It is my pleasure to present a brand new video from Athens, GA's Casper & the Cookies for the song "Sharp!" from 2009's Modern Silence (one of my favorite albums of last year).  I just love this 70's glam influenced song that's really funkier than it has any right to be. Shake it!

And, if that wasn't enough, they have a bunch of tour dates coming up (including a lot of SXSW awesomeness and a TBA Seattle date)!

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Very sad news arrived Saturday evening that Mark Linkous aka Sparklehorse has passed away. The cause of death was suicide. The terribly tragic news is not that much of a surprise as Linkous battled depression for years and had a history of drug and alcohol dependency. In October, he released a collaborative album with Fennesz for the In the Fishtank Series and his controverisal collaboration with Danger Mouse, entitled Dark Night of the Soul, is finally set for an official realease this summer.

On the official website, his family has left this messsage:

It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you.

Sparklehorse was not prolific, but the four studio albums that he released are all surreal and wonderful. In fact, his 2001 record, It's a Wonderful Life, is truly one of the best releases of the past decade. R.I.P., Mr. Linkous. We'll miss you dearly.

Here's Sparklehorse's "Sick of Goodbyes" from the brilliant album Good Morning Spider:

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You know those bands that always seem to be there for you when your heart gets mangled? The band that gets your groove back in gear? For me, that's the Wedding Present.

The wonderful thing I've come to learn over the years? The Wedding Present is *that* band for a bunch of you too!

It's a strange and glorious fact that Bizarro, the Wedding Present's classic second studio album and the one that includes our favorites like "Brassneck" and "Kennedy" (to name a couple), will turn 21 years old this year. To celebrate, Gedge and company will be playing the album live, in its entirety, at concerts across North America, Japan and Europe (full tour shed-jule below). Obviously, those of us in Seattle are counting the days until April 21 when the Wedding Present is set to play the Crocodile.

We here at Three Imaginary Girls, especially me, want to mark the occasion here as well! Let's gather forces and geek out all Bizarro stylee!

Here's the idea: Send me a few sentences, a paragraph, or a story about a favorite song from the Bizarro album.  Tell us all about why the song (or songs - feel free to take on more than one!) rules or how it has affected you. It can be short, long, quirky, solemn, desirous, uplifting or clinical (i.e why the particular chord progression is magical).

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So if you haven't caught wind of it yet, St. Vincent will be coming through town tonight to blow the doors off of Neumo's with their sweet layercake of daydreamy, lushy melodies. It's actually the first US show of their national tour, which heads down the left coast for stops in PDX and a few nights in California before a cross-country visit to our friends out east (hi, 9:30 Club!).

As if the alt.indie.orchestra.ish appeal of St. Vincent wasn't enough to get you out the door tonight, the show's also going to get lit up with some love from one of our favorite locals, Fences. Rumor has it that they'll be warming up the stage around 9, so don't wait around too long to hit the show!

(It's hip to be early sometimes, Seattle. And to stand up front for a killer show. And even to take your hands out of your pockets and dance a little. I promise.)

Here's a taste of tonight's lineup:

We'll see you at the show!

We're all still reeling from the sudden death of beloved songster Vic Chesnutt. He had a true talent for writing songs that resonated with both frail emotion and solitary strength, and he'll be greatly missed.

Darren Hayman {Mr. Hefner} recently recorded one of Vic's songs in rememberance and has shared it with all of us. Below is a video of his version of "Gravity of the Situation" (recorded at home with violinist Dan Mayfield) and an MP3 of the song is available on the Hefner / Hayman website.

If you haven't done so already, mark your calendar for February 28. A bunch of stellar local folks have put together a Vic Chesnutt tribute and benefit night at the Tractor with folks like Ian Moore, Jason Dodson of The Maldives, Marc Olsen, Mike Dumovich, Your Heart Breaks, and more are set to take the stage. All proceeds will go directly to Chesnutt's family to help pay off his remaining medical bills.

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As we round out our week of favorite lists and recaps of the last year and decade, I have to share one last highlight from 2009. We all have one video from the last year that we keep going back to when we're feeling down or to start a thread amongst our friends. My go-to clip of 2009 came courtesy of Halloween and the Today show. The entire video is a gem (mayhem on the set!), but if you want to jump to the 3.50 mark to see some fancy moonwalking and the 4.10 mark, just watching an ewok have his way Al Roker's leg. There are also some great tips on how to decorate a pumpkin. Share links to your favorite 2009 videos and we can make it the first video Friday of 2010!

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Spiral Stairs, aka Scott Kannberg, guitarist for the reuniting Pavement, has a new album out on Tuesday called The Real Feel (Matador Records). Above is the video to the first single, "Stolen Pills".

(Via Pitchfork)

I was going to blog about this last night but I was travelling yesterday (I'm in my hotel room in San Francisco right now) but Sunny Day Real Estate were the musical guests on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" last night. They performed the song "7" and I thought still sounded great.

SDRE will close out their reunion tour at home on Friday, October 16 at the Paramount.

at Chop Suey

The Octopus Project are a former trio (now quartet) of extremely talented, multi-instrumental electronic artists from Austin, Texas. Having worked and toured steadily for the past 10 years, the band shows no sign of slowing down, noting that at the close of this tour they'd be headed back to the studio in the fall to record a new album.

TIG contributors Heather and Alex caught up with The Octopus Project near the end of their recent summer tour and before their recent set at Chop Suey to ask a few questions about touring, theramins, merchandising and festivals.

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TIG favorites and indie rock band Throw Me the Statue just released a new video to their single "Hi-Fi Goon", from their recently-released album Creaturesque. The timing of its release, I'm sure, is meant to whet the appetites of people who can't wait for their show on Tuesday at the Vera Project with The Brunettes. Enjoy: