Ticket + Vinyl Giveaway: The Veils @ TTs on 7/29
Posted on July 18, 2009 at 5:23 pm | No Comments
There’s not a weak spot to be found in the three-headed lineup that will pack Cambridge’s TT the Bears on Wednesday, July 29th: An ace local opener in Faces on Film, followed by the one-two punch of their tourmates from divergent yet nearly equidistant locales: LA’s Foreign Born and London’s The Veils.
Any of these three bands would be worth shining a spotlight on, but it’s UK quartet The Veils who get the blog-post-title-and-picture treatment this time around, thanks to a generous giveaway provided by their label: Two randomly chosen entrants will not only get guest listed (with a +1) at the TT’s show, but will each get sent a vinyl copy (with download codes) of the band’s third full-lengther, “Sun Gangs”, released back in April on Rough Trade. Here’s a taste…
Want in? Of course you do. Only one requirement – that you live close enough to Boston attend the show. If you do, send along an email to giveaways [at] bradleysalmanac [dot] com by 9am next Monday the 27th, entitle it “Veiled Interest”, and let me know which town you live in. I’ll pick two random winners from all entries, letting them know that day that their names will be on Wednesday’s guest list, and each with a +1, and I’ll arrange to have the vinyl sent along post-haste.
If you’re not feeling fortunate, pick up tickets of your own to the show over here.
After the TTs gig, only four stops remain on The Veils co-headlining tour with Foreign Born, on which Faces on Film share all shows: NYC, Philly, DC, & Brooklyn. Listen to some more tracks from The Veils at MySpace, have a look at this “Sun Gangs” short film on YouTube, and check out a story and songs courtesy of NPR’s All Things Considered.
Live Mp3s: Tullycraft in Somerville
Posted on July 16, 2009 at 1:29 pm | No Comments
If you need to put a smile on your face, or at least widen your already-existing one, there’s no surefire way to do that than to see Tullycraft play live. There’s an exuberance to their shows and songs, a sincerity of sweetness and light that could knock over even the most jaded hipster. So it was with no slight sadness that I read their MySpace update back in March that said the following…
“Each of us has had a wonderful time, but over the years it’s become increasingly difficult to balance our personal lives (i.e. Chris’ goat farm, Cori’s adult bookstore, etc…) with our time in the band. While we’re excited to continue to write and record music together, we’ve decided to take a step back from playing live shows”.
To say goodbye, at least for now, the band played two more (west coast, unfortunately) shows in the spring, including a May appearance at the SF Popfest (setlist), then packed their tour cases away. Being a Seattle-based band, we didn’t get a ton of Tullycraft visits here in Boston, but when they did come, it was a guaranteed good time. The world needs more of those, not less, but we can take comfort in knowing that the band hasn’t clearly not called it quits (more on that below).
To mark their live hiatus, I figured it was time to (finally!) share up this set I recorded last summer at PA’s lounge, with the kind permission of TC’s Sean Tollefson. Even though he claims this wasn’t the best performance of the tour, and the fact that the sound at PA’s is rarely perfect, he gratefully gave his consent anyway (and I quote: “Tullycraft has never been a band that has been known for being tight or our playing ability, so I’m cool with [it].”). Thanks, Sean.
Here it is, a rough and ready 12-song set from Somerville, MA last summer. Be sure to scroll down below for some info and links…
Live at PA’s Lounge
in Somerville, MA
on Thursday, June 12th, 2008
01. Superboy Supergirl
02. Wild Bikini
03. Georgette Plays A Goth
04. Stowaway
05. Every Little Thing
06. Godspeed
07. Josie
08. banter
09. The Secret History Of Devil’s Paw
10. Our Days In Kansas
11. banter
12. Bored To Hear Your Heart Still Breaks
13. banter
14. If You Take Away The Make-Up
(Then The Vampires They Will Die)
15. The Punks Are Writing Love Songs
As regular readers of the ‘Nac know (or at least those that read the fine print below), I capture all the shows I go to on a little Minidisc recorder, a little machine that never really caught on, but still has a few loyalists. Was nice to find out from Sean that Tullycraft guitarist Chris is a fellow MD fan. Sean also let me know that while things are now quieter in band-land, they’re not completely quiet: Sean is working on new song demos and Chris is rebuilding their recording studio, which includes setting up a new 16-track analog machine (their last four albums were recorded on 8 tracks). So fans take heart that more music is on the way.
Some Tullycraft links…
Their official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, and their Magic Marker label page. Additional Audio: The band has freely downloadble songs from each of their albums on their own Mp3s page, and you can stream 5 tracks on MySpace. And get this: Tullycraft’s Sean maintains his own date-appropriate “Mp3 of the Day” feature on the TC blog, offering up songs he likes by non-Tullycraft artists. It’s a daily visit, and you’d do well to throw this feed link in your RSS reader.
Required reading: Tullycraft wears their “Twee” badge with honor, and Sean took some time to pull together a little “Twee Primer” for the Washington Post’s Post Rock music blog last summer. Some great recommendations to be found in there. Video: There’s one for “Georgette Plays A Goth” from their latest album, “Every Scene Needs A Center”. You can try a full Tullycraft YouTube search for live clips. Photos: My Flickr-hosted shots from the PA’s show are here. Check out the full Tullycraft Flickr tag search. Easily stream any and all ‘Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.
ye olde fine print… If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the ‘nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.