As if you hadn't heard already, the sweet sounds of Sebadoh (pictured above circa '90-something, courtesy of none other than the great Charles Peterson) will be filling the stage at Neumos this Saturday, helped along by Portland's Quasi and our very own Lovesick Empire in the opening slot.

We caught up with Lovesick Empire's leading lady Alicia Amiri earlier this week to check in about the show, and namely, sharing the stage with one of her heroes and on a possible new track or a Sebadoh / Lou Barlow cover:

" [It] might sound ridiculous but for me, playing with Sebadoh is comparable to playing with Elliott or Nirvana or the Cure. A sound that's been a huge influence on me for 10+ years. So yeah. I'm crapping my pants. New song? Sort of, we really wanted to have a different set but we have Jonah from Schoolyard Heroes on bass this show, and he had to learn everything in a couple practices, so we decided to not mix it up much."

Even un-mixed up, they're going to put on one heck of an opening set, and we can not stress enough how much you need to be on time for this show. It's likely that your lid will be blown off well before Lou & Co. come anywhere near those side-steps.

{8p / $15 / 21+}

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{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.

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In celebration of all the great things released so far this year, I couldn't help but make my own mix to listen on repeat. I even got so nerdy as to create cd-sized cover art with a tracklisting for my Favorites of the First Half of 2010 (download the 5MB printable PDF). 

Fav Albums (in no particular order):
Allo Darlin - Allo Darlin
Antarctica Takes It! - Constellations
The Drums - The Drums
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring
Math & Physics Club - I Shouldn't Look As Good As I Do
Nana Grizol - Ruth
People Eating People - People Eating People
Quasi - American Gong
Standard Fare - The Noyelle Beat

Fav Retrospective:
Carissa's Wierd - They'll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003

Fav 7":
Gold-Bears - “Tally”

Fav Cover Song:
Cats On Fire - “Your Woman” from the album Dealing In Antiques
(cover of a White Town song)

I am sure I forgot something... what songs and/or albums are your favorites of the year so far? Anything in particular you're looking forward hearing that's set for release later this year? {Thermals, Thermals, Thermals}

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I have had a very long love affair with Portland's psych-pop keyboard fuzz pedal freaks Quasi. I first purchased their 1999 Up Records release Field Studies in my freshman year of high school and quickly fell in love with its dirty as hell sounding guitars and keyboards, mixed with Janet Weiss' god like drumming and Sam Coomes' beautiful pop melodies. I fell even harder for 1998's Featuring "Birds", with its incredibly sad but still poppy songs, like "I Never Want to See You Again", "You Fucked Yourself" and "The Poisoned Well" (with lyrics like "You won't live long/but you may write the perfect song/please excuse who choose to not play along").

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at Neumo's

The taffy-kneading, Sour Patch Kids pop (first salty, then sugary!) of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists really set off the night, filling everybody’s ears with Ted’s unmistakable bark and trademark trebly crunch.

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The kind folks at Neumo's have offered up five (5!!!!) free pairs of tickets to the Ted Leo & the Pharmacists / Quasi / the Intelligence show that's this Tuesday (as in, tomorrow) at Neumo's.

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You In Reverse taps into the the entire Built to Spill discography to create an album that would make diehard fans happy along with gathering more into Martsch's flock.

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at Bumbershoot

Some of our picks for the best bands to see at the big Bumbershoot fest. Woo hoo!

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