There's a whole lot of us who will be migrating south for Friday night's Pickwick show at the Doug Fir, but if you're in town this weekend, there's plenty going on that's worth going out for: namely, Lovesick Empire's opening spot at the Highline in Capitol Hill on Friday night. They're playing with SAYS and Black Nite Crash, and you shouldn't miss it. Period.

If you haven't seen or heard Lovesick Empire yet, you are truly missing out. Their self-titled EP tied for first place in 2010's best-ofs, and my first round of listens earlier that year yielded quite the enthusiastic word-salad:

To say that this brand-stinkin'-new release from local notables Alicia Amiri and Jason Lajeunesse is in heavy rotation would just about be the understatement of the year [...] Lovesick Empire manages to give a nod to their roots while maintaining a sound that's completely their own -- we can hear hat-tips to true [word-other-than-]grunge and "He War"-esque Cat Power, layered with a good helping of black eyeliner and a missle-lock stare. You can almost see the movie scene playing out in a deafeningly loud bar during "Something in my Blood," hear the radio hit two tracks later, and realize you've got the perfect addition to your next mix tape with "Can't Get Right." Big, filthy guitars will keep the post-punks happy; and just enough forlorn-ness in the lyrics will draw the indie rockers in.

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Truthfully, I'm even a little star-struck just typing this: Adam Franklin (singer, guitarist and main songwriter for Swervedriver) will be headlining the late show at the Comet with Bolts Of Melody (his back up band) this Saturday, January 23. You  probably remember Swervedriver best from your Shoegazer 101 class Freshman year when your professor pointed all the points of brilliance of Swervedriver songs like "Duel" and "Rave Down."

Even more lovely is that taking the stage before Adam will be some of Seattle's finest fuzzy indie-rocksters: Black Nite Crash, Nightmare Air (actually from Los Angeles), and Bronze Fawn.

If you didn't make it that far in the class (or opted for Paisley Underground 101 instead) - behold the 90s 'gazer-ness:



And if you want to fill in the cracks of your shoegazer / Swervedriver studies even more-- go to Swervedriver.com where they've filled the site chock full of loads of live tracks for everyone to download and adore.

Upset. The word of the our 2008 Best Northwest Releases of 2008 Readers' Poll is upset.

With the Fleet Foxes winning readers and critical polls alike, who would've thought they wouldn't get top honors in our humble little Northwest poll? But they didn't -- they placed a distant second to New Faces, another debut record from some very talented, very young Northwest fellas.

We had other surprises as well, with unsigned newcomers such as Hey Marseilles, the Kindness Kind, and Kaylee Cole cracking the top ten, beating out Northwest heavyweights such as Death Cab for Cutie. We did not expect that. And we love it when you surprise us, dear readers.

We imaginaries like to champion the up-and-comers from the Northwest, and our results indicate that you do as well. We think you all also have fabulous taste, as always. Thanks to everyone who participated in our poll. We couldn't be more proud or thrilled to present the top 50 winners on your behalf...

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There is no single term I find more grating than "guilty pleasure" when applied to music - not even "seminal."

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at The Comet

Mama carefully paired two Seattle melodic dark-wave faves (the new Shake Some Action! and a reunited Black Nite Crash), with Portland's Go Fever and LA's The Clean Prophets. A fine and dandy Thursday night bill at the Comet for sure.

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Saturday May 7th, Three Imaginary Girls played some of our favorite local tracks of the moment on KEXP's local Northwest music show, Audioasis, including tracks from Dear Darling, the Conversation Heart, the Catch, and more.

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Black Nite Crash have been making our imaginary hearts pitter-patter a little darker ever since we saw them cover Homeboy's "Adorable" at the Shoegazers' Ball in 2002.

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You've seen William Hung sing 'She Bangs' and George W. Bush sing 'Gay Bar.' But have you seen Sean Nelson sing 'Like a Virgin?'

You could.

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Three Imaginary Girls, "Seattle's sparkly indie-pop press", will be hosting a rockstar-laden "Silly Love Songs" Karaoke Bash on Friday, February 13, 2004 at the Crocodile Café, featuring love song karaoke performances by some of our favorite local indie-musicians.

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at The Crocodile

Local lovies Black Nite Crash opened for stellastarr* and Longwave at the Crocodile.

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