Three Imaginary Girls - Eux Autres

Imaginary Liz's favorite songs of 2010

imaginary liz — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:01:47 +0000

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}.

Broken Bow

Chris Estey — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 00:02:18 +0000

7.8

http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Bow-Eux-Autres/dp/B0042OZDDO/?tag=wwwthreeimagi-20

EuxAutres_BrokenBow.jpg

Eux Autres has been releasing records since their first seven inch came out in 2003, and you can hear a band that grew up on 90s indie mod-pop, but they sound as fresh now as if they had just put things together in the garage for the first time earlier this year.

Broken Bow is only their third full-length though, which might explain why Eux Autres hasn't exhausted themselves through the '00s. The new full-length may not snap with the production buzz that debut Hell Is Eux Autres (first issued in 2004) had from Janet Weiss and Jeff Stuart Saltzman (Sleater-Kinney/Quasi), but it has a timeless, rough and tumble pure pop feel that perfectly matches its sometimes joyful, sometimes troubled, always kind of complicated lyrics.

The band is still Heather and Nicholas Larimer (sister and brother, both on vocals and the latter on guitar), with the 2008 addition of drummer Yoshi Nakamoto (The Aislers Set, Still Flyin'), and the eleven song cycle begins with the French hymnal-set to grinding punk guitar "Jamais," a haunting sing-a-long that sounds like it could be a flexi-disc with Shindig! magazine. "Queen Turner" is the shiniest anthem of the album, coming up as the second track, with powerful strums and a winding vocal melody which brings you back to its narrative of "seasonal changes and scattered beggars."

"Wind Me Up" reminds one of how the band was compared to Built To Spill in the early days, with its percussive guitar fuzz and punchy rhythms about how "needles and pins wait to wind me up again," collapsing into a hand clap chorus. "A Band Undone" has Nicholas sounding somehow both cocktail lounge and like Mac in Superchunk, with keyboard twinkles and that same tasty, mournful Southern vocal flow.

"You're Alight" is really the album highlight for me though, with its Cure-like drive and images of "stacking stones with our enemies," railing icily against nostalgia while warmly delivering a "flash of the fire-light." Midway through Broken Bow, the embers burn on this song the brightest, but that's just a reason to pull the blanket around yourself and a friend tighter to get warmer in the night. Anthems like the tough "Rosehill" and "My Love Will Not Let You Down" will then see you through till the dawn.

This is pretty straight-forward indie pop, very little frills and recorded simply, but the stories and seemingly effortless vocal talents of Heather and Nicholas should bring you back to Broken Bow again and again.

Spice up your holiday mixtapes with festive indie songs

imaginary liz — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:08:31 +0000

{Photo taken at the 2010 Imaginary Holiday Office Party by Laura Musselman}

We posted our own mix of holiday songs that kicked our imaginary holiday season off a couple weeks ago. But, since then, we've found ourselves up to our jingle bells with more awesome holiday songs! With the seasonality limitation of holiday music, sometimes it's easy for our holiday mixtapes to get stale. Here are some recommendations to fill out your annual holiday playlists:

Mangle Bell Rock by the Mangles
It's a wonderfully rocking batch of songs that blend both Seattle and Minneapolis vintages of garage rock. Favorite track: "Living White Hell"

Christmastime Approximately by various artists
I found this compilation via Eux Autres who have a super stellar track, "Teenage Christmas," on the Christmastime Approximately compilation. If you hurry on over to the Where It’s At is Where You Are Records website, you might still be able to download the entire album for free (for a limited time only). Another fave track: "Just Like Xmas (In Cottonopolis)"

Imaginary Mixtape {December, 2010 - part 4} featuring Eux Autres, The Hot Toddies, The Red River, and The Rest

imaginary liz — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:09:08 +0000

Before we let 2010 come to a close and we start building out our tops of the year lists, we wanted to share a few more songs that we have been listening to on repeat throughout the month. You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page.

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, download the .m4a file here {it's one single file with fancy chapter markers!} and then open it in your itunes {big thanks to Jigsaw Records and Indie Pages for hosting the file!}.

Tracklisting: Imaginary Mixtape - December 2010 {part 4}

Imaginary Mixtape {December, 2010 - part 2} featuring Eux Autres, Darren Hanlon, Allo Darlin, Sea of Bees, Math & Physics Club

three imaginary girls — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 05:46:30 +0000

{Behind the scenes at last year's Imaginary Holiday Party - photo by Jason Tang}

It's that time of year again: the time of year in which we can listen to "Last Christmas" without headphones and not get chastised by our coworkers. It also gives us a time to sift through our holiday mixtapes and listen to our favorite bands get all holly jolly Christmas for us. Is there any better way to get into the mood for the Imaginary Holiday Office Party on December 16, 2010 at the Columbia City Theater?

You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page.

Imaginary Mixtape: NYC and SF Popfest edition {May 2010}

imaginary liz — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:29:59 +0000

May is a magical month here in Seattle. We've got spots of sun teasing us with summer promises, Sasquatch anticipation running rampant, and the warm glows of SIFF oozing with the best international indie films. There's only one reason we'd ever want to leave our emerald city bubble during this sweet spot of the year... a good ole fashioned PopFest!

This year, the month of May brought with it two very enticing reasons to head elsewhere: The New York City Popfest {May 20-23, 2010} and the San Francisco Popfest {May 27-30, 2010}. To mark these special events, we've gathered up some of our favorite songs by folks playing these festivals which includes a couple cover songs, a not-yet-released Math & Physics Club song and some rarities to up the popfest ante. If you were one of the lucky folks that caught any of the NYC or SF Popfest shows, let us know how it went!

***Listen to the Imaginary Popfest Podcast MP3***
{To download the podcast, right click on the link above
and save to your computer}

Reasons the month of April is going to rule your pants off

imaginary liz — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:30:06 +0000

(Photo by Laura Musselman)

April is trending to be one of the best months ever here at Imaginary Headquarters. Among the reasons we're kinda losing our stuff over here:

APRIL 10 and 17: Early Math & Physics Club shows at the High Dive (6p-8p)
Math and Physics Club will play a couple low key shows at the High Dive on Saturday, April 10 and Saturday, April 17 to test drive some new songs for their upcoming trip to the San Francisco Popfest their album release show at the Crocodile on June 12. Both High Dive shows are going to be early (6p-8p) and have the sweetest of openers: Eux Autres (on April 10) and The Special Places (on April 17).

APRIL 16-18: EMP Pop Conference
I always look forward to EMP's annual Pop Conference because it allows me to sit only feet away from my favorite, most inspiring pop (and non-pop) writers and listen to them casually espouse (and if all goes well, rant) on all things music and popular culture, which confirms my obsession's tangible significance. This year the biggest must see on my whole Pop Conference schedule is Tim Quirk and his look at "The Quiet Revolution: From the Walkman to the iPod, How Portability and Infinite Storage Have Changed the Way We Listen, and What We Listen To" on Friday at 10.45am. Tim is one of my all time favorite wordsmiths, music industry honchos (at Rhapsody), and band frontman (Too Much Joy) ever. When I am not sitting front row at his Pop Conference sessions, I'm hanging on his every tweet. Some studies suggest that I can link Tim/TMJ to who/where I am today.

Double shot of Math and Physics Club shows in April

imaginary liz — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:53:41 +0000

March Madness has morphed into Awesome April and it's kicking into high gear with a pair of Math and Physics Club shows this month.

The updated four-piece (now with new drummer and sans-strings), will play a couple low key shows at the High Dive on April 10 (this Saturday) and April 17 to test drive some new songs for their upcoming trip to the San Francisco Popfest (over Memorial Day weekend) and their highly anticipated album release show at the Crocodile on June 12. Both High Dive shows are going to be early (6p-8p) and have the sweetest of openers: Eux Autres (on April 10) and The Special Places (on April 17).

We're so excited for this weekend's San Fran Popfest we had to podcast

imaginary liz — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:48:17 +0000

The San Francisco Popfest starts today (imaginary Keenan is already headed south to get there in time for tonight's shows)!!!

The 'fest runs though Sunday, May 24, 2009 and Keenan, amazing imaginary photographer Steve Louie and I will be running around the greater San Francisco area basking in all that fine fine indie-pop.

We're looking forward to most all the bands (ballboy ballboy ballboy), but we put together a podcast of some of the lesser known ones and ones with hit songs we've been listening to on repeat (ahem: Stay Flyin').

You should go listen to it now (and go subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes 'cause we have big plans to make this the summer of podcasts!).

Three Imaginary Girls San Francisco Popfest Podcast {May, 2009}

three imaginary girls — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:27:13 +0000

From Thursday, May 21 to Sunday, May 24, 2009, Three Imaginary Girls staffers Liz and Keenan will be running around the San Francisco partaking in all the fun of the San Francisco Popfest. This podcast showcases some of the bands they are most looking forward to seeing while there with

49:44 minutes (43.81 MB)

Three Imaginary Girls San Francisco Popfest Podcast {May, 2009}

three imaginary girls — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:27:11 +0000

From Thursday, May 21 to Sunday, May 24, 2009, Three Imaginary Girls staffers Liz and Keenan will be running around the San Francisco partaking in all the fun of the San Francisco Popfest.

This podcast showcases some of the bands they are most looking forward to seeing while there with

49:44 minutes (8 MB)

Indietracks lineup announced

imaginary keenan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:24:48 +0000

Holy bajeezus! It's the week for popfest announcements! The lovely folks over at Indietracks have put out their innitial lineup for their amazing train station festival in Derbyshire, UK for July 24th-26th. They're advertising five stages, free steam train rides, and indie pop discos. This lineup hurts my head, and last night, all I could think was to make a 30 Rock reference, and I just kept saying "I want to go to there!". (Bolded where it causes me great excitement!)

BMX Bandits/ Bonne Idée/ Camera Obscura/ The Carrots/ Cola Jet Set/ Cooper/ Countryside/ Disasteradio/ Downdime/ Eux Autres/ Fitness Forever/ The Frank And Walters/ Hong Kong In The 60s/Kevin McGrother/ La Casa Azul/ Le Man Avec Les Lunettes/ Little My/ The Lovely Eggs/ Lucky Soul/Mighty Mighty/ Nick Garrie/ Northern Portrait/ One Happy Island/ The Pete Green Corporate/ Juggernaut/ Pocketbooks/ Ray Rumours & The No-Eyed/Dears/ The School/ Single/ The Smittens/ Speedmarket Avenue/ Ste McCabe/ Tender Trap/ The Understudies

New Eux Autres animation video cuteness

imaginary liz — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:13:42 +0000

The Eux Autres duo have been busy on their Macs to give us a super cute (and dare I say touching) video for "Anne Boleyn" from their 2007 album, Cold City.

Best of 2007: imaginary Liz's picks

imaginary liz — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:03:21 +0000

Narrowing down my favorites for this year was HARD! I’m sure I’ll find even more 2007 releases I adore in 2008... but here’s what has been in obsessively high rotation this year.

Note: I still battle with how I can rank EPs versus full albums, or collections of previously unreleased material… but using my current logrhythm, here’s what it came out to today...

BOAT with "Awesome" and Fishboy

Deborah Barnard — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:10:36 +0000

7 Dec 2007

BOAT07Dec07.JPG

Some nights, no matter how early you try to get out the door and on the road, there are delays. Parents, significant others, roommates, phone calls, small animals, crock pots, or simple procrastination – all have been speed bumps in past attempts of that thing called “being on time” that I’m so freakishly bad at.

Friday night, however, I was en route to the Comet Tavern with a half hour to spare – just enough time to find parking on a bad night – and feeling mighty pleased with myself. Then... BADUMP! Badum-badum-badum-shhhhhhhhhhhhh. If you’ve never heard this sound, bully for you. If you have, you know the amount of swearing and tire-kicking that’s involved because you are now unavoidably delayed due to a tire that’s U-shaped instead of nicely rounded. Luck sprang in a tad late, however, when I wobbled four blocks back to my house and ran screaming into the house, "I NEEED A CAAAAR! (pls)" then dashed back out a few minutes later with keys to my sister’s Honda. So, this review is brought to you by the loveliness of my Angela.

When I finally got to the Comet, my dismay knew no bounds when I found that Eux Autres had completely finished. Imaginary Liz soothed my disappointment by pointing out that they’ll be back in town someday, apocalypses aside, since they’re a Portland band and we like them. If you caught their set, please let me know how it went!

Thankfully, Fishboy was just starting to set up. They opened with kazoos from Archie Mcphee's dangling from their mouth or taped to their mic, then proceeded to contort their faces in curious ways throughout the set. Before the TIG show announcement, I’d never heard of the Texas band; by the first song, I was raising an eyebrow and wondering why not – it was peppy, poppy, and the band sings with smirks in their voices. When I was poking around online for an idea of what I’d be listening to, I ran across a blurb by Sam Machkovech (from the Stranger) who called Fishboy’s lead vocalist a “dweeb rocker.” It’s a good description – the nasal quality of Eric Michener’s vocals are perfectly suited for odes to taqueria girls, and the fast-paced snappy pop combinations in Fishboy’s songs indicate an attention to small detail without getting bogged down in it. As the band closed the set, their sweatbands were sweaty and the crowd was warmed up for something equally awesome.

...like “Awesome.” Recordings don’t do this band justice – they make them sound quiet and sedate, but when I mentioned the upcoming “Awesome” show to a co-worker who’d heard them play, she raved on for about ten minutes about how amazingly energetic the band was. As it turns out, “Awesome” is the kind of band you want at your birthday party with 75 of your closest friends to dance alongside you. At the Comet, they arrested my full attention before even playing a note. The seven-member band (ensemble? orchestra? secret agent unit?) marched onstage garbed like they’d walked off the set of “Reservoir Dogs,” then ripped into vocals that were like a jazz version of barbershop quartet harmonies. And there was an accordion! And a melodica! Be still my heart, that double whammy of delectable instruments was just the tip of the smorgasbord. From there, the band sprung into songs resembling public service announcements, call & response hymns, and even a few slinky big band tunes that sounded like they’d jumped off of…well, a Tarentino soundtrack. Hence the suits! One of the bandmembers would occasionally sit out a song so that he could flail around onstage to his own beat, much to the amusement of the crowd and his band mates; it seemed normal for this band, fling-dance fitting perfectly against the tongue-in-cheek lyrics and performance. One of my favorites in the set involved half the band saying “yes” and half the band saying “no” in an off-kilter war of words; I’m not sure who won, but the battle inspired cheesy grins in the mesmerized crowd and was therefore quite a success.

As for BOAT, I’m not sure what words to use that haven’t been poured over their heads like a seven-year-old with a bowl of ice cream and free reign on a bottle of chocolate syrup – Seattle loves this band. Imaginary Kiku wrote a gorgeous review of their show at the Vera Project earlier this month, if you haven’t read it you should finish this first (I’ll be short) and bounce over there.

BOAT is one of my favorite Seattle bands, a state of affairs that sprung from my slightly-incestuous introduction via the TIG August 2006 KEXP podcast. After a handful of attempts at seeing the band that were crushed by the “oh, they’re a Seattle band, I’ll catch them next time” mentality and a secret fear that they wouldn’t be as cool as I thought, this was my first time seeing them live. Knowing that I’d listened to a band’s albums on repeat for months and had let anticipation build up too long, the moment of truth came to this: BOAT was not mystical or magical and I did not melt into a puddle of warm fuzzy goo at their feet. They were, however, the cherry on the top of a really great line-up. Their ridiculous pop lyrics meshed well with the previous bands and, despite not taking the stage until after midnight, the quadruplet performed with energy and antics (at one point, there was an arm-punching war between the lead vocalist and the guy who kept playing guitar & keyboard at the same time while he sang). When people in the crowd heckled the band - out of love, natch - BOAT responded with puzzled grins and heckled back. By the time the show got out (no encores, it was past 1:30am), I realized that I’d been silly to postpone seeing the band live – and I’d been missing out on what’s shaping into one of our city’s unique genres: "sloppy pop." Go ahead and try it on. I think you’ll like it.

Set list:
when i grow up...
Come With Me, We'll Win
(Do the) Magic Centipede
200 Days, 59 Ways
Period, Backslash, Colon
Last Cans of Paint
Clogged Castle
Greasedip Hairclip
The Whistle Test
Elephant Ears
Four Beds for BOAT
Illustrate the History
(I'm a) Donkey for Your Love

Flat tires, kazoos, flinging about and what happens when you see a favorite band for the first time.

Friday night, December 7th -- a night that may live in good times infamy forever

imaginary dana — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:01:00 +0000

Tonight is another agonizing night in Seattle where it's hard to know where to turn for the best show/event around, there's just so much going on! If I might make a few suggestions...

It's Eux Autres Day!

imaginary liz — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:52:53 +0000

Today is the release date for the new Eux Autres album! Cold City is their second full length and it is on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. It's in line with their last album, lo-fi, sweet, jangly, smart.

Countdown to the TWO fabulous TIG shows this Friday and Saturday! FISHBOY rules the school!

imaginary liz — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:21:24 +0000

I want to share an MP3 to prove it to you... but which one? I love "Racecar" and "Proper Name Spelling Bee" -- but I'll start our week-long countdown to the show with "Taqueria Girl" (another favorite).

TIG presents: an all-ages show with Fishboy, Tullycraft, the Oregon Donor, and Eux Autres

three imaginary girls — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:54:09 +0000

We're hosting a couple shows in December and we'd love to see your foxy faces there. Both shows feature Denton, TX's band Fishboy, a band that pulls inspiration from their famous Texas indie-rock forefathers (think Daniel Johnston, Britt Daniel, and Buddy Holly) and put on a show that is riotously fun and involves sweatbands, trumpets, and possibly destroying a DVD player.

The all-ages show is Sat. night, Dec. 8th at the Department of Safety in Anacortes, WA and features three fantastic NW bands for a night of big fun:

Tullycraft
{band website} {listen to a song} {MySpace}

Fishboy
{band website} {listen to a song} {MySpace}

Eux Autres
{band website} {MySpace}

The Oregon Donor
{band website} {MySpace}

The doors are at 7p, and it costs only $6. You should totally be there! And make sure you check out the scoop on the 21+ Fishboy show we're hosting the night before right here.

2007Dec8poster_lg.jpg

Join us crazy big all-ages fun at the Department of Safety in Anacortes.

TIG presents: Fishboy with BOAT, Awesome, and Eux Autres

three imaginary girls — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:59:58 +0000

We're hosting a couple shows in December and we'd love to see your foxy faces there. Both shows feature Denton, TX's band Fishboy, a band that pulls inspiration from their famous Texas indie-rock forefathers (think Daniel Johnston, Britt Daniel, and Buddy Holly) and put on a riotously fun show that involves sweatbands, trumpets, and possibly destroying a DVD player.

The show is Fri. night, Dec. 7th at the Comet. Here's the full fun lineup:

BOAT
{band website} {MySpace}

"Awesome"
{band website} {listen to a song} {MySpace}

Fishboy
{band website} {listen to a song} {MySpace}

Eux Autres
{band website} {MySpace}

The doors are at 10p, and it costs only $7. You should totally be there! And make sure you check out the scoop on the all-ages Fishboy show we're hosting the night before right here.

dec7show.jpg

Join us at the Comet Tavern on Fri night, Dec. 7th!