Are you free tonight? Do you have six dollars? GREAT! Here's what you're doing: hop on a bus or get in your car around, oh, 8:15, and head on down to the Tractor {doors are at 8pm} to catch Pablo Trucker's opening set. They're playing first of three, opening for Invisible Shivers and Garage Voice. While I'm sure those two bands are well worth your time, the ticket price is worth it just to see these guys start the show (and would be true at double the cost).

In case you've missed me emoting about Andrew and Brian here, here, here, here, here and here, you can take a pop on over to their bandcamp page to get a feel for some of their recent work {and listen to releases going back to '09ish}. Pablo Trucker sets basically guarantee ultimate sad bastard moves that will put all the sad bastard moves you've known until now to utter shame.

Generally speaking, openers take the stage around 9pm, so don't be late!

{Photo courtesy of the band.}

{Josh Ritter plays the Neptune Theater Saturday, March 23}

Simple thing: Josh Ritter’s Beast in its Tracks is to today what Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years was to 1975. Yes, Ritter’s album comes in the wake of a divorce, and Still Crazy came after Simon's divorce, with his biggest hit, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Lest the eyes roll at the mention of Simon, remember: In the last 30 years, he’s proved a durable quantity at least three times: with Graceland, with the Lemonheads’ cover of “Mrs. Robinson,” and with “The Only Living Boy in New York” making a new, melancholic splash on the Garden State soundtrack.

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Love beats death, so Graveyard on February 13th at Neumos is a fine way to usher in the red of Valentine’s Day.

Close your eyes when Graveyard starts their fuzzy-but-crisp psych-metal clatter, and you’ll think of Savoy Brown or Humble Pie, a whipped-up, throaty bellow from the 1970s. Yes, Graveyard has the moniker of a Nordic metal throwdown, and they can wield a fierce six-string solo. They skip speed and growl and instead rein in their time signatures so they have a more patient and unfurling vibe, much like their Gothenburg, Sweden, predecessors, Soundtrack of Our Lives. If you caught Ebbot Lundberg and his Soundtrack compadres back in the mid-2000s, then you have an idea of the double-kickdrum power, the big guitars, and Lundberg’s girth and proportionate yowl.

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Remember last winter, when John Roderick played at a house show in Ballard, and how it was pretty much the best thing ever?

Yep.

In case you missed all those great videos the first time, here's a recap:

and the rest are on the Dorsia Films site here.

Happy Friday!

As is the case for years past, best of 2012 lists for this Imaginary Girl are rarely about standard operating procedure -- ranking the best X number of albums in specific order, with exacting reason, is just not my jam. Taking the time at the end of the year to look back at how it all went down is more of an overarching retrospective for me: it's about the shows, the photos, the moments, and the tracks that made up how it all looked and felt, and how I'll remember it for years to come. Sort of like an A/V mixtape that I'll put on the shelf with this year's label on it.

With that said, here's what stood out for me for the past eleven-plus months, with 'best' being a relative term, of course:

Nada Surf at The Tractor by Victoria VanBruinisse

Best show: tie, Nada Surf at the Tractor and the first night of Jeff Mangum at the Moore

Even if either night of the Jeff Mangum show at the Moore back in April medium-sucked, it would probably go down in the year's best-ofs anyway -- simply because of the fact that it's Jeff Motherfucking Mangum and Holy Shit, Dude Did A Tour That We Never Thought We'd See. But as anyone who went knows, neither night even came close to medium-suck: I did prefer night one to night two, but both performances were staggeringly impressive and downright incredible to witness. Plenty of bands put on plenty of good shows in 2012, but when I reflect on things I loved about this year, that first night absolutely takes the cake -- it managed to transcend from Super Incredible Performance to bordering on Show-Related Out-Of-Body Experience.

So how could something like a Jeff Mangum show tie with a Nada Surf performance, you ask? I know. I've been asking myself the same thing and it just... does. Nada Surf graced us with a few performances this year, and it's likely that most folks went to the show at the Neptune in March -- but a few hundred of us were lucky enough to get tickets for the February show at the Tractor, where the band destroyed a sold-out room with one of the tightest four-piece performances I can recall in semi-recent history. For me, it ranked up there with some of my favorite Wrens shows, and knowing my allegiance to the Wrens as you do, you know that's a pretty big statement for me to make. Perhaps it was the recent obsession I'd had with listening to "When I Was Young" and the impeccable timing of the show being a few weeks into said obsession, or maybe it was just something in the air that night -- but whatever it was, the combination of all of it left a wonderful sting of a mark.

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It's a Christmas miracle! A mere few days after all the fun was had at our Imaginary Holiday Spectacular, photos of you and Santa are ready for your viewing pleasure.

Just click on over here to check them out! Huge piles of gratitude to John E. Hollingsworth for capturing all the fun.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Come on down to Chop Suey tonight and help us celebrate the last event of our tenth year anniversary! 2012 has been a very good year, so let's get together and see her out right: with a bunch of great bands and a ride on Santa Roderick's lap. We'll have the lovely and talented John E. Hollingsworth on hand to take your photo!

Seriously, you guys. This could be you:

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I've loved Pablo Trucker just about as long as I've been in Seattle. Literally.

Picture it: Capitol Hill, 2008. It's summertime. I've got a habit of hiding out at the back bar in Victrola during the morning, often before I head in to work at my temp agency gig. Andrew Rudd, drummer and vocalist for the band, is my faithful barista, always taking a moment to chat with me while he crafted my morning brew. One day, our conversation turns to an intriguing red flyer on the front of the espresso machine. Pablo Trucker, it claims, playing one night of a Jack Wilson and the Wife Stealers residency at The Sunset. "You should come," Andrew says to me, over the whirr of the grinders. Having never heard of the band, knowing nothing of the sound, I tell him I'll be there with bells on.

And such was my introduction to Pablo Trucker. I made my way down to Ballard that fateful Monday night, rife with apology since it was getting late, and I wasn't sure if I'd make it through the whole show. Well, I wound up fighting those dayjob schoolnight blues, staying on for the set, and the mighty Pablo Trucker melted my face off with awesome. Never in my life had I seen and heard so much coming out of two people -- here's a clip from my first ever imaginary writeup:

I feel like I should have worn more layers, or prepared somehow otherwise, for what wound up transpiring. One guitar. One drumkit. Two voices, red spotlights, and enough ache to last all of us well into next year sometime. Beyond that, I don't even have any words for it, except go buy the album the minute it comes out, and go see them live next time you have the chance. Seriously. They're my new favorite everything. 

Fast forwarding to this past fall: when I checked in with Andrew to see if he and Brian Wagner were up for playing our holiday show, I knew it was a shot in the dark. You see, the Pablo Trucker has been a bit dormant as of late -- Kory surfaced in Pickwick, Andrew and Brian haven't done m/any shows out -- a few of us had begun to wonder if Pablo Trucker was no more. Friends would tweet about how incredible a reunion would be, but no plans were laid out for a show anytime soon. And then, Andrew responded to my email with an enthusiastic "Count us in!"

Well, we've been party plannign ever since, and now that we're a day out from our Imaginary Holiday Spectacular {do you have your tickets yet??}, we found a few minutes in the happy holiday mayhem this week to catch up with Andrew about life since then, what's going on with the band these days, and more.

TIG: So, what have you and Brian been up to? We haven't heard much from the Pablo Trucker camp since that Christmas album you did in 2010.

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What a killer weekend! It was so great, in fact, that it took me all week to (a) recover some semblance of time management skills and (b) sort through the nine zillion photos from three days of blood, sweat and booty-shakin'. Now that we're all back on track and gearing up for the weekend, let's take a look at all the fun we had: this year's Bumbershoot lined up a diverse range of sounds, collided with a killer forecast, and was packed to the gills with happy, band-loving fesitvalgoers (myself and a few other imaginary staffers included).

Here's a sliver of the bliss I was able to capture from some of my personal highlights from this year's festival, starting with the early Saturday groove-assault brought on by JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound -- complete with serious shout-outs to KEXP:

Sera Cahoone put on a gorgeous set at the Sub Pop stage -- there's lots of buzz around about her new album, out on SP later this month.

Have you ever been to a THEESatisfaction show? No? Let me sum it up for you: the whip-smart lyrics and undeniable beats that Stas and Cat dropped made for a non-stop bump-and-grind fest, punctuated only by realizations that I was in the presence of two people who manage to (somehow) simultaneously exude true greatness and absolute badassery. Were I able to stop shaking my ass for more than .02 seconds, I would have thrown my underwear at the stage. Yep. It was that kind of good:

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We know, we know -- Pickathon? you say, with an air of disbelief. Isn't that a bunch of beardy hippies with banjos out on a farm someplace in rural Oregon? Do they even have wi-fi? Fret not, dear imaginary friends: we are here to share the good news, which is the plain and simple fact that Pickathon Is Awesome. It's kind of got everything you ever hope for in a festival -- multiple stages in the open air that vibe on well into the nighttime, it's not too crowded, there's abundant camping on-site, and it's chock full of local food vendors and boasts a purposeful, sustainable green vibe. And of course, first and foremost, Pickathon's got the bands. (And ps, apparently, abundant wi-fi.)

This year's lineup has everything from sad bastards and bastardettes {like Laura Gibson, Alela Diane, and the Bowerbirds} to full frontal shredders {Heartless Bastards, Cave Singers} and back again. Whether you like the cool, sweet croon of Neko Case or the jamtastic vibe of Dr. Dog, or those multi-faceted types like Langhorne Slim -- who gives us a little bit of everything, from scream to croon to a howl -- you'll find your groove on Pendarvis Farm. And to sweeten the deal for you not-so-rootsy folks, the weekend is parsed through with some of the best of right now's straight-up indie.fill-in-the-blank vibes, with sets by Y La Bamba, Typhoon, Thee Oh Sees, and THEESatisfaction.

Here's a little more on the folks you already know and love:

Cave Singers {Pickathon artist page}

The idea of hearing the Cave Singers rage on into the nighttime on a farm in the middle of nowhere (kind of) has got me near-giddy with delight. Imagine if they went back-to-back with Heartless Bastards? HELLO, DREAM SET. Their shreddy, full-volume indie-roots part Zeppelin, part campfire vibe is unlike anything else out there, and we are bummed out to the max that we won't be hitting town until late Saturday morning -- their Friday night set is going to be a doozy. If you're up there on time, catch these guys on Friday night from 1a - 2a (hell yeah!) in The Galaxy Barn, and on Saturday on The Woods Stage from 4:30p - 5:30p.

Neko Case {Pickathon artist page}

Fresh off of a well-recieved performance at the Capitol Hill Block Party, Ms. Case will be gracing us with her one-of-a-kind croon twice at Pickathon as well. Her stories are well-worn and beautifully crafted, and as her bio states, walk the line between contemporary and timeless with nary a mis-step. She'll headline The Woods Stage on Saturday from 9p - 10p, and the Mt. View Stage on Sunday from 8:45p - 10p.

Alela Diane {Pickathon artist page}

We're lucky to have the folks at More Dust Than Digital and our pal Greg Vandy in our midst, creating killer artist portraits like the one above for local folkster Alela Diane. She's currently on tour in Europe (per her gorgeous recent Instagram photos) and will be making her way back this way for two sets at the festival. Catch her at The Workshop Barn on Friday from 5p - 6p, and again on Sunday on The Woods Stage from 3p - 4p.

Blitzen Trapper {Pickathon artist page}

This Blitzen Trapper track ("Furr") is the one that got me hooked, and the one that keeps me coming back to this band for a contribution on about half of the mixes I make for friends looking to be turned on to 'new' music. They're fresh off of a tour supporting Wilco, will be making a stop out at Doe Bay Fest later in August, and they'll be hitting the road in late September / early October with our pals The Head and the Heart. Short version? Get hip if you're not already there. You can take them in at Pickathon Friday on the Woods Stage from 9p - 10p, and Sunday on the Mt. View Stage from 6:45p - 8p.

Dr. Dog {Pickathon artist page}

Hello, jamtown. To quote Dr. Dog on recording their latest album: "It was reminiscent of when we were starting out and were these fearless weirdos in a basement, so confident and reckelss and bold." That's exactly the vibe we're hoping to catch from them up at Pickathon, as they take us on a trip from noodle-jam to gritty rock and back again. Couple their instrument-wielding talents with an at-times unprecedented lyrical prowess, and you've got a recipe for a good time. Dr. Dog plays The Mt. View Stage on Saturday from 9:45p - 11p, and The Galaxy Barn on Sunday from 1a - 2a. 

Heartless Bastards {Pickathon artist page}

Just like the Cave Singers, I am beside myself at the opportunity to spend a set or two with The Heartless Bastards out in the starry, clear nighttime. The cut above (yep, that video is about six years old) is "Brazen", off of 2006's All This Time, but still stands up strong -- it easily could have been recorded last week. They'll be kicking ass on The Mountain View Stage on Friday from 8:45p - 10p, and again in The Galaxy Barn from 1a - 2a on Saturday night (Sunday morning).

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