So, you're not one of the lucky folks with tickets to Prince? Fret not, dear imaginaries. There are endless options to get your music fix this weekend, between a bounty of shows, PopCon, Record Store Day, and KEXP's Hood-to-Hood Celebration -- and that's barely the beginning of it.

Lace up those sneakers and make yourself a schedule! Here's some of the things we'll be out taking in over the next few days:

FRIDAY

KEXP's Hood-to-Hood Celebration 2013 {U District}

If you're reading this from your desk at work, it's likely you've already missed Jonathan Russell {The Head and the Heart}, Damien Jurado and Tomo Nakayama {Grand Hallway} opening up a day of live broadcasting and bands at Red Square. It's all happening as part of KEXP's Hood-to-Hood Day Celebration in the U District, going strong until 6pm tonight, with a ton of evening DJ sets and performances in area venues after that (PS, most are free). You can catch Alex, Larry Rose, Quilty 3000, see Pony Time play a live set, or check out a photo showcase as part of the Artwalk! There's also a Cafe Racer memorial benefit with Don Slack and Greg Vandy happening {at Cafe Racer, 8:30p, $5 suggested donation}. Check out the KEXP blog for more details.

White Hawaiian {The Blue Moon}

There's a whole slew of people taking the stage at the Blue Moon tonight, but we're most excited about the show's opener, White Hawaiian. You know Jamie Aaron as the guitarist in Eighteen Individual Eyes and H is for Hellgate, and in this incarnation, she'll be bringing her dreamy, moody, lo-fi multi-track goodness solo style. Pop on over here to check out Jamie's Soundcloud vibes, and get yourself to the bar early as she'll be starting off the night. More info about the show (and the rest of the bands) at the Facebook event page here.

SATURDAY

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New girl crush alert! I am seriously digging on the ladies of Lady. Their sweet beats and soulful harmonies are completely irresistible with a feminine sass that just dares you not to like them. And you can bet your ass I’m gonna be there when they play Neumos tonight.

These girls have some serious chops: both already have had successful solo careers, peaking in the last decade. Nicole Wray, who hails from Atlanta, was brought up through the business by none other than Miss Superfreak herself, Missy Elliot.  Nicole’s single, “Make It Hot”, went gold way back in 1998.  Rounding out the other half of lady is UK darling Terri Walker, her debut album was nominated for the Mercury Prize. When the two met in 2009 they decided to team up to make a record based on their shared passion for hip-hop, R&B, and classic soul. Well, they did just that, and guess what? Their self-titled debut album kicks ass!

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The Toronto based duo of producer/beat maker Ethan Kath and singer Alice Glass seem to have a tendency towards the dark and weird corners of the musical landscape. Their album art features young girls in graveyards, and song titles like “Suffocation”, “Plague”, “Pale Flesh”, and “Violent Dreams.” With all of this gothic imagery, one might conclude that a Crystal Castles live show might consist of a bunch of quiet kids swaying back and forth looking at the ground. That couldn’t be farther from reality.

Crystal Castles music is largely lo-fi and electronic based, and has evolved over the years from the 8-bit, video game sounds of some of their early work (2008’s Crystal Castles) to the fuller, drum-and-bass heavy beats of their latest release (2012’s III). Their live show consists of an often-hooded Kath hunched behind a keyboard, with Glass jumping around chaotically on stage, screaming and bouncing in front of a pulsating strobe light. They often bring a live drummer along with them just to make sure all those drum beats land with enough emphasis. This is a show meant for dancing and breaking a sweat.

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Are you free tonight? Do you have six dollars? GREAT! Here's what you're doing: hop on a bus or get in your car around, oh, 8:15, and head on down to the Tractor {doors are at 8pm} to catch Pablo Trucker's opening set. They're playing first of three, opening for Invisible Shivers and Garage Voice. While I'm sure those two bands are well worth your time, the ticket price is worth it just to see these guys start the show (and would be true at double the cost).

In case you've missed me emoting about Andrew and Brian here, here, here, here, here and here, you can take a pop on over to their bandcamp page to get a feel for some of their recent work {and listen to releases going back to '09ish}. Pablo Trucker sets basically guarantee ultimate sad bastard moves that will put all the sad bastard moves you've known until now to utter shame.

Generally speaking, openers take the stage around 9pm, so don't be late!

{Photo courtesy of the band.}

This is not an April Fool's prank, friends: if you weren't able to make it out to Neumos on Saturday night for Mudhoney's record release show, you've still got a shot at seeing them live! They'll be taking the stage at Easy Street Records in West Seattle tonight at 8pm, celebrating the release of Vanishing Point as well as the 25th anniversary of Sub Pop (and Easy Street). All of our favorite things!!

Entry for the in-store starts at 6, and if you're a cafe frequenter, take note that they close today at 3.

We'll see you in West Seattle!

You know what? There is a metric shit ton of good new local music out there right now, leading me to believe that in the statistical history of on-off years, 2013 is going to be an ON. Aside from The Orwells (non-locals, but worth mentioning for the sheer amount of times I've listened to their album these past few months), there's plenty to dig into regardless of your preferred genre: for me, it's the experimental indie.soul sounds of Pickwick, infectious Wimps-style punk, the strangely beautiful songwriting style of Heligoats, and Sallie Ford's modern vintage big-guitar vibes.

Pickwick

Well, we've waited what feels like years now for Pickwick to put out a proper full-length, and we've finally got it with Can't Talk Medicine. Pros: it's so great to finally have studio recordings of "Hacienda Motel" and "Windowsill" after hearing / seeing them at so many shows, and the new-to-me material is excellent and engaging. Standout tracks: Richard Swift's "Lady Luck" gently assaults with a buttery blend of Galen Disston and guest singer Sharon van Etten's vocals; "Letterbox" will get stuck in your head for days and days. Cons: none. While the album tends to sound a bit too clean at times, it's likely just a by-product of embedding live recordings in my mental Pickwick go-to file. Diagnosis: you are in need of this album, purchase immediately. {tour dates / purchase}

Wimps

Let's keep this short and sweet, much like the songs themselves: I can not stop listening to this Wimps demo, specifically, "Repeat" (see video above). The shit is good. The thing about Wimps is that there's no buffer, no... shtick, nothing but the sounds and the delivery. It's almost as if they've all dialed in to exactly what they need and want to be doing musically right now, one of those seemingly effortless phases that's actually the result of a lot of hard work. On top of putting out a great recording, Wimps translates live, putting on a just-tight-enough performance that manages to be equal parts fun and kickass. Don't pass up on a chance to see them, they've got a handful of Seattle and Portland dates coming up. {tour dates / download free demo / purchase LP}

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Langhorne Slim at Pickathon 2012

As most of the music industry flocks to Austin, Texas this week for South By Southwest, I find myself considering the often-unwieldy animal of festival atmospheres: why some are great, why some are terrible; in the case of the latter, why we attend them regardless. It doesn't really seem fair to put them all up on the chopping block against each other -- the conference-centered SxSW and CMJ, for example (daytime panels embedded within a town / city-wide sprawl of showcases and performances), can't exactly go apples-to-apples with Sasquatch! or Austin City Limits (multiple stages in a contained, open area). But whether it's a festival for the ages or one that's still wet behind the ears (like this year's Timber!), a few threads run common between them: as an attendee, we're going to be elbow-to-elbow with several thousand people experiencing varying levels of intoxication, sometimes with little reprieve from the sun, with long lines for the restrooms and either 'rough' or expensive, off-site accomodations.

So why do we do it? Especially here in Seattle, where we're fortunate enough to have bands performing every night of the week, our calendars often bursting at the seams? Well, if you're anything like me, the answer is simple: we do it for the music. We do it for the one-of-a-kind experience, we do it to see a bunch of our favorite performers centered in one spot -- and we do it because a good lineup trumps every single one of those sweaty, drunk bodies standing between us and our collective moment of band-umami. It's really not fair to say who does this best or worst -- I've had equal moments of near-nirvana seeing the Wrens at the Mercury Lounge in 2005 as I have in a throng of several thousand people watching Elbow at ACL a few years back -- but it's safe to say that the one place I've experienced the highest levels of awesome with the lowest levels of bullshit is at the Northwest's very own Pickathon.

Last year's Pickathon was my first, and while it's pretty specifically curated (most bands centering around roots music, be it new-roots or indie-roots of Roots-roots), it was by far my favorite of all the festivals I'd attended in 2012 and years previous. It was by no means banjos-only -- the bands ranged from Neko Case and Langhorne Slim to THEESatisfaction and Thee Oh Sees, just to call out a few -- yet if you did see or hear a banjo, it was totally approriate and in context, and not showing up attached to some porkpie-hat wearing kid as an interesting prop. This year's lineup promises more of the same wide spectrum, with headliners like Feist and Andrew Bird, along with Sharon van Etten, Sallie Ford and The Sound Outside, Howe Gelb, and Foxygen {full lineup here} slated to take the stages. Thoughtful lineup aside for a moment, though, there are a lot of factors that make Pickathon worthy of consideration for your live music budget expenditures for 2013.

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Longstanding imaginary favorite Rhett Miller is nothing if not consistent, and if you want to spend your night listening to sharply crafted, well-delivered odes about girls, cars, and the ensuing heartache between, you'd best get yourself to the Triple Door tonight. The Old 97's frontman will be headlining Seattle's best dine-while-you-swoon venue, and while his show is well worth the entirety of the ticket price, local songstress Shelby Earl will be opening up the show.

Shelby's been keeping busy with her own shows, opening for Ben Gibbard, and putting the finishing touches on a new album {read our imaginary interview here for more on that}, and if you haven't heard her compelling, storyteller croon yet, you're truly missing out. Give a listen at her Facebook page, or spin this track from her last album, Burn The Boats:

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If you've been within shouting distance of me anytime in the last two weeks, you've undoubtedly heard me talking about The Orwells, specifically their 2012 release, Remember When. I first heard these kids on Greg Vandy's Best-Of-The-Year Roadhouse show on KEXP at the end of December, and now that I've got the album in-hand, I can't listen to anything else. It's gritty, sloppy-tight Chicago post-garage, mostly about girls and death. Take a listen to "In My Bed" (below).

This band makes me want to bust out of a high school classroom and blow off my classes to take pills, hang out with my friends, and pretend to be disinterested in girls -- all in some kind of lo-fi frame-skipping movie sequence. Get the whole album direct and leave it on repeat until Saturday, when they come to town to play The Crocodile with Wimps (!!!!!).

While you're picking up that Orwells album, PS, click above and go get the Wimps demo FOR FREE. These will be the best two moves you make today, I promise.

{All ages / $12 adv / Wimps and Grim Smiley open. Tickets available here. Orwells photo courtesy of the band.}

Anything that Lesli Wood touches is gold, and with her band, The Redwood Plan, she cements that she's a Seattle rock force to be reckoned with.  The Redwood Plan's new album, Green Light Go, released on February 12th, and on it, Lesli promises a bigger and more dynamic TRP.   Her vocals can seemlessly veer from raucous riot grrl to vulnerable sorrow, soaking your heart with each stab of her pen stroke and guitar lick. 

The Green Light Go record release show is this Friday, February 15th at Neumos.  Don't leave without your copy of the new album since you will likely be adding this to your likely possibly concrete list of favorite albums of 2013 as well.

Listen to the entire album here:

And SEE what all the fuss is about by watching this video for the first single from the new album:

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