A little shy of a year ago, we were spending an August night out at Columbia City Theater, helping our friends over at Sound on the Sound celebrate their fifth anniversary. And in doing so, not only did we get to party our pants off with a hell of a set from Pickwick and jam on some Tom Petty covers with the Petty Party, we also got turned on to a rad-ass band from San Francisco called The Mallard. In their own words, they're an "inside-out-echo-laser-garage-psych-rock trio... [whose] home fried songs harness the naked abandon of 60's punk, but inject the form with a deranged spirit all their own. Close attention to texture and dynamics allow the band to explore unusual terrain – to grant access into unexpected realms of beauty and terror... with dessert." Draw your own definitions from checking out their Soundcloud page here, but whatever adjective you want to put to it, it's clear that this band is on the good shit.

Since that last show, they've expanded to a three-piece, and the trio they've become will be bringing their groove to the stage of the Comet this coming Sunday night, opening for Koko and the Sweetmeats. As you probably guessed from the post thus far, not only do we wholly endorse The Mallard, but we want to give you a chance to see them live! So here's the scoop on free tickets: send a love note to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com with the subject line "SendMeToTheMallard". We'll pick a winner around lunchtime on Friday, so be sure to get your email in to us before then for a chance to win.

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Seattle post-punk(ish) new wave band Hotels just released their latest EP Cinemascope I, the first of a series of three EPs that the band plan to put out. With this four song EP, Hotels sound as solid as ever; from the looping, jangly sound of album opener "The Reddest Rose" to the creeping bass line from front man Blake Madden on "Unknown Quadrant." Their 2011 release On The Casino Floor was a concept album about a casino in space (seriously!) and that aesthetic is returned to on the psychedelic, six-minute closing track "True Crime." You can listen to {and download} the entire EP at Hotel's Bandcamp page here.

In celebration, Hotels will be playing a show this Friday {4/27} at Columbia City Theater, and we'd love to send you and a friend to the show on us! Just shoot us an email to tig {at} three imaginary girls {dot} com anytime before the end of the day on Thursday -- yep, that's tomorrow! -- for a chance to win. Be sure to put "SendMeToHotels" in the subject line so we know it's you.

And ps, we'd be crazy not to mention that Noddy and Sports will be opening the show: in case you're not familiar, Noddy started as the solo project of former Man Plus front man Jared Mills, and has since evolved into a fully formed 5 piece band, releasing their 13-track debut album last fall titled Murder! Dance! Kill!. And Sports are equally synth-laden and just as influenced by 80's new wave, so be sure to wear your dancing shoes. Their latest self titled release can be found in name-your-price form at the bands bandcamp page here.

As an added treat, Hotels will be joined on stage by Adra Boo of Seattle soul/groove duo Fly Moon Royalty. All of this for a mere six dollars? Seattle, you'd be silly to skip this show. We'll see you there!

{9p / $6 advance, $8 day of show / 21+}

If you listened to radio at all in the 90s, you couldn't escape hearing Matthew Sweet's swirling guitar-filled, gets-stuck-in-your-head, bouncy hit "Girlfriend". And if you were a genuine power pop lover, you toted around the Girlfriend album like it was pure gold, shuffling the tape or CD from your car to your boom box, sticking a song from it on every mix you made, and stashing your vinyl safely in a plastic sleeve, to make sure it stayed pristine and unscratched for listening parties.

Lucky for those of us that are Girlfriend aficionados, Matthew Sweet is touring for the 20^th Anniversary (WHAT), and is making a stop at The Triple Door for two nights of playing Girlfriend in its entirety. Oh, the nostalgic 90s bliss that will ensue during those two nights! Can you imagine the amount of drool on the floor that will be left from power pop enthusiasts? I can. And I bet the Triple Door can too, which is why there were super smart to book him for two shows.

Due to some divine intervention (ha!), I'll be at the Wednesday night show, imagining the way I used to gaze lovingly at young Matthew’s photo on the inside of the CD cover and hope he was talking to me when he sang, “I hear you’re looking for someone to love”, and preparing my ears for his sweet, sweet (double ha!) vocals. And! We have a pair of tix to giveaway to it too! Wanna go see Matthew on 4/25? Send an email to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com sometime between now and the end of the day Friday {4/20}, with the subject line "Evangeline". We'll pick a winner and notify you over that weekend that you're on the list +1.

My Girlfriend CD and remixed single (pictured above, right) are a little worse for wear, but this girl can still swoon over Matthew Sweet -- even 20+ years later. 

{Matthew Sweet Girlfriend Tour | The Triple Door | 4/25 & 4/26 | Doors at 6pm, show at 7:30pm | All Ages | $28 adv, $32 day of, $38 VIP}

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It seems like only yesterday that I was standing at Zilker Park in Austin, finally feeling about four percent relief from the heat post-sunset, losing my shit to the sweet, gritty madness that is a We Are Augustines set. Even though they were performing on one of the smaller stages at 2011's Austin City Limits festival, they were one of the most impressive acts of the weekend: whipping the crowd into a frenzy, half-full of die-hard WAA and Pela (R.I.P.) fans, half full of people streaming toward the stage like a moth to a light, murmuring "Who is this?" and digging through their schedules to figure out the name of their new favorite band. We Are Augustine's ability to convey a dirty, shredding, true indie-rock vibe that's interspersed with a melodic, full-volume earnestness gives them a sound that no other band can really replicate, and that vibe-sound is the reason I drop everything I'm doing and catch their sets every chance I get.

If you've never seen them before or are chomping at the bit to see them again, you're in luck: while it is opposite both Radiohead's and Andrew Bird's shows the same evening (hey, that just means there's going to be more room up front for you and your friends!), We Are Augustines will be taking the second slot opening up for Band Of Skulls this coming Monday, April 9th at the Neptune -- and we've got a pair of tickets to give away to the show. Just drop us an email at tig {at} three imaginary girls {dot} com with the subject line "LostToTheLonesome" so that we know it's you. We'll pick a winner at 5pm sharp on Thursday (yep, that's April 5th) and email you to let you know that you and your +1 are on the list for the show, and you'll be set for a killer time on Monday night.

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As we mentioned back in January, here in the imaginary office we are perpetually super-stoked on all things from the Andrew Bird camp, and the newest effort {Break It Yourself} is no exception. BIY was officially released earlier this month, with a single that was compelling enough to make the album well worth the asking price -- in case you missed it, here's what we had to say:

"If this track [ed. note: we're referring to "Eyeoneye"] is any indication of what Break It Yourself is going to bring to us on the whole, we're ready to put this as a frontrunner for one of 2012's top five albums without a single look back. There's a wide spectrum of recognizeable influence here while remaining decidedly Andrew Bird, which is to be expected -- he's one of those artists that continues to evolve with the world around him and change dramatically without departing too far from his baseline. And that said, there's a whole new freshly familiar vibe to the music: still laden with whistle-overs, graced with more than a hint of Phil Spector wall-of-sound-ery, and sliced through to the skeleton with a half-dozen emergent indie sounds of, well, right-fucking-now-ness."

And per the title of this post, you guessed it: Andrew Bird is coming to town on Monday, April 9th, and we're giving away a pair of tickets to this show. But you might actually be better off buying them, even if you win with us. Seriously. Check it out: your advance ticket price {$27.50 - $37.50, depending on where you sit} not only includes access to the show at the Paramount, it also gets you digital delivery of Break It Yourself, along with five-song live EP recorded on Andrew Bird's 2011 tour called Fake Conversations, AND a five-song live EP from the current tour (which you'll receive later on this year). You can't lose on that one! But if you want to gamble on a free pair of seats, we'd love to have you: just email tig {at} three imaginary girls {dot} com with the subject line "BreakItYourself" so we know it's you, and tell us why we should pick you to go to the show.

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As if the upcoming week of shows isn't good enough already -- two nights of Magnetic Fields, Mudhoney at the Tractor, and Nada Surf, just to name a few! -- it's all capped off with the best place to be on a Sunday in recent memory, with Sharon Van Etten {and special guests The War On Drugs} at the Neptune Theater. Touring on the heels of her already much-loved latest Jagjaguwar release, Tramp, an album that both 'defies and illuminates the unsteadiness of a life in flux' (not like we weren't already smitten enough with tracks like "Love More" and "One Day" off of 2010's Epic), Van Etten and band will be bringing their particular brand of sad embrace to the stage, and we want to send you and a guest to the show.

Send us an email anytime between now and 10am Friday morning {that's this Friday, the 23rd} to tig {at} three imaginary girls {dot} com with the subject line "MagicChords" so that we know it's you. We'll pick a winner Friday and notify you that you're on the guest list +1 to Sunday's show.

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Remember that time when Nada Surf brought serious amounts of rock to the stage and melted our faces off with Say Hi at the Tractor? Oh, right -- that was just last month. Well, if you're anything like us, the strains from that show have been stuck in your frontal lobe ever since, running side-by-side with the still-in-heavy-rotation the stars are indifferent to astronomy. And whether you saw or missed the show, whether you're listening to the new album  and putting "When I Was Young" on a mix for the first or thirty-fifth time, you (and we, and the rest of Seattle) are in luck: Nada Surf is coming back to town this weekend, after a string of successful shows, South by Southwest performances, and all-around positive response to their latest studio effort.

Tickets are available through STG now for the upcoming show at the Neptune this Saturday, and we strongly recommend picking up a pair (or two) in advance before the show sells out. But if you want to roll the dice on getting in with a +1 for free, you can enter to win a spot on the guest list from us! Just drop an email our way, to tig {at} three imaginary girls {dot} com with the subject line "PicturesInOurPretendWallets" anytime between now and the end of the internet day, say 5pm-ish, on Thursday.

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Even though I've had almost two months to let it sink in, it still hasn't hit me:  Seattle will get to see Allo Darlin on Friday May, 11 at the Vera Project!!!  And they are bringing their very talented friends (and fellow Darren Hayman collaborators) The Wave Pictures!!!

As we told you before (in an equally excited voice), this night is going to be extra special. In addition to seeing two of the most fabulous British sweet-pop exports perform some of my favorite songs ever, the evening also serves as part of our Three Imaginary Girls 10th Anniversary celebration series. Ten awesome events to celebrate ten awesome imaginary years (more details on other events soon!)!!!

We want you to be there to dance to the inspired post-twee songs of these two amazing bands along with us and Vera has given us a pair of tickets to give away to the show! To enter to win them, email us at tig @ threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject line "Henry Rollins Don't Dance" before May 3, 2012.  We'll notify the winner (which will hopefully be you!) soon thereafter.

Also, both bands will be debuting songs from brand new albums that are both set to release in April (Allo Darlin's Europe and The Wave Pictures's Long Black Cars).  If you have a hard time waiting, you can sample at least one new Allo Darlin song right now...

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Huzzah! The Magnetic Fields are coming to Seattle (!!!) and we've got a pair of tickets for you to win! One of the Imaginary Girls' favorite melancholy indie-pop bands will be gracing the stage at The Neptune for two nights: Monday, 3/19 and Tuesday 3/20. Their newest album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, was released 3/6 on Merge records. (You can take a listen to the single "Andrew in Drag" in the video above.)

But look, I don't need to explain to y'all how great they are, YOU ALREADY KNOW IT. On to the deets! Shoot an email over to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com sometime between now and the end of the day Tuesday {3/13}, with the subject line "69 Love Songs". We'll pick a winner and notify you on Wednesday, 3/14 that you're on the list +1 -- just don't forget to let us know which night you want to attend! ♥

One of the excellent bands that caught my attention last year is Portland's Blue Skies for Black Hearts, who opened for Tennis Pro last summer. You guys, I'm not kidding - I was BLOWN AWAY by these boys, and rushed over to (drunkenly) buy a CD as soon as they finished their set. They had several to choose from, but I picked up their latest, Embracing the Modern Age, because it had this amazing retro-poppy song on it called "Caroline Make Up Your Mind" and that was stuck in my head forevs. Anyway, they are playing in Seattle next Friday, 3/9 at the High Dive, and we are giving away a pair of tickets! Which is awesome, because I keep telling you guys how great they are, and I feel like no one is listening to me. 

GUYS. GO TO THIS SHOW AND CHECK THEM OUT. TRUST ME. THEY RULE. 

Okay, now that I got that off my chest: email tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com with the subject line "Damn Those Girls" anytime between now and 5pm next Tuesday {3/6}. We'll choose a winner and notify you by email sometime on Wednesday to let you know you're on the list. Good luck!

{High Dive | 21+ | $7 | 9pm doors. Playing with Pocket Panda and The Ames.}

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