Three Imaginary Girls - Sonic Boom Records

Don't miss Damien Jurado tonight at Sonic Boom (Ballard)

imaginary victoria — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:54:52 +0000

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:

NEW Sonic Boom in Cap Hill

Imaginary Shrie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:00:57 +0000

The lovely Sonic Boom Records will expand and open it's brand spankin' new doors on Melrose between Pike and Pine this fall. At just about 3000 sq ft, they hope to host MANY more instore performances and live shows of all kinds.

And while you're at the new Boom, saunter over to Velouria and snag hip threads and accessories to accompany your newest rare vinyl release purchase.

(via Seattle Metropolitan Magazine)

Iron & Wine at Sonic Boom on 15th

heather b — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:02:58 +0000

Iron & Wine at Sonic Boom on 15th today! 6pm! What? I'm too late? oh...

Record Store Day roundup - what did you buy?

imaginary keenan — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:53:27 +0000

Jeez, I had a great Record Store Day! The sun was shining, and I picked up some great records!

My boyfriend woke up super early on Saturday way too excited to get back to sleep, and wandered over to Easy Street in Lower Queen Anne at around 8:15, and there were already people in line. By the time the store opened at 9, there were about 50 people in line, and he described the scene similar to 20 minutes before the mall closes on Christmas Eve - mass pandemonium of people just grabbing any and all exclusive in sight. By the time he left around 9:30 (after a super friendly clerk helped him find one of the last Thermals exclusives), most of the exclusives were gone. And lucky him - a trip over to the Ballard Sonic Boom provided him with #69 of 95 of the Pavement Live in Cologne hand numbered red vinyl LPs.

Fill your pockets this Saturday - it's Record Store Day!

imaginary liz — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:25:41 +0000

Our friends at Easy Street and Sonic Boom have put plans in place to make this the best Record Store Day Seattle has ever seen.

I'm still finalizing my list of things I want to pick up on what could be my biggest shopping day of the year and both stores have made it doubly hard to pare things down. There's a bunch of labels releasing rare and limited edition Record Store Day 7"s and re-releasing sup'd up favorites.

Henry Owings is sunshine out of your ass

Chris Estey — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:37:39 +0000

16 Nov 2008

Who would have thought? Hey, I lived after interviewing Nick Cave (something a drunken British music press veteran confessed to me he'd never do again, perish the thought) but even I was standing at the back of the deliciously-stocked and intelligently staffed Sonic Boom Records up on Capitol Hill last Sunday. I was afraid Henry Owings, a man with a reputation for career-destroying quips and lavish mockery for unthinking rock types of all art and business stripes, would unfurl some of his famous Chunket Magazine venom in my direction.

But no, Owings was more than a perfect gentleman, standing near SB owner Jason Hughes surrounded by luscious racks of rare and cool vinyl, reading off some of the more rabid "outtakes" left out of the "Rock Bible." If you missed the preview a few days ago, let's just say this tight little volume makes the perfect blasphemous rock book gift this season, because its format is not only a hellbound hoot but the contents are so howlingly cruel.

To Owings' credit, those edited-out parts didn't seem that much worse than the humor that actually was published. Some of it got pretty nasty, but the store had a good showing of people who know Henry's goods. He was particularly gracious to us with the Q&A segment, talking about publishing a magazine (Chunklet's new one isn't necessarily the last issue, despite the cover's joke, but it's harder than ever due to distribution being even worse these days), fielding questions about his enormous wooly black dogs, calming us down from terror if we should ever meet his wicked partner Brian Teasley (not as bad as he seems, from the Buckshot Boys shit-on-stupid-bands DVD rant he made with Henry). Teasley, the ex-drummer of Man or Astroman? and current drummer in some other bands, is a perfect match for Henry when they go to All Tomorrow's Parties and scare the indie kids.

Henry did sign books afterwards, and though I asked several questions (willing to be an obvious fanboy) during the event, I still went out for a drink with ChrisB at Liberty across the street to avoid any scary meeting with Mr. Owings. Best of luck on the tour though sir and keep making us laugh till we bleed (or are bleeding)!

Owings was more than a perfect gentleman, standing near SB owner Jason Hughes surrounded by luscious racks of rare and cool vinyl, reading off some of the more rabid "outtakes" left out of the "Rock Bible."

Is it Sweden Week in Seattle?

ChrisB — Mon, 12 May 2008 06:29:35 +0000

Even with pop superstar Robyn deciding she'd rather spend time with Baba Wawa and Whoopi, we are still getting plenty of love from the Swedes.

Lest you missed our previous posts, take heed: TODAY is closing day for Sonic Boom Records in Fremont. Go and find bargains!

imaginary dana — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:45:33 +0000

Sonic Boom Records in Fremont will be closed after today.... so go scour the vinyl and CDs and find treasure!

R.I.P Sonic Boom Records (Fremont). Big sale this weekend!

Andrew Boe — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:01:10 +0000

Huge record sale this weekend! I will be there today and expect that I will have to hit up the nearest payday loans office immediately afterwards.

The BIG Sonic Boom 20% off sale... going on now!

imaginary liz — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:02:09 +0000

I love a sale. I love new music. Obviously, I'm headed to Sonic Boom Records in Fremont right now.

A thank you for Thank You

Sarah Joann Murphy — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:19:08 +0000

If Ben Lashes stops writing songs, he should go into PR.

REVERB 2007: No-Fi Soul Rebellion

Eddie B — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:21:22 +0000

6 Oct 2007

nofisoulrebellion07oct.jpg

Ahh! I don’t think any review can do justice in explaining how amazing and original the No-Fi Soul Rebellion set was. I should have suspected something interesting was going to happen when Mark mentioned they came from Bellingham and didn’t recognize his zip code when hollered by one of the fellow (Bellinghamian?). You know it’s going to be good if the performer doesn’t know where he’s from.

It’s all a little hazy. Before I knew it, I heard booty-popping (yeah… I popped it) beats playing and Mark was in the crowd, roaming around as Andrea (his wife) rocked out on a string-less guitar. I couldn’t keep up! As I tried manually focusing my camera Mark went from rocking the stage to rocking the WHOLE record store to literally telling everyone to follow him outside.

He was so awesome. I wont lie... I was a little jealous when he went around giving kisses (not just lady friends… also dudes), and he skipped me! I’m going to say it’s because I was holding up a camera.

From rocking the sidewalk to touching. himself on top of the counter to making us all lay down on the ground, No-Fi Soul Rebellion rocked us. You’ve got to check out at a show. You’ll leave with kisses and a giddy state of mind. If you see him, tell him I’m waiting.

(Andrea... just kidding! Unless you’re ok with it... Just kidding! But seriously...)

Oooooooh yeah!

Andrea is one lucky lady!!

Above the crowd at Sonic Boom...

Gary Gary from Partman Parthorse putting his belt on Mark, after he gave him a kiss...

Mark pulled someone out of the crowd, put a guitar on her and told her to play....

Insert your own caption here.

From rocking the sidewalk to touching. himself on top of the counter to making us all lay down on the ground, No-Fi Soul Rebellion rocked us.

REVERB 2007: Central Services

imaginary dana — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:46:12 +0000

5 Oct 2007

REVERBcentralservices07oct.jpg

Central Services played an all-ages Sonic Boom in-store about halfway through the REVERB festival, so my fella and I went down to peruse some vinyl and hear the band, who I haven't seen in... well, I can't recall when the last (non-soft-rock cover night) show was. So, it was time.

And what a pleasant surprise! With the addition of Seattle-based solo artist Andrea Wittgens on keys and backing vocals, the band sounded more melodic, more charming, and more... somehow, complete, than I've ever heard them sound before.

To me, Central Services has long felt like they've been living in the shadow of local indie-pop band Math & Physics Club (the two bands have shared members, notably MAPC drummer Kevin Emerson, who drums and sings for Central Services). Perhaps it's because I knew and loved MAPC first. They've also held a special place in my heart as the finest players of 70s soft rock and Yacht Rock I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing (and I mean that without the teensiest smidge of irony).

Tonight's performance proved the band has a vibrant sound of its own. While the addition of Wittgens on female backing vocals did evoke a sense of Belle and Sebastian, Central Services' sound is less precious and fey than B&S (or MAPC, for that matter), at times reminscent of the mid-tempo melodies of the 70s soft rock classics they can emulate so well. At one point, after a particularly ripping (in an indie-pop way) guitar solo, Emerson quipped, "We searched on wikipedia to see if Thin Lizzy guitar solos were still allowed in this day and age." I'm not sure how many of the band's all-ages fans got the reference, but I chuckled nonetheless.

Overall, the set was a delight. Here's the setlist, for the superfans (and you know who you are, up in the front, hugging and dancing along):

Tear Me Down
She Was My Ride
Fun While It Lasted
Can't Let Go
New Coastline
Over and Over
Hey Hey
Move On
Song 89
Get to You

And hey, we did find some awesome vinyl....

Read all REVERBfest 2007 coverage!

With the addition of Seattle-based solo artist Andrea Wittgens on keys and backing vocals, the band sounded more melodic, more charming, and more... somehow, complete, than I've ever heard them sound before.

Another photo tease from last night's REVERB festival...

imaginary dana — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:14:59 +0000

After seeing Eduardo Brambila's photos from the No-Fi Soul Rebellion show at Sonic Boom Records last night, I CAN'T WAIT to read the full review.

Pizza, beer, and juice with Peter, Bjorn, and John

imaginary dana — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:02:06 +0000

I never imagined I could buy a magazine or a pack of gum from a genuine Swedish pop supastar!!

John Vanderslice at Sonic Boom in Fremont today (Sunday) at 4p

imaginary dana — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 21:24:53 +0000

He promised huge discounts on boxsets, so head on over and say hi.

More Exciting Pipettes News!

ChrisB — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:05:58 +0000

The beloved Pipettes will be playing a handful of in-store shows on its North American tour, according to a bulletin posted this morning to its MySpace page. Seattle is one of the very lucky cities. The blessed record stores are:

Sunday, June 3rd @ 2:30 PM
Mars RED Music
57A Kings Hwy E
Haddonfield, NJ 08033
856.428.8255

Tuesday, June 5th @ 7 PM
Other Music
15 E. 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
212.477.8150

Tuesday, June 12th @ 7pm
Amoeba Music
1855 Haight St
San Francisco, CA
415.831.1200

Thursday, June 14th @ 7pm
Sonic Boom Records (Ballard Location)
2209 NW Market St,
Seattle, WA 98107
206.297.2666

Are we still in YouTube-i-Licious Day? If so, here's a Pipettes video:

Tonight's Recomended Show: “Rock Crit” with Sean Nelson at the Sonic Boom Records General Store

imaginary liz — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:19:00 +0000

Sonic Boom Records has put together a “Rock Crit” night which will feature local writers and musicians reading a bit from their favorite music literature with the lovliest of hosts, Sean Nelson.

A Cloud Cult in-store performance

imaginary dana — Tue, 01 May 2007 05:15:03 +0000

27 Apr 2007

cloudcult07apr.jpg

Friday night April 27th was an insanely packed show night for Seattle. From the not-so-secret U.S.E. show at the Comet to Grand Archives at the Crocodile to about a dozen other viable options, a music fan could have entered nearly any venue in town and heard a pretty spectacular night of music. In order to make the most of the evening, I decided to catch not one but two pre-show shows — Cloud Cult at Sonic Boom Records, and Speaker Speaker at Easy Street Records — before ultimately ending at the Croc. Overly ambitious, I know... but some evenings an imaginary girl's gotta do what an imaginary girl's gotta do...

For about half an hour, I feared my three-show night would be foiled. Cloud Cult was late, you see, somewhere en route between Neumo's (on Capitol Hill, the venue where they'd be headlining that night) and Sonic Boom in Ballard (for those of you not familiar with the route, it takes somewhere between 18 and 58 minutes, depending on traffic and the luck of the Ballard Bridge). Just as I was about to leave, they arrived, plugged in her violin and his guitar, and were ready for their set within two minutes flat. Now I admire a no-fuss, no-muss set-up kinda band, so after a glance at the time, decided I'd better pay respects to their lickity-split set-up skills and stay for a few songs.

I didn't leave until they finished their full set — and even then, I stayed later to gush to them about how much I enjoyed their set.

Craig Minowa, Cloud Cult's founder and primary songwriter and singer, played a quiet set featuring only his guitar and lovely accompanying harmonies and violin from Shannon Frid. He started off by explaining the delay; apparently, the full band was set to soundcheck at Neumo's when the soundguy up and quit! So they had to hang out and wait while the venue brought in a replacement. This may have contributed to them playing only six songs during the in-store, but what a set it was! Cloud Cult's lyrics are brainy yet peaceful, bittersweet yet hopeful, and a sense of nostalgia permeated throughout the set. Hearing the songs pared-down emphasized their vulnerability, as well as the exquisiteness of both of their voices; with such minimal, sparse accompaniment, there wasn't room to miss a note — and they didn't. The audience was rapt.

Three highlights for me from the performance...

#1: Hearing the lyrics, "You kiss so deep I could taste you in my toes" from the song "As Long As You're Happy" (from the record Aurora Borealis) pared down for an acoustic set, transforming the song from a toe-tapping pop number to one of heart-wringing ache (as the lyrics indicate it was always meant to be).

#2: "Transistor Radio." The entire song gave me goosebumps. For those of you not familiar with the lyrics, the song tells a tale of a young fella who hears the voice of his long-passed Grandfather, speaking to him through a transistor radio, encouraging him to take adventures and chances and promising him, "Kid, there's something that I'd like to show you." As they encounter each adventure, he keeps wondering when he's finally going to get to his destination... until one day, Grandpa says it's time for him to go find his own way ("And I know that there was something that I wanted to show you, But it's time for you to find it on your own."). The narrator is furious, heartbroken at his Grandfather's apparent betrayal. But then, after time passes, he realizes that his Grandfather did, in fact, show him what he's promised. By the time Minowa reached the final lyrics:

"It's been years since I heard my transistor radio
Yet I keep going to where it seems I'm meant to go
And I finally realized what he wanted to show me
Where I've been, where I am, it's the show."

...I was literally teared up. It was seriously moving.

#3: "Chemicals Collide." My favorite track of their newest release, The Meaning of 8, this song gently spins and ebbs and flows like new romance. While these guys attribute the lyrics to the chemical reactions of the universe and/or psychedelic drug use, I think they're being obtusely non-romantic boys, as these lyrics are clearly documenting the roaring, insane whirl of passionate, volatile, fresh romantic chemistry:

"We were loving like a landslide
Or were we in a fight
These days it's hard to tell what's right from wrong and wrong from right

And oh god, it's beautiful
Insatiable
The way our chemicals collide
And oh god, it's unforgettable
Unpredictable
The way our chemicals collide"

The violin parts made it like, so totally obvious... Stupid boys.

They ended the set with this number, and I was so thrilled with their short yet exquisite performance that I considering canceling all my other show stops for the night and heading to Neumo's. But the lure of catching one of the first Grand Archives shows was too powerful...

Hearing the songs pared-down emphasized their vulnerability, as well as the exquisiteness of both of their voices; with such minimal, sparse accompaniment, there wasn't room to miss a note — and they didn't. The audience was rapt.

Friday pre-party: where to go?

imaginary dana — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:08:31 +0000

On a night with more tempting shows than any Friday night in recent memory (Grand Archives, the Stooges, Cloud Cult, USE, Siberian, The Valley, The Blood Brothers, etc etc), even the choice of where to pre-show party is a bit overwhelming.