at Neumo's

Blissy loud, amazing loud, "That can not possibly be coming from one guitar" kind of loud.

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The top 10 albums "that made my head spin (in a good way)" from Chop Suey booker Pete Greenberg.

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It has now been 2.5 years since I moved out of Seattle for the Golden State. I've slowly drifted out of the NW music culture, so sometimes I wonder if I know what to say on TIG these days.

Combine that with the fact that I was so distracted from music for a lot of 2008, this year's "best of" lists were especially difficult. Heck, I don't even think I can make a Best of NW music list this year, not because there was insufficient music, but because I just missed so many of those important-but-not-well-known releases that make these lists. I did enjoy Fleet Foxes, Common Market, Colin Meloy live, Malkmus and the like, but really, that isn't a "Best of the NW" list but rather a list of albums I liked that happened to be from the NW.

That being said, I did get a last minute music revival for the year. Maybe it was the election being over (and the good guys winning), maybe it was finally getting a faculty position after many years of trying (lets just say Erik will be moving east in 2009), maybe 2008 just didn't mesh with me musically. Who knows? However, there was a lot of great music anyway, and here are my top 20 (for your praise or fist shaking). Feel free to read the full commentary. 

 

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at Bumbershoot 2008

Bumbershoot is a musical extravaganza, spanning the three-day Labor Day weekend with more bands, arts, and elephant ears than anyone can possibly capture. We had a posse of imaginary writers (ChrisB, Chris Estey, imaginary elle, imaginary dana, and Cory), and photographers (Chona, Kyle, Nathan, and Andrew) all over Seattle Center, trying to capture the frenzy and mayhem of Bumbershoot 2008. Below you can see and read about our adventures during the first day, which kicked off with local electronic duo Beehive and ended with superstar Beck, and covered over 20 other bands in-between.

Enjoy!

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The Walkmen have been busy little beavers in 2006. Two full-length albums for our enjoyment and they couldn't be more different.

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at Graceland

Here's a band that named themselves after a Vancouver restaurant where robots make sushi, playing music that intentionally de-emphasizes traditional guitar, instead opting for spacious tones with plenty of room for the irreverent.

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at The Vera Project

"You open your eyes... you hit the switch!"

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Hey kids! It's the end of '02, so welcome to the first ever Imaginary Recap. Hold onto your seats kids, it's gonna be a bumpy year-long ride of favorite, in triplicate. Because the best things always happen in threes (ho ho ho...)

{And yes, we have included shameless promotion links to our affliated Insound and Amazon affiliate programs, where you can listen or buy. So sue us. Or buy something, and help us support our excessive web page habits...}

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