddeleys - Sunshine Thuggery
Beat Happening - Teenage Caveman
Los Monstruos - Hey Monstruo
Johnny Johnson And The Bandwagon - Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache

Broder Daniel - I'll Be Gone
Primal Scream - Velocity Girl (Long Version)
The Pastels - Crawl Babies
Josef K - Sorry For Laughing
Bob Hund - Tralala Lilla Molntuss, Kom Hit Skall Du Få En Puss

The Slits - Typical Girls (Rough Mix)
Millie - My Boy Lollipop
Skatalites - Dick Tracy
Suicide - Ghost Rider
Green Day - Basket Case

So Tough! So Cute in Stoke Newington, London on Friday 25th Nov

We're thrilled that Sven-Eric Nilsson from KlubbIndiean in Gothenburg in Sweden will be helping us in finishing off 2011 season off in London. This'll be the last one for a while so do not miss this!

Sven-Eric, together with his partner in crime Ola, has run KlubbIndiean for over three years with their eclectic and uncompromising c86, soul, ska, punk and indie vinyl collections and we are very happy to have him come visit us in Stokey and play a perfectly rounded and slightly smokey blend of the best and most stomping and pogo inducing songs.

SO TOUGH! SO CUTE!
Friday, 25 November 2011 at 11:00pm-4:00am
Guest-DJ: KlubbIndiean from Göteborg, Sweden
The Drop (downstairs of the Three Crowns)
175 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 0LH, London, UK
Door: £4/3 with flyer och striped or polka dotted shirts&skirts

Here's a Spotify pre-party mix Sven-Eric and us put together to practice your dance moves to. We take our dance lessons from John Peel, Calvin Johnson, Ronnie Spector, Kathleen Hanna and Jonathan Richman. And so should you.

McCarthy – Red Sleeping Beauty
The Qualitons – Mellbimbo
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou – Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me
Fire Engines – Meat Whiplash
The Nightingales – Idiot Strength

Nolan Porter – Keep On Keeping On
Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes
Althea And Donna – Uptown Top Ranking
Symarip – Skinhead Moonstomp
Orange Juice – Poor Old Soul (Part 1)

Dobie Gray – Out On The Floor
The Shirelles – I Met Him On A Sunday
Two Wounded Birds – Midnight Wave
The Soup Dragons – Head Gone Astray
The Buzzcocks – Everybody's Happy Nowadays (John Peel Show 18th Oct 1978)

Wedding Present – My Favourite Dress
The Bombay Royale – Sote Sote Adhi Raat
Department S – Going Left Right
The Chills – Rolling Moon
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Sure 'Nuff 'n' Yes, I Do

Pulp – Turkey Mambo Momma - John Peel 07/11/81
Beat Happening – Hot Chocolate Boy
Kids On A Crime Spree – I Don't Want To Call You Baby, Baby
Benny Profane – Tear The Web
Spectrals – Big Baby

The Chiffons – Keep The Boy Happy
Another Sunny Day – Anorak City
The Vaselines – Dying For It
The Go-Betweens – Spring Rain
The Only Ones – Another Girl Another Planet

Ash – Girl From Mars
The Secret History – Death Mods
The Beas – International Girl
Comet Gain – Strength
Wax Idols – Gold Sneakers

The Aislers Set – Hit The Snow
Dressy Bessy – If You Should Try To Kiss Her
Camera Obscura – Shine Like A New Pin
The Cure – Just Like Heaven

Do It Punk

We finally have a copy of Dub Narcotic Sound System - Fuck Shit Up b/w Version on K Records.

That is all.

Box Of Records (There's Nothing Really Better)

Guest Mixtape 15: Babyface by Skinny Girl Diet

We might as well tell you now despite ruining the surprise for you when we post our summary of the year but Skinny Girl Diets '14-16-18' is on our top tracks of the year list. There's no doubt about it. This is the sound of our world. This is what we hope to find every single time we listen to a new song from a new band. Old bands as well actually. The sounds Delilah and Ursula Holliday together with Amelia Cutler make in Skinny Girl Diet grabs us by the hair and headbutts our teeth in in slow motion whilst playing the Pop Group & The Slits split out of boom box in the adjoining room. On tape. With dying batteries.



No idea when they are going to release something proper but you'll find a couple of tracks on soundcloud as well as on myspace(?!)

You also better go see them on 17th November at Power Lunches in London with Anguish Sandwich and Humousexual -  another fave here at the So Tough! So Cute! office.

Now go get the Babyface mixtape they did for us

Poetry In Mono #3 with Help Stamp Out Loneliness in Copenhagen

We come full circle tomorrow when we play records after the Help Stamp Out Loneliness gig in Copenhagen (a first one in Denmark for us). This circle started a fairly long time ago when we played records after the great Language Of Flowers in Lund. Ah the glory days of Indiepop gigs in Lund. If we remember correctly we played an all-girl indiepop set followed by a northern soul and Motown set, so what better when to follow up with a similar theme tomorrow when we play at Poetry In Monos last party for 2011.

Help Stamp Out Loneliness released a really good record on Where It's Is Where You Are which should be on top of your listening pile. Particularly the song Record Shop is ace and worth a couple a spins a day.

Poetry In Mono #3
Help Stamp Out Loneliness (UK) + No Hay Banda (DK)
Friday 11th November
Stengade, Copenhagen
21-03 | 60DKR
Facebook event - and please invite your friends!

Photos from the Horrors after-party

The Horrors! Rhys Webb! Filling up an old dancehall on aWednesday! On a bloody Wednesday! in Malmö! Such an amazing night! Still shaking from the adrenalin rush Rhys's set gave us last night when he played song after song that kept everybody on the dancefloor. So great! Thanks to the staff at Moriskan and to Marcus Cawood for co-organizing this, to Rex and Rhys for djing and for everybody coming along and dancing! There are more photos over at the So Tough! So Cute! page so head over there and have a look

The Horrors After-party with DJ: Rhys Webb of Cave Club

Now this. This is going to be awesome. Psych club Radio Syd and us will be putting on the Horrors after-party with the amazing Rhys 'Spider' Webb of Londons feet stompin' Cave Club playing some fine records.

Despite us sharing the Buffalo Bar while we were doing the Baby Honey club we never actually met Rhys but word of his record collection and go go inducing sets reached us far far over international waters and countries vast. Ok our friend Gracie told us over a pint. And then other people told us over a pint. And then Marcus Cawood from Radio Syd told us. Also over a pint. So here we are. Drunk of our arse and with a great happening planned.

Please join us after the Horrors gig at the distinguished competition and we'll get you dancing until the wee hours!

DJs:
Rhys 'Spider' Webb (Cave Club)
Marcus Cawood (Radio Syd)
Daniel (So Tough! So Cute!)

Wednesday 9th November
Moriska Paviljongen in Folkets Park
11pm-03am | Free
Facebook event - and please invite your friends!

Photos and Playlist from The Magnetic Fields special

What a hootenanny we had last night! Started off kinda mellow with people mostly drinking, listening and chatting but when we got into the wee hours the frenzy began. The Frenzy! And yes, we're mentally fourteen years old for thinking so but the highlight of the evening was playing The Magnetic Fields - Too Drunk To Dream and Dead Kennedys - Too Drunk To Fuck back to back.

Thanks to everybody that came down and to Ylwa Skywalker for playing a great set as usual. You can see what we played a bit further down in this post. There are more photos up on the So Tough! So Cute! page. To get invited to future parties please join the events group.

We'll see you at the Horrors after party we're will be djing together with Rhys Webb of Londons Cave Club and then at Help Stamp Out Loneliness gig at Poetry In Mono in Copenhagen next week where we will be djing in Denmark for the first time ever. Looking forward to it!

Here's what we played!
Gothic Archies - Smile, No One Cares How You Feel
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - (If You) Keep Me In Your Heart
OMD - If You Leave
The Magnetic Fields - The Man Amplifier
Young Marble Giants - Clicktalk

The Magnetic Fields - Heroes
Future Bible Heroes - Smash the Beauty Machine
Rose Mcdowall - Crystal Days
The Magnetic Fields - All My Little Words
Stephin Merritt - Yet Another Girl (Featuring Stuart Moxham)

Nico - I'm Not Sayin'
Nick Lowe - Sensitive Man
The Magnetic Fields - The Death Of Ferdinad De Saussure
Gothic Archies - Crows
Comet Gain - Clang Of The Concrete Swans

The Only Ones - No Peace For The Wicked
Humousexual - Oh Camberwell
Superchunk - 100,000 Fireflies
Woollen Kits - out Of Town
The Magnetic Fields - Long-Forgotten Fairytale

The 6ths - Barbara Manning / San Diego Zoo
The Magnetic Fields - The Saddest Story Ever Told
Amanda Palmer, Stephin Merritt, Moby And Neil Gaiman - Science Fiction/Double Feature
OMD - Waiting For The Man
Acid Baby Jesus - I'm A Baby

The Magnetic Fields - Parades Go By
Belle & Sebastian - The State I Am In
The Drums - Money
Girls - Honey Bunny
Gothic Archies - Walking My Gargoyle

Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling
St. Christopher - Say Yes To Everything
McCarthy - Should The Bible Be Banned?
The Pastels - Million Tears
The Magnetic Fields - You And Me And The Moon

The Magnetic Fields - All You Ever Do Is Walk Away
Jonathan Richman - Rock 'N' Roll Drummer Straight
Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself
The Magnetic Fields - I Think I Need A New Heart
Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

Hillary And The Democrats - I Wish That I'd Taken More Photographs
Let's Wrestle - I Won't Lie To You
The Clean - Tally Ho
The Magnetic Fields - The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side
The Magnetic Fields - Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits

Belle & Sebastian - Scooby Driver
Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band - Electricity
The Ventures & Nancy Sinatra - Kicks
The Starlets - You Don't Love Me
The Magnetic Fields - I Thought You Were My Boyfriend

The Cure - Jumping Someone Else's Train
Buzzcocks - Boredom
The Magnetic Fields - When My Boy Walks Down The Street
The Magnetic Fields - A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan

The Jam - When You're Young
The Tough Alliance - First Class Riot
The Magnetic Fields - Meaningless
Manic Street Preachers - We Are All Bourgeois Now
Broder Daniel - Cruel Town

Modern English - I Melt With You
The Magnetic Fields - (Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy
Belle & Sebastian - I'm A Cuckoo
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Heart In Your Heartbreak
Orange Juice - Felicity

Liz Brady - Partie De Dames
The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Want To Get Over You
The Smiths - You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby
The Magnetic Fields - Washington, D.C.
The Rubinoos - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

Monks - Boys Are Boys And Girls Are Girls
Teenage Head - You're Tearin' Me Apart
The Buzzcocks - I Don't Mind
Gospel Music - This Town Doesn't Have Enough Bars For Both Of Us
Beat Happening - Bewitched

The Legends - The Kids Just Wanna Have Fun
Strangeloves - I Want Candy
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Nowhere To Run
The Magnetic Fields - Strange Powers
Stephin Merritt - Take Ecstasy With Me (Susan Anway)

Veronic Falls - Thorn In My Side
Hefner - The Hymn For The Cigarettes
The Magnetic Fields - Asleep And Dreaming
The Babies - Breakin The Law
The Black Lips - Bad Kids

Jacuzzi Boys - Bricks Or Coconuts
Nobunny - I Am A Girlfriend
GG Allin - Don't Talk To Me
The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
The Magnetic Fields - If You Don't Cry

Soup Dragons - Slow Things Down
Shop Assistants - I Don't Wanna To Be Friends With You
Television Personalities - Part-Time Punks
Paul Simon - Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
Rolling Stones - Let's Spend The Night Together

Davila 666 - Hanging On The Telephone
The Magnetic Fields - Absolutely Cuckoo
The Undertones - Here Comes The Summer
Shivvers - Teen Line
Stone Roses - Elephant Stone

The Ruling Class - Flowers
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
The Magnetic Fields - Too Drunk To Dream
Dead Kennedys - Too Drunk To Fuck
Ebba Grön - Profit

Period Pains - Ex-Boyfriend
The Magnetic Fields - Punk Love
Tthe Magnetic Fields - I Thought You Were My Boyfriend
The Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies
The Magnetic Fields - How Fucking Romantic

The Magnetic Fields special at So Tough! So Cute! at Retro in Malmö

We've been wanting to another artist special and with the summer being over and the autumn cold creeping in we thought to ourselves: who should we celebrate that is the indiepop equivalent of a warm Pendleton blanket?

So we're happy to say that we'll be having a the Magnetic Fields special. We'll be playing our favourite Stephin Merritt penned songs throughout the night so expect to hear tracks from the Magnetic Fields starting with the debut Distants Plastic Trees and also his other projects Gothic Archies, the 6ths and Future Bible Heroes.

Joining us behing the decks is Ylwa Skywalker and we'll play a smoothie style mix of Indiepop, Girl-groups, Pop Punk and Soul so we hope to see you in Malmö tonight!

So Tough! So Cute!  - The Magnetic Fields special
Saturday 5 November
Retro, Norra Skolgatan 24, Malmö
20-03 | 20kr | 20yrs (Email us to get on the 18yrs list)
Facebook event

Photos and playlist from ST!SC! in London with Astro-Sofia

Thanks to everyone that came down last weeked to dance with and us! Guest-dj Astro-Sofia who flew in from Finland played a really great and fun indiepop set while looking tough as nails. All djs should dj in Burzum T-shirts! It was great seeing old friends turn up in Stoke Newington as well and then hanging out the day after. Miss London already but we're back in a month with Sven-Eric from KlubbIndiean in Gothenburg.

You can drool over Astro-Sofias playlist after the pics and then head over to the So Tough! So Cute! page where you can see the rest of the photos

Here's what Astro-Sofia played:
The Shirelles - Will You Still Love me Tomorrow
Jesus and Mary Chain - Kill Surf City
The Wake - Plastic Flowers
Television Personalities - This Angry Silence
Aztec Camera - Oblivious

The Byrds - Turn turn turn
Lloyd Cole - Lost Weekend
Half Japanese - 100000 Kisses
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry
Camera Obscura - Number One Son

The Ronettes - Good Girls
The Divine Comedy - Generation Sex
Bob Hund - Tralalala
The Pastels - Comin Through
Noitalinna Huraa - Kissanpoika

The Zombies - Tell Her No
Allo Darlin - Darren
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction
Hidden Cameras - Ban Marriage

Sam Cooke - Sugar Dumpling
The Shangri - Las - Give Him a Great Big Kiss
Pulp - Babies
Tullycraft - Twee
Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling

Hefner - Hymn for the Cigarettes
Burning Hearts - Into the Wilderness
Help Stamp Out Loneliness - Record Shop
The Field Mice - Sensitive
Jens Lekman - Black Cab

Belle and Sebastian - A Boy With the Arab Strap
Velvet Underground - Run Run Run
Black Tambourine - Heartbeat
Saturday Looks Good to Me - Alcohol
Acid House Kings - Are We Lovers of Are We Friends

Moustache of Insanity - We Need More Awesome
Love - A House is not a Motel
Orange Juice - Fallling and Laughing
The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
The Darnells - Too Hurt to Cry, Too Much in Love to Say Goodbye

The Pastels - Nothing to Be Done
The Beatles - From Me to You
The Vaselines - Son of A Gun
The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love
Cats on Fire - I am the White Mantled King

The Magnetic Fields - You and Me and The Moon