...when the tissue paper layers of his songs build to sufficient thickness, it’s impossible not to be swept away, as evidenced by Blues Funeral.

Blues Funeral is the first album released under the name Mark Lanegan Band since 2004’s Bubblegum, but don’t think Lanegan hasn’t been busy. He has released albums with Isobel Campbell, The Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, and The Guttertwins, in addition to making numerous guest appearances in the meantime. Despite eight years and nine albums separating them, Blues Funeral follows logically from Bubblegum. Blues Funeral is the more cohesive of the two, yet rarely dips into monotony. Guest appearances by frequent collaborators, Josh Homme, Greg Dulli, and Jack Irons connect the album to Lanegan’s other projects.

Blues Funeral is best enjoyed in its entirety in a darkened room, through headphones, with a bourbon in hand. Throughout the whole, lyrics are placed front and center, where, like the Man in Black, Lanegan yearningly explores unwholesome themes with only a flickering hope of Christian redemption.

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In the throes of a killer party at the Neptune last night, we were thrilled beyond belief to find out the details on another most excellent year for the Sasquatch! music festival, taking place out at the Gorge on Memorial Day weekend {May 25-28}. Sasquatch! is by far one of our favorite fests every year, and 2012 is going to be no exception.

We're particularly excited about partying down with the likes of Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Beirut, Girl Talk {hell yes!}, The Head and the Heart, Tune-Yards, Wild Flag, Blind Pilot, Mark Lanegan Band, The Cave Singers, Grouplove, Ted Leo, Deer Tick, Alabama Shakes, We Are Augustines, Shearwater {!!!!!}, Charles Bradley, Pickwick, Hey Marseilles, Sallie Ford, Dyme Def, Fresh Espresso, and Katie Kate -- but by no means does that even scratch the surface of the seemingly-zillion fantastic bands included on this year's lineup. As usual, there's a thoughtful mash of notable locals and squee-worthy headliners, so much so that slapping down the ticket price to spend the long weekend with twenty-plus thousand of your closest friends is an absolute no-brainer.

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It's coming! The crowds, the sun, the bands -- my stars, THE BANDS. We're beside ourselves with anticipation as we wait for the announcement of this year's Sasquatch! music festival lineup, and it won't be long now! The news will be public in less than forty-eight hours, as the folks at Sasquatch! HQ gear up for the announcement party taking place tomorrow night {2/2} at the Neptune. And you can join in, too! The show is all ages and tickets are just $16.00, which is a fair price to pay to be spending the night with the likes of Junip {feat. Jose Gonzales}, Matthew Caws {of Nada Surf, also playing a sold-out show later that night at the Tractor}, and The Physics.

Add the cherry on top of Luke Burbank playing host, and you've got the best party / show / festival lineup announcement / gathering-thing this side of the Puget Sound. We can't wait to start making our schedule for this year's trip to the Gorge, and hope to see you tomorrow night!

{All ages / $16 adv / 7p doors. Photo of the main stage at Sasquatch! 2010 by Victoria VanBruinisse.}

Music and mountains are two of the biggest draws to the Pacific Northwest. On February 13, you can enjoy both together with an afternoon slipping down the slopes of Steven’s Pass, followed by The Head and the Heart’s acoustic set at the Foggy Goggle Lounge. We can’t think of a better way to warm up for Valentine’s Day than drinking hot toddies while hearing THatH’s intelligent, heartfelt harmonies.

THatH have won us over time and again with their live performances, which always sell out. This one may be all the way up the pass, but tickets are going fast, so you’ll want to get yours soon.

{21+ / $70 show + lift; $25 show only / 7:00 pm}

Gosling pretty much says it all. Tennis Pro is playing on Wednesday, February 8 at Chop Suey with two Japanese bands with perfect rock-and-roll names: Troll 8 (also the owner of Chop Suey's band) and Gnosis  - plus, The Terrordactyls, who also hail from Seattle, and post pictures of sad pizza. Oh, and they also sound pretty neat, so they should complement Tennis Pro's awesomeness just fine.

So I'll see you guys up front near the stage, right? 

Chop Suey Presents 
TENNIS PRO
The Terrordactyls
Troll 8
Gnosis
plus guests 
Friday, Feb. 8 | Doors at 8pm | $7 

{photo courtesy of Tennis Pro's Facebook page} 

This year is already flying by - which means in just a little over 2 weeks, it's time for Dancing on the Valentine Seven (and the Ragged Tiger)!!! 

Jenny George's awesome fundraising cover night for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society takes place at The Crocodile on Friday, February 10, and features a line-up including TIG's Indie Santa Claus John Roderick, Lesli Wood (of the Redwood Plan) with Jupe Jupe, The Hotels, Katie Kate, Noddy, Exohxo, Princess, Flymoon Royalty, and Daniel G. Harmann with The Trouble Starts. 

The seventh (!!!!) annual DOTV gathering marks a return to its original form featuring Duran Duran covers, in honor of Jenny's incredible meeting with the band last fall. Our own Imaginary Dana is Emcee'ing again (yay!), DJ Mike Steve will spin some tunes in-between bands, there'll be some sweet sweet raffle prizes, merch from previous DOTVs, and of course - Ben Haley's famous photobooth! 

We hate to state the obvious - but we're giving you advanced warning because y'all better get your tickets now...this thing is gonna sell out. 

We are always bursting with pride to count Chris Estey as a friend, let alone be honored enough to have him share his words on Three Imaginary Girls.  But today, the thunderous applause coming from the imaginary office for Chris is deafening.

This morning we heard the amazing news that there are now public screenings scheduled for Have You Ever Had a Beard?, a new film which captures the first meeting of our dear Mr. Estey (wait, should we make that the title of a new advice column?) and the King of Indie, Calvin Johnson (wiki K Records, Beat Happening, all things rad)! 

This meeting of the two mega-minds took place in the historic Columbia City Theater where Chris and Calvin chat and delve into their contrasting tones: Calvin's mysterious cosmos, mesmerizing baritone, and weighted works, with a concentration his latest solo incarnation ("he spits literary bop prosody in the form of three songs") versus Chris's torrential confessionals told with his signature unsurpassable jubilance that spills out like a spoken-word graphic novel (and inspired by Phil Ochs’ seminal Greatest Hits album).

The world premiere of the movie is at Portland's Hollywood Theatre on Friday February 24, 2012.  Calvin Johnson (who will perform a couple of songs and answer questions) (!!!!) and directors Kathy Wolf and Pat Thomas will be in attendance.

The Seattle showing is a couple weeks later, on Monday March 5th at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle at 7 pm.  Rumor has it that both Calvin Johnson and Chris Estey will be at the Seattle showing (be still my heart!!!).

Mark your calendar!!!  We'll let you know when tickets are available for advance purchase.

(photo by Kathy Wolf)

This weekend is getting so good, we may just have to draw out of a hat to see where we wind up -- with so much to choose from, it's getting hard to decide on just one place to be each night! Case in point, this show at Chop Suey on Saturday {Absolute Monarchs, The Young Evils, and Land of Pines} just popped onto the radar, making it one notch closer to impossible to sort out our plans. Depending on traffic and parking -- and since a little bird told us The YEs are actually headlining this one -- it's completely feasible to plan a double dip, starting the night out in Columbia City for a chunk of the Honky Tonk Angels tribute show, and then moseying on over to Capitol Hill to catch this show's last set.

Can anyone confirm or deny the final call on the lineup order? Let us know!

It looks like Friday's gonna be alright this week, with so much out there to pick from -- first we made plans for Pickwick's show in Portland, then Lovesick Empire's first-of-three at the Highline, and now we catch wind of Star Anna at the Fireside Room at the Sorrento. Can someone hurry up and invent cloning, please? Seriously.

If you need any convincing as to why you should stop into the Sorrento's Fireside Room for this set, just take a peek at the video for the title track off of Star's most recent release, Alone In This Together -- assuming the powerful, cinematic drive of this song is indicative of the direction her music is headed, here's yet another local artist who's well on the track to continue blowing minds with her work. And PS, Friday's show is free, so you literally have no excuse not to go.

Facebook invite here, band official website here.

{21+ / FREE / 7:30p. Photo of Star Anna at KEXP by Victoria VanBruinisse.}

There's a whole lot of us who will be migrating south for Friday night's Pickwick show at the Doug Fir, but if you're in town this weekend, there's plenty going on that's worth going out for: namely, Lovesick Empire's opening spot at the Highline in Capitol Hill on Friday night. They're playing with SAYS and Black Nite Crash, and you shouldn't miss it. Period.

If you haven't seen or heard Lovesick Empire yet, you are truly missing out. Their self-titled EP tied for first place in 2010's best-ofs, and my first round of listens earlier that year yielded quite the enthusiastic word-salad:

To say that this brand-stinkin'-new release from local notables Alicia Amiri and Jason Lajeunesse is in heavy rotation would just about be the understatement of the year [...] Lovesick Empire manages to give a nod to their roots while maintaining a sound that's completely their own -- we can hear hat-tips to true [word-other-than-]grunge and "He War"-esque Cat Power, layered with a good helping of black eyeliner and a missle-lock stare. You can almost see the movie scene playing out in a deafeningly loud bar during "Something in my Blood," hear the radio hit two tracks later, and realize you've got the perfect addition to your next mix tape with "Can't Get Right." Big, filthy guitars will keep the post-punks happy; and just enough forlorn-ness in the lyrics will draw the indie rockers in.

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