Students for Scarves and Charm // news

my secret world

Students for Scarves and Charm // 31.10.10

It's that time of year again when things go bump in the night, suspicious shapes fly past the moon and Halloween Specials are obligatory. Instead of digging up indie pop covers of The Monster Mash and Thriller, this week's Student's for Scarves and Charm is resurrecting the dead. I discuss Lucy Dawkin's forthcoming documentary about long dead but still legendary indie pop label Sarah Records and exhuming some of the label's classic releases from the crypt. The Wish I'd Kept A Scrapbook feature pays tribute to Sleater-Kinney's Good Things in honour of members Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss and Corin Tucker's separate musical resurrections.

There's also young blood to be feasted upon in the form of Sweater Girls, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and this week's Unsigned Act The History of Apple Pie who you can hear more from at http://www.myspace.com/thehistoryofapplepie .

You can also check out the trailer for Lucy Dawkin's Sarah Records documentary, My Secret World, here: http://www.myspace.com/thestoryofsarahrecords .

Posted at 12:30, 2nd November 2010

hang with me

Students for Scarves and Charm // 24.10.10

Fresh from the Scandinavian pop sensation's performance at the ABC on Monday, this week's Student's for Scarves and Charm is dedicated to Robyn. I play the highs and discuss the lows of her Body Talk project and the new Wish I'd Kept a Scrapbook feature celebrates 'Be Mine!': 3 minutes and 25 seconds of perfection that sum up everything that is wonderful about Scandinavian pop music.

Inbetween all the Robyn are some of the Scandinavian pop highlights of the year so far and this week's Unsigned Act, fantastic Finns Paperfangs. You can download their free single from EardrumsPop here: http://www.eardrumspop.com/2010/10/20/epop006-paperfangs/ and visit them on Tumblr here: http://paperfangs.tumblr.com/ .

You can hear the new dance edit of Indestructible via Robyn's Soundcloud here: http://soundcloud.com/robyn/sets/indestructible .

Posted at 16:51, 24th October 2010

there is no sound, it's only noise

Students for Scarves and Charm // 17.10.10

This week's Students for Scarves and Charm features new and forthcoming releases from Shrag, Spectrals and Eux Autres amongst others and classic indie pop from the likes of Life Without Buildings and The Slits. We're also treated from an impromptu and swooping visit from the show's producer, Pernilla.

I also introduced a new feature to the show, Wish I'd Kept A Scrapbook. Each week I will be choosing a song that I consider to be a perfect moment in pop music and cherishing it in an aural scrapbook. The first song is 'Superboy and Supergirl' by much loved indie pop band Tullycraft.

This week Unsigned Act is Bake Sale who evoke the dreamy pop of Au Revoir Simone and the mysterious and tragic girlhood and hazy summer nights of The Virgin Suicides. You can download a free EP by them here: http://doublephantomdigital.bandcamp.com/album/the-alice-ep (Which is actually called The Alice EP, not I Left My Heart In Memphis. My bad.) and visit their myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/bakesalememphis .

You can download 'Go Dancing', a free and legal download from Eux Autres' forthcoming album, Broken Bow here: http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2010/10/daily_downloads_2429.html and 'Chip A Tooth (Spoil A Smile) from Spectrals' new Extended Play Ep plus some older but still awesome tracks by him here: http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/14956-chip-a-tooth-spoil-a-smile/ .

See you next week,

Mairiclare

Posted at 20:09, 17th October 2010

dansette dansette

Students for Scarves and Charm // 10.10.10

Students For Scarves and Charm is a slight Elizabeth Morris fest this week, featuring tracks from both her bands Tender Trap and Allo Darlin' and much embarrassing gushing about her in general. Continue the love by listening to her solo acoustic track Tallulah here: http://allodarlin.bandcamp.com/track/tallulah . Plus, FortunaPop! are offering Allo Darlin's blissful new single 'If Loneliness Was Art' for free download here: http://www.fortunapop.com/free_download.php?id=16 and you can see the band larking about in the sun in their new video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u_CQ836Wpc

You can also download 'Closer Now', a free non-album track by Club 8 here: http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/14897-closer-now/

Internet Forever are rather belatedly featured as this week's Unsigned Act. But hey, any excuse to celebrate their super cute but hyper-literate and lo-fi music, right? Hear more from them at http://myspace.com/internetforever and catch them at Edinburgh Popfest on the 23rd of October.

I noticed that I mentioned ABBA twice during this week's show. Perhaps it's a sign that I am subconsciously excited about news that they might be reuniting: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/sep/30/abba-day-before-you-came Though, surely when you become a museum piece you're fossilized like a dinosaur and don't get to come back to life again: http://www.abbaworld.com/

See you next week,

Mairiclare

Posted at 20:04, 10th October 2010

new pop

Students for Scarves and Charm // 30.09.10

A slightly abridged version of Students for Scarves and Charm this week, starting 10 minutes into the Listen Again file.

WeePOP! are offering 'Stuart Has A Dirty Book' as a free download from The Just Joans new EP 'Your Pain Is A Joke Next To Mines' here: http://weepop.net/releases.php 'Your Pain Is A Joke Next To Mines' is an EP of funny, brutal and poignant songs full of Scottish colloquialisms and fantastic pop and well worth checking out.

Get over the disappointment that they're not a Bea Arthur fronted riot grrrl band and hear more from this week's Unsigned Act The Golden Grrrls at: http://www.myspace.com/goldengrrrls You can also see them at the Captain's Rest on the 10th of November supporting the equally amazing Veronica Falls.

See you next week,

Mairiclare

Posted at 19:45, 10th October 2010

i hear a symphony

Students for Scarves and Charm // 19.09.10

Doesn't music always sound better when it's free? No necessarily, as anyone who's ever ignored the open guitar case of a busker on Argyle Street can attest, sometimes it's just a less costly ear sore. But, as promised on the show, here are some fantastic free tracks that you won't catch performing the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack outside Marks and Spencers:

Download The Radio Dept.'s 'The New Improved Hypocrisy' here: http://www.labrador.se/hypocrisy/ and get an idea of what the song is about by watching this propaganda video by The Sweden Democrats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9VuW6vhV-E. It would be funny if it was a parody.

And The Sound of Arrow's remix of 'Young Blood' by The Naked and Famous here: http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4964&Itemid=206. In the words of Popjustice: "quite literally amazing".

You can hear more from this week's Unsigned Act Swimsuit at http://www.myspace.com/swimsuitsounds and enjoy a free and legal copy of their sold out 'Life Like' EP here: http://www.mediafire.com/?4wu766sqyb7mof6.

See you next week,

Mairiclare

Posted at 14:53, 21st September 2010

back in your arms again

Students for Scarves and Charm // 12.09.10

Students for Scarves and Charm is thrilled to return to the Subcity airwaves for another year at a more sociable hour. Now there's no excuse not to listen live to the latest in twee indie and Swedish pop as well as new wave and girl group classics. Unless you're into jazz or prog rock. Or something.

You can hear more from the first Unsigned Act of the year, the chaotically noisy yet contagious Sweet Bulbs at: http://www.myspace.com/sweetsweetbulbs.

Hear Jens Lekman's delightful 'Summer In 3/4 Time' mixtape here: http://www.jenslekman.com/a%20summe%20in%203-4%20time.mp3 and part with your email address for Jens Lekman's comeback song 'The End Of The World Is Bigger Than Love': http://www.jenslekman.com/records/eotw.htm.

Download Frankie Rose and the Outs' cover of Dee Dee Warwick's 'You're No Good' (possibly recorded at the bottom of a swimming pool but probably not) here: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2010/08/30/frankie-rose-the-outs-youre-no-good/ and keep an eye out for Aquarium Drunkard's sure-to-be-awesome girl group mixtape 'Where The Boy's Aren't' (spot the The Runaways reference) coming soon to the same blog.

See you next week,

Mairiclare

Posted at 23:20, 15th September 2010

when will i see you again?

We've been off air for a long time and obviously many of you are now suffering severe pop withdrawal symptoms and plaintively singing "When will I see you again?" a la The Three Degrees (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6fVDAjs9f0). Well, the answer is that we really don't know. Obviously our optimistic hope to be back on air by the 6th of April was hugely wide of the mark as the new studio is still having teething problems but here are a few more things to tide you over:

1. Remember Summer Camp? A band who are so good that we featured them as our Unsigned Act twice? Well, they've been snapped up by the excellent label Moshi Moshi. They are touring with label mates and twee darlings Slow Club (though sadly not Glasgow) and have released Ghost Train as their first single. You can see the video here: http://vimeo.com/9814265

2. We thought the identity of the mysterious youtube account "iamamiwhoami" had been as good as proven to be Goldfrapp but then Goldfrapp released an album of underwhelming 80s inspired pop rather than strange, ethereal nature pop and the only thing creepy about it was Alison "Personification of Evil" Goldfrapp and the mystery was opened again. New reports claim that "iamamiwhoami" is relatively unknown Swedish singer Jonna Lee but this has been denied by her management. Whoever she is, we like her music. You can watch all the virals as well as her singles so far "B" and "O" (we assume there are more letters to come and it's not a not-so-cryptic message about body odour) here: http://www.youtube.com/user/iamamiwhoami#p/a/u/0/MMroXbAmrI8. We are particularly smitten with the song "O" but warn you that the video for "B" is not for the faint of heart. You can also read about the full mystery so far here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iamamiwhoami.

3. More news about Robyn's forthcoming album "Body Talk Part 1" is starting to emerge as well as two more tracks, "None of Dem" and "Dance Hall Queen". However, despite some impressive collaborators (Royksopp and Diplo respectively), I'm as underwhelmed by these new tracks as I was by "Fembot". Honestly, it's taken 5 years for this? You can make up your own mind by listening to "Dance Hall Queen" here: http://www.culturebully.com/robyn-body-talk-update and "None of Dem" on the music player at: http://www.robyn.com. As always, send us an email at scarvesandcharm@googlemail.com and let us know what you think.

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

Posted at 10:39, 16th April 2010

hiatus

It feels like an age (two weeks) since we last stepped bleary-eyed into the Subcity studio to present Students for Scarves and Charms because of pesky dissertations and the studio move. While our time off hasn't been without its perks (namely sleep), we are bursting with pop goodness that we want to share with you. We should be back on the Tuesday the 6th of April but just in case the new studio isn't quite ready, here are a few treats to tide you over:

1. Oh, Elizabeth Morris, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: your impeccable twee girl style, your cute Australian accent, your whipsmart yet heartfelt lyrics, your perfect pop songs that reference everything from The Chiffons to Weezer to Doris Day... it's safe to say that we are besotted with Elizabeth and her band Allo Darlin'. Check out the video for their new single Dreaming with Monster Bobby here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDM_DyoGGSA.

2. The mysterious Sally Shapiro may be one of the most under-stated and reclusive of Scandinavian pop stars but we love her sweetly shy vocals, wall-flower persona, Sarah Records referencing album art and italo disco inspired songs. Her second album 'My Guilty Pleasure' is getting the remix EP treatment and you can here a sample megamix of it here: http://www.thecultureofme.com/mp3/sally-shapiro_my-guilty-pleasure-remixes-megamix-sampler.mp3. Sounds pretty good to us.

3. New Robyn song! New Robyn song! New Robyn song! Aside from a few cover versions and guest vocals, Robyn has been in no rush to release new material after her brilliant 2005 self-titled album but she's finally released a new song, Fembot, and is talking about an album. Rather anticlimactically, I'm not sure how much I enjoy Fembot but you can hear it here: http://www.myspace.com/robynmyspace and let us know what you think.

See you soon!

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

Posted at 12:27, 2nd April 2010

sfsac launch night @ the flying duck tonight

Just a quick reminder to all that Student For Scarves and Charm's first club night at The Flying Duck is TONIGHT. I'm currently baking cupcakes en masse and later we'll be off to The Flying Duck to hang the bunting, assemble the cupcake stand (it all sounds a bit V Day, doesn't it?) and set up our equipment at The Flying Duck.

We'll be in the Kitchen Bar while our friends Lock Up Your Daughters are in the main room. The entry price is £4/5 and includes entry to both nights, a cupcake (if you're early enough) and an issue of Lock Up Your Daughters.

Hope to see you there!

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

Posted at 12:13, 19th March 2010

calvin johnson never meant anything to me

Students for Scarves and Charm // 16.03.10

Students for Scarves and Charm presents a long over due tribute to K Records, DIY independent music label founded by Calvin Johnson (of Beat Happening, Cool Rays, Dub Narcotic Sound System... he's been in a lot of bands, OK?) with the motto: "Exploding the teenage underground into passionate revolt against the corporate ogre since 1982."

Though K Records has been home to a diverse range of artists from Modest Mouse to Beck to Built to Spill, we will mainly be focusing on the label's twee bands such as Beat Happening, Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, The Softies and Tiger Trap who have inspired a new generation of sensitive kids in anoraks and cardigans to make ramshackle and catchy pop music with their hearts on their sleeves and caught in their throats.

But that's enough from us, hear Jeffrey Lewis explain it all in his song Low-Budget Documentary On K Records here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CoMdq7k7Fo

Posted at 09:58, 17th March 2010

gothenburg belongs to us

Students for Scarves and Charm // 02.03.10

Another show full of fantastic music begins with Swedes Mojib, Air France and The Radio Dept. heralding the end of winter with some gloriously sunny and upbeat tunes, followed by a more sedate second half featuring dreamy songs from Lali Puna, Au Revoir Simone and Asobi Seksu (who sample The Crystals, NOT the Big Breakfast theme tune).

Our Unsigned Act this week was Conquering Animal Sound who we sadly missed at the Pin Ups night last Friday. You can hear more from them at: http://www.myspace.com/conqueringanimalsound and download a mixtape by them here: http://www.last.fm/music/Conquering+Animal+Sound/Your+Friends%3A+The+Mixtape if you are so inclined.

We also discuss suspicious similarities between the lives of Bicola's mother and Indiana Jones, witnessing an uprising of old ladies, why Gordon Brown is just a bear in a tie and our new found love of Drew Barrymore and roller derby aspirations.

See you next week!

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

Posted at 19:53, 3rd March 2010

special guest: jen from wishtree

Students for Scarves and Charm // 23.02.10

Students For Scarves and Charm breaks out the tea and biscuits (well, bottle of water and early wake up call) to welcome our first ever guest, Jen from Wishtree, who brightens up our 7am with some lovely songs that we're sure you will fall instantly in love with.

If you would like to hear more from Jen you can watch a video for You and Me here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFqkJ24G0wk, Do Little Things Have Little Lives? (featuring a centipede called Mr. Cloggs and a woodlouse called Colin) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM5iKHeWusQ. and more goodies at Wishtree's youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/WishTreeOnline#p/a/u/1/e7zlcHiQp28

See you next week!

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

Posted at 21:46, 23rd February 2010

Students for Scarves and Charm // 09.02.10

Students for Scarves and Charm presents a truly international episode this week with some choice pop music from France, Norway, Denmark, America and, as ever, Sweden.

Our Unsigned Act celebrates music closer to home by showcasing some lovely shimmery folk pop from Glasgow band Maple Leaves who you can hear more of at: http://www.myspace.com/mapleleavesmusic and also see playing at various venues around Glasgow in February and March.

In addition to some brilliant music we discuss lying about your hometown for convenience, sitting down before you hurt yourself, why Fever Ray is so frightening, Asian fringes and cast aspersions over Stine from Alphabeat's sexuality.

See you next week! Mairiclare and Bicola

Posted at 13:50, 12th February 2010

cover versions special

Students for Scarves and Charm // 26.01.10

Ever wanted to hear Dawn Landes cover ‘Young Folk’ with some old folk, Justin Timberlake played on a ukulele, High Places paying homage to Bjork or Camera Obscura covering Super Trouper for no other reason than the fact it mentions Glasgow? In that case Students for Scarves and Charms is here to fulfil your wildest dreams with an episode that’s like Live Lounge except not live (boo!) and without Jo Wiley (yay!). Tune into our covers episode. We guarantee that it’s 100% Nouvelle Vague free.

Don't forget to check out this weeks Unsigned Act, Run Toto Run, at: http://www.myspace.com/runtotomusic.

See you next week!

Mairiclare and Bicola x

Posted at 12:27, 27th January 2010

swedish special

Students for Scarves and Charm // 19.01.10

Students from Scarves and Charm returns from beautiful Stockholm with all our fingers and toes still intact to entertain you with anecdotes from our travels and armfuls of Swedish musical goodness.

We also revisit our first ever unsigned act, Summer Camp (http://www.myspace.com/morganwaves) who may or may not be Swedish but are definitely one of the most exciting new bands around at the moment. Check them out!

If the show wasn't packed with enough Swedish treats for you, here are a few more:

El Perro Del Mar performing an acoustic version of Change of Heart with Lykke Li providing backing vocals and coffee cup percussion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWWSYOKzsg

Fever Ray accepting her Best Dance Act award at the 2010 P3 Guld Swedish public radio awards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymCP6zC_qJU

Previews of the forthcoming ABBA Museum in Stockholm: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/gallery/2010/jan/26/abba-world?picture=358541684

See you next week!

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

Posted at 12:25, 27th January 2010

no show today

Students for Scarves and Charm // 12.01.10

If you have the misfortune of being awake at 7am you might be disappointed to learn that there will be no Students For Scarves and Charm today. The show will start back next Tuesday, kicking things off with a Swedish Special to celebrate our return from Stockholm.

See you then,

Mairiclare and Bicola

xxx

Posted at 01:43, 12th January 2010

a christmas gift for you... well, sort of

Students for Scarves and Charm // 15.12.09

Chaos reigns supreme in the studio as we fail to notice that someone has messed with the pitch on one of the CD decks until we realise that Tracy Ann Campbell from Camera Obscura sounds like she's chewing toffee and I am thrown into fits of confusion simply by thd movement of the studio phone number. Forgive us for our technical boobery. While technical Grinches threaten to ruin our (obligatory) Christmas special, Bicola lets out her inner Grinch by grumbling through some choice selections from Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift For You", Sufjan Stevens singing about Jesus (again) and basically anything involving sleigh bells, and I recall Christmas memories of church and children's films.

All in all, a show that some terribly witty person on the internet is probably captioning "EPIC FAIL." right now.

This is our last show of the year so have a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Mairiclare and Bicola.

x

Posted at 23:13, 15th December 2009

love is not pop

Students for Scarves and Charm // 08.12.09

No particular theme for this weeks Students for Scarves and Charm but we bring you a mix of some of the best pop music around, mostly from the country that invented pop (well, brought us ABBA), Sweden.

Amidst the brilliant music, Bicola battles against some form of plague (again) and we discuss Sarah Harding's squalling, struggles with articulation, dandyism and Lady Gaga remaining amazing in the face of transphobic idiots from The Sunday Times.

You can see that infamous GMTV Girls Aloud performance in all its cringing glory here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_L3ZsR05bk and read Lyn Barber's odious Lady Gaga interview here: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6940885.ece.

Also, if you want to hear more from our Unsigned Act, the adorable The Middle Ones, you can check out their myspace at: www.myspace.com/themiddleones.

See you next week!

Mairiclare and Bicola x

Posted at 22:22, 8th December 2009

this is pop?

Students for Scarves and Charm // 01.12.09

This week Students for Scarves and Charm is dedicated to that most maligned of decades: the 80's. It may be better remembered for its cultural detritus and moral bankruptcy rather than significant contributions to popular culture but we hope our mix of New Wave hits from the spikyness of XTC and Talking Heads to the proto-twee of Altered Images and The Cure will convince you that there was a world of joyously inventive pop beyond the synthetic pop sheen of Stock Aitken Waterman and that the 80's were a good time to be a teenager.

The topics of our deliriously sleep deprived (and ,this week, virus ridden) babbling include the evil genius of Malcolm McLaren, cow sound effects, Mairiclare's teenage Pipettes obsession and Bicola enlightens us about the racist undertones in Disney films.

Also, don't forget to check out this week's Unsigned Act, Rose Elinor Dougall at: http://www.myspace.com/roseelinordougallmusic.

All in all, another triumphant week from the show that some critics are calling "quite literally amazing"*.

Now we're off to watch Brat Pack films and sculpt our hair into amazing Flock of Seagullsesque structures.

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

*Disclaimer: quote may be taken out of context, edited or brazenly falsified

Posted at 13:37, 1st December 2009

you best believe i'm in love, l-u-v...

Students for Scarves and Charm // 24.11.09

This week Students for Scarves and Charm brings you a mix of love songs from the classic to the quirky but never the cloying (we hope!).

Our unsigned act this week is the delightful Wisdom Tooth, who blends the simple twee pop and naive sweetness of vintage K Records bands with the lyrical astuteness and sophistication of Hello Saferide and Mirah. You can hear more from her at: www.myspace.com/okwisdomtooth. We're sure you'll be as besotted with her as we are after a few listens.

Also, since we forgot to give you the link last week (negligent), you can hear more from our first unsigned act, the mysterious and beautifully dreamy Summer Camp at: www.myspace.com/morganwaves.

See you next week!

Mairiclare and Bicola

x

Posted at 12:04, 24th November 2009