CRIT!

Shone show review: “Tonight’s show was probably the weirdest thing I’ve been to. First off, the obvious, it was a sold out show of a band no one knows. Secondly, people were pretty quiet and to themselves throughout the night. Third, nothing was explained. They just came on and played some songs off the album. Andrew even asked people who got a letter and I think 3 people said they did. He kept asking people why they were there. Levi wasn’t explained. Slendyclown wasn’t explained although Andrew cracked a joke about it. The videos, the letters, anything about the future…not really talked about it.”

After the first song, Andrew said “So, some of you heard the record…” The crowd cheered. “…and still decided to come? You guys are fucked up.”

Fans at the show reported that the band consists of Andrew Accardi, Vinnie Accardi, Brian Lane, Ben Homola, Mike Strandberg and one as of yet unknown person.

Jesse Lacey was there, and according to a fan who asked him about new music from Brand New, Jesse replied “trying to get something out soon, maybe by the summer.”

The show is on YouTube; part 1, part 2, part 3.

“Piano Wire Number 12” and “Baby Shakes” are now available for purchase on iTunes.

The nine pieces came together this afternoon, so in response, Levi uploaded a new video to YouTube with the album cover.

(Photo via @spaghettisandwich)

Shone: the announcement

A group of about 30 or so people went to The Piazza at Schmidts at 6:30 as instructed by Levi’s last letter. A video played on the outdoor screen there, featuring the clown from an earlier video. First, he gave us the album release date: February 5. He then instructed those in attendance to enter a nearby restaurant to find a birdhouse. That birdhouse was found quickly; it contained 10 jump drives, each with the song “Baby Shakes” on it, as well as a jpg file that says “nine parts will uncover the cover,” a reference to the 9 packages that are being sent out. (So far, 3 of the 9 have been received.)

There was also a letter from Levi in the birdhouse, with great news: there would be a listening party at nearby Creep Records. Those in attendance (and nearly 100 more watching via livestream) were able to hear the record in its entirety.

This video shows the video announcement and the birdhouse being found.

(Photo via @cointossgirl)

Heatthing.com updated with a new video at 12:38am EST, early Wednesday, January 16.

The messages [Imgur gallery of screenshots] in the video were:

- Ten contInue the cHApTer; each with something else.
- a sleeve
- to share
- an invitation.
- a location.
- an announcement.
- 823
- thE cIty of bRothErLy LoVE
- your heart is in debt to me

After that invisible ink message, we knew letters 2, 3 and 8 would be important. Letter 8/10 (“an announcement”) was received in Philly overnight Thursday into Friday, and it contained coordinates leading to The Piazza at Schmidts. The girl who received the letter was unable to explore those coordinates Friday due to work, so Staci (@cointossgirl) ventured over to check out the area, while many of us in the absolutepunk thread looked up what stores were in the area. We decided the print shop or record store were most likely to be the place the coordinates were leading to. The print shop was closed, so she waited a few minutes for the record store to open, and finally was able to go in and ask if Levi had left anything. “You mean Brand New?” asked the employee. This got people thinking Brand New was involved, but I was guessing that the name Brand New had been dropped just to get the people working in this store to allow them to leave something there. Brand New is a band people know (or could easily Google) and Shone is not. Now it just seems like the guy was trolling; he was apparently texting Brian Lane throughout. Here’s Staci describing her experience:

The coordinates led to a record store at the Piazza called Creep Records. We dug through records for entirely too long. Erik, the guy at the store, was highly entertained by the entire thing. I think his “clues” made the search much longer than it needed to be but it was all in good fun. I recommend all of you stop in before the “announcement” on Monday. Erik was texting Brian Lane the entire time we were there. He said Brain drove down twice from NY, once to check out the store, and again last night to drop off the message.

For those of you that don’t know anything about the Piazza, its group of apartment buildings around an open space, with restaurants/bars/cool stores. Of note, there is a video screen on the one wall…I wouldn’t be surprised if they use that for the “announcement.”

That was fun . I’m glad I had the chance to go. Looking forward to whatever comes next!

If you’re in or near Philly, you might want to clear your plans Monday evening and head down to see what’s going on.

Levi’s newest letters have invisible ink on them.

Two videos ago, there was the hint “the sleeve holds a piece.” These letters come inside this “sleeve” with Levi’s signature on them.

This message says friend your presence is requested for the rest of this message 8, 2, and 3 will uncover the time + place

Only 1, 5, 6 and 7 have been found. It looks like 2, 3 and 8 (823 is a number we’ve seen often throughout this campaign) will lead to a time and place for…something.

In addition to 7/10 being received yesterday, 1/10 and 5/10 were also received. Not only are they both part of this new series of letters, they share something else in common: they were all sent to addresses in Philadelphia. The last time a series of letters were all sent to a common location was the first (X/32) series and that ended with letters with additional letters with coordinates and a scavenger hunt. My guess/hope is that this series will end with something similar, and hopefully a new song will be found.

A new letter was received today from Levi Gudmundson.

The most interesting thing about this letter: it is number 7 in a series of 10. This is the first letter in what appears to be a new series of letters.

In Shone’s most recent video, text appeared saying “32 letters, but then ten more…” and in my post about that video I said:

32 letters refers to the first series, and “ten more” is intriguing. The pieces of the puzzle received are numbered in a series of 9 (the nine parts that will come together) so it will be interesting to see what the 10th is.

I was assuming that the 10 they referred to would be one letter added to the series of 9. It looks like I was wrong, and there is a third series. The first was 32, the second was 9, and now 10.