Sometimes, like this week, things can look fairly bleak; Economy, politics, corruption, confusion, and dayjob deadlines can bring a girl down. But, the video for the Forbidden Friends song "Tiny Hands" reminds me/us all that we just gotta stay cool and persevere. Yes, that's the magic of crayon signs, and flying cats.

For the remainder of today (and likely tomorrow too), I'm going to practice my chair dance moves and imagine daydream backdrops behind me as I sing along to "Tiny Hands." And that makes it all so much better.

Every wind that blows is a summer breeze and I never felt a drop of rain!

What video have you found that picks you up and dusts you off?

more...

Rather than thinking of it as 2011 being halfway over, I prefer to see it as we're all halfway to my birthday {December 24th if it's not on your calendar already}. To celebrate, and take stock of this year's releases thus far, I've put together a mix of my favorite songs of 2011 {so far}.

This year has brought some predictably great albums from friends such as Mountain Goats, Okkervil River, BOAT, Matt & Kim, Telekinesis, Bright Eyes. I feel like I've been waiting for a fresh batch of songs from Brown Recluse for years. I love every note they play and having a two hearty releases in one year {Panoptic Mirror Maze and Evening Tapestry} makes me overjoyed.

Other bands, like When I Was 12 and Dangerous Ponies, I am thankful for crossing paths with for the first time this year.

And then there are the folks that have left me wanting more more more (I'm looking at you Oregon Bike Trails and Forbidden Friends)! Huge thanks to You Aint No Picasso for bringing Oregon Bike Trails to my attention. OBT fellow, singer/songwriter Zach Yudin, from Santa Monica, Ca., is quite the mysterious dude - only having a cassette tape release earlier this year (hand painted, limited to 50!) and a couple other MP3s swirling around the web.

Forbidden Friends, a side project by Thermals frontman Hutch Harris (with Michael Lerner of Telekinesis on drums and fellow Thermals Kathy Foster and Westin Glass backing him up), is still in the 7" only phase, and needless to say I'm counting down to a full album of FF stuff.

In short, I can't recommend the below songs and full releases enough. To help convince you of their brilliance, I made a virtual mix cd!

The tracklisting of my {hopefully very convincing} mix cd is:

more...

{Sasquatch photo by asclepius6 from the Imaginary Flickr Photo Pool}

Do you hear that?

It is the sound of folks feverishly tweeting and posting about the amazing #Sasquatch line-up just announced. After weeks (who are we kidding, months!) of mathematically calculating probabilities based on tour schedules and record release dates, we finally have a firm answer of who's going to be at the Gorge this Memorial Day weekend, as well as explanations as to why certain folks don't have a Seattle tour date in the next few months.

Not to sound like everyone else every other year, but this year's line-up has left me speechless. The Sasquatch folks have brought together the best of the best of the best (except Allo Darlin, which I'm guessing will be begged to participate next year) to celebrate their 10th Anniversary.  I mean Wilco, Bright Eyes, Matt & Kim, The Radio Dept., The Thermals, Stornoway, and The Young Evils!?!?!?  You're killing me!!!

Are you headed that way? Who are you most excited about (mine bolded below)? Anyone else you think is going to be added to the bill before we pack up our roadtrip munchies and head Quincy, WA way?

more...

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+

more...

Tonight is the first episode of Portlandia! There are multiple reasons to be both excited and scared. The show could do the Pacific NW justice and help the rest of the US realize how smart we are for living here, it could give Seattle another reason to tease Portland, or it could make us cringe like the (thankfully) short-lived Love Monkey did.  Either way it turns out, I'm just excited to see Carrie Brownstein in my living room.

One good sign is that The Thermals tweeted from the premiere party in NYC and found out that Andy Samberg, Seth Meyers, and Jorma Taccone are Thermals fans (awesome).

Are you looking forward to it, or nervous?

Feel free to live blog in the comments below as you watch Episode 1! I'm sure most of us will be DVR-ing it (The Thermals are in town tonight after all) - so check back after you've watched it and let us know what you think.

Another discovery via my boyfriend - I love, love, LOVE the way this Portland band rocks my socks off! I can’t really put a label on what they do (they call it indie/alternative/pop-post-punk, so I guess they can’t either), all I know is: it is awesome. Watching them live in this KEXP video at Bumbershoot last year makes me all giddy with anticipation.

I’m unsure if I’ll be able to make it to the show on Friday, but you absolutely should because it’s going to be a bouncy night of super-fun with The Thermals, Unnatural Helpers and White Fang. Swing on by Moe Bar to buy some tix, or pick them up online here.

Friday, 1.21 at Neumos
Doors @8pm
Cover: $12 (Advance)
All Ages, Bar w/ID

It's hard to believe 2010 is already over (which is probably why this list is so late), as it was one of the biggest and craziest years of my lifetime. I quit working full time to start a business with my fiance, and, as some of you know, mid-way through last year I decided it was time to bid Seattle a temporary farewell, and by the end of the year, I was packed up and across the country, living small-town style in Athens, GA. I'm a life-long Seattleite, and will continue to think of myself that way, despite the distance, for at least the time being.

These songs of 2010 were the ones that counseled me through the tough decisions of leaving and provided respite in scream-alongs to remind me that everything was going to be OK. Some of these win brownie points for unbelievably adorable videos, and some of them the songs were just too great to not post something, so bear with the fake youtube videos that just have a photo and the album version of the song. Trust me, it's worth it.

1. Nana Grizol "Cynicism"

more...

It usually isn't in my nature to go against the John Roderick grain, but when it comes to end of year lists of favorites, I can't help myself. I have to gather all of my favorite songs into an MP3 scrapbook for my own current and future mental sanity.

Perusing the song stacks of the past year allows me to recall and file the past year before opening up my next year's calendar. Having an MP3 scrapbook gives me a one stop shop when, a year or even 15 days from now, I ask my-list-driven-self "What was 2010?" {because aren't all of our best memories tied to a song?}.

The answer to that question is below in the form of the playlist of my Imaginary Liz's Favorites Songs of 2010 mix:

1. Stornoway - Zorbing / Beachcomber's Windowsill
This is a solid album that is a soothing blend of a bashful Mumford & Sons, randy Features with a pinch of John Denver. This is the most rocking song on the album and the best Stornoway gateway drug, although I nearly featured "Long Distance Lullaby" on this record because I'm a sucker for love letters about late night phone calls. If I was the kind of girl that would have two songs by the same band on a single mixtape, "Long Distance Lullaby" would be a great way to end this year's wrap up.

2. Drums - Let's Go Surfing / The Drums
I'm a sucker for their Spector-esque take on the new wave of the retro reverb. I also love that igDana suggested that the chorus is actually, "Obama, I want to go shopping!"

3. Allo Darlin' - Kiss Your Lips / Allo Darlin'
It is far from hyperbolic to say this is my album of the year if not the decade. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's got the sweet coy of Heavenly, the foresight of Weezer (name checked in this song), and the jangle guitar of the Wedding Present. I've got several candles lit in hopes Allo Darlin returns to Seattle this year {they are set to play the San Francisco PopFest over Memorial Day weekend - which is just a hopskipjump away!}. They are getting a lot of attention from critics and record store fans far and wide, so I can only hope that Allo Darlin' is the future of sweetheart pop {and that sweetheart pop is the future of twee}.

more...

{Head and the Heart photo by Victoria VanBruinnisse from the Imaginary Flickr Photo Pool}

I love this time of year. Besides the {sometimes forced} joyous disposition of folks and my annual fancy birthday breakfast {on December 24 for those keeping track}, we all get to ruminate on the best albums and songs of the year for hours on end.

more...

{Shabazz Palaces photo from the Three Imaginary Girls Flickr Pool by Jason Tang}

Through sheer quirk of fate and possibly my own fatally quirky tastes, the top spots for my four favorite records of the year were given to two separate EPs by two different bands. I'm going to start my Top 20 of 2011 list with a cheat; combining two albums for placement at #1 and #2. Just to obnoxiously make you utterly vigilant of it: the first two spots are taken up by two separate releases, but they're EPs that if combined with each other, tie with/become one release.

Oh, and I'm keeping all hype to 20 words to mirror the Top 20 list. And then I cheat again by having the first two releases described in 40 words, a combination of two 20 word reviews. (No, I haven't been studying Kabbalah with the Wu-Tang Clan.) Also: Mostly in order, but ask me again tomorrow. (The Damien Jurado could be anywhere on this list, for example.) And regional preference takes precedence (call that "fanzine love").

1. Shabazz Palaces, Shabazz Palaces & Of Light EPs
Cracked, uncanny hip-hop collages of unsettling mind-movies, Clockers meets Company Flow. "Juxtapositions of the digital and analog, hard drum-machine beats set against softer bongos or the resonant sweetness of an mbira." -- Jon Caramanica, The New York Times

more...