when I catch you upside down

if you missed the last minute No Age show at Pehrspace last night - don't despair. cause tonight is your second chance to see them for free @ the Troubadour.
this show is presented by Shockhound so visit them at here to RSVP to get in for free!!
and if you've never seen No Age live, trust us when we say don't miss them. we missed their free 2am bridge show at SXSW last year and we're still kicking ourselves for it.

In the end you'll still be you

Well...it's been an interesting week. We've seen America finally take a stand and put the most deserving man in the highest position in the world. We've also seen California give into misinformation and deceit and make an egregious mistake. We pissed away a major opportunity to stand up and show the world we would fight against discrimination and intolerance and show that all people regardless of sexual orientation are created equal. But some of us are still standing and there is no doubt the fight will continue.

And now for a show plug...
If you feel like celebrating Obama's victory, or cursing California's ignorance - join us tonight! We'll be djing in between sets at the Scene for Black Kites, The Health Club, Thailand and Avi Buffalo



It's going to be a great show and we hope you will join us!

Also, I've been streaming dublab for the better part of the day. Listen here and support the proton drive and squaregirl Marion!

~sqg//kristen

And Both Agreed We All Had a Smashing Time

In what will, I'm sure come as shocking news to all of you who check in here regularly, I have left myself not nearly enough time to create the sort of all encompassing update post that I need to create before running off to where it is that I need to be. In this case, it just so happens that where I need to be is dublab, by noon, so that I can play a few records, and encourage you to donate money so that we can stay on the air, er internet. Surely you know what I mean, dublab would really like to continue to exist, and we can't do that without you help. Please click here to listen, and then here to donate. Thank you.

Then tonight, Squaregirls are presenting/DJ-ing this show at the Scene Bar:



Squaregirl Kristen, and Squareboy Chris have done a lot to help this come together, they are pretty crazy about all of the bands, and would really love nothing more than to share that with you. Since I woke up this morning with something that bears a suspicious resemblance to the stomach flu, I think I will do us all a favor and sit this one out.

Ah, and last but not least, there are finally pictures from last month's Hungry Beat! online. Glance through them, sigh over all of the fun you missed (or relive the fun if you were there,) and mark your calendar for November 29th because we definitely want to see you at the next one!

Here was our playlist from October to offer, perhaps, even more incentive?


Hungry Beat! Playlist 10/25
Michael:

Always - Love and Death in Metroland
Action Painting! - These Things Happen
Jilted John - True Love
Vic Godard and Subway Sect - Vertical Integration
Teenage Filmstars - Apologize
Television Personalities - Smashing Time
Echo & the Bunnymen - Villiers Terrace (Peel Session)
Echo & the Bunnymen - Read it in Books (Peel Session)
Felt - Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow

Marion:

Black Tambourine - Throw Aggi Off the Bridge
Tullycraft - Josie
Soup Dragons - Whole Wide World
Orange Juice - Can't Help Myself
The Temptaions - Girl Why You Wanna Make Me Blue
White Sisters - Nothing Out There
Cashmeres - Showstopper
Martha & the Vandellas - I Promise to Wait My Love
The Pastels - Sit on it Mother
Horowitz - Tracyanne
Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill
Heavenly - Tool

YY:

St. Christopher - And I Wonder
Felt - Spanish House
Teenage Fanclub - Every Picture I Paint
Rocketship - I Love You Like the Way That I Used To
Shop Assistants - What a Way to Die
Mighty Mighty - Law
The June Brides - Cold
The Long Blondes - Never to be Repeated
Comet Gain - Baby's Alright
Dolly Mixture - How Come You're a Hit With the Boys Jane?
Love is All - Wishing Well

B-Rok

The Four Tops - Don't Bring Back Memories (RIP, Levi Stubbs)
Towanda Barnes - You Don't Mean It
Sunny & the Sunliners - If I Could See You Now
The Exciters - Blowin' Up My Mind
Lorenzo Manley - Swoop Down on You
The Superlatives - Lonely in a Crowd
Belle & Sebastian - Dirty Dream 2
Orange Juice - Lovesick
Derek Martin - Sly Girl
Marvin & Tammi - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
The Vontastics - I'll Never Say Goodbye
The Impressions - You've Been Cheatin'
The Pastels - Comin' Through
The Shangri-Las - Give Him a Great Big Kiss

Maximo Park:

The Wave Pictures - I Want You to Walk All Over Me
Smog - Cold Blooded Old Times
The Beach Boys - Do It Again
The Servants - The Sun a Small Star
The Fall - C.R.E.E.P (12" remix)
My Bloody Valentine - Off Your Face
The Go-Betweens - Newton Told Me
Beat Happening - Noise
The Rubinoos - Hard to Get
Bob & Fred - I'll be on my Way
Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour un Con
Dusty Springfield - Stay Awhile
The Research - My Baby Knows When I'm Sad
The Flatmates - Could Be in Heaven
The Wedding Present - My Favorite Dress
The Zombies - Time of The Season
The Siddeleys -What Went Wrong This Time
Jeremy Jay - Airwalker

Michael:

New Order - Love Vigilantes
The Stone Roses - She Bangs the Drums
The Happy Mondays - Olive Oil (Peel Session)
The Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays (Peel Session)
The Smiths - What Difference Does it Make (Peel Session)

Jukebox:

Orange Juice - Rip it Up (Long Version)
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz
T Rex - Solid Gold Easy Action
Sparks - Angst in My Pants
The Primitives - Crash
Blondie - X Offender
The Pastels - Anne Boleyn
Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
Belle & Sebastian - We Are The Sleepyheads
Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi
Serge Gainsbourg - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Altered Images - Don't Talk to Me About Love

... As per usual there was more, but we ran out of space to write it all down. Maximo Park closed the night on a rather fun note for us. Huge thanks again to those guys for stopping by to hang out with us and play some good songs!

Resident Hungry Beat! DJ Michael deserves a huge amount of credit as well for being very conscious of the fact that our club night fell on the 4th anniversary of John Peel's untimely passing, and paying tribute during his sets. So many of the bands that we love and whose records we play regularly greatly benefited from Peel's influence. Thank you again Michael for making sure to acknowledge that!

We'll see you all again next month!

Love,
Hungry Beat!


Oh, and Hungry Beat is on Facebook now, so join our group group!

Alright, that really is all that I have for you today, I promise.

~sqg marion

Another Summer Slipped Away Without Me Noticing

Hello!

So, in the hopes of somehow discovering an escape route from the severe writer's block that I have been trapped inside for the past several weeks I thought that a well timed promo post was in order.

If you are in Southern California this weekend you should take full advantage of your opportunity to see the sure to be fabulous Crystal Stilts, and Cause Co-Motion up to three times this weekend. Both bands are clearly doing their part to showcase just how exciting of a town Brooklyn is for indiepop right NOW, and both bands are releasing records for Slumberland. OH, and on a related side note I just noticed that official release date for the debut full length from perhaps the most exciting (Brooklyn based, naturally) indiepop band in the country right now, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has been set for February third. Just a few days before my birthday! But it would be far to easy to get sucked into making this a post about how great the Pains of Being Pure at Heart are, and how great Slumberland releases tend to be in general. Please allow me to shift my focus back to the two great Slumberland bands that will be in town this weekend.

First of all, spend your Halloween in indiepop's Southern California home base, Oxnard. Not only will you get to catch some of Brooklyn's finest, you also have the opportunity to catch such squaregirls favorites as Catwalk, The Tartans, and Sea Lions, and um, me DJ-ing. A-hah, there's that element of self promotion that you've come to know and expect from a squaregirls post. I'm truly excited about this show, and really honored to have been asked to play records around some of my favorite bands of the moment. And, I'll be DJ-ing alongside one of my fellow Hungry Beat! cohorts Brian Cunningham (B-rok.) Brian is one of my favorite people to DJ with as we seem to play the perfect opposite ratio of pop to soul, and since Brian has so many good records his presence on the decks mathematically increases the fun level in the room by somewhere around 300 percent. Here are the details:


Friday October 31 - Special Halloween Show
@ The Kenji Shack 4300 Santa Clara Ave.
Oxnard, CA 93030 For Directions: (805) 485-1415
7PM/ $3/ ALL AGES

For the hardcore fans (or those of you who reside in San Diego) you can catch the Crystal Stilts/ca-USE co-MOTION portion of things at the Che Cafe on Saturday November 1st...

... But all of you Los Angeles folks are probably going to want to take Saturday to rest up for the action on Sunday at Part Time Punks:



Indiepop nights at PTP always tend to be something special, and I have a feeling that this one will be no exception!

We'll hope to see you out and about this weekend!

Oh, and I'm finally catching up on my finances, which means I've been able to order quite a few new records, and if you are at all interested in my thoughts on some of those records please check here as I may have just beaten this writer's block thing. At least for now...

~ sqg marion

let this groove set in your shoes

this is going to be quick and involve a large amount of cutting and pasting. maybe it's something in the soon to be Halloween air - the forces of evil have once again cut off my internet (and phone line!) so i'm currently milking off someone's wireless network and the connection is rather spotty. you know what's a sure bet though?? all the fun you're going to have this weekend!

~ tomorrow night @ spaceland ~
Monolator's Don't Dance record release!!!
Squaregirls are co-presenting the Monolator’s record release show with our beloved RFSL (head over to RFSL for an in depth interview with Monolator's main man Eli Chartoff). They’ll be joined by Correatown, You Me & Iowa, and Summer Darling at Spaceland.
Squaregirls have had the immense pleasure to hear an advance of Don't Dance and it's goddamn good. Read WIF's review of it here.
But we guarantee you that nothing, and we mean nothing, compares to seeing the Monolator's live. It’s going to be an amazing night and we hope you can join us!




then head on over to pehrspace for the second installment of hungry beat!
sqg Marion’s & friend's monthly dance night which features a revolving cast of DJ's spinning new and classic indie pop and northern soul.



Ronettes or Mo-dettes?
"Million Tears" or "Tears of a Clown?"
"Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch," or Honeybunch?

No need to make such difficult choices.
Hear it all this Saturday as we mix and match some of our favorite indiepop, and northern soul related dance tracks!

With Special Guest DJs: the lads from MAXIMO PARK!
and DJ Jukebox from Substance!

Also, do be sure to bring your beverage of choice since Pehrspace does not contain a bar. A-hem. (This also means it doesn't have to end at 2am--it's really up the madness in your area.
)

For the most specific directions, head over here.


See you Saturday!

And if that ain't enough Indiepop for ye, then see you Sunday, too!


it's going to be a great weekend!
~sqg kristen

The Girl's Alright with Us

Hello! It's before 10 AM, I've had way to much coffee, and I've listened to the unbelievably fantastic new Love is All single, "Wishing Well," about eight times now. I think it's going to be a good day!

I'm considerably more certain that it will be a good evening since squaregirl Kristen and I are dj-ing here:





O.k. I'm resisting the urge to play "Wishing Well" one more time, and letting the rest of the Love is All portion of my itunes play itself out so that I can focus my attention on informing you to what is sure to be a pretty great show tonight. The ultra-feminine electro-pop of Hearts of Palm UK has inspired us squaregirls to dig through our records to find our best girl related songs, i.e. all girls, girl singer, girl in the title, etc. to play for the portions of their album release show tonight that we are responsible for. Add Fol Chen - who never play the same show twice, but always play something interesting - to this mix, and The Sweet Hurt - who I know absolutely nothing about, but the L.A. blog force seems to love - to the mix, and you've got what I think is the potential for quite a fun party...

... So, we'll see you tonight?

Rip It Up And...

Hello, squaregirl Marion here! It is quite late, and I am quite tired, and I have to be at work kind of early tomorrow. In other words I will keep this post brief.

I started a new blog. I've had a bit of trouble focusing lately. There have been so many things that I've wanted to write about, yet, I couldn't seem to get the words onto the page. I'm just barely keeping up with my Web in Front column, but I would prefer to be writing more than the every five weeks or so that that entails. I thought that a new blog might be a worthwhile experiment. This new blog, Paint the Words in Pastel Blue, will ideally become a nice mix of reviews, and other random musings about pop songs. It is also safe to say that there might be a slight indiepop slant to this new site...

Check it out here, if you are so inclined. The first post also happens to be my first attempt at a straightforward album review.

Squaregirls will remain, any other squaregirl can post anything she wishes to post here. I, however, am going to leave this blog strictly to promote any projects that we might be taking on, and/or to alert you to DJ gigs, shows we are presenting, radio sessions, etc.

So on that note, my latest Web In Front Column is posted here.

And there is a Creation Records tribute set that I was a part of in the dublab archive now here. My friends Laura and Maura (the Auras) joined me for this one. They were a lot of fun to do a radio show with. My opinions about the overall wonderfulness of Creation Records may not be quite as firm as the appear to be in this session, but it's still an overall worthwhile statement to make. Most early (even some mid) Creation is very, very good. Plus it's a great thing to always be learning, reassessing your opinions, and the things that you believe to be true. Right?

Oh, and speaking of dublab I will be on from 4pm to 6pm on October 14th as part of this upcoming week's Tuesday Transmissions. I'd be honored if you would let me provide a small part of the soundtrack to your work day. It's far enough away too, that I could probably be persuaded to take a request or two. In fact, two hours is quite a bit of space to fill so requests are more than welcome!

The next night, October 15th we will be DJ-ing the Hearts of Palm UK's album release show. I'll add a more proper post about how much fun that has the potential to be, along with the flier sometime early next week.

Alright, I think I've covered everything that i can think of, and my exhaustion is bordering on delirium, so goodnight.

~sqg marion