Let's jump right in: I'm torn between starting this post with "this Lemolo album is seriously haunting me" and "Lemolo could totally beat up your favorite synth-y indie dream-core band" because they're both true. In the case of the former, I find myself humming harmonies absentmindedly at varying points in my days and nights, wondering what the song is -- and then realizing it's a track off of The Kaleidoscope; and the case of the latter, the lyrics are smarter and more gripping than anything I've heard in this genre before, and the emotion-pendulum they swing on is more vast.

Whichever way you slice it, The Kaleidoscope is a keeper. It'll be your new go-to for warming up, coming down, pondering, soundtracking, arriving, leaving, making out, and everything in-between. The album as a whole is intelligent and tight, meandering over to casually shred your face off in one moment and placing it's hands directly on your heartstrings the next. There's such a big-yet-right-in-the-next-room feeling that pervades from start to finish, and it would be easy to make comparisons like 'Beach House with a better edge!' or 'Phantogram with less dance party and more smart-kid!' but we'd be doing Lemolo an injustice by saying so. Instead, I'll fine-tune it a bit and say that this album holds up to the landscape of Washed Out's "Feel It All Around" {one of my favorite dream-jam tracks} and the brilliance of a portion of the Broken Social Scene catalog {"Sweetest Kill" and "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl come to mind}, while still standing apart with a tone and center all it's own.

Every single song has a piece in it somewhere that punches us square in the gut, in the very best of ways. "On Again, Off Again" is the big single from the album, and of course there's the "Open Air" video... it's great to finally hear tracks from shows put to waxdisc, like those two, "Who Loves" and "Whale Song" -- but "Move Me" is taking the proverbial cake at the moment. "Move Me" wraps the listener around the axle with the line that repeats I don't / want to / be away / from you / too long, and coincidentally enough, that's exactly how we feel about this album (and this band in general, PS).  I'd strongly encourage every single one of you reading this to be sure and catch Lemolo at Columbia City Theater this Friday and Saturday, but both shows are sold out. You'll just have to get yourself over to the Capitol Hill Block Party for a chance at taking in a live set.

While the Lemolo release and this next one have nothing to do with each other, they both hit my stratosphere in the same week, and so I've taken them in at the same time -- and as a result, there has definitely had a yin-and-yang effect taking place. When I'm all full-up on Lemolo's smart soundscape-y vibes, I shift my attention to my other favorite thing of the moment, the equally smart yet sonically-opposite Foreign Spells {the new Young Evils EP}. Foriegn Spells is short, to the point, and provides an excellent sampler-pack of songs that show the direction the band is headed in. While we've made no secret here in the imaginary office about how much we loves us some Enchanted Chapel, we're double-down excited about the new tunes that the Young Evils have seen fit to bestow us with, especially now that we've got "Darker Blue Bayou" in the flesh and can add it to the next mix we make. With the last release as evidence to compare and contrast against, the songs seem smarter, darker, fuller, and more concise -- the EP really shows the listener the difference between a bright idea and more of a fully-formed realization of what these stellar musicians are capable of. And while Foreign Spells is totally killer on the stereo, as is the case with many other bands, we think these lady-and-gents do their best work live -- so be sure to get yourself to the formal release party at Barboza next month, on July 13th.

There have been a handful of tracks that are making their way onto mixes of late, and a few doing repeat duty, so I thought it best to mention them as well if we're talking about what's been filling our imaginary ears and iPhones with happiness. Some are new-new, some are new-to-me, and some are just new in that they were buried at the bottom of the stack and recently found their way back up into heavy rotation.

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You know that point when your iTunes gets so filled up with awesome stuff that you can't possibly listen to everything that's in there with any kind of regularity? Where, like, you put it on shuffle and then you hear a song and you're all, "OHHHH right, I love this song! But I forgot about it!" Right.

Well, that's been happening to me lately and there's so much good stuff I want to share, I thought I'd just go ahead and create a mixtape for y'all. Enjoy!

"Nothing Really Happened" - Math and Physics Club
"So Caroline" - The Posies
"Lonelily" - Damien Rice
"The Kids We Used to Be" - Phineas and The Lonely Leaves
"Do It Better" - Imperial Teen
"If It Was (A Matter of Mind)" - The Rave-Ups
"Hold On" - Yellow Ostrich
"The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine" - Spoon
"Run" - Ben Kweller
"Closet Cutter" - Mike Viola
"Sigh" - Verlee for Ransom
"Connection" - The Brunettes

Play this mixtape on Spotify.
{I once again tried to include an iTunes link, but sadly only 9 of the 13 songs are available on there. auuuuggghhh} 

So... what songs have popped up on your shuffle lately that you're suddenly loving again?

Ahhh….summer. There's nothing quite like cranking up a bouncy, happy song on a sunny day - whether you're in a car with the top down, or taking a sunshiny sidewalk stroll with your earphones firmly in place. Sadly, once again this summer,  the sunny days in Seattle have been few and far between (Hello, July?). Here's to hoping this beach and BBQ-ready virtual mixtape I put together will keep you feeling warm!

1. The Drums - "Let's Go Surfing" - Summertime EP (2:55)
{tig} {listen} {buy}

2. Bow Wow Wow - "I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix)" - Marie Antoinette Soundtrack (2:40)
{listen} {buy}

3. The Submarines - "You Me and the Bourgeoisie" - Honeysuckle Weeks (3:22)
{tig} {listen} {buy}

{more tracks after the jump}

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Before we let 2010 come to a close and we start building out our tops of the year lists, we wanted to share a few more songs that we have been listening to on repeat throughout the month. You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page.

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, 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 and Indie Pages for hosting the file!}.

Tracklisting: Imaginary Mixtape - December 2010 {part 4}

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{Photo by Victoria VanBruinisse from the Imaginary Flickr Photo Pool}

There is nothing we'd love more than to celebrate this month of many holidays with us at this year's Imaginary Holiday Office Party. The night is going to have so many holly jolly wonderful things that going on we can't list them off in one breath (but you can read all about it here).

It's all going down on Thursday, December 16 at the Columbia City Theater and all proceeds from the show go to Seattle nonprofit, Teen Feed. We've gathered some of our favorite bands from Seattle as well as Santa John Vanderslice, who is not only taking the stage to perform, but will also be our Indie-Rock Santa for the evening (and you can get your photo taken upon his lap).

But don't take our word for it, this episode of the Imaginary Mixtape podcast is a sampling of each of the bands taking the Holiday Office Party stage. You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page.

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, 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 and Indie Pages for hosting the file!}.

We hope to see you at the holiday party!

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{Behind the scenes at last year's Imaginary Holiday Party - photo by Jason Tang}

It's that time of year again: the time of year in which we can listen to "Last Christmas" without headphones and not get chastised by our coworkers. It also gives us a time to sift through our holiday mixtapes and listen to our favorite bands get all holly jolly Christmas for us. Is there any better way to get into the mood for the Imaginary Holiday Office Party on December 16, 2010 at the Columbia City Theater?

You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page.

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, 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 and Indie Pages for hosting the file!}.

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The turn of the weather and shortness of days in Seattle over the last couple weeks has left little room to deny that winter is upon us. Thankfully, imaginary victoria has gathered a subtle and soothing mix of songs that is warming our tootsies as of late.

You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page.

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, 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 and Indie Pages for hosting the file!}.

Tracklisting: Imaginary Mixtape - December 2010 {part 1}

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{Orca Team / Elf Power photos from their MySpace pages}

This October is so full of amazing shows it's far from clever to simply call it rOctober (which has yet to prevent me one bit from doing so). We can't stop talking about the fact that our dreams are going to come true many times over during the course of the month with the likes of The Drums, Superchunk (featured in last month's podcast) / Teenage Fanclub / Telekinesis, James, Liz Phair, Belle & Sebastian, and The Vaselines are all coming to Seattle. You can imagine the hard time we had narrowing down what bands to feature in this month's Imaginary Mixtape to illustrate just how lucky we are going to be in the coming weeks. Have a listen to just a few of our recommendations for what to see this month in a wee concise sampler.

You can listen to a stream of the podcast below or download the MP3 version of the podcast on the imaginary bandcamp page. If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, 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 - October 2010:

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{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:

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Lost at the festival, where could they be?
At any ole place where the wi-fi is free.

It's true, our favorite part of the summer is the avalanche of festival possibilities. There's little better in the world than dozens of your new favorite bands playing one after the other on a sunny day in an exotic locale. This edition of the Imaginary Mixtape we share tracks from some of the cutest bands playing the Athens Popfest {August 10-14 in Athens, GA} and take a consoling look back at the amazing Indietracks festival line up {takes place each year at the end of July in the UK - fingers crossed next year we can make the trip?}. But, we start off the podcast looking at some awesome August events in Seattle. Get ready to mark up your calendars!

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 for those that like to listen via the bandcamp stream.

PART 1: Preview of some Seattle shows and events in August

PART 2: Athens Popfest preview

PART 3: Looking back at the UK festival, Indietracks

If you are the type that likes to listen to podcasts in itunes, download the .m4a file here {one single file with fancy chapters even!} and then open it in your itunes {Thanks to Jigsaw Records for hosting it!}.

Tracklisting: Imaginary Mixtape - August 2010:

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