We're going to go out on a limb here: the Bumbershoot announcement was released yesterday, and seriously you guys, it might be one of the best festivals of the summer. Sasquatch! is always a party, and Pickathon will be a one-of-a-kind experience -- but the lineup for this year's Bumbershoot seriously knocked it out of the park. It's fresh, relevant, exciting, and we Can. Not. Wait. for Labor Day weekend to get here already!

The video above gives a great visual introduction to all of the artists this year, but in case you just can't wait for it to play through, pop on over here and check out the whole shebang. We are most excited about Death Cab for Cutie (!!) playing Transatlanticism in its entirety (SHUT UP), Heart (SERIOUSLY!), MGMT, Tegan and Sara, Allen Stone, Matt and Kim, The Breeders (!!!!!), !!! (!), Deerhunter, Charles Bradley (<3), Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Zombies, David Bazan, Mates of State, Superchunk (!!!), Diamond Rings, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, Ramona Falls, Matt Pond, The Grizzled Mighty, Kithkin, 15 Years of Barsuk Records (celebrating Barsuk's 15th anniversary) (<3 <3 <3!!), and more, more, more.

more...

all photos by lori paulson

at Showbox at the Market

Any night that has Telekinesis opening, and has Teenage Fanclub not even headlining is bound to be epic, and thus was what I've dubbed Mergefest NW 2010.

Telekinesis brought the rock with Michael Lerner and a new incredibly tight band behind him, featuring Cody Votolato (ex Blood Brothers/current Jaguar Love) and Jason Narducy (ex Verbow). With such a loud past behind the current backing band, it was no surprise that Telekinesis sounded HUGE. This was the first local show with the new band, and it couldn't have been easy opening for not only your bosses but also your musical heroes on home turf, but TK pulled if off well.

more...

Welcome to Mergefest, Northwest edition. We're so unbelievably giddy about this show, we can hardly contain our little imaginary selves. From the moment this show was announced, we've been ticking off the days on our imaginary calendars, waiting and waiting for the magic that will occur the night of October 14th at Showbox at the Market, when the reverby swoonful magic of Teenage Fanclub will meet the crunchy and masterful indie rock of Superchunk, supported by our own hometown indie pop hereos Telekinesis. It's gonna be amazing.

On top of that amazement, all 3 bands will be touring new material! Teenage Fanclub just came out with the fabulous Shadows, which our own Chris Estey adored, stating of the track "The Fall" "Like with many great Teenage Fanclub songs, it creeps in the background till you remember what poured the Scotch into the Scotch-taped remnants of your own multi-shattered heart." Superchunk have the ever anticipated Majesty Shredding coming out in September, and Telekinesis are working on a new record right now. I'm sure we'll hear the hits we all want to hear, but we'll also be treated to some new stuff as well.

And, to celebrate, here's a video from each band:

more...

On Sunday, September 12th at Neptune Coffee, the Imaginary Crafty Listening Party will commence (Kelly's showing everyone how to make fabric flowers, woot!), and it will feature an original crafting soundtrack from Superchunk and the Thermals' new albums.

We have a full review of The Thermals coming up (it's a power pop romantic masterpiece), but we thought it would be good to specifically plug the seminal work of 90s punk pop royalty Superchunk. Especially since the new LP Majesty Shedding arrives along with must-have generational-rousing reissues of the band's second and third releases, No Pocky For Kitty and On The Mouth (1991 and 1993, respectively).

First of all, Majesty Shedding is the band's full-on reunion after many years and comes after Superchunk rubbed fan's tummies with their toys in the attic EP Leaves In The Gutter.

more...

{Visqueen photo: Ben Haley / Bunnygrunt photo: JoshBomb}

September marks the biggest festival season in the Pacific Northwest. In a move to test our endurance, the biggest of the mammoth festivals take place within days of each other: Bumbershoot from September 4-6 in Seattle and Music Fest NW from September 8-12 in Portland. But, besides those mega-shows, we've got plenty of our favorite Seattle bands taking to the stage. In this edition of the Imaginary Mixtape we'll share tracks from noteworthy bands with shows in the coming weeks, feature some exclusive live recordings from the Athens Popefest, and a sneak preview of brand new songs by The Thermals and Superchunk.

You can listen to a stream or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page. Bandcamp prohibits tracks longer than 25 minutes {I think it's some regulation against jam bands?}, so the podcast is split into three sections. Click below to listen via the bandcamp stream.

PART 1: Preview of some September Seattle shows, Bumbershoot and Music Fest NW

PART 2: A listen to more Seattle bands with September shows and a preview of our Imaginary Crafty Listening Party albums for September

PART 3: Live tracks recorded at the 2010 Athens Popfest and some lovely Seattle indie-pop

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes (and who doesn't), 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 for hosting the file!}.

Tracklisting: Imaginary Mixtape - September 2010:

more...

{Thermals photo: Westin Glass / Superchunk photo: Jason Arthurs}

Last month's Imaginary Crafty Listening Party was bumpin with Lo & Behold Shrie teaching us all how to embroider {and armed us with TIG birdies to practice on} while we blissed out to the new Darren Hanlon and Menomena albums.

more...

Today in too awesome for words or real sentences...

SUPERCHUNK AND TEENAGE FANCLUB TOGETHER! SHOWBOX AT THE MARKET! 10/14!

And, as if that wasn't enough, our imaginary local favorites Telekinesis are opening!

Mark your calendars. Tickets go on sale 6/19. Be prepared for what is likely to be THE BEST SHOW THAT EVER HAPPENED.

Some videos to get you stoked:

(skip past the first minute of tuning, but yeah, Superchunk still wail!)

more...

{Long Winters photo by Trickshot Photography}

Because I'm some kind of masochist and a total nerd, I've been slaving over this list, keeping it brief (harder than you'd think!) at my favorite 20 albums of the decade without duplicating a band (even harder). Side note: I've probably forgotten something I really, really love, so let's just call this how I feel right this minute. These are the albums I know every note and breath of by heart and I love as complete albums with all of my soul. These are albums that in my humble opinion have no skipable track and are works of beauty in their entirety. I'd also like to point out that these are my favorite albums, as I tend to shy away from calling them "the best", as really, it's just my opinion, and who am I to tell you that you're wrong for not liking these records? (Though, if you catch me in a potentially altered state, I may completely negate that and call any number of these THE GREATEST of all time and call you wrong to your face if you disagree.) I digress. Here they are!

more...

As you might have already heard in the podcast, one of the most impressive things to me about Telekinesis' rise to fame is the fact that they get to know Superchunk (one of my all time favorite bands). So you might understand why I nearly spit hot tea all over my monitor when I found this video this morning: Superchunk covering our dear imaginary favorites Telekinesis' "Tokyo" (collectively, one of our favorite songs of the year).

Please keep all electronics safe from any flying liquids due to excitement.

Warning: This is an ecstatic early plug for the upcoming fan-dream book, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small.

As Magnet magazine is quoted, "[Merge] might be responsible for more indie-rock classics than any other label in the past two decades." David Byrne considers their survival "kind of amazing these days." NPR asserts they're "one of the top independent labels in the world." In Our Noise author John Cook shows the letter that Glitterhouse sent to Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance (in Superchunk, of course, and who started the label) originally sent turning down European distribution (it's hilarious, considering what Merge would achieve); to the later days when Mac feels giddy and weird hanging out near Dr. Dre and Springsteen at Coachella.

more...