Acid House Kings is a Swedish indie pop band. It was founded in 1991 by Joakim Ödlund (also in the bands Poprace, Double Dan, and Starlet) and brothers Niklas (Red Sleeping Beauty) and Johan Angergård (Club 8, The Legends, Poprace).

With the release of their first album, Pop, Look & Listen, they supposedly decided on a 10 year plan to release an album every five years to have a trilogy of albums released by the year 2002, a plan that eventually worked out exactly as scheduled.

According to plan, they released Advantage Acid House Kings in 1997 and the album proved to be a huge step forward to form their trademark sound of jangly, catchy guitar oriented indie-pop. The album featured Julia Lannerheim as guest vocalist on a couple of songs, who eventually joined the band officially as a full time member in 2001.

In 2002 they released their third album Mondays Are Like Tuesdays And Tuesdays Are Like Wednesdays, again excelling their previous record in terms of sophistication, with a record filled with breezy, catchy guitar pop tunes.

Their 4th album Sing Along With Acid House Kings was initially released as a limited edition featuring a bonus DVD consisting of instrumental karaoke versions of the complete album, accompanied by home made videos showing the band members doing various everyday tasks.

The critically acclaimed album saw the band further perfecting their sound established on the previous records. In the summer of 2007 they entered the studio again to record their 5th album, due to be released in 2008.

Discography

Studio Albums

* Pop, Look & Listen! (1992)
* Advantage Acid House Kings (1997)
* Mondays Are Like Tuesdays and Tuesdays Are Like Wednesdays (2002)
* Sing Along with Acid House Kings (2005)

EPs

* Play Pop EP (1992)

Compilations

* The Sound of Summer (2000)

Singles

* Monaco GP (1994)
* Yes! You Love Me (1997)
* We Are the Acid House Kings (2001)
* Say Yes If You Love Me (2002)
* Do What You Wanna Do (2005)
* Everyone Sings Along With Acid House Kings (2006)

This Heart is a Stone

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The first single, Inside, appeared on TV Personality Mark Flunder’s Frank label in late 1986 and was an instant success. BBC recording sessions for John Peel and fanzine/music weekly adulation quickly followed. A second single for Frank, Balloon Song, further consolidated their following. The band toured England and Europe and the press was ecstatic. The late 80s revival of classic guitar-based pop was kind to the ‘Bears, and Sekula’s talent at penning catchy, twisted melodies earned them a coveted spot as one of the best of the lot. A third single sealed the deal, the raucous Come Get Me on the then-new label Sarah.

The band went on the release their self-titled debut album in 1988; it was a masterpiece of psychedelic pop that turned a lot of heads with it’s ambition and skilled songcraft. A raft of singles and a second album in 1991 followed, and the band quietly disbanded in 1992.

In The Beginning compiles those classic first three singles in their entirely, along with eight never before released BBC session cuts and four demos/live tracks. This is the complete story of the band’s most seminal, influential recordings. Upbeat, punky songs like “Inside” and “Balloon Song” are tempered by dreamy ballads like “Cut” and the folky “Like A Dolphin.” Every tune is a perfect little gem, combining memorable melodies with punchy guitar noise and infectious enthusiasm. These songs have had an undeniable influence on indie pop in the years since, and the ‘Bears stand tall with contemporaries like The Pastels and The June Brides as cornerstones of the indie scene.

Discography

Albums and EPs

* 14 Iced Bears (Thunderball Records, 1988)
* Precision (Thunderball Records, 1990) – a compilation of singles
* Wonder (Borderline Records, 1991)
* In the Beginning (Slumberland Records, 2001) – a compilation of previously released material and live recordings

Singles

* “Inside” / “Bluesuit” / “Cut” (Frank Records, 1986)
* “Balloon Song” / “Like a Dolphin” (Frank Records, 1987)
* “Lie To Choose” (Penetration, 1987) (7″ flexi, split with Splendour In The Grass)
* “Come Get Me” (Sarah Records, 1988)
* “World I Love” (Thunderball Records, 1989)
* “Mother Sleep” (Thunderball Records, 1989)
* “Falling Backwards”/”World I Love” (Surfacer, 199?) (split EP with Crocodile Ride)
* “Hold On” (Borderline Records, 1991)
* “Inside” / “Balloon Song” (Slumberland Records, 2001)

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Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid ’80s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early ’80s such as Orange Juice and Josef K and the dominant UK independent band of the mid eighties, The Smiths. While the term ‘indie’ had been used for some time to describe artists on independent labels (and the labels themselves), the key moment in the naming of the genre was the release of NME’s C86 tape in 1986. Although featuring a wide range of bands including Primal Scream, The Pastels, and The Shop Assistants, it over time became shorthand for a genre known by a variety of terms. Initially it was dubbed ‘C86′ (after the tape itself), the more ambiguous Indiepop, Cutie or a term coined by John Peel: shambling bands.

Retrospectively the term; Twee was used, initially ironically, due to what commentators called the “revolt into childhood” of its followers.

Musically its key characteristics were jangling guitars, a love of sixties pop and often fey, innocent lyrics. A UK label, Sarah Records and its most popular band, The Field Mice, were probably its most typical proponents. Scenes later developed in the United States particularly around labels such as K Records. Genres such as Riot Grrrl and bands as diverse as Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers, and Belle and Sebastian have all acknowledged its influence.

In the mid to late 80s, indie pop was criticized for its tweeness and underachievement but many now argue that C86 and the birth of the genre was a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK. It continues to have a strong following and inspire musicians, not just in the UK but around the world with new labels, clubs and bands devoted to the sound.

The British definition of twee is overly precious or nice, excessively or affectedly quaint, sentimental or mawkish, sometimes coupled with words like nauseatingly. It appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century to mean something dainty or sweet, a girly and gushing word. It appears to have developed from tweet, not the noise a bird makes, but a childish attempt at saying sweet.

Twee pop has spun off into a fashion style too! Like most indie dress styles, it’s all about being yourself & comfortable with what you’re wearing. That being said, there are certain pieces that come up often in twee fashion. Scarves, home knit hats & mittens, polka dot patterns, stripes, BIG glasses, cardigans and bright, warm colors are the basics. Don’t forget to accessorize though! Little kid headbands, barrettes, hairpins, chunky plastic rings and pins printed with indie style cartoons are all fun ways to dress up an outfit (actually, the twee look is not unlike the geek or nerd look).

Get some tunes. There’s no point in being twee if you’ve never heard the music! Check out “Twee” by Tullycraft, “Six Layer Cake” by Unrest and “Let Me Go Home” by Camera Obscura to get a good idea of the sound. Be prepared to be humming silly tunes all day.

Twee is also a state of mind. Be happy! Pessimism has no place in twee. Always try to look on the bright side of things. That makes you genuinely twee. Don’t wear too much make-up. A little eye make-up is fine, but don’t overdo it.

Learn to knit! You’ll save tons of money! Try shopping at thrift & antique stores. You can find some really unique pieces for cheap if you don’t mind wearing used.

Bands to check out: Tullycraft, Beat Happening, Belle & Sebastian, Second Hand Furniture, Heavenly, Tiger Trap, Talulah Gosh, Komon, Camera Obscura, The Lucksmiths, 14 Iced Bears

Some Examples of the Totally Twee Look

Although he is an actor, and not associated with indie pop/twee music in any way, Urkle is the epitomy of twee fashion with his huge glasses, striped shirt, and overalls with suspenders.

Music to listen to: Pipas

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Juno’s soundtrack has come out of nowhere to hit the top spot in the American charts. Let’s hear it for good, old-fashioned, twee pop

All I Want Is You - Barry Louis Polisar - Juno Soundtrack

Tire Swing - Kimya Dawson - Juno Soundtrack

Anyone Else But You

I’m Sticking With You - The Velvet Underground

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Beat Happening is an American indie rock band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis and Bret Lunsford have been the band’s continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie rock and lo-fi movements, noted for their use of primitive recording techniques, disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship, and songs with subject matters of a childish or coy nature.

The band met while attending Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band’s basic line-up was drums, guitar and vocals, though when they formed their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Heather once joked in an interview that the history of the band could be told through a list of the various people they’d borrowed drums from. Heather and Calvin had been members of a previous band and approached Bret, who had no musical experience at the time, saying they ought to start a band and go to Japan. Indeed, it was on a trip to Tokyo that the bandmembers recorded Three Tea Breakfast, an EP that established the band’s reputation.

Calvin Johnson was one of the founders of seminal indie-rock label K Records. The label has been championed by many, including Kurt Cobain, who tattooed the K Records logo on his arm. The label achieved modest success and continues to hold its independent integrity, claiming to have been “exploding the teenage underground into passionate revolt against the corporate ogre since 1982.”

Studio albums

Beat Happening (1985), their full length debut, was critically acclaimed, as was Jamboree (1988). By the release of Dreamy in 1991, Beat Happening was one of the most popular bands in the indie rock community, leading to their pivotal role in the International Pop Underground Festival, which brought anti-corporate rock its earliest mainstream acceptance. Their last full-length album was 1992’s You Turn Me On, which represented the band breaking many of their established conventions from earlier albums, most notably on “Godsend,” which runs 9 minutes in length and features blatant use of multitrack recording. The album was described by allmusic.com as “A masterpiece.” Though never announcing a break-up and claiming at one point to still practice once a month, the members of Beat Happening have moved on to various other projects. In 2000 they released the “Angel Gone” single, their first new recording in eight years.

Albums

Year Title Label
1985 Beat Happening K Records
1988 Jamboree K Records/Rough Trade
1989 Black Candy K Records/Rough Trade
1991 Dreamy K Records/Sub Pop
1992 You Turn Me On K Records/Sub Pop

EPs

Year Title Label
1984 Three Tea Breakfast Cassette EP K Records
1988 Crashing Through EP K Records
1988 Beat Happening/Screaming Trees EP K Records/Homestead

Compilations

Year Title Label
2002 Crashing Through K Records
2003 Music to Climb the Apple Tree By K Records

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Genre(s) Indie pop
twee
Label(s) Magic Marker Records, Darla Records, Harriet Records
Website www.tullycraftnation.com
Members
Sean Tollefson, Jeff Fell, Chris Munford, Jenny Mears, Corianton Hale
Former members
Gary Miklusek, Harold Hollingsworth

Tullycraft is an American twee pop band formed by the members of two defunct indie bands, Crayon and Wimp Factor 14. Sean Tollefson & Jeff Fell (both of Crayon), and Gary Miklusek (Wimp Factor 14), created the band in 1995. They are considered one of the forefathers of the American twee pop movement alongside bands like Black Tambourine, Tiger Trap, Lois Maffeo, Beat Happening, and The Softies.

In October of 1995 they recorded a batch of songs with Pat Maley at YoYo Studios in Olympia, WA. Out of that first session came the debut single on Harriet Records and an instant indie pop classic — “Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend’s too Stupid to Know About”. In 1996 they released their full length debut, Old Traditions, New Standards on Harriet Records. The band followed up their first album with singles on labels from Japan, England, Germany, and the U.S. They then cemented their cult status through extensive touring all over the United States, playing at venues ranging from house shows to universities, nightclubs to supermarket grand openings.

After a couple guest appearances with the band, Chris Munford (Incredible Force of Junior) joined Tullycraft in 1998. Chris contributed keyboards, 2nd guitar and recording engineering to the 2nd full length album, City of Subarus on Cher Doll Records. The entire record was recorded at Chris and Jeff’s house across the street from a Subaru dealership.

After City of Subarus, Tullycraft toured the U.S. one and a half more times and then took an extended break from playing live and recording. The time that followed saw the band mostly on hiatus — only playing festivals, Popfests, and the occasional YoYo-a-GoGo. Gary Miklusek (a founding member) left the band in 1999. At this point Tullycraft’s fate was up in the air.

In 2001 Jeff, Chris, and Sean started playing together again and soon began working on new songs. Harold Hollingsworth (Sno•Boy), who had toured with the band between the first two albums (in 1997), was re-recruited to play 2nd guitar on the new material. The result was the 3rd proper full length Tullycraft album: Beat, Surf, Fun released on Magic Marker Records. Tullycraft emerged from the extended absence with a batch of new songs, including the indie pop classic, “Twee.”

On May 3, 2005, Tullycraft released their fourth album, Disenchanted Hearts Unite. With a new line-up that included Corianton Hale on guitar and Jenny Mears on vocals. The album was met with a flurry of great reviews and quickly became a fan favorite. The band played the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas in 2006 and 2007.

The 5th Tullycraft album, Every Scene Needs A Center was released in early 2008.

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

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The band comprised singer Pam Berry, Brian Nelson, Archie Moore and Mike Schulman. The members came to the project already acquainted with each other; both Nelson and Schulman were in Whorl together, while Schulman (also of Powderburns) co-founded Slumberland Records. Moore, meanwhile, was in Velocity Girl, and Berry had co-founded the Chickfactor zine.

Black Tambourine only played a handful of gigs but still had a great influence on emerging American indie pop. They released one single on Slumberland in 1991 (”By Tomorrow”), another on Audrey’s Diary the following year (”Throw Aggi Off the Bridge”)and had several other songs featured elsewhere: “We Can’t Be Friends” appeared on a spinART compilation titled One Last Kiss in 1992; and “Pam’s Tan” was included on a 1989 Slumberland 7″ called What Kind of Heaven Do You Want?. A posthumous anthology, Complete Recordings, was released on Slumberland in 2002.

After the band parted ways Berry went on to sing with numerous bands including The Shapiros, glo-worm, Castaway Stones, Veronica Lake, Bright Colored Lights, Belmondo, Seashell Sea and The Pines; she also returned to Chickfactor. Nelson went on to Velocity Girl; Moore to Heartworms; and Schulman to Magpies and Candleman.

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Originally from Phoenix, Lois Maffeo began performing in Olympia, where she had moved to attend Evergreen College. She first received attention for the minimalist pop duo she formed with her friend Pat Maley, which they rather misleadingly named Courtney Love (no relation to the band Hole or its controversial singer). In 1991, Courtney Love broke up after several acclaimed seven-inches, and Lois moved to Washington D.C., where she began recording with a variety of collaborators as Lois and later The Lois. She has since returned to Olympia.

Her work under her own name has continued in the same simple love-pop vein as Courtney Love, though she has matured immensely as a songwriter. The spartan, stripped-down style of her songs, whose instrumentation often consists of nothing more than a guitar or two and perhaps drums, makes you think of a calm ocean rippling gently beneath the cool salt breeze of Lois’s clear, tensile soprano. The songs on Lois’s last full-length, Infinity Plus, featuring Heather Dunn (formerly of Tiger Trap) and Brendan Canty (Fugazi), are sometimes bitter, sometimes brooding, sometimes impossibly beautiful. For all their seeming musical and lyrical simplicity, they contain more layers than an onion. That record’s featured track, “Rougher,” a resigned after-love song, is nothing more than Lois and Elliott Smith on voice and guitar. It was recorded in Smith’s living room in Portland.

Since 1996’s Infinity Plus, Lois Maffeo has also collaborated with Canty on a record called the The Union Themes.

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Energetic indie-pop in the innocent vein of Beat Happening, Tiger Trap makes irresistible noisy pop songs. Unfortunately, the band broke up before they could record another LP

Tiger Trap was an all-female twee-pop foursome composed of high school friends Angie Loy and Rose Melberg, with Heather Dunn and Jen Braun. The group recorded for K Records. The name “Tiger Trap” comes from the very first Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Formed in Sacramento, California in 1992, they managed to garner something of a cult following before disbanding only a year later. Along with Beat Happening, Lois Maffeo, Tullycraft, and Black Tambourine they are considered to be one of the most influential bands of the American twee pop movement. Melberg went on to become a solo artist as well as playing with the bands The Softies, Go Sailor, and Gaze.

Discography

• “Words and Smiles” from a split 7″ with Bratmobile (Four Letter Words Records, 1992)
• “Supercrush” b/w “You and Me”; “Hiding” [released as volume 36 of the International Pop Underground series]
• Tiger Trap (K Records, 1993)
• Sour Grass EP (K Records, 1993)
• “Baby Blue”, from Julep (Another Yoyo Studio Compilation) (Yoyo Recordings, 1993)
• “Hiding” re-released on the International Hip Swing compilation [assembled of songs from the International Pop Underground singles series] (K Records, 1993)
• “Supreme Nothing”, from the “Stars Kill Rock” compilation (Kill Rock Stars, 1992)
• “Alien Space Song” from split single with Henry’s Dress (Slumberland Records, 1994)

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With their danceable indie pop styling that remained heartfelt at the same time, the three-piece of Aberdeen brought on their warm, minimal innocence to their native of North Hollywood, CA. With the lineup consisting of John (guitar/drum programming), Jenni (guitar/keyboard/vocals), and Beth (vocals/bass) providing a lyrical bliss of rainy days, Sarah Records first captured Aberdeen’s sound on the 1994 single Byron. But following the 1995 release of their second EP Snapdragon, the trio called it quits with Beth eventually moving on to form Casino Ashtrays. As time went by, Beth and John came back together and started recording in the spring of 2002 with former Mighty Lemon Drop David Newton, resulting in the full length Homesick and Happy to Be Here. Singles The Boy Has Gone Away and Florida followed several years later.

Homesick and Happy to Be Here is the only studio album released by Aberdeen. Released in 2002, it includes the song ‘Sink or Float’, which was featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and gave the band their biggest exposure yet.

Track listing

1. ‘Handsome Drink’ (3:16)
2. ‘Sink or Float’ (3:27)
3. ‘Clouds Like These’ (3:51)
4. ‘Sunny in California’ (3:50)
5. ‘Thousand Steps’ (5:22)
6. ‘Homesick’ (5:21)
7. ‘Cities & Buses’ (4:33)
8. ‘Drive’ (4:15)
9. ‘In My Sleep’ (4:50)
10. ‘That Cave… That Moon’ (5:52)

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