Three Imaginary Girls - Indie Pop

The best news of 2012 {so far}: Three Imaginary Girls presents Allo Darlin' at the Vera Project

imaginary liz — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:54:19 +0000

{Allo Darlin' photo by Steve Louie from the Imaginary Flickr Photo Pool - taken at their October, 2010 show at the Rendezvous}

It's barely 2012 and already we have news worthy of a shower of fireworks. Imaginary favorite Allo Darlin' are coming back to town!!!

Three Imaginary Girls is beyond excited to present their all-ages show at the Vera Project on Friday, May 11, 2012 as part of our big 10 year celebration (yes, can you believe it? TIG is turning 10!!!). Don't delay, tickets go on sale at 10am on Wednesday {1/4/12}!!!

Imaginary Interview: Jyoti Mishra – feeling blue in White Town

Matt Schild — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:29:41 +0000

There’s always a bit of melodrama involved when a indie singer/songwriter or emo type in his early 20s writes about his life-destroying breakup: Dudes, you’re in your twenties, you’re supposed to have a horrible romantic life. Things get a lot more devastating to listeners when the songwriter is White Town’s Jyoti Mishra, an indie-pop veteran in his mid-40s and he spends an entire album sorting through the wreckage of his personal and romantic life after a decade-plus marriage goes down the tubes on Monopole. It isn’t quarter-life odes to The One That Got Away, but lamenting the irreplaceable loss of The One. For a guy best known for his 1997 mega-hit “Your Woman,” it’s a startlingly direct look inside his personal life.

It’s not like Mishra hasn’t attempted to distract himself from his loneliness. He started (and dropped out of) sociology and creative writing programs at the University of Derby. He buckled down and Monopole as the second release from his own label, Bzangy Groink, handling virtually everything from song inception to fanzine-level press. Still, there are events that define a life, and it’s hard not to come away from Monopole, with its start-to-finish chronicle of his wrecked relationship, with the feeling that Mishra will never be able to truly put the past few years behind him.

TIG: After all the misery that’s helped inspire this album, does it feel like it’s behind you with the release of this album?

Jyoti Mishra: It’s been a weird process, as you know. It would have been a lot sooner, because the last album was 2006, 2007. With divorce stuff and my parents being ill, it’s been difficult to get a continued bit of time to keep working. It’s taken much longer than I would have liked. I’m not like through the thing of being through it yet. It’s still in the process. It’s not like it’s a past album yet. When it’s a past album, I’ll be able to draw on it. It still feels too current. Everything I’m singing about on it feels too now, you know?

Is that because you’re so involved in every aspect of it, handling all songwriting, performing, recording, album art and running the label, are you more immersed in the emotion tied into the songs?

JM: I think if I handed it off to anybody else, even down to the videos and stuff. I know it’s my own fault, because I’m too much of a control freak. I want everything to be right. It’s partially based on bad experiences before, which were a long time ago. I’m talking about EMI stuff. When you work really hard on something and get a graphic design back that’s just awful, it kind of puts you off to working with other people again. [Laughs] I know there’s probably great people out there that I could use, but I’ll just do it myself, even though I’m not really a graphic designer. I just knock up something that will do.

After having problems with other people in the past, do you get to the point where it’s just easier to do everything yourself than try to explain your ideas and struggle with other people?

JM: I’m not a trained graphic designer, so it’s always going to be worse if I do it myself, because I haven’t got that knowledge or craft, but it will be better than someone doing a botched job, like a slick botched job. The same with videos; I’ve already made a few short films. I’m not a filmmaker. I’m sure if I had the money and the ability to hand it over to a proper director, I’d get back the videos that were vector-edited and all that kind of stuff. But, A) who can I find to do it, and B) I can’t afford it. It’s like you just do it yourself. It’s partially political, and partially no money.

I think that’s why a lot of the original DIY stuff died off. A lot of people rewrite history and say, “Oh, it’s because they wanted to be independent,” and all that. Often, it’s because you couldn’t afford to do anything else. You just had to. People laid out fanzines on typewriters because who’s got the first version of Quark Xpress when it came out? You didn’t have that kind of stuff. You had to do it on typewriters.

The best way to force yourself to learn anything is to jump in the deep end and say, “This has to be a finished product,” isn’t it?

JM: In the end, I ended up doing the design for the EMI albums. They took me to all these graphics people and we went through the process. I got this hideous thing back. I just said, “Look, I’ll just knock something up.” Actually thinking about it, apart from a couple of EMI singles, which were horrendous designs, everything I’ve produced has been designed by me. You can tell. If you look at the very first album, which is very, very laid out in a word processing program, because I didn’t have access to (desktop publishing programs) up to now, I think it’s got better. [Laughs] I only do it once every three or four years, so I don’t get much practice. If I was designing an album a week, I’d probably be a lot better by now. The same with the videos. When I finally do the 10 or 11 videos for this album, by the time I’ve done those I should be a lot better at making videos.

Why did you choose to make a video for every track on the album?

JM: It’s a twofold thing. First of all, I love film and am an ex-film student. That’s part of my wanky background. I like thinking about narrative visual flow. I love the old “Your Woman” video. That was directed by Mark Adcock. He came up with all the ideas, but we talked about it loads. We were both into the same stuff, like German expressionism, and not having typical slow motion. Still, now 20 years later, I see so many videos that are slow-mo because they can’t think of anything else to do! It’s like, “Let’s have a shot of that band hitting some drums in slow-mo because it looks more expressive and powerful.” No it fucking doesn’t. It just looks stupid. Or the live videos! We know you’re not plugged in. We know you’re not playing the song. What’s that about? It’s OK if it’s Coldplay or U2 or something like that. You expect them to be shit and boring.

When it’s a new band of twentysomething kids that are meant to be a punk band or something, you think, “Already? Already you’re doing this?” It’s like a genre convention. They’ve seen what rock videos are meant to look like, so they want theirs to look like that. The same with Auto-Tune. People hear Auto-Tuned vocals and they want their vocals to sound like that, whether they can sing or not. I heard, I can’t remember the band, a proper lo-fi, shambling indie band. They were sort of like an All Girl Summer Fun Band, which I love, they were that kind of style, but they Auto-Tuned the vocals! The vocals, which are meant to be a bit out of tune, a bit shambly and Pastels-y and Marine Girls-y were just in tune, and horribly in tune. Like, it made you want to tip your head sideways like a dog in tune.

Why do you think Auto-Tune’s become so widespread and accepted instead of being reviled?

JM: I think the basic reason is because people are twats. People are just imitating monkeys. They just hear someone. I’m not knocking the guy, he might be lovely and really good to his mum and all that, but when the Owl City thing came out, all these people who said they loved it, had they never heard Postal Service? It was just a slap in the face for anyone who’s ever heard Postal Service or anything that Ben Gibbard’s ever done. (Owl City’s Adam Young) just ripped his style completely. Then he Auto-Tuned it, and it was, “This is a modern thing! This band is like this.” Well, Ben Gibbard sings like that live. I’ve seen Death Cab live. He sings more in tune than he did on the record! The man’s a fucking tuning robot. He’s never out of tune. He didn’t need that. His records are a correct representation of how he sings. He’s a beautiful, wonderful singer

I’m not so good. I’m not so tuneful. When I’m recording stuff, I want it to sound like me. Otherwise, people hear the record and they come to the shows and are, “Well, he’s shit. He sounds nothing like on the record.” I know you can use Auto-Tune live now, but that just boggles my brain why people would do that.

I hate what I call ProTools punk now. Everything is beat-detected into time, everything is Auto-Tuned, all the guitars are looped about and jumped about. If you think about it, and I’m sure you have, the records that come out now are more electronic than the records Kraftwerk made. There’s less manipulation on a trance or house or dubstep record. People just get some sequences going, and just taped it. With modern guitar rock, I’ve seen bands with studios machine songs. They just take a second of one guitar from somewhere, and stick it on another second of guitar and take some feedback and make the start exciting, even though it wasn’t really there.

That eventually comes back around to haunt bands when they try to perform and can’t even approximate their album.

JM: It’s a valid artistic thing to do. I don’t mind Aphex Twin doing that. I find it a little bit weird when a rock band does it. Just record the shambling live sound, and leave it at that. One of the things that this album is about, apart from my horrendous love life, is just trying to do something that feels – I’m sounding like Neil Young, aren’t I? – that feels more raw and more real and less worried about how it’s received. If a musician says they don’t care what people think about their record, they’re lying. Every musician is always worried if you have half a brain thinking, “How’s it going to sound?” That’s just how you record stuff.

With this thing, I was thinking I just wanted to do it so it’s not fashionable or like a dubstep breakdown, you know what I mean? No ravey synths going on for no reason.

Was it difficult to break from all the modern influences that seep into your songwriting unconsciously?

JM: Yeah. With the songwriting process, I mostly write on guitar and transfer it to either guitar or keyboards. The song is just a song. I have to decide how to frame it. Is it a synth song or is it a guitar song? What serves it best? Then, you kind of think, “What should I use?” The electronic songs on the album, they’re pure electronic songs. How do I frame them? Do I try to make them sound more contemporary, or do I do things that I like, which is going to make them sound more ’80s-ish? In doing that, is it going to make them sound ’80s contemporary? You can go around in circles and go mental. You think, “Oh God, that sounds too ’80s. People will think I’m trying to be ’80s.” Then you have to stop yourself and go, “Fuck it. Do I like this sound? Does it suit the song?”

Is it tough to write a song on the guitar then take in in a direction on other instruments?

JM: It’s not actually something I invented. Depeche Mode used to do it. It was an old trick of theirs. When they started off, they were a guitar band and they switched to synths because they heard Gary Numan and liked it. It’s good to do that. Also, I will go the other way. I will write things on keyboards and move them to guitar because you end up with these songs that if you’ve been writing a long time, you have a specific way of approaching an instrument, a rut. It’s hard to keep out of those ruts. If I write something on the guitar, I do chords I wouldn’t do on a keyboard, and when I transcribe them, it’s all, “This goes to what now?” I’m trying to play them and it’s all weird shapes and vice versa. Things I write on the keyboard, when I move them to the guitar, I can’t play them because I’m a shit guitar player. I’ve now been recording myself for 29 years now, so I need to find ways of not being comfortable in the studio.

Do you spend a lot of time developing songs as recordings verses traditional songwriting?

JM: A lot of the time I spend is what I call mooching time. The only way I can describe that is, if you’ve ever read any books by or about mathematicians, they’re always going on about how they were trying to work on a problem and they couldn’t do it, and they went for a bike ride or walked over the river or went to the café and suddenly it clicked in their head. It’s the same with songs, for me at least. Every song on that album, or anything I’ve ever done, comes from this weird kind of feeling inside me that something is kind of wrong. I don’t know what’s wrong. It’s kind of disquiet. You feel unsettled. It’s like you can kind of see something out of the corner of your eye, but when you look, it’s not there. It’s a kind of weird feeling. Then I kind of know that’s a song. I’m feeling something and I don’t quite know what it is. You have to write the song to get out what the feeling is.

To a certain extent, once you’ve done that, that’s cathartic. It reduces or minimizes it, if you do the job well. If you do it badly, it’s still there. So, it becomes like a mathematical problem in my head. I’ll have this feeling, but I won’t have a handle on what it is that I feel. Then I’ll go and do mooching time, which is going to a café or taking photos or doing something that is not related to music at all, and then the song will come out. Like, I’ll have a lyric just come into my head, or I’ll have a stanza or sometimes the whole thing will just pop into my head. Unlike a lot of people, I don’t sit in the studio bashing away at stuff. I have to have the feelings first, then the idea and then the song writes itself. It’s really easy.

So you need to have a weird feeling to seed a song?

JM: The more emotionally unstable I am, the more I write. It’s been a really bad three or four years, but in terms of writing, it’s been amazing because I’ve just been writing and writing and writing. Sometimes I’ll write three or four songs in a day. I’m not saying they’re good songs, but I’ll do them and they will mean something. I don’t know if they mean enough to play to other people, but they work for me. Out of those songs, I’ll pick things that I think are worth other humans’ ears. Writing isn’t a problem for me. I thought as I got older, it would be. In fact, it’s gotten easier.

After you exercise those weird feelings by writing songs, do you have emotional flashbacks when you return and listen to that song later?

JM: Yeah. Sometimes it does, especially when you’re mixing them. Doing the album was a little – a little? I’m exaggerating – it was hugely strenuous. If I’m mixing a song, I usually listen to it 40, 50 maybe 60 times if it’s a difficult mix. Then, it comes to mastering, I have the body of songs and I have to master them. On the album, you know that there are electronic tracks next to feedback-y guitar tracks. It wasn’t easy to balance them all together and make them feel like some kind of whole, because they are really hard to have them sit next to each other. During that process, I had to listen to the songs at least 100 or 150 times each, altogether. When you go back, sometimes you go back and listen and go, “This is horrendous. I don’t want to listen to this anymore, but I’ve got to mix it,” and it’s like picking a scab. Other times, you go back and you listen and you hear it and think, “This is OK. I did OK on this.”

You’ve always seemed to be very straightforward with your music instead of dressing it up or complicating it.

JM: It’s not poetry. You don’t need a thesaurus to work out what I’m writing about. When I was doing creative writing in Uni, which I’ve dropped out of, I had this end-of-year project and you had to write about a book of poetry. You had to write about poetry. I said to my lecturer, “Can I write about a science fiction book instead?” [Laughs] She’s like, “Are you submitting science fiction stories? You need to write about poetry.” I’m like, “Well, I don’t like poetry.” She’s like, “Why do you write poetry?” “I write poetry that I like. I don’t like reading it.” Of course, her response, which is true, was, “You need to read more poetry. There will be stuff out there that you like.” What I said to her was, “I don’t want to read stuff that’s trying to be clever.”

I don’t want to read stuff where I have to rub my fucking chin and go, “Oh! Interesting!” Just say what you fucking mean. I don’t have time to hang about. Nobody else has time to hang about. Just fucking get on with it and find a way to say it.

{Photo by Natalie Barratt.}

white_town_mishra.jpg

TIG: After all the misery that’s helped inspire this album, does it feel like it’s behind you with the release of this album?

After having problems with other people in the past, do you get to the point where it’s just easier to do everything yourself than try to explain your ideas and struggle with other people?

Recommended Show: Fountains of Wayne at The Croc this Friday {10/7}

Imaginary Amie — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:56:37 +0000

This is almost impossible for a Fountains of Wayne fangirl such as myself to believe, but incredibly, the FoW show this Friday at The Crocodile is NOT sold out. What. Therfore, it is my duty to tell you people that The Wayne puts on some of the finest live shows around, and if you don't immediately get online and buy a ticket, you are going to regret it.

I realize that many of you didn't love Sky Full of Holes (Imaginary Steve might get into a minor fist-fight with you if you tell him that, though...), and I understand that. It's hard to match the power-poppy glory of their self-titled debut, or of Utopia Parkway - and I'm sure we've all heard "Stacy's Mom" more than a few too many times - but you know what? Their other albums are still damn good albums, and these guys still rock the hell out of every single one of their tunes. I always have an insane amount of fun at their shows, and you can bet I'll be near the front this Friday, screaming out the lyrics and dancing my ass off (which will make me incredibly easy to recognize, since only about 2% of people at Seattle shows dance). Join me?

Fountains of Wayne
w/Mike Viola at
The Crocodile
Friday, October 7
8pm | 21+ | $20 ($23 w/fees)

Fountains of Wayne photo by Violeta Alvarez, from the FoW web site

Imaginary Watch This: New OK Go video with customizable messaging!

Imaginary Amie — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:02:57 +0000

If you're new, you might not know that OK Go is not only a rockin' band, but they've been creating completely insane and creative videos that people fall all over themselves to watch because they are so totally awesome.

Their latest for "All Is Not Lost" was released this morning, and they've stepped it up by making it a "Google Chrome experiment" which means that a) you can enter a message that will be integrated into the video (if you can't tell, those are FEET spelling out that message), and b) the video frame itself moves around and changes to accomodate the action. what. It also means that the next one is going to have to be filmed in space or something. Anyway, the way it works doesn't really allow for embedding, so go here, enter your message, and watch. It's pretty f'ing amazing, you guys.

Video: It's fun to be imaginary!

imaginary liz — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:42:11 +0000

{Yes, they are playing the song while riding a train!!! God bless IndieTracks!}

This morning my ipod shuffle brought up Moustache of Insanity's "Imagine" and reminded me of the duo's brilliance. Even though they didn't write this to be a Three Imaginary Girls theme song, I'm singing along with it today as if it was!

The track is from their eponymous 2009 album album (on WeePOP!) and has me even more stoked for their new album, Album of Death, set for a limited edition blood-red vinyl release on August 20, 2011 (on PYT Records / Fika Recordings).

It makes sense I've fallen for M of I's quirky lo-fi pop: One half of the band is Bill of Allo Darlin and Darren Hayman & the Secondary Modern fame and the other half is Nik whose @nikvestberg twitterings and photo/video stylings keep me in the loop of all things cool.

And in related moustache news: did you order your Allo Darlin' picture disc vinyl yet? It's double-sided-pretty with side a: Darren (about Darren Hayman), side b: Wu Tang Clan (a The French cover). It's a win win win win win.

Imaginary Watch This: Camp Out "Closer" (FINALLY!!!)

Imaginary Amie — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:00:08 +0000

I've been a fan of the Camp Out ladies since I was lucky enough to catch them at a tiny club in San Diego a few years ago (unfortunately I missed their ONE Seattle appearance between now and then) - But! they finally, FINALLY have a video of "Closer" so I can share their poppy dance tunes and total adorableness with you.

If you're digging this tune, I highly recommend you seek out a copy of their one and only album (which would either require a trip down to SD, or that you buy it from iTunes...), also titled Closer, keep an eye out for any upcoming shows (pleasepleasepleaseohplease), and get ready for their now-in-progress new EP.

Start off the week with free Slurpees and The Kissing Party

imaginary liz — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:08:40 +0000

For those of us who enjoy a mix of nostalgic shoegazy fuzz and bittersweet delicate melodies with their FREE SLURPEE, this week is going to rule! Denver's very own Kissing Party have made their way to our fine city for not one, but two shows this week and, because Monday is July 11 (numerically translated to 7/11), our convenience store friends at 7-11 gift everyone with a free slurpee!

Sure it's only 7.11 oz and just enough to only give you a minor brain-freeze, but a free frozen treat is a free frozen treat. Try a new flavor or mix two together. Go wild on the slurpee tip, man!

But the radness doesn't stop with the slurps. Get your fill of Primitives meets Pains of Being Pure At Heart with a splash of Belle & Sebastian at the the Funhouse on Monday (7/11) as the Kissing Party shares the bill with Death's Three Daughters and The Chimanimani.

If you miss them on Monday or want to get a double dose (because who can blame you), they'll be at the Comet on Wednesday 7/13.

Recommended Show: Tennis Pro CD Release at Chop Suey {6/30}

Imaginary Amie — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:06:25 +0000

Photo borrowed from Tennis Pro's Facebook page.

The last time I saw Tennis Pro, they were singing Liz Phair songs in dresses...a memorable event, not just because of their attire, or the fact that it was the 6th Anniversary of TIG, but also because these guys CRANK out some seriously bouncy power pop! But uh, where have they been since then, you might ask? Well, I was fortunate enough to run into Mr. David Drury during all the SIFF festivities and that's when I found out they didn't really go anywhere, they've actually got a brand new album, and (no kidding) they're totally BIG in JAPAN.

This news made me incredibly happy, and started me on a kick of listening to Cassie's Junior Varsity Make-Out Squad, and Are You There, God, It's Me Tennis Pro - reminding me how much fun they are live and also that they have a song called "Imaginary Girl" that rocks my little heart out. The new album is called Shimokita is Dead, and Tennis Pro is having a CD release party/show at Chop Suey this coming Thursday {6/30} so everybody can hear what it sounds like. In the meantime, here's a preview to get you ready:

Imaginary Watch This: The Submarines frolic w/tinfoil planets and cardboard stars

Imaginary Amie — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:17:47 +0000

It's no secret that I've been in love with cute-as-a-button pop duo The Submarines for awhile, but their newest album Love Notes/Letter Bombs has been taking over my iTunes for the past few days, stuck on repeat and filling me with indie-pop love. Naturally, the new video for their single "Fire" has the same effect on me, as John and Blake frolic amongst a solar system made from tin foil and cardboard, float on a paper moon, and dance around in tights all while singing one of their catchy, poppy tunes.

Watch and see if you fall for them too...

Indie-pop abounds at the Rendezvous tonight! {6/3}

imaginary liz — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:11:11 +0000

One final reminder about the big indie-pop extravaganza TONIGHT at the Rendezvous! The evening has morphed into a mini-popfest featuring the finest soft-core indie-pop flow:

- Monnone Alone is the moniker for Mark Monnone's post-Lucksmiths project that, as you expect, charms with Aussie DIY magnetism.

- The Special Places will bring on the sweetheart pop that drips with honey and a subtle touch of vinegar to keep things interesting.

- Math & Physics Club will show off their mastery of a super secret recipe of B&S / Lucksmiths-style pop.

- The Smittens from Vermont will round off night with their simplistically coy lolli-pop.

Note that there aren't any advance ticket sales, it's all first-come, first-served to secure your spot in the cozy Jewelbox Theater and doors are at 9:30pm {more info and rad poster artwork here}.

Here's a video sampler of what the night will hold:

Seattle's very own one-night popfest: The Smittens, Math & Physics Club, The Special Places, Monnone Alone {ex-Lucksmiths}

imaginary liz — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:39:36 +0000

The best thing about the San Francisco PopFest, besides the fabulous line-up gathered in one city over five consecutive days for the massive delight of p-fest attendees, is fact that all of those PopFest bands sometimes spread their west coast wings and, in the most wonderful of cases, travel north to visit us in Seattle.

On Friday, June 3 at the Rendezvous we have just such a migration from SF as two Seattle (and imaginary favorite) bands share a bill with two indie-popolicious artists from far away to make my one-night-mini-popfest dreams come true.

Opening the night is Monnone Alone, a band consisting of the most charming Lucksmiths' bassist of all time, Mark Monnone {and, sometimes, a couple very talented friends}. There has been a hole in our heart since the Lucksmiths called it quits (or how we like to remember it, put a hiccup in our happiness by hitting the 'pause' button), and here comes Monnone Alone to the rescue.

Get delightful with Darren Hanlon this Saturday {4/16 - early show!}

imaginary liz — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:35:26 +0000

Our favorite Australian balladeer is coming to Seattle for an early Saturday show on Saturday 16th! Touring in support of 2010's brilliant I Will Love You At All (which was one of my top 10 records of 2010) and the recent Butterfly Bones EP (which features two songs from the album), Darren Hanlon will take to the High Dive stage at a very reasonable 5.30pm time slot to charm us with his unmatchable disarming banter and cozy melodic tales of schoolboy crushes, punk roommates, true love, and squash.

More than just a fella with good taste in friends (he's opened up for the Magnetic Fields and Billy Bragg, just to name drop a little), most folks leave his shows feeling like you have a new BFF... and one that can play the ukulele at that. Let's start off our Saturday night in High Dive style!

And if your friends still aren't convinced that they should join you at the DH show...

Imaginary Favorite: When I Was 12 {cute ~ indie-pop ~ delicious}

imaginary liz — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:42:10 +0000

I feel like a big heel that it's taken me this long to find out about Philadelphia's When I Was 12 (hello know-it-all popfed legions, where have you been!). Both iTunes and cdbaby claim that their debut album, Dear Eskimo, was released in March, 2009, which makes me sad to think I've lost two whole years of enjoying them. But, hoorays, I recently procured their cd (purchasable here) and am happy to be making up for lost time.

Imaginary Watch This: 80s Phil-Collinsy Goodness from The Postal Service

Imaginary Amie — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:06:38 +0000

It's been awhile since we told you about this, so I figured this sunny Seattle day was a perfect oppurtunity to remind you that The Postal Service covered Phil Collins' heart-breaky 80s ballad "Against All Odds" for the 2004 movie Wicker Park (which is kinda weird, since it was already in a movie called...Against All Odds). Enjoy!

Brave Irene brings on the fuzzy gal pop, Slumberland-style

imaginary liz — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 22:21:31 +0000

If the two teaser tracks posted on the internet are representative of the new Brave Irene album, I think I've found my favorite fuzzy pop album of the year... and it's not just because I'm already a huge fan of one of the band's members. The all-lady group from Vancouver, Canada features imaginary favorite Rose Melberg, the gal behind all things Tiger Trap, The Softies, Gaze, and Go Sailor.

On the group's debut self-titled album, Ms. Melberg has stepped away from the demure and subtle, filling Brave Irene's songs with boisterous glee and velvety shoegazer swells a la The Primatives and The Flatmates. The eight-song release hits the shelves (on cd, MP3 download, or limited edition creamy white 12" vinyl) on March 15, 2011, on Slumberland Records (it's a perfect companion to the latest Pains of Being Pure at Heart, donchaknow). I can't wait to hear all 18 minutes of it!

Here's the two songs I've heard so far... what do you think?:

Brave Irene - Longest Day

Brave Irene - No Fun

A Cautionary Tale

Imaginary Amie — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:33:16 +0000

http://thepauses.bigcartel.com/

ThePauses_CautionaryTale.jpg

First off, I have to confess that I picked up this CD simply because of its AMAZING cover, which is styled like an uber creepy Little Golden Book with illustrations by artist Travis Lampe (I've already picked out 10 things I need from his site). The disc itself even looks like a little 45! *squee*

Secondly - omg, you guys. I don't think I've fallen in love with an album at first listen like this since Rilo Kiley's The Execution of All Things. The Pauses have put together a simply stunning debut. From the synthy keyboard notes of "Beyond Bianca" to the sway-worthy heartbreak beats of "Pull the Pin", I adore every single goddamn thing about A Cautionary Tale. Lead singer and keyboardist Tierney Tough's throaty vocals are complemented by pretty melodic oohs and ahhs from multi-instrumented Jason Kupfer (guitar, keys, computerboard (!), and foot bells), and ably backed by Nathan Chase's drums and electronics.

The second track, "Go North", is like a song from my favorite 80s movie - its bouncy drums and bell-like plinks hover around soulmate lyrics heavy with emotion, but light enough to keep you smiling. "There's something | about you | It's unnerving | so, stay there." Next up, "Goodbye, Winthrope" is a deep instrumental bass and guitar tune that builds to a crescendo of pretty notes, then fades out just after 6 minutes - only to come back with a surprisingly sweet ukulele duet. "I know you belong to somebody new | but tonight, you belong to me."

"Hands Up" starts with a classical vibe, and fades almost seamlessly into "The Leap Year", which is a roller coaster of vocal highs and lows that show the full range of Tierney's talent - and overall, it's just really fucking pretty. It might even be the prettiest, most gut-wrenching song on the whole album: "We're not in love | We're just comparing." "Little Kids" picks up the poppy pace with a mix of styles, blending piano with pounding drums, and ending in trailing "oooooohs" that prep you for "The Migration", which is simply impossible not to jump up and down to. "And I can't | be what you want me to be | And I can't | see what you want me to see."

Broken lyrics that leave you raw run throughout the album, but what really draws you in is the POWER contained within - the raw, driving emotion that anthropomorphizes each tune. And lest you think this is a typical indie-rock album about love and loss, The Pauses throw in abrupt changes to the beat that shake you to the core for deep, soul-pleasing sound. I can't recommend it highly enough, and when they come to Seattle, you better believe I'll be in the front row! Go forth, buy, and please your ears.

{A Cautionary Tale will be in stores 3/8/2011}

Imaginary Watch This: Who the Hell is Arcade Fire?

Imaginary Amie — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:56:56 +0000

Apparently when Arcade Fire won Album of the Year at the Grammys a few weeks ago, Twitter exploded with angry dismissals. I missed that, but luckily Jonathan Mann made a video for me so I could catch up on the madness. In addition to singing tweets verbatim, he very nicely explains who Arcade Fire actually is for those of us who might not know (my limited exposure to them is via the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack).

Imaginary Watch This: Sloan see the good in everyone

Imaginary Amie — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:25:27 +0000

My favorite Canadians, also known as Sloan, made this entirely rad video near an airport for their song "The Good in Everyone" way back in 1996. Even though the song is only about 2 minutes long, the video is a little over 4 minutes, which makes for an interesting jet engine prelude. It's well worth the wait for the seriously catchy beats of this indie-alt-rock-power-pop foursome.

(psst: I've seen them live SEVERAL times, and they are always awesome! If they make it to Seattle again, I highly recommend.)

The Watson Twins and Daytrotter are givin' me The Sweetest Taboo

Imaginary Amie — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:39:40 +0000

I don't know how I've missed it for SO long, but Daytrotter is quickly becoming my new favorite site. Basically how it works is awesome bands swing by the Daytrotter studios whilst on tour and stop to record a few songs for a "Daytrotter Session". My current favorites are these tracks from The Watson Twins, most especially their sway-inducing cover of Sade's "The Sweetest Taboo" (hey, what can I say? I'm a child of the 80s!).

But there is SO much great music on this site that I encourage you to sign up and check it out. It's totally free, there's a ton of bands (including Old 97s, OK Go, Iron & Wine, MGMT, Wavves, Vampire Weekend and Of Montreal!!!) and you can download what you like for keeps. How insanely cool is that? We love you, Daytrotter!

{photo borrowed from The Watson Twins' Facebook Page}

Pick up FREE tix for the 2011 Sasquatch Launch Party {Sunday, 2/6}

Imaginary Amie — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:57:06 +0000

Are you one of those hardcore music festival-goers who buys tickets before you even know who’s playing? Or do you prefer to wait to see who’s taking the stage before you fork out the $$$?

Either way, if you’re planning on/thinking about going to the Sasquatch! festival this year, you can find out the lineup for sure on Sunday, February 6. Showbox at the Market will be hosting this year’s launch party, with performances from The Thermals, Mad Rad, and Das Racist. Comedian Todd Barry will be manning the mike, and tickets to this even are free free free!

Just head over to Verizon stores downtown (6th & Olive), at Northgate, or in Bellevue Square starting tomorrow, Thursday, 2/3 to pick up a pair (limit 2 per person). Just an FYI: tix don’t guarantee you entry, so plan on bundling up and waiting in line for a bit to get in and get a good spot.

Sasquatch! 2011 Launch Party
sponsored by Verizon
Showbox at the Market
Sunday, February 6
Doors @8pm
21+