Artist: Cub

Artist: Cub
Album: Betti-Cola
Release: 1993 (Remaster 1996)
Label: Mint

Tracklist:

1. Go Fish
2. What The Water Gave Me
3. Motel 6
4. A Party
5. Flying Carpet
6. My Chinchilla
7. Electric Chair
8. Nicholas Bragg
9. Pretty Pictures
10. They Don't
11. A Picnic
12. It's True
13. Someday
14. Cast A Shadow (Beat Happening)
15.The Day We Met
16. Surfer Girl
17. Little Star
18. My Assassin
19. Tell Me Now
20. Lucky 7
21. Through My Hoop
22. Leap Frog
23. Backwoods
24. What The Water Gave Me [NFA]
25. Chico
26. Sweet Pea
27. Summer Samba
28. Hello Kitty
29. Wipeout

I love Cub. I love Cub so much that I figured they were some sort of super staple of twee pop, kinda of like a gateway drug into the vast candyland of the genre. However, I asked my twee-loving friend if she liked Cub and said "never listened to them and barely hear anything about them." I was shocked! Granted, I never fact-check, so she might be a freak exception, but I immediately took this to mean that no one liked Cub! I had to change this, I thought. And what do I do when I want to inspire chance? I blog from a Holiday Inn Express in Castle Rock, Colorado.

During our (un?)fortunate Pop-Punk Week we had awhile back, I wrote about their lone LP, Mauler. That album, while great, is so far off from the more representative sound of their first release, Betti-Cola. Originally released as a 3x7" (as cute as it is annoying, kinda like the music!) and rereleased on CD, this might be their most popular release. Though, I love the fuller-sounding Come Out, Come Out more, but that's just me!

This album has their most bare-bone production. The band plays really minimal pop music that is obviously inspired by Beat Happening (whose song "Cast A Shadow" they cover,) only they're way less creepy (i.e. no Calvin Johnson.) The band's most well-known song, "My Chinchilla" makes an appearance. To be honest, I'm not even sure if I like this song, as it's so incredibly cute and annoying that it's uncomfortable. Still, it's their hit. Most of the songs don't quite reach this level of cuteness, thank god, and I think you'll be able to absorb all this.

Unfortunately tagged as "cuddlecore" or just as purely happy pop music (and there's no denying the cuteness factor is hard to take,) the band still manages to churn out some more depressing tunes that always seem to be their best. "Someday" and "Electric Chair" are two of my favorite songs from the band and evoke more sorrow than they do lollipop fingers. It's worth it alone for these types of tracks. Either way, I love this band and I hope you can get into them too. If it's just a little too much for you, but you're still intrigued, then I highly recommend Come Out, Come Out, which is a much more mature effort with better songwriting and a more muscular sound.

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