We here in imaginary land don't do a very good job of keeping our love for local chest pounding indie popsters BOAT a secret. Their TOPPS EP was at the top of my favorite releases of last year, and both imaginary Liz and I put 2007's Let's Drag Our Feet quite high on our best of '07 lists. And now, with a full length almost out entitled Setting the Paces, we can hardly contain our excitement, which is why we're happy to present you with this fabulous BOAT package!

One lucky imaginary reader will get:

- One CD or LP of their new full length Setting the Paces

- One BOAT t-shirt in whatever size you want

- Two tickets to their cardboard stage cut out filled 21+ CD release show on October 22nd at Neumo's with the Pale Pacific, Sirens Sister and The Special Places (Jenny and Corianton of Tullycraft!)

- and... one custom piece of art made by the fabulous D. Crane of BOAT (he could illustrate any kind of history you wanted!)

So come with us, you'll win! Just e-mail tig@threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject "LatelyI'veBeenOnMyBack" (all one word please!) by Wednesday at 9am for your chance to win! Period, backslash, colon, it's that easy! Just be sure to include your full name, especially if your e-mail address is imaman@whenigrowup.com.

 

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Oh, my friend, I am so sorry. I have become one of them too. Ga-ga for the new indie pop blog romance. I know we mocked them, the length of the band name, the way people jumped on the bandwagon. But who could resist "Shit-faced, following a dark place, drinking in the last days" as an opening line to a song as tinkly, moany, sparkly, and swooning as anything The Cure or Echo & The Bunnymen ever released in their (best) eschatological sweep-rock periods? And then: "Mystery looks just like a mumble mumble, bumble-fuck, mumble." I mean, bumble-fuck. He really uses that word in a song poppier than heroin. Yeah.

As if lyrics mattered, but they do. It's a deciding factor, and they can't just be clever lines, there was to be a story. In this case in opener "Higher Than The Stars" it's a Freudian filial wish-fulfillment nightmare ("She was like a brother, until you dropped another / in the back of her mother's car"). That is, the protagonist and his adored seem like creepy kids in a "Flowers in the Attic" scenario, with Gothic, unrequited, imagined-incestuous love at its heart-scraping core. Kip Berman is at the center as Alex Naidus, Kurt Feldman, and Peggy Wang-East musically swirl about him like girls around a maypole. Ashes to ashes, indeed.

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at Neumo's

I love living in Seattle and getting to see my favorite New York City bands come through town on tour together. So I was a little disappointed when I found out that Cymbals Eat Guitars had food poisoning on the night of the Seattle show during their tour with Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Of course, POBPAH are enough to draw me out of my apartment, but without Cymbals, the show lacked energy between openers The Depreciation Guild and headliners POBPA.

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at Moore Theater

As we located our seats at the beautiful Moore Theater Thursday night, my friend turned to me and said "If anyone starts chanting 'Keane! Keane! Keane! Keane!' I'm totally leaving. I'll bet we're in for at least one session of overhand clapping in unison too." It's easy to be cynical about Keane at this point in their career, as they're not revered in indie rock circles as much more than Coldplay-lite (and Coldplay is pretty damned "lite" already, right?). But you know what? I think Hopes & Fears was a damned fine record and I don't care who knows it.

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Hey Marseilles is my new favorite band. Sallie Ford is my new favorite awkwardly gorgeous young songstress. And Evan & Virginia Easthope are a force to be reckoned with. If any of them are playing anywhere, any time, go see the set. Period. End rant. I've heard of Hey Marseilles, of course, and I've also heard a lot about them. I've given the album a drive-by and I've paid attention to the reports that came back from Doe Bay, the Capitol Hill Block Party, and Bumbershoot. In fact, I've even had occasion to meet various members of the band, and I've seen video performances on the internets. But before last night, I had yet to physically see and hear a live Hey Marseilles show. And I can't believe I waited so long to soak up the amazingness of witnessing this band perform in the flesh.

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Tonight is the night to get your loud as hell indie pop on with The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. Bring your 1" badges and your cardigans and prepare to dance your ass off. Doors at Neumo's are at 8pm, and they've added an all-ages balcony because everyone deserves to hear the wonderfulness that is The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.

If you still need more convincing, check out this video of POBPAH playing a giant festival in Poland. Watch them command the stage. Watch them on the big screen. Know that if you miss this show, the next time they come back the venue will be twice as big.

See you tonight!

Just a reminder, you still have time to enter to win tickets for you and a friend to see our favorite (or at least my favorite) indie pop darlings The Pains of Being Pure at Heart with Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Depreciation Guild at Neumo's tomorrow! Just e-mail us at tig@threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject line "KurtCobain'sCardigan" (all one word please!) by today at 5pm! Remember to include your full name, especially if your e-mail address is something like "Everythingwithyou@c86.co.uk". Good luck, and see you at the show! This one is not to be missed!

I certainly have not been doing a very good job keeping my crush on Brooklyn's The Pains of Being Pure At Heart a secret. I've written love letters about their love letters to perfect 80's jangle pop, and once I flew out to see them in the Midwest. But now, I finally get to see them in my hometown at Neumo's this Tuesday September 15th with Cymbals Eat Guitars and the Depreciation Guild (sadly, I was out of town all summer and had to miss the Capitol Hill Block Party). And now, you can too! E-mail us at tig@threeimaginarygirls.com for the chance to win tickets for you and a friend to see The Pains of Being Pure At Heart for free! Just put "KurtCobain'sCardigan" in the subject line, and e-mail us by Monday evening at 5pm.

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This week marks the 10th anniversary of the release of everyone's favorite weepy, happy, ukulele-infused, wonderful massive concussion of long songs album:  69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields. The album set was officially released on September 7, 1999 and the original pressing of 2,500 of the box set sold out within days (per the 69 Love Songs wiki page).

Now, the group has put together a commemoriative re-issue of the set as six 10" records set to release this week. The full, uber-fan description goes as follows (and yes, I along with the rest of you pre-ordered this in May because we just couldn't help ourselves):

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Bumbershoot takes place at the Seattle Center this September 5-7 and there's about a million and a half things to do (bands, literary panels, art shows, Flatstock, kettle corn lunches) over the three-day fest.

To help folks (especially ourselves) prepare for Bumbershoot 2009, we put together this lil mix of some of the things you should add to your Bumbershoot scheduling spreadsheet. We hope this helps you pick your must-sees or at least provides a soundtrack as you wander to and fro.

 

{go listen}