This weekend, some of Seattle's best music websites (and even better friends) are celebrating their birthdays and they've got your weekend booked with fantastic shows that showcase the talent and diversity of the Northwest. Back Beat Seattle is turning one on Friday and Ear Candy is celebrating it's birthday with what its founder, editor, chief, etc... Travis Hay calls "Ear Candy's Weekend of Awesome" and has shows Saturday and Sunday night at different clubs. Also quite thrilling: Dagmar and Amelia from Back Beat and Travis from Ear Candy have all written for TIG before starting their own flourishing websites.

Back Beat's show is Friday at the Blue Moon and it features Blood Red Dancers, THEESatisfaction and What What Now. It all goes down starting at 10pm and you'll need $5 and ID proving you're at or over 21 to get in the door.

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A very necessary, but no less sincere happy birthday should be extended to Hannah Levin, author of the must-read "Rocket Queen" column in the Seattle Weekly every week, co-owner of Gainsbourg and host of KEXP's Audioasis program - and all-told, she was my favorite music writer in Seattle long before we ever met several years ago and, of course, still is. Tonight, Levin is celebrating her birthday with a kick-ass show at the Sunset. Rock writers' birthday shows are always a great time (see here and, uhh, here) and this one is certainly no exception. Levin has booked a great night that promises to be "ear-bruising" with loud rock bands Helms Alee, The Ruby Doe and The Keeper. My favorite local hip hop group Dyme Def was recently added to the lineup as well, which makes perfect sense because they always know where the party's at.

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San Francisco band French Miami will be at the Sunset this Sunday (8/9/9) and bringing with them their post-apocolypse Modest Mouse song "God Damn Best" which has convinced me to don my best black blazer and chant "Whatcha going to do with all that, whatcha going to do with all that love" over and over.

For the first few bars I was skeptical.  Two listens of the MP3 later, I'm totally down with French Miami. Want more? Watch this video of "Science Fiction" to see a quick transition from Ian Curtis to Ian MacKaye to J. Robbins to wacked out synth.

I've been sitting on The Nightgowns' Sing Something for at least a couple months now, and I don't know why it's taken me so long to sing this band's praises. They're basically a synthpop quartet, but not in the twee and cute way, and also not in the Hot Chip dance way. Instead, they've found just the right mix to let those clean guitar riffs and crazy synth riffs share the spotlight and create some really awesome -- and quirky -- pop tunes. It also doesn't hurt that the lead singer sounds British, even though these boys are from Tacoma.

Which brings us to the reason why I'm finally deciding to talk about The Nightgowns -- they'll be at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard next Friday night, and if you're an indie pop lover you'll want to be there too. Also on the bill are TIG favorites: BOAT and The Special Places.

My favorite tracks on Sing Something are easily "Buoy" and "Working For A Living," but I also like how the general tone of the album dies down for the final two songs, "Pppps" and "Gone With The Wind." The former is a song about how you always have more to say to that special guy or gal even after you've "telephoned and talked forever," and the only way to say it is with a P.S. and a P.P.S. (all the way up to a P.P.P.P.S., in this case).

Here's a live performance of "Working For A Living" from the band's CD release party earlier this year. Someone please check out the show next Friday so I can live vicariously through you!

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Tonight is the second night of this year's Noise for the Needy festival and tonight's trifecta of shows is a great assortment of Seattle bands with some out of towners thrown in for extra buzz.

I'm particularly excited to see the Sunset Tavern show with Adam Stephens and the Finite Plain headlining. Adam as you may or may not know is one half of the intense folk-rock-sters Two Gallants - a group that has never disappointed. I'm not sure what Adam's non-2G shows are like, but if this video (above) is an indication of the harmonica goodness we have in store tonight, it's going to rule.

If you're looking for something else tonight, here's a full list of the grand Noise for the Needy showcases tonight.

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It sure is a gorgeous Monday! How else are you going to celebrate that, than with a rad show at the Sunset?

I was introduced to Dreamdate, known as "East Bay pop sensations" by friends a few weeks ago, and found them to be perfectly up my alley, with two female singers harmonizing and a laid back poppy/punky beat. They seem straight out of the mid-90's, and that makes me very happy.

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As we all unfortunately know, not all good things can last forever. And, alas, The Cops have decided to go on an indefinite hiatus and play what may be the final show at the Sunset tonight.

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Today's photo of the day is from last weekend's KEXP / Audioasis show at the Sunset. I'm sad I missed the Redwood Plan's set (I love what I've heard from that album!) - but thanks to Amelia Gydé for sharing some photos of the set with the TIG Sparkly Indie Pop Photo Pool!

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by Hot Avocados Photography

at Sunset Tavern

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