Are the Shins the closest thing America has to a "twee" band?

are you out of your mind?

the softies, beat happening, tullycraft, the entire catalog of shelflife and matinee records (and plenty of k records stuff), i could go on but that would involve effort

america is 100000000000x twee-er than the UK

(note: exaggerated slightly)

Okay, you're right. I'm a bit tired and my thread title didn't match the question perhaps. Are the Shins the closest thing America has to a POPULAR twee band? Or, a popular American band that has certain twee qualities?

HAVE U EVER EVEN HEARD TRICK DADDY WTF !!!!

decemberists are way more twee to cite one of several thousand examples

Flaming Lips (the recent version) are probably way tweer than The Shins.

Are the Shins the closest thing America has to a "shite" band?

No, that would be either some R&B act or one of those Pearl Jam-wanna-be's

4-4.5-1.5

Before hearing much, I used to think The Shins were boring, overhyped shiny indiepop. Then I heard "Sea Legs" and was shocked by how much I liked it's odd timing and slinky bass. Then I heard _Wincing_ and was further shocked by how much I liked it all - different instrumentation, solid lyrics, just a different vibe.

Popular does not always equate with crap.

But they are still overhyped.

Let's carve my aging face off,
Fetch us a knife,
Start with my eyes,
Down so the lines,
Form a grimacing smile

A bit twee if you ask me

Nonsense. Put those words in Peter Murphy's mouth with Daniel Ash making dour sounds and it's goth.

All these bands play too well to be twee. However Kimya Dawson and the entire movie Juno are more twee than anything that has ever been produced.

What popular twee bands are there in the UK again? Oh that's right NONE.

dom passantino and the scarves

i hate the Shins so much sometimes! sometimes i'm like, oh, right, this is kinda nice, but usually i just kinda want to throw up when i hear them.

They can be lyrically great, those Shins, but also very insipid. They're no Math & Physics Club in terms of tweeness.

What popular twee bands are there in the UK again? Oh that's right NONE.

-- Matt DC, Friday, 28 December 2007 14:25 (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Belle and Sebastian, Los Campesinos, Camera Obscura, do New Young Pony Club count?

There's a lot of really good 'twee' UK bands. The Bobby McGee's, Pipas (well half UK now ex-pat), Pocketbooks, Bearsuit, The Research, the Duloks, MJ Hibbett, The Deirdres..

Are the Bobby McGees really any good? They sound too gimmicky for me to bother going to the effort of actually finding out myself.

I love 'em...it's the classic very twee music with violent spite-ridden vocal delivery type thing. They've only got a couple of EPs out but their live shows are always pretty great.

'No Friends' (aka Ivor Cutler Is Dead), 'Kill Yourself', and especially 'Butterflies' are all wonderfully brilliant, albeit very simple. Best seen live, the performance element adds quite a lot.

I said POPULAR, by which I mean popular in that non-fans actually know who they are, not popular in the way MIA is popular or second-rate grime MCs are popular.

I might have given you Belle & Sebastian eight or nine years ago mind.

twee started in america. it's like saying, "is green day the closest thing America has to punk?"

Ban twee.

I said POPULAR, by which I mean popular in that non-fans actually know who they are, not popular in the way MIA is popular or second-rate grime MCs are popular.

Who gives a shit about popular? X-Factor is popular. The Bobby McGee's are popular amongst folk I know, they're been featured in general magazines I read/have read (NME, Plan B, Bizarre) and played on Radio 1.

Do you mean Top 40?

Ban twee.

At least twee has a sense of it's own ludicrousness and makes little claim beyond that. Rather twee than its boorish antithesis.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/Eels-Daisies_Of_The_Galaxy.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Blancmange_-_Happy_Families.jpg

Jesus, my relationship with the word "twee" is going to wind up like one of those guys who's endlessly bashing his head against a wall over "emo" and Rites of Spring

i'll be the grapes fermented, bottled and
served with the table set in my finest suit
like a perfect gentleman.
i'll be the fire escape that's bolted to the
ancient brick where you will sit and
contemplate your day.

i'll be the waterwings that save you if you
start drowning in an open tab when your
judgement's on the brink.
i'll be the phonograph that plays your favorite
albums back as your lying there drifting off
to sleep.
i'll be the platform shoes and undo what
heredity's done to you: you won't have to
strain to look into my eyes.
i'll be your winter coat buttoned and zipped
straight to the throat with the collar up so
you won't catch cold.

i want to take you far away from the cynics in this
town and kiss you on the mouth.
we'll cut our bodies free from the tethers of
this scene, start a brand new colony
where everything will change, we'll give
ourselves new names (identities erased.)
the sun will heat the ground under our bare
feet in this brand new colony.
everything will change...

At least twee has a sense of it's own ludicrousness and makes little claim beyond that. Rather twee than its boorish antithesis.

-- Mister Craig, Friday, December 28, 2007 8:59 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Link

More self-conscious = better? I'm all for some boorishness. Some of the time.

Some of the best music ever made was self-consciously twee. See The Beatles, Syd Barrett, Kaleidoscope, Idle Race, Small Faces etc. etc.

http://www.megomuseum.com/teevee/images/robot.jpg

we're here, we're twee-er, get used to it

well, thisdoesn't seem very twee...to me...

Jesus, my relationship with the word "twee" is going to wind up like one of those guys who's endlessly bashing his head against a wall over "emo" and Rites of Spring

...as long as you bash in a very twee manner

I think henry s is talking about this story:

http://www.dukecityfix.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1233957%3ABlogPost%3A32522

^that's it alright...can't imagine the Field Mice winding up in the police blotter in such a way...

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/47789-shins-crandall-girlfriend-arrested-for-domestic-assault