There's a ton of great shows going on Friday -- but we're particularly excited about the Black Whales / Dan Mangan / Jared Mees and the Grown Children show that's happening over at Columbia City Theater. The Black Whales are releasing a 7", it's Dan Mangan's first Seattle show in over three years, and the whole thing is being presented by our friends over at Sound on the Sound. And we've got tickets to give away!

We would love to send you and a friend to this 21+ show, and here's how we're going to do it: just sent an email to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls dot com, and tell us why you should be the winner of these ticktes! Be sure to use the subject line "WhalesAndManganAndMeesOhMy" so that we know it's you.

Get those entries in soon, because we'll be picking a winner Thursday afternoon at 3pm... and should you be the type that doesn't like to tempt fate, just mosey on over to the Columbia City Theater website and pick up some tickets the old-fashioned way. In either case, while you're waiting on that email confirmation, make good use of your internets and dig on Dan Mangan's latest album, "Nice, Nice, Very Nice." Trust us -- you'll be glad you did.

We'll see you at the show!

We hope you will join us at the Moe Bar between 7p and 9p for the FREE Dark Was The Night listening party and then you can follow me over to the Jared Mees show at the Comet Tavern.

more...

TIG staffers are a lot like you -- coming up with our list of faves for the year is a fun and gripping process. After comparing/contrasting/debating our individual favorites, we figured the sum of our imaginary parts would make for an interesting list.

While ChrisB and Keenan, among other things, brought in the power-pop elements,  Chris Estey stood by the smartie subtle elements of this year's Northwest offerings. Imaginary liz, as usual, loved the lo-fi and indie-pop songs, while imaginary dana spent much of the year obessed with Throw the the Statue and of course, the Fleet Foxes. And nearly all of us agreed that the Saturday Knights album was a force to be reckoned with. Here's our our staff votes tallied up...

more...

One of my end of the year rituals is to compile my favorites of the year into a single mix tape / cd / playlist. For me, this year has been ripe with songs I've listened to on repeat. So many so, I actually had to cut out some so that I didn't alienate the casual mix tape listener. After a casual polling of my friends, I found that four-cd mix isn't all that digestible.

more...

Not yet wired with coffee and sweets? You will be once you put Mees in your CD player.

more...