Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Twee Primer (Last Tullycraft Post)

That last band wasn't bad, I just can only take so much twee.

--Tullycraft audience member downstairs at the Red and Black bar watching the Celtics lose game 5.

To explore Tullycraft is to run head long into the world of Twee. Although I have heard, and been tempted to use the term, I never really understood Twee. So riding in this morning, I thought I'd take the time to do some research on Twee and make a post. On Twee, I might call it.

Turns out that the Washington Post beat me to it, with a Tullycraft hook no less. So rather than make my own swing at it, here's a link to the WaPo Twee Primer.

Needless to say, my own experience with Twee starts, as Sean from Tullycraft does, with Jonathan Richman.

3 comments:

emfink said...

Strictly speaking, Jonathan is more like "pre-twee". Twee per se dates from mid-1980s Britain, especially Scotland (see, e.g., Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Josef K). The word itself is extremely British, meaning something vaguely like "effete" or "precious" but with no exact U.S. equivalent. The Axis Mundi of twee pop remains Glasgow -- home to Latter-Day Twee Saints Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura.

Personally, I can never get enough twee.

Roosevelt Street In Exile said...

Given my reaction to Belle & Sebastian, I do have a limited Twee tolerance. . ..

emfink said...

Well, yeah, B&S, like toast & honey (a very twee snack), are a bit much in too-large doses.