Gosling pretty much says it all. Tennis Pro is playing on Wednesday, February 8 at Chop Suey with two Japanese bands with perfect rock-and-roll names: Troll 8 (also the owner of Chop Suey's band) and Gnosis  - plus, The Terrordactyls, who also hail from Seattle, and post pictures of sad pizza. Oh, and they also sound pretty neat, so they should complement Tennis Pro's awesomeness just fine.

So I'll see you guys up front near the stage, right? 

Chop Suey Presents 
TENNIS PRO
The Terrordactyls
Troll 8
Gnosis
plus guests 
Friday, Feb. 8 | Doors at 8pm | $7 

{photo courtesy of Tennis Pro's Facebook page} 

I love, love, LOVE discovering new bands that rock my socks off - I just wish I had known about Portland band Blue Skies for Black Hearts MUCH earlier, since it seems they've been around for awhile, based on all the CDs they have out already. But I digress. When I went to the Tennis Pro show a few weeks back at Chop Suey, these boys took the stage and positively blew me away with their tight, retro-pop tunes, bouncy attitude, and adorable faces. I fell for them straight away, marched over to the merch table after their set to buy some tunes, and tipsily stumbled over telling the bass player how AWESOME they were (a patented Amie move).

The above video for "Siouxsie (!!!) Please Come Home" helps illustrate their fantasticness - and the fact that our Seattle "Summer" could be worse - but I urge you to check out more of their songs, and fortheloveofallthatisholy see them live next time they're in town (9/22 at The High Dive) or you find yourself in PDX.

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I feel like a big heel that it's taken me this long to find out about Philadelphia's When I Was 12 (hello know-it-all popfed legions, where have you been!). Both iTunes and cdbaby claim that their debut album, Dear Eskimo, was released in March, 2009, which makes me sad to think I've lost two whole years of enjoying them. But, hoorays, I recently procured their cd (purchasable here) and am happy to be making up for lost time.

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It's been awhile since we told you about this, so I figured this sunny Seattle day was a perfect oppurtunity to remind you that The Postal Service covered Phil Collins' heart-breaky 80s ballad "Against All Odds" for the 2004 movie Wicker Park (which is kinda weird, since it was already in a movie called...Against All Odds). Enjoy!

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{A Cautionary Tale will be in stores 3/8/2011}

First off, I have to confess that I picked up this CD simply because of its AMAZING cover, which is styled like an uber creepy Little Golden Book with illustrations by artist Travis Lampe (I've already picked out 10 things I need from his site). The disc itself even looks like a little 45! *squee*

Secondly - omg, you guys. I don't think I've fallen in love with an album at first listen like this since Rilo Kiley's The Execution of All Things. The Pauses have put together a simply stunning debut. From the synthy keyboard notes of "Beyond Bianca" to the sway-worthy heartbreak beats of "Pull the Pin", I adore every single goddamn thing about A Cautionary Tale. Lead singer and keyboardist Tierney Tough's throaty vocals are complemented by pretty melodic oohs and ahhs from multi-instrumented Jason Kupfer (guitar, keys, computerboard (!), and foot bells), and ably backed by Nathan Chase's drums and electronics.

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My favorite Canadians, also known as Sloan, made this entirely rad video near an airport for their song "The Good in Everyone" way back in 1996. Even though the song is only about 2 minutes long, the video is a little over 4 minutes, which makes for an interesting jet engine prelude. It's well worth the wait for the seriously catchy beats of this indie-alt-rock-power-pop foursome.

(psst: I've seen them live SEVERAL times, and they are always awesome! If they make it to Seattle again, I highly recommend.)

I recently heard some tracks from Tennis, and it resulted in an insta-crush! I love this husband and wife team's fun, 60s-ish poppy tunes and the story behind their music - they took a year off and sailed all over the place, writing songs along the way. I'm beyond excited that their full-length album, Cape Drory, was recently released by Fat Possum Records. Tonight, they're playing at The Crocodile with the mellow/joyful stylings of Lord Huron and Air Waves.

Take a listen to "Marathon" above...and once your own crush kicks in, head on over to The Croc tonight for a bouncy, sun-shiney, feel-good show.

Tennis
Lord Huron
Air Waves
The Crocodile
Tuesday, 2/1
Doors @8pm
$14 | 21+

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I stumbled on to this band via OK Go, because Debate Team is their drummer's (Dan Konopka), side project. A quick listen told me all I needed to know: Debate Team makes bouncy indie-rock songs that are catchy, fun, and easy-to-fall-for. Give them a try with the video above for "My Expertise" (which is also totally adorbs), and if you like that, you can download the whole album Wins Again on iTunes here for about $8.

Combining all my early 90s passions {anything in NME with floppy bangs and likely a UK-reference somewhere in their name}, The Hobbes Fanclub has me smitten with their fuzzy brit-gazer-ness pop a la Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

There's not much info out there about them other than the bio on their myspace and facebook pages which claims the two members of the band have never actually met.  Fabi Karpinski {former singer of Sao Paulo’s Monokini} and guitarist Leon Carroll {based in Bradford, Northeast UK} bonded via email over a shared love of The Ronettes and indiepop.  That's a match.com for me. I'm in!

The track posted here is their first single, "Outside Myself" released on the poptacular Cloudberry Records back in June, 2010 {and currently the only song I found of theirs on youtube to share}.  The duo has a second single coming out soon on Dufflecoat Records. The single is split with Leach Me Lemonade {Bandung, Indonesia}.

Any fabulous retro-y finds you've been loving lately?

Craving some cover action? This new video from Nada Surf was filmed during their 2010 European tour in Nuremberg, Munich and Dresden and features their cover of "Enjoy the Silence" from the If I Had a Hi-Fi album. Since I'm kind of a Depeche Mode purist, it took awhile to grow on me - but I now appreciate the re-styling...I'm just wondering how many people in that audience have heard the original. :)

But hey! Speaking of Depeche Mode covers, we'll be on hand at this year's Dancing on the Valentine: Strangelove benefit show on Friday, 2/11 at the Crocodile. Join the Facebook page and stay tuned for updates here on TIG.

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