Twee pop is a genre that came into being roughly around the release of British music magazine NME’s C86 compilation. Many took notice of the fact that C86 prominently featured music with light, lilting harmonies, and jangly guitars, which formed the basis of the twee-pop genre. The compilation also helped loads to spotlight twee label Sarah Records, based in Bristol.

However, C86 was really only spotlighting the British twee scene – in the US, twee pop had been flourishing for a few years by then. The US branch of twee was spearheaded by K Records, an Olympia, Washington record label owned by Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening. K Records’ catalog was a bit more expansive than Sarah Records, though – they also featured Riot Grrrl and punk bands on their roster, as much of the twee scene was adjacent to those musical movements.

The first song on the playlist is “Nothing To Be Done” by The Pastels. There’s definitely more of a lofi approach from the US-based branch, and it’s definitely spotlighted in this track. It’s louder and crunchier, but still with the characteristic sugary-sweet melodies and vocals.

I have no idea how I found “The First Dead Leaves Of Autumn” by the Best Friends Group. It’s probably the least-known on the list, but it’s a really sweet song! It’s a cute and jangly instrumental, and even though I’ve never heard it before a few weeks ago, it fills me with nostalgia.

“Lola” is a cover of a song by The Kinks, done by The Raincoats. I mean, putting aside my personal feelings for the original and lyrics (on one hand, there’s some not awesome word choice, but on the other, it’s a trans-positive song from the 70s), this cover is masterfully done. I can’t even listen to the original anymore, “Lola” was just destined to be twee.

“P.U.N.K. Girl” by Heavenly is awesome. Actually, do yourself a favor and stream this entire EP – it’s insanely good. Most of the members of Heavenly were a part of Talulah Gosh, another legendary twee pop band, so you can tell they’re coming into this with experience.

Someone’s going to have to stop me from talking about Beat Happening. They’re not just my favorite band on this list, but also of all time – just ask anyone who’s ever seen my Last.fm. The band has been based in both Olympia and Anacortes, and they’re probably the golden standard of twee. Their formula of distorted feedback squeal, lofi pop sensibility, earworm melodies, and lovelorn lyrics always produce the perfect twee song. Most of the tunes are so simple, but there’s something sweet and genuine about the band that keeps pulling me back. Some of my favorite tunes by them are “Drive Car Girl” and “Our Secret.”

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart might be the best example of the intersection between twee, shoegaze, and dream pop, and some gatekeeper is going to get really mad that I said that. “Contender” is probably my favorite track by them, and it’s a fun song too! The overblown guitars and endearing melodies are excellent, and even though it’s a lot thicker in terms of sound, it still has that jangly twee sound.
I love Stereolab, so figuring out that most of the members of that band were in McCarthy (another cool twee band) was pretty awesome. Normally, twee lyrics center around love and loss, but McCarthy switches it up a bit and adds biting social commentary on top of dreamy guitars. “We Are All Bourgeois Now” is pretty epic and definitely showcases their talents.

For further listening, definitely check out the “C86” compilation from NME, and going further into some of the bands I mentioned above would be a good idea too. And the band Belle and Sebastian is probably a very noticeable exclusion from the list above, so I’m giving them a little shout out here too. Even though “If You’re Feeling Sinister” is the album that got me into twee, there are a lot of other twee bands I liked better. Another Sunny Day literally sounds like The Smiths if they were twee, and both The Vaselines and The Magnetic Fields could be considered in the genre as well? I mean, they both meet most of the criteria, it just feels weird to list them as twee. Below, you can find a playlist of the songs I listed above, and some more too!

Enjoy!