It usually isn't in my nature to go against the John Roderick grain, but when it comes to end of year lists of favorites, I can't help myself. I have to gather all of my favorite songs into an MP3 scrapbook for my own current and future mental sanity.

Perusing the song stacks of the past year allows me to recall and file the past year before opening up my next year's calendar. Having an MP3 scrapbook gives me a one stop shop when, a year or even 15 days from now, I ask my-list-driven-self "What was 2010?" {because aren't all of our best memories tied to a song?}.

The answer to that question is below in the form of the playlist of my Imaginary Liz's Favorites Songs of 2010 mix:

1. Stornoway - Zorbing / Beachcomber's Windowsill
This is a solid album that is a soothing blend of a bashful Mumford & Sons, randy Features with a pinch of John Denver. This is the most rocking song on the album and the best Stornoway gateway drug, although I nearly featured "Long Distance Lullaby" on this record because I'm a sucker for love letters about late night phone calls. If I was the kind of girl that would have two songs by the same band on a single mixtape, "Long Distance Lullaby" would be a great way to end this year's wrap up.

2. Drums - Let's Go Surfing / The Drums
I'm a sucker for their Spector-esque take on the new wave of the retro reverb. I also love that igDana suggested that the chorus is actually, "Obama, I want to go shopping!"

3. Allo Darlin' - Kiss Your Lips / Allo Darlin'
It is far from hyperbolic to say this is my album of the year if not the decade. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's got the sweet coy of Heavenly, the foresight of Weezer (name checked in this song), and the jangle guitar of the Wedding Present. I've got several candles lit in hopes Allo Darlin returns to Seattle this year {they are set to play the San Francisco PopFest over Memorial Day weekend - which is just a hopskipjump away!}. They are getting a lot of attention from critics and record store fans far and wide, so I can only hope that Allo Darlin' is the future of sweetheart pop {and that sweetheart pop is the future of twee}.

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We're sad to report that a show we were uber-excited about has been canceled. Idlewild's November 20, 2010 show at Seattle's Crocodile has had to be cancelled due to an injury sustained by Idlewild lead singer Roddy Womble. As reported on the Idlewild website, resulting in the cancellation of the band's entire west coast tour. Our wishes for a comfortable and speedy recovery to poor Roddy, who is now nursing a broken collarbone.

The band, and all of us, look forward to a rescheduling of the tour in the Spring of 2011. Seems far away... but we should use that time to fully memorize the lyrics to their recently released album, Post Electric Blues.  Listen to "Take Me Away To The Islands" first, it's my favorite track on there. I am not sure if there is an official video for the song, but the above attempt is just about Scottish enough for me. 

Note to those of us who purchased tickets: You likely received an email from Stranger Ticketing yesterday about this, but we have two options - we can either keep our ticket which will be honored when the show is re-scheduled this spring, or we can request a refund on the Stranger ticketing site.

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{Orca Team / Elf Power photos from their MySpace pages}

This October is so full of amazing shows it's far from clever to simply call it rOctober (which has yet to prevent me one bit from doing so). We can't stop talking about the fact that our dreams are going to come true many times over during the course of the month with the likes of The Drums, Superchunk (featured in last month's podcast) / Teenage Fanclub / Telekinesis, James, Liz Phair, Belle & Sebastian, and The Vaselines are all coming to Seattle. You can imagine the hard time we had narrowing down what bands to feature in this month's Imaginary Mixtape to illustrate just how lucky we are going to be in the coming weeks. Have a listen to just a few of our recommendations for what to see this month in a wee concise sampler.

You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page. If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, download the .m4a file here {it's one single file with fancy chapter markers!} and then open it in your itunes {big thanks to Jigsaw Records for hosting the file!}.

Tracklisting: Imaginary Mixtape - October 2010:

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Join us Sunday, October 17th at Neptune Coffee {in Greenwood} for the  October edition of the Imaginary Crafternoon Listening Party from 1pm-3pm. For this month's Imaginary Crafternoon Listening Party we're going to combine a couple of our favorite British groups (one English and one Scottish) and one of our favorite crafts (screen-printing)!

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Be still my Scottish-loving heart. One of my favorite bands --the kind I have flown over oceans to see-- Idlewild is coming to Seattle and will be at The Crocodile on November 20, 2010.

I'm still processing this and already trying to calculate when I need to arrive at the Crocodile that night in order to secure a spot right up front... so more info and giddy schoolgirl exclamations to come, but for right now, let's all practice our chants of "A pure like it!" and "A loue ye!"

Are you with me? Any other shows you're counting down to?

{major thanks to Steve for making me aware of this awesome news}

{stylish photo by nancyo23}

I hope I'm not getting too granular with my listage, but given the empowering nature of  turning the page on the decade, I can't help myself--I wanted to make sure that that certain song gems didn't go unrewarded for their brilliance.

Thusly, I compiled the below list of songs released in the last decade that are total A+++, but who's album didn't make it on my favs of the decade list... either because the song is from an EP or single; the album is good, but not as solid as the 75 albums that made my list; a bunch of other albums by the band/artists appeared on the list; or I just was bad with tabulating and this should have been on the list based on the strength of said song alone.

Please enjoy the below a recap of the top 10 songs from the last decade that amaze me beyond belief (and didn't make my favorite albums of the decade list). What amazing splashes of song brilliance rocked your 2000-2009? I bet between all of us we could make the most amazing quad-mix cd ever!

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Scottish band Idlewild has announced a 10-year anniversary CD/DVD compilation and UK tour forthcoming. No USA dates.

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I'm counting down to the release of the new Bright Eyes album... and has anyone heard either the Jarvis Cocker or Idlewild albums which were domestically released today?

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I hearby proclaim today Imaginary Idlewild Day for today the US release of their latest record, Make Another World, is at long last available!

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To tide us over until the US release of their latest album, enjoy some free mp3s and a rundown of their UK shows for your Roddy-loving consumption.

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