{Rachel and Ben of Visqueen at TIG's 69 Love Songs show in 2008. Photo by Laura Musselman}

Visqueen recently announced that, after more than 13 years of making us merry, they are going on an indefinite hiatus with the close of November, 2011.  Although I agree It's totally fair for them to want to put down their guitars and sticks after such an amazing run, I have to admit it's really sad to think about imaginary life without the hope of ever seeing another Visqueen show (last shows listed below - get your tickets now!).

This got me reminiscing about all the amazing moments Three Imaginary Girls has had with them since our beginning nearly 10 years ago. It's a natural fit that as Visqueen shot to the forefront of the Seattle music scene, we were there in the front row basking in their glow.  All that superfandom has resulted in about 80 Visqueen posts over the years and more than a few "most memorable moments of my life" and, of course, a Top 5 Imaginary Visqueen Moments list!

1. OUR FIRST EVER VISQUEEN SHOW
About a month after we launched Three Imaginary Girls, we posted this review of the July 3, 2002 Visqueen show that pretty much set the tone for the website. We {gush} talk about Kim Warnick, they cover a Tom Petty song, and Kim gives away a pair of tickets to see the Who that weekend{/gush}.  We should have mentioned it more pointedly, but huge thanks to Pete Hilgendorf for telling us about Visqueen in the first place.

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{Shabazz Palaces photo from the Three Imaginary Girls Flickr Pool by Jason Tang}

Through sheer quirk of fate and possibly my own fatally quirky tastes, the top spots for my four favorite records of the year were given to two separate EPs by two different bands. I'm going to start my Top 20 of 2011 list with a cheat; combining two albums for placement at #1 and #2. Just to obnoxiously make you utterly vigilant of it: the first two spots are taken up by two separate releases, but they're EPs that if combined with each other, tie with/become one release.

Oh, and I'm keeping all hype to 20 words to mirror the Top 20 list. And then I cheat again by having the first two releases described in 40 words, a combination of two 20 word reviews. (No, I haven't been studying Kabbalah with the Wu-Tang Clan.) Also: Mostly in order, but ask me again tomorrow. (The Damien Jurado could be anywhere on this list, for example.) And regional preference takes precedence (call that "fanzine love").

1. Shabazz Palaces, Shabazz Palaces & Of Light EPs
Cracked, uncanny hip-hop collages of unsettling mind-movies, Clockers meets Company Flow. "Juxtapositions of the digital and analog, hard drum-machine beats set against softer bongos or the resonant sweetness of an mbira." -- Jon Caramanica, The New York Times

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It's charming to consider what recent gig-attending fans of Frank Black, Chrissie Hynde, and Bob Mould who first get to hear Rusty Willoughby and Rachel Flotard come out and sing and play might think of Cobirds Unite, album and band (there are plenty of music lovers who will have their chance, as the band tours and plans to play a week of shows through SXSW this next year).  As they crush out with the rest of us longtime Willoughby enthusiasts, do neophyte audiences think this might be the most early-developed debut Americana performers they've ever heard?

Maybe they'll think: How come this band isn't more acclaimed, already elevated by their local music press? It's easy to assume they inevitably sway and bask in gentle homespun romps like "C'mon C'mon" and "Crown Of Thorns." But once they've purchased Cobirds Unite at the merch table and brought it home to hear that these are some of the finest lyrics they've heard in a while sung by two of the creamiest voices they'll ever hear, they'll realize they're in over their heads in a very good way.

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She just spent Christmas in Vientiane, Laos, teaching English and helping a village raise many children. She sings a lot with fellow blazing-heart redhead Neko Case, including on noteworthy national television like on David Letterman's show. She spent the past several years nursing her New Jersey dad, taking him into her Seattle home and caring for him, till he recently passed away. There's probably a lot else that was done by and happened to Rachel Flotard, Visqueen's vocalist-singer-songwriter in the past twelve months, but ten years from now most of us will remember this as the year of the band's album Message To Garcia.

The formed-in-2001 group's name is well known now as the material created to protect levees from erosion and our country from biochemical terrorist attack, and Message To Garcia is also the title of Elbert Hubbard's motivational tome used to inspire the military and other people fighting their way out of foxholes. It's been that kind of time for Flotard, with so much hard work and loss since Visqueen's two earlier, very fondly remembered albums, King Me (2003) and Sunset On Dateland (2004). (If Three Imaginary Girls had a Record Guide, it's certainly possible these would be perfectly-scored aesthetic-defining works.)

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