Pitchfork

Pacific Northwest indie-pop veterans Tullycraft have been singing songs about other songs since back when critics were coining terms like "cuddlecore", as described in Pitchfork writer Nitsuh Abebe's superlative "Twee as Fuck" feature. Their newest album, Every Scene Needs a Center, arrives on Magic Marker next month, and advance mp3 "The Punks Are Writing Love Songs" is another catchy, clever, confrontationally cute scene-skewering from the group. Fuzzy pop-punk power chords, Ramones-like heys, and splashing tambourines set up singer/bassist Sean Tollefson's cheerful jibes: "The eyeliner is key," he remarks, saving some more nice-guy disses for has-beens, safety-pins, and bands that sweeten their lyrics for the radio. Co-vocalist Jenny Mears, who also appeared on 2005's Disenchanted Hearts Unite, adds some chipper harmonies and Cub-like oh-ohs on the chorus. Punks have been writing love songs at least since the Buzzcocks, as Tullycraft well know, but the most famous punks still rarely do so as aggressively-- or, in an anti-macho way, as punkily-- as the best twee.

MP3:> Tullycraft: "The Punks Are Writing Love Songs"
[from Every Scene Needs a Center; due 10/23/07 on Magic Marker]