Can you believe Tig Notaro has been doing stand up for 14 years? I can believe it. I can totally wrap my head around that (as she says about getting news about a friend's five year old child starting kidnargten and being asked, "Can you believe that?" because yes, she can). Even though her super-casual, silky smooth but somehow adorably a little bit anxious, coffee pal style of comedy smacks you as fresh as a shower to an infant, only a vet can pull that off.

Yet now Secretly Canadian has extended their picky taste in exceptional independent rock to alt-comedy, and Tig has her CD debut out this week, full of warm, generous, empathetic, and sometimes a little creepy (in a cute way) material with titles like "Little Titties," "No Moleste," and "Taylor Dayne." All three of these bits were high points of her dominating the comedy stages at Bumbershoot last year, and they fall into that arguably rare category of recorded stand up you want to hear again and again.

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Our friends over at Sound on the Sound are presenting their first show of 2011, and it's sure a doozy: none other than one of our imaginary favorites, Damien Jurado, will be headlining on a bill that includes Widower and Tony Kevin Jr. tonight at Columbia City Theater.

In case you haven't seen all the exclamation points flying around the site over the last few months, let us refresh your memories: we simply just Can't. Get. Enough of Damien Jurado's 2010 release here in the imaginary offices. Saint Bartlett is nothing short of an indie triumph, with a start-to-finish one-take sound that begs to be heard on vinyl. It's at once simple and adventurous, and as many a critic have stated, a gorgeous and well-charted departure from anything he's done over the last few years -- while managing to maintain his signature sound down in the underpinnings, much to our delight.

Here's a little taste, in the event that Saint Bartlett hasn't made it's way into your colection yet:

If that's not enough to get you out to Columbia City in the drizzle tonight, I don't know what is. Tickets are going fast, and we strongly recommend that you pick one (or four) up in advance over at Brown Paper Tickets before you head to the show. We'll see there!

{21+ / $14 / 9p}

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Last Friday, Damien Jurado played to a packed house at Easy Street Records in West Seattle, as part of KEXP's Hood-to-Hood challenge winner's day. Not only did the performance round out a day of tremendous live acts and a blast of a broadcast, but it also gave us a sneak peek at the new album (out today), Saint Bartlett. The songs are tremendous, the performance blew the roof off of Easy Street, and the record completely translates into a dozen or so tracks of pure greatness.

If you missed all of this, however, fret not: you (and seventy-five of your closest friends) can go pack the Ballard Sonic Boom tonight for a encore performance at 6:30p. Tonight's set also marks the official release of Saint Bartlett, being new release Tuesday and all, and we'd highly recommend picking it up (on vinyl, if you have the means) while it's there to get your hands on.

Easy enough, right? Let's recap:

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 "I wish I that I could float up from the ground / I will never know what that's like," are the first lines on Damien Jurado's latest record, Saint Bartlett, but it takes repeated listening to hear what he's saying. Not because his voice is muffled, as he and production collaborator Richard Swift have created a gliding, string-swollen tune that is very memorable and Jurado's sing-song voice floats in it like a crystal clear cross-current. It's when an initially annoying, distracting vocal repeats much of what he sings that the meaning of the song goes from someone imagining flying in reverse; it's about someone crashing. "Some day these hospital stays get the best of me / Trying to fix my mind / Trying to work it out, still trying to fix my mind." 

Saint Bartlett opening track "Cloudy Shoes" does a rare thing in pop music, creating a dragoon of hooks while getting under the skin; pushing the listener away just as the story pulls them in. It's one of Jurado's boldest mid-tempo pop songs, and the fact that he and Swift would allow the cracked inner life of its character to possibly hinder its potential for popularity by displaying it as a forthright effect is unsettling. 

{Damien Jurado plays at The Triple Door on Saturday, May 29 with Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, $14, 8pm, all ages.}

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Secretly American record label Secretly Canadian has announced the long list of upcoming tour dates for Damien Jurado's next Big Adventure; the keen-eyed troubadour has assembled a batch of cheap wine-swilling hobos playing spoons and rattling tin cans to join him hopping trains and playing midnight bonfires all over this post-Bush Depression-stricken land. So save them some Mulligan's when they pull into the train-yard nearest you, boys! And watch out for the railroad goons!

Oh wait, I was thinking about Pee Wee Herman. This latest super-tour starts at the Triple Door at the very end of May, on the 29th, and from there it's all over North America, winding up back in Portland on July 3. And singer-songwriter Damien Jurado does have a new band though, called the Saint Bartlett Band, which is totally weird, because (you won't believe this) his new album is named Saint Bartlett. Coincidence? Maybe. (Damien has a new kitten named Pear. I'll let your own mind find its way home now.) Actually, what's weirder is that the Saint Bartlett Band is actually eight fellow Seattle musicians from Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground. That's a lot of members to borrow from one band! And that's a lot of players Damien will have joining him for this very multi-dated tour! (Dates below.)

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TIG favorites and indie rock band Throw Me the Statue just released a new video to their single "Hi-Fi Goon", from their recently-released album Creaturesque. The timing of its release, I'm sure, is meant to whet the appetites of people who can't wait for their show on Tuesday at the Vera Project with The Brunettes. Enjoy:

Throw Me The Statue has had a steep learning curve. Releasing their first LP, Moonbeams, on Scott Reitherman’s local Seattle label, Baskerville Hill Records, they recently signed with the Indiana based independent label, Secretly Canadian, for their sophomore full length release, Creaturesque. Weaving together pop, rock, and a slew of influences, Creaturesque is redolent of an estranged lover’s pheromones lingering on a hand-me-down T-shirt.

In an interview with The Line Of Best Fit, Scott Rietherman commented on recently joining the impressive collection of bands on Secretly Canadian. He sees Jens Lekman’s pop presence on the label encouraging as a niche for Throw Me The Statue to fit into Secretly Canadian’s roster. Opening track, “Waving at the Shore,” hearkens to Lekman’s love of horns and handclaps, setting a light-hearted tone at the outset of the album. However, this incredibly upbeat pop song feels like an outlier to the rest of the album, only hinting at the overwhelming mnemonic mood of Creaturesque, during the more introspective verses.

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DO NOT MISS Throw Me the Statue and Truckasauras this THURSDAY!!!!

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The possible zenith of an extraordinary career.

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Though you can't booze it up, and there will probably be hordes of enthusiastic underagers rockin' their trendy threads, Danielson is sure to NOT disappoint.

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