Hopefully you were one of the lucky folks that got to see Ben Gibbard play this weekend in Seattle! There were two shows on his dance card, on Saturday at Washington Hall with Shelby Earl {for an 826 Seattle benefit}, and on Friday at the Showbox with Damien Jurado. We caught the latter (with a few photos by our own Imaginary Victoria to prove it really happened) and were absolutely floored by both sets. It was incredible to see Damien play a powerful solo set after a run of recent full-band shows, and of course, Ben was as talented and as charming as ever. He ran through a ninety-minute selection of deep-catalog Death Cab favorites, Postal Service hits, and tracks off his recent solo release, Former Lives -- including our personal high point of the evening, where he prefaced a launch into "Teardrop Windows" with an emphatic promise to never move out of this city again.

Fingers crossed, Ben! We're glad to have you home.

{Photos by Victoria VanBruinisse. See more from this show and recent goings-on around town in the imaginary flickr pool!}

There's plenty to dig into at this year's Bumbershoot Music Festival outside of the big-draw acts (Gotye, anyone?) that make the daily ticket price well worth every hard-earned dollar you're going to spend. There's an impressive comedy lineup, KEXP's always-awesome "secret" Music Lounge, endless vendors, and the sunny goodness of the Seattle Center grounds -- and it all awaits us as another Labor Day weekend looms around the corner. You can head on over to the official Bumbershoot site to go over the schedule and fine-tune a personal lineup, of course -- but here's a few of our hot picks anyway, just in case you find yourself with a case of multi-stage overwhemsion.

SATURDAY

Bumbershoot kicks off strong this year with some feel-good bands breaking us in on our first day, like JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound (fingers crossed-times-infinity that they do their killer cover of "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart"), Sera Cahoone, and the Barr Brothers, still fresh in our mind from their performance at Pickathon. THEESatisfaction is sure to electro-groove our very souls before we get a good shredding from the Heartless Bastards, and later on we'll gladly close out day one with a bit of Jane's Addiction and M. Ward:

2:30p, Fisher Green Stage: JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound
3:30p, Sub Pop Stage (Fountain Lawn): Sera Cahoone
4:30p, The Promenade: Barr Brothers
5:15p, Sub Pop Stage: THEESatisfaction
5:45p, Starbucks Stage (Mural): Heartless Bastards
9:00p, The Promenade: Damien Jurado
9:30p, Mainstage (Key Arena): Jane's Addiction
9:45p, Fisher Green Stage: M. Ward

There's tons to do in that gap during the dinner hour, including the Stranger's Guide to America, grabbing actual dinner, checking out Flatstock, and seeking out one of a bazillion killer comedy acts before picking back up the tunes.

SUNDAY

Chugging along into day two, we'll gladly get take our wakeup call from Eighteen Individual Eyes (and a side of the-good-kind-of-bite from Katie Kate) before we ease into a mainstage set at Key Arena from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (hell yes!!). There's a run of favorites and Sub Pop all-stars through the afternoon, with blissy sets from the Young Evils, the Fruit Bats, and Mudhoney; and another day'll easily get knocked out of the park with a closing set from Wanda Jackson and those Dusty 45s:

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Damn, Seattle. It doesn't seem like a minute goes by when you aren't blowing our minds with a lineup, a song, or some kind of incredible creative expression, and this week is no exception. We're gearing up to head down to Pickathon this weekend, we're still reeling from Block Party, City Arts just dropped a great lineup on us, and our inboxes have been full-to-the-brim with great releases and good vibrations. And it's not showing a sign of stopping anytime soon, PS -- from what we can see so far, fall tour is gonna be a doozy this year.

So, here's a few things we've been digging on lately that we wanted to share:

Crush #1: Western Medicine's new single, "Belly of the Beast"

Easily the freshest new summer jam to throw on whatever mix or playlist you're currently in the middle of concocting, "Belly of the Beast" is our go-to track from Western Medicine's brand-spanking-new self-titled release. You'll likely recognize more than one member of the lineup: the four-piece stars Adam MacKinnon {of Ambitious Career Woman, and also current Barsuk Records warehouse manager}, Laurel Hoffman, Rudy Gajadhar {Waxwing, Gatsby's American Dream}, and David Audino {Crimewave}. Together, these folks are cultivating a terriffic sound, in our opinion best showcased on this particular track -- and per their bio, "...Gajadhar and Audino lay down a powerful rhythmic foundation, while Hoffman's melodic keys play perfect counterpoint to MacKinnon's low register leads." That takes the words right out of our mouths!

Turn it on, put it on repeat, and then get yourself to the Sunset for their record release show on August 9th. They'll be taking the stage with Hot Panda and Runt, and will likely be the best six dollars you spend all week.

Crush #2: New video for Damien Jurado's "Museum of Flight"

Hello, gorgeous! Seriously.

It's not enough that Damien Jurado put out two stand-the-test-of-time records (so far, at least) in a world of flash-in-the-pan buzz bands, but he continues to evolve, collaborate, and make beautiful soundscapes that wow us every time. We couldn't get enough of the risks and bliss on Saint Bartlett, then our minds were blown with the creative turns of Maraqopa -- and now we look up and our pal Tyler Kalberg makes an insanely beautiful video for one of Maraqopa's standout tracks, "Museum of Flight". Full of scenes from Jurado + band's most recent whirl through Europe, the visuals and seamlessness of this video are at once soothing and staggering. Did we mentioned it premiered on Spin.com a few weeks ago, ps? Killer. Check here for EU and stateside tour dates, we'll see Damien next time around locally at Bumbershoot.

Crush #3: Bowerbirds

Not just the band, per se, but this incredible track "House of Diamonds" that we featured on our Pickathon preview playlist. It's really just seventeen hundred different kinds of perfect, and we're having a hard time shutting up about it. Bowerbirds have a new album out, and will be touring behind it post-Pickathon, first for a batch of dates in Europe and then across the US in the fall. If you're digging it, on top of a stop at Pickathon this weekend they'll be at Neumos and the Doug Fir toward the end of October {full list tour dates here}.

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Let's jump right in: I'm torn between starting this post with "this Lemolo album is seriously haunting me" and "Lemolo could totally beat up your favorite synth-y indie dream-core band" because they're both true. In the case of the former, I find myself humming harmonies absentmindedly at varying points in my days and nights, wondering what the song is -- and then realizing it's a track off of The Kaleidoscope; and the case of the latter, the lyrics are smarter and more gripping than anything I've heard in this genre before, and the emotion-pendulum they swing on is more vast.

Whichever way you slice it, The Kaleidoscope is a keeper. It'll be your new go-to for warming up, coming down, pondering, soundtracking, arriving, leaving, making out, and everything in-between. The album as a whole is intelligent and tight, meandering over to casually shred your face off in one moment and placing it's hands directly on your heartstrings the next. There's such a big-yet-right-in-the-next-room feeling that pervades from start to finish, and it would be easy to make comparisons like 'Beach House with a better edge!' or 'Phantogram with less dance party and more smart-kid!' but we'd be doing Lemolo an injustice by saying so. Instead, I'll fine-tune it a bit and say that this album holds up to the landscape of Washed Out's "Feel It All Around" {one of my favorite dream-jam tracks} and the brilliance of a portion of the Broken Social Scene catalog {"Sweetest Kill" and "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl come to mind}, while still standing apart with a tone and center all it's own.

Every single song has a piece in it somewhere that punches us square in the gut, in the very best of ways. "On Again, Off Again" is the big single from the album, and of course there's the "Open Air" video... it's great to finally hear tracks from shows put to waxdisc, like those two, "Who Loves" and "Whale Song" -- but "Move Me" is taking the proverbial cake at the moment. "Move Me" wraps the listener around the axle with the line that repeats I don't / want to / be away / from you / too long, and coincidentally enough, that's exactly how we feel about this album (and this band in general, PS).  I'd strongly encourage every single one of you reading this to be sure and catch Lemolo at Columbia City Theater this Friday and Saturday, but both shows are sold out. You'll just have to get yourself over to the Capitol Hill Block Party for a chance at taking in a live set.

While the Lemolo release and this next one have nothing to do with each other, they both hit my stratosphere in the same week, and so I've taken them in at the same time -- and as a result, there has definitely had a yin-and-yang effect taking place. When I'm all full-up on Lemolo's smart soundscape-y vibes, I shift my attention to my other favorite thing of the moment, the equally smart yet sonically-opposite Foreign Spells {the new Young Evils EP}. Foriegn Spells is short, to the point, and provides an excellent sampler-pack of songs that show the direction the band is headed in. While we've made no secret here in the imaginary office about how much we loves us some Enchanted Chapel, we're double-down excited about the new tunes that the Young Evils have seen fit to bestow us with, especially now that we've got "Darker Blue Bayou" in the flesh and can add it to the next mix we make. With the last release as evidence to compare and contrast against, the songs seem smarter, darker, fuller, and more concise -- the EP really shows the listener the difference between a bright idea and more of a fully-formed realization of what these stellar musicians are capable of. And while Foreign Spells is totally killer on the stereo, as is the case with many other bands, we think these lady-and-gents do their best work live -- so be sure to get yourself to the formal release party at Barboza next month, on July 13th.

There have been a handful of tracks that are making their way onto mixes of late, and a few doing repeat duty, so I thought it best to mention them as well if we're talking about what's been filling our imaginary ears and iPhones with happiness. Some are new-new, some are new-to-me, and some are just new in that they were buried at the bottom of the stack and recently found their way back up into heavy rotation.

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{This is part three of a three-part Sasquatch! 2012 photo recap. Be sure to check out part one here, and part two here!}

The last day of a festival often comes with a mixture of relief and nostalgia, concurrent: on one hand, you're tired, dirty, a little dehydrated, and longing for a real cup of coffee; on the other, you've had all your synapses blown clean with set after set of incredible music and you're not quite sure you want it to end. Your own bed sounds fantastic -- but so does staying on in a weird, seemingly neverending rock-and-roll summer-kickoff camp. Sasquatch!, as with all literal and metaphorical good things, did come to an end like it does every year, but not without a final day full of awesomeness that left us counting down the days to 2013's festival. We started off nice and easy, with the comforting, warm-bath vibe of Poor Moon on the Yeti Stage, followed by a kicked-up set from Portland's Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside.

Poor Moon:

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside:

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True story!

The fine folks over at Daily Candy featured a playlist of ours, on the heels of Imaginary Victoria's what-you-can't-miss-at-Sasquatch post we ran last week. It's a quick drive-by of some local (and farther-reaching) favorites that we're excited to see this weekend, and includes tracks from Yellow Ostrich, Pickwick, THEESatisfaction, Hey Marseilles, We Are Augustines, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Damien Jurado, The Cave Singers, and more!

Pop on over to Daily Candy's site to check it out -- there's even a playlist with (most) of the tracks that you can spin(?) on Spotify.

{Photo by Christopher Nelson.}

It seems crazy to be talking about it already, but ready or not, 2012's Sasquatch! Music Festival is right around the corner! Next weekend, in fact, we'll be packing up our cars and celebrating the impending start of summer by spending a long weekend in the sun, poring over four days of band schedules and making the most of our annual trip to the Gorge Ampitheater in George, Washington. The last few years have given us festival weekends for the books {here's some proof from 2011 and 2010}, and this year looks like it will be no exception -- there's tons to see every day no matter what your personal taste is, and at the moment it looks like the weather is going to hold out, too! So, let's take a look at some of the highlights that we can't wait to take in -- and you can play along at home by making your own Sasquatch! day-by-day schedule here.

FRIDAY

There seems to be a build built in to the fest, both per-day and over the course of the weekend, too: Friday starts by easing us into a warm bath with the smooth sounds of Allen Stone, who will be kicking things off at the Sasquatch Stage at 5:00p. And if that "blue-eyed soul" sound isn't your thing, don't worry -- you can take it in the opposite direction with the post alt.indie vibe that Yellow Ostrich does at 5:15p on the Bigfoot Stage instead {pop on over here for a sample of what we love about these guys}. Then, Iceland's made-famous-to-Seattle-via-KEXP allstars Of Monsters and Men take the 6:00p spot on the Sasquatch Stage, while recent buzz band Polica blow out the Bigfoot Stage at 6:30. There's plenty to experience Friday besides (and around) these four picks, but our last can't-miss recommendation is 110% for Girl Talk's set at 8:30 on the Sasquatch Stage, sure to be a power-hour that will leave the crowds (and us!) happily hopped-up in preparation for the next three days of music.

SATURDAY

We can't really think of a better way to begin the first weekend day of Sasquatch! with back-to-back sets of awesome on the Sasquatch Stage, first with Pickwick at 12:00p, followed immediately by Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires at 1:05p. {It's worth noting that we've been buzzing with love for Charles Bradley since his set in KEXP's Bumbershoot Music Lounge last year, and we can't wait to catch him on the big stage!} Well-primed, we'll head into some modern American roots tunes from Blitzen Trapper at 2:10p on the same stage, and we'll cap the first part of the day off with what's sure to be one of the best revival-jam sets of the weekend, Alabama Shakes at 3:00p on the Bigfoot Stage. Speaking of, we're quite sure you're in the loop with AS's recent release, Boys & Girls, but just in case you haven't gotten into it yet, check it out here.

Saturday shakes up at 3:30p, with a turn for the funkier side: THEESatisfaction will be bringing all the goodness from their latest release {and then some!} to the Yeti Stage right about then, and there's tons to check out over the course of the afternoon and early evening (Portlandia, Kurt Vile and the Violators, and Dum Dum Girls stand out as choices worthy of your festival time) before Helio Sequence's Bigfoot Stage set at 6:30p and Metric's Sasquatch Stage set at 6:40p. Those bleed into our absolutely-can't-miss pick for Saturday, tUnE-yArDs on the Bigfoot Stage at 7:30p {!!!!!}, and the night caps off with The Shins and Jack White back-to-back to close out the Sasquatch Stage starting about 8:10p.

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at Fremont Abbey Arts Center

I'm almost not quite sure how to begin recounting last night's show at the Fremont Abbey {Round #83, with Damien Jurado, The Head and the Heart's Jonathan Russell, and members of Pretty Broken things, two painters, and a poet} in a way that conveys it with proper justice. So far as layperson's terms go, it was just a show: two forty-five minute sets on a stage, three lead singers trading off turns, with active art creation on the side and yes, even the poetry was good. But when you take two powerful frontmen and put them in such an intimate setting -- you're bound to win big. And I think I can speak for the entire sold-out room when I say that everybody won last night.

Between getting to see Damien Jurado's work showcased at such a tangible, stripped-away scale {both through selections from Maraqopa and long-standing favorites like "Sheets"} and Jonathan Russell's raw-yet-polished abandon {several new-to-me songs, a Bill Withers cover, and an incredible closing number about getting postcards you don't want that's been rattling in my brain since The Head and the Heart's Easy Street set last year}, we were taken on a collective journey through the soundscape that engaged both the audience and the other members on stage in a way you just don't see at a one-band-at-a-time rehearsed show. Such is the beauty of seeing performers in the round.

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It was a great long weekend for sight and sound as we took in some goings-on around Seattle, the most notable of which was the release party for Damien Jurado's Maraqopa this past Friday at the Neptune. Sharing the bill with Gold Leaves and Bryan John Appleby, Jurado and the most recent incarnation of his band sold out our newest favorite venue to an attentive, appreciative crowd. Maraqopa {which is officially out today}, his latest brand of soundscape, is the perfect blend of everything we've come to love about Damien Jurado's work, packaged in a collective series of sounds we've never quite heard from him before. There's a little bit on Maraqopa for everyone: it's part singer-songwriter, part freak-folk, part guitar-shredding psychedelia heaven, and fourteen other different kinds of good. {Read a little more about what we've heard and adore about Maraqopa thus far here.}

Here's a few shots from Friday's show:

Another knock-it-out-of-the-park win this weekend was the screening of Fever Year, the documentary that followed Andrew Bird along for a seemingly insane 180-date tour a few years back. As avid fans, we've seen everything from those early 2000s shows where six fellow attendees stood in rapt appreciation to bursting-at-the-seams capacity nights from this most recent grueling tour {including a sold-out show at the Paramount and a set for a few thousand people at Austin City Limits in 2009} -- and it was an absolute delight to see every facet of Andrew Bird's career represented so brilliantly in this film. Historical flashbacks to his Bowl of Fire days fused together perfectly with recent tour clips and an incredible glimpse of his on-, off- and backstage life, all of which blended together into a gorgeously intimate eighty-minute portrait of the Andrew Bird of today. The mini-doc was warmed up perfectly by the screening of the Fleet Foxes' The Shrine / An Argument, an absolute delight to take in -- both visually on the big screen and as it poured out of the theater's state-of-the-art soundsystem.

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Riveting, modern yet vintage-without-trying, just the right amount of haunted and desolate vibes while remaining full to the very seams.

These are the notes from my first few watches through the official video for "Nothing Is The News" by Damien Jurado, off the much-anticipated, almost-released new album Maraqopa, but they might as well be the words that describe both the music and Damien as a whole from a fan and listener perspective. To date, there's been nothing Damien Jurado has done that hasn't been fully immersive: each album a project unto itself, each track an experience, each phase clearly defined, described, presented, and finally ventured on from. The last album, Saint Bartlett, is a perfect example of this, where we traveled along for the story of the tracks, sat listening in the rain, stood stage-side and were all scarred beautifully by our favorites -- and now, the time has come to shelf it for the takings-on of a new journey. It will always be there when we need the nostalgia, of course, or when that phase of the journey re-presents itself sometime down the line -- but as of today, it's Maraqopa time.

Our friends at Secretly Canadian describe this latest work as "the most vital and engaging... heard from Damien in five plus years of working with him here at Secretly Canadian. In this second project with producer Richard Swift, Damien's folk roots are fleshed out with flourishes of blues, psychedelia, and soul breathing a whole new world into Damien's sound" and inform us that "with each visit to National Freedom, Jurado is exploring, taking risks. He's not only freeing his songs. The gate is opened wide to allow us all into his once-isolated musical universe. One gets the sense he's just now hitting his stride." We couldn't have put it any better ourselves, and strongly encourage you to pick up the album as soon as you're able -- preorders are alive and well here, or, take the in-person trip with us and several hundred of your closest friends for the record release party next Friday {2/17} at the Neptune, where you can see Damien play live and pick up a real-live copy at the merch table.

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