Fresh off the presses from our inboxes comes this week's launch of GIVE -- 30 downloadable tracks from a variety of Seattle artists, who are donating their songs to benefit Arts Corps and local area foodbanks. The $7.00 (!) compilation, which was produced, curated, and funded by Caffe Vita, will be available online here. Physical compilations can be picked up at all Caffe Vita locations, Easy Street Records, Sonic Boom Records, University Book Store, The Crocodile, EMP, Neumo's, and Sorrento Hotel. The in-hand compilations will include a physical card with a redemption code for the download, and a prettied-up sleeve to make it a ready-to-give present.

Here's the full track listing -- nearly all of which are exclusive to the compilation:

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Common Market, comprised of producer and member of Blue Scholars Sabzi and MC RA Scion will be dropping rhymes and truth bombs on the Bumbershoot Fisher Green Stage on September 6^th. Since 2005, Sabzi and Scion have continued to push the envelope with their brand of homegrown hip-hop, using elements of blues, R&B, and authentic, original beats and sounds. RA Scion rhymes are thought provoking and message-driven, exploring concepts like the death of hip-hop, inequality, poverty, and what must be done to overcome them. Scion manages to do this in an intelligent, aggressive, unapologetic fashion without sounding pompous or preachy, which is an impressive feat. His messages are neatly cradled in Sabzi’s beats, rich in instrumentation with hints of D-I-Y floating throughout. Together, their creations feels similar to that of something found on the San Francisco bay area’s AntiCon label, both in message and sound.

 

Tobacco Road, their second album released in September of ’08 is polished without being slick, which appears to be an important aspect of what Common Market is trying to achieve as a hip-hop act. Lyrically, they have matured and have become more focused in their message; musically, their beats have become more complex and continue to embrace and canvass many genres to create innovative tracks that move your spirit and your body.

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I doubt this is an April Fool's joke so I'll put it out there, Bumbershoot announced the first list of acts to play this year. There are certainly some that I'm really excited to see (some again) and others I'll pass on.

I know there'll be a lot of people bitching about Katy Perry but remember that booking her sells tickets that pay for other acts and you can choose to do something else while she plays.

Here's the roster so far:

Sheryl Crow / Modest Mouse / Katy Perry / Michael Franti & Spearhead / De La Soul / Raphael Saadiq / Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan / The Long Winters / Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang / World Party / MSTRKRFT / Roy Ayers / Common Market / UH HUH HER / Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women / Eric Hutchinson / No Age / Matt & Kim / Dead Confederate / The Cave Singers / Swollen Members / Vieux Farka Touré / Lenka / Gang Gang Dance / Todd Snider / Holy F**k / DJ Spooky / Iglu & Hartly / Low vs Diamond / Sera Cahoone / Eleni Mandell / Carrie Rodriguez / The Honey Brothers / Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head / Extra Golden / Cordero / Forgive Durden / Hey Marseilles / Adrian Xavier, and much, much more to be announced.

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Tonight, two of Northwest hip hop's finest duos wrap up the third consecutive night of shows at Neumo's. The first two sold out (and this one probably will very shortly).

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TIG staffers are a lot like you -- coming up with our list of faves for the year is a fun and gripping process. After comparing/contrasting/debating our individual favorites, we figured the sum of our imaginary parts would make for an interesting list.

While ChrisB and Keenan, among other things, brought in the power-pop elements,  Chris Estey stood by the smartie subtle elements of this year's Northwest offerings. Imaginary liz, as usual, loved the lo-fi and indie-pop songs, while imaginary dana spent much of the year obessed with Throw the the Statue and of course, the Fleet Foxes. And nearly all of us agreed that the Saturday Knights album was a force to be reckoned with. Here's our our staff votes tallied up...

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at South Lake Union Discovery Center

Thank god for my umbrella! Hipsters were floating past me on swift running rivulets. I noticed animals marching onto the SLUT two by two.

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at Capitol Hill Block Party 2008

Capitol Hill Block Party 2008: Common Market

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As of today, we're officially in the second half of 2008. Welcome! To gear you up for another fabulous six months of local Northwest releases, we here at imaginary headquarters have brainstormed an imaginary mix for all of you, containing some of our favorite songs by Northwest artists released this year to date thus far.

No promises that each of these will make our Best of 2008 Reader's Poll final list, but at least this way you have the next six months to follow-up and listen to these releases before you have to decide. To paraphrase imaginary ChrisB, we feel like this list is pretty unfuckwithable. But that doesn't mean that we didn't inadvertently overlook something great. If you have additions for our list, please chime in with your comments below.

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at Showbox at the Market

All in all, a great hip-hop show from beginning to end.

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Black Patch War is just tight. Tightly produced. Tightly rhymed. Tightly packaged into seven songs. It just feels so much more focused than anything Common Market has released.

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