{Visqueen photo: Ben Haley / Bunnygrunt photo: JoshBomb}

September marks the biggest festival season in the Pacific Northwest. In a move to test our endurance, the biggest of the mammoth festivals take place within days of each other: Bumbershoot from September 4-6 in Seattle and Music Fest NW from September 8-12 in Portland. But, besides those mega-shows, we've got plenty of our favorite Seattle bands taking to the stage. In this edition of the Imaginary Mixtape we'll share tracks from noteworthy bands with shows in the coming weeks, feature some exclusive live recordings from the Athens Popefest, and a sneak preview of brand new songs by The Thermals and Superchunk.

You can listen to a stream or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page. Bandcamp prohibits tracks longer than 25 minutes {I think it's some regulation against jam bands?}, so the podcast is split into three sections. Click below to listen via the bandcamp stream.

 

PART 1: Preview of some September Seattle shows, Bumbershoot and Music Fest NW

 

PART 2: A listen to more Seattle bands with September shows and a preview of our Imaginary Crafty Listening Party albums for September

 

PART 3: Live tracks recorded at the 2010 Athens Popfest and some lovely Seattle indie-pop

 

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes (and who doesn't), 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 - September 2010:

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{Tullycraft photo by Steve Louie}

Holy indie pop incredibleness! Do you miss Tullycraft as much as I do? It's only been less than a year since their farewell set at San Francisco Popfest (which still gives me chills just thinking about), but just knowing that there may be another chance to sing along to such glorious pop gems makes me happy. Well, this isn't a new Tullycraft record, but the next best thing: all your favorite (well, at least my favorite) indie pop bands together on one comp covering their favorite Tullycraft songs!

The wonderful folks who are putting the comp together put up an experiment of sorts on the site Kickstarter (a great website for getting funding for projects!) to see if they could raise a little scratch to make this cover compilation huge; to spread the love of Tullycraft to the masses! Only if they raise their amount will you be charged. Think of it like a pre-order: by paying in advance, you get tons of awesome benefits!

Full band list after the jump.

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{Robert Schneider from the Apples In Stereo from Athens Popfest 2008}

We here at TIG have been crushing out over Athens Popfest for years. I've been every year since 2006 and Liz went in 2005 and 2007. It's pretty much always the best week of the year, fusing together amazing indie pop, delicious food (seriously, Athens has the best!), and wonderful community. I look forward to the lineup announcement all year long, and the wonderful popfest folks have given us just a taste of what's to come, featuring some of my current favorite bands and lots of TIG favorites (and as always, some newbies I'm so excited to hear)!

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After quite a bit of hmm-ing and hah-ing, I've finally come up with my favorite albums of 2009, listed in sort of numerical order, or at least that's how I feel today, including local favorites BOAT, Visqueen, and indie pop hearthrobs The Pains of Being Pure at Heart!

{photo by hot avocados photography}

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at Annie's Social Club

Day 2 of SF Popfest coverage featuring Springfactory, Bunnygrunt, The Orange Peels, ballboy, The Tartans, The Hot Toddies, and a bit of karaoke mischief.

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The San Francisco Popfest starts today (imaginary Keenan is already headed south to get there in time for tonight's shows)!!!

The 'fest runs though Sunday, May 24, 2009 and Keenan, amazing imaginary photographer Steve Louie and I will be running around the greater San Francisco area basking in all that fine fine indie-pop.

We're looking forward to most all the bands (ballboy ballboy ballboy), but we put together a podcast of some of the lesser known ones and ones with hit songs we've been listening to on repeat (ahem: Stay Flyin').

You should go listen to it now (and go subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes 'cause we have big plans to make this the summer of podcasts!).

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From Thursday, May 21 to Sunday, May 24, 2009, Three Imaginary Girls staffers Liz and Keenan will be running around the San Francisco partaking in all the fun of the San Francisco Popfest. This podcast showcases some of the bands they are most looking forward to seeing while there with

From Thursday, May 21 to Sunday, May 24, 2009, Three Imaginary Girls staffers Liz and Keenan will be running around the San Francisco partaking in all the fun of the San Francisco Popfest.

This podcast showcases some of the bands they are most looking forward to seeing while there with

at 40 Watt

With Bunnygrunt, Cars Can Be Blue, Little Birds, Panda Riot, Roky Erickson, That's My Daughter, and Tom Gorrio.

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at Athens Popfest

Athens Popfest is like summer camp for indie pop and rock nerds.

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