{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}!!!

more...

{Rachel and Ben of Visqueen at TIG's 69 Love Songs show in 2008. Photo by Laura Musselman}

Visqueen recently announced that, after more than 13 years of making us merry, they are going on an indefinite hiatus with the close of November, 2011.  Although I agree It's totally fair for them to want to put down their guitars and sticks after such an amazing run, I have to admit it's really sad to think about imaginary life without the hope of ever seeing another Visqueen show (last shows listed below - get your tickets now!).

This got me reminiscing about all the amazing moments Three Imaginary Girls has had with them since our beginning nearly 10 years ago. It's a natural fit that as Visqueen shot to the forefront of the Seattle music scene, we were there in the front row basking in their glow.  All that superfandom has resulted in about 80 Visqueen posts over the years and more than a few "most memorable moments of my life" and, of course, a Top 5 Imaginary Visqueen Moments list!

1. OUR FIRST EVER VISQUEEN SHOW
About a month after we launched Three Imaginary Girls, we posted this review of the July 3, 2002 Visqueen show that pretty much set the tone for the website. We {gush} talk about Kim Warnick, they cover a Tom Petty song, and Kim gives away a pair of tickets to see the Who that weekend{/gush}.  We should have mentioned it more pointedly, but huge thanks to Pete Hilgendorf for telling us about Visqueen in the first place.

more...

Looking through my playlist, there are three songs that have bubbled up in the last week that I wanted to share with you, in case, your itunes is like mine and they fell in the cracks when they first hit the record store racks.

The Features - "Rambo"
The Features have long been a favorite of mine since their release of Exhibit A.  Sure they have connections to Kings of Leon and hail from Nashville, but their songs are far from homey and relaxed. They are brash and haunting, battling bible-belt ghosts with the intensity of Okkervil River (before they've had their morning coffee) and Spoon (after they've had a few beers).

more...

(Please oh please let them play this song at Wednesday's show)

This has been a rough week for me. Two of my favorite bands of ever and all time decided September, 2011 is the perfect month to step away from the tambourine and call it quits.  Oh REM and the Bluetones, I will miss you so. Your songs have made life worth living on many a day and I thank you for the memories.  

The only thing that has made the last week musically bearable is the fact that my dear Bright Eyes is going to be in Seattle this Wednesday, September 28, 2012 at the Paramount. 

more...

Happy Monday morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and was able to make the most of what the experts have claimed to be the warmest day of the year.  My weekend was packed with some mundane blah stuff which was thankfully overshadowed by one hellava Saturday night in Columbia City.  After an amazing dinner at my new favorite restaurant (Island Soul, do not leave without trying one of their coconut corn muffins!), my friends and I headed over to the Fishboy / BOAT / Aqueduct show at the Columbia City Theater.

All the bands went above and beyond, but the highlight of the night was a surprise super special guest appearance. Mr. John Roderick joined BOAT on stage to chime in on "Landlocked," and then stayed on stage for a super-rock rendition of the Long Winters classic, "New Girl." {!!!}   To say it was jaw-dropping would be an understatement. It's been a while since I've heard the Long Winters rock-style, and boy oh boy, I hope this is a sign for things to come (next album, more shows). 

My favorite part of the story? The part in which I found out that BOAT and John hadn't actually ever practiced "New Girl" together.  The band just sprung it on John when he arrived to the show that night {sprung = asked really nicely}. This just furthers my claim that BOAT (with J. Rod on lead vocals now and again) would make a great house band for the next late night talk show. Watch out Roots! 

How was your weekend? What were your highlights?

Huge thanks to Button Dave for capturing the magic and posting to youtube:

(videos after the jump)

more...

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...

It's no secret I heart Matt & Kim... so much so that sometimes it's hard to explain why. I usually end up rambling about how nice and wonderful and lovey they are to everyone (and each other) and how they inspire me to be a kinder and much more fun person.

Their new video for "Block After Block" kinda illustrates why they rule (and makes me want to go run around NYC with a bunch of friends).

As Matt explains on their blog:

Another video where Kim is terrified that she is going to get arrested and I (lie) and tell her there is no way that will happen. One day this is going to bite me in the ass but it hasn’t happened yet. Block After Block is our adventure throughout New York City playing impromptu shows wherever we could.

Matt & Kim are on tour with the Thermals right now... my heart explodes thinking about being front row for that bill (which sadly wont happen anytime soon since both bands played Sasquatch last month).

more...

Folklore is the labor of love of Jimmy Hughes {Elf Power, Athens, GA resident musician}.  This time around, with Jimmy's migration from Athens to Philadelphia, the line-up for this third Folklore album was filled out by a mini-orchestra of Philly folk. This mid-Atlantic region influence helped transform the lost bedroom project to a full-on live band.

Their latest album, Home Church Road, is so varied that it sounds like a indie-film soundtrack.  Each track bravely charges ahead without fear of connecting to a rewind or fast forward button.  The songs live in the present, flowing from chilly meandering experiments to folky melodies to electro-glitch to hook-laden rock anthems. The collection reminds me it takes more than just good intentions to craft cathartic challenges to traditional indie-rock conventions.

The beautiful gut-wrenching churning and distortion of "The Party" {listen} is reminiscent of early Neutral Milk Hotel's "Everything Is" while tracks like "Mother River" tastefully pull from the vaults of Pavement and Unrest. "A Few Years Forward" mixes cacophony of horns, guitar distortion, and reverb vocals into a beautiful opening track that makes me weep with fuzzy Elephant Six tears. "Empty Houses" {listen} is part sweet sing along, part Tractor Tavern twang with a backdrop of barnyard quirk.

more...

In this era of sponsored hype nonsense and corporate grassroots initiatives, it's time to get back to the core of why we get dirty fingernails flipping through record bins and sacrifice respectable sleep patterns and clean laundry to recharge the batteries of our hand-stamped hearts.

Enter the Dangerous Ponies from Philadelphia. A seven-piece who describe themselves as a "queer and allied band, slathered in gold and rainbows." But, they are more than that. Dangerous Ponies are a reminder that great things happen when calculated postures are replaced with giddy enthusiasm.

Combining the DIY-or-Die mantra of the Pharmacy and the elegant cleverness of the Starlight Mints, the songs on the Dangerous Ponies self-released, debut full-length album, would be equally comfortable at a beach dance party, house party sing along, or played from the decks of a Linda's happy hour DJ set between Modest Mouse and Heavenly.

The opening track "We" is a fitting introduction to the band as an indie-dance party carousel ride - weaving between splashes of Tilly and the Wall and Queenish 60's glamrock. From there they dive deep into sweeping theatric mid-song breakdowns and churning indie-rock Built to Spill guitar rifts that lay the groundwork for comparisons to Los Campesinos!, Quasi and Stereolab. (listen to the album for free on bandcamp).

more...