***UPDATE: Only two more days left to enter to win!***

It's a whole new year with a fresh round of shows to get excited about -- and to kick of the ticket giveaways, how about a pair for one of the PNW's new favorite local bands? Pickwick will be playing at The Doug Fir down in Portland next this Friday, January 13th, and you can enter to win a spot +1 on the guest list!

In case you haven't had an ear to the ground these last few months, Pickwick is taking the world by storm at pretty much every turn: a ginormous success of a show at the Neptune, followed by some time in the studio slated to birth an album that half of Seattle already has on their 2012 top-ten list; placing at number nine on KEXP's best 90.3 of 2011, firmly sandwiched between Beirut and Adele with a scant EP; and gorgeous, seemingly effortless videos that keep surfacing like Sound on the Sound's Doe Bay Sessions and the now-famed UW reading room rendition of Blackout.

Ready for a road trip? Just send an email to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com with the subject line "PickwickInPDX" anytime between now and noontime next this Wednesday, January 11th.

more...

Lucky, lucky us! In the midst of an incredibly well-timed trip to the east coast, we found ourselves front and center for a slice of CMJ at the Ace Hotel in New York City last week. Our fine friends over at KEXP had lined up a great few days of performances, with in-studios from bands like Widowspeak (above), Givers, WATERS, Dum Dum Girls, We Are Augustines, Zola Jesus, and so many more. The daytime performances were undoubtedly the best of the fest, and we're so happy and grateful we got to help out and contribute some time, love, and photography skills to some of the best seventy-two hours Rocktober has ever seen:

John in the Morning and Zola Jesus, day one:

more...

{This is part two of our photo-coverage from the 2011 Austin City Limits festival -- check out part one here!}

The second half of this year's trip to Zilker Park was even better than the first, as ACL's chock-ful-o' bands and radness vibe kept on strong. Strains of Wanda Jackson and Cee Lo filtered through the late-day dusk as we crowded under the Vista Equity stage tent to catch a few songs (and a glimpse) of Gillian Welch. And was it ever worth fighting the crowd -- that sparse, stripped-away version of "Ohio" was absolutely one of the high points of our Saturday!

The night blew us away with huge sets from TV on the Radio, My Morning Jacket, and Stevie Wonder -- and in what felt like moments later we were back in the morning for more. Yellow Ostrich, Mariachi El Bronx, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.,  The Head and the Heart, the Walkmen, Broken Social Scene, and Joseph Arthur filled our sweltering Sunday with amazement -- but the two best sets of the day {and the weekend, IOHO} went to Elbow and We Are Augustines. Hands-down, no contest.

Here's a few shots from between the raindrops!

Gillian Welch with Dave Rawlings, slaying a packed house tent:

more...

Austin City Limits is usually a shoe-in to win, and this year's festival was no exception. Beat down with brilliance, both in the form of relentless sunshine and amazing bands playing their hearts out everywhere we looked, we took to the grassy knolls of Zilker Park doused in 50 SPF and spent the first day and a half of our show-goings with the likes of Brandi Carlile, Delta Spirit, Ray Lamontagne, the Cave Singers, Kurt Vile, Cold War Kids, Foster the People, Charles Bradley, Bright Eyes, Mavis Staples, Telekinesis, Aloe Blacc, Phosphorescent, Iron & Wine, the Moondoggies, and Fitz and the Tantrums. Every single stage was thoughtfully billed, easing in our late-mornings with incredible starts, and building seamlessly through their lineups during the day to absolute crescendos of performance from the headliners at night.

In between soaking up sun, getting our fill and desperately looking for shade, and dodging errant shower-storms with the camera, we even managed to grab a few photos to prove it all went down. Here's a mere fraction of what we were able to take in -- keep an eye on the site for part II of our photo-review, coming up shortly!

Seattle's own Brandi Carlile, tearing up the giant AMD stage before Ray Lamontagne on day one:

more...

Yup. There sure are a lot of exclamation points up in that headline, and with good cause: we're heading off for Austin City Limits this weekend, to catch some bands and some tan in the near-hundred-degree sun. Between pre-trip laundering, hydrating, charging our camera batteries and getting all that three-ounce-or-less business handled for the flight, we thought we'd take a minute to let you know about some of the acts we're particularly excited about this year -- especially since there seems to be a particularly strong PNW presence to be reckoned with every single day of the 'fest.

The start of the fest on Friday is kind of like easing in to that hot, soapy, not-too-dirty-yet festival bath. Hometown heroine Brandi Carlile will be getting things going early in the day, and we're hoping her sweet sounds will put us in the right kind of mood to slide over into Ray LaMontagne's late afternoon set -- they're both playing at the AMD stage starting around 2p. As the day darkens, we hope to get a little more gritty with the Cave Singers, and while Cold War Kids and Bright Eyes blow their sets out back-to-back {on the Honda and AMD stages respectively, for those of you following along in your custom-made schedules at home}, we might have to weasel our way forward to get a bigger-than-Bumbershoot-sized helping of Charles Bradley as he closes out the Vista Equity stage just before forever-legend Mavis Staples. As to whether we end day one with Kanye West or Coldplay -- my vote's on Kanye. But seeing as the fest is all sold out except for a few Sunday passes, we might not be able to make it close enough for a photo report. Fingers crossed!

Pending crowd surges (and weather permitting), we hope to also make time to get a little Delta Spirit, Smith Westerns, Kurt Vile, and Santigold into our schedules too!

more...

There's still time-a-plenty to get your Friday donewith and head on down to Portland for this year's installment of what's quickly becoming our favorite regional city-wide music festival, MusicFest Northwest. For four sweet nights (well, five technically, if you count the goings-on around town that started Wednesday) some of the best local and national-worthy acts sweep in and take over our hip sister city. There's a little something for everyone, and we can state from direct experience that you will have a hell of a weekend should you make the venture down south! The price is reasonable (although we can't recommend the line-skipping VIP wristband privileges enough), the city is bikeable, driveable and parkable, and there's plenty to do in your late-late off-hours around town to keep things... well, let's just say 'entertaining.'

Sleep in, fill your sunny days with KEXP in-studios at the Doug Fir {full lineup available here}, and get your nightlife on at our recommended {** = MEGA recommended} shows below -- scheduling conflicts included:

more...

Constant pavement pounders and Midwestern sweethearts the Poison Control Center are back on the road and will find themselves back in Seattle this Thursday, June 9th! I've expounded endlessly on my love for these boys, and have often referred to them as "Pavement with acrobatics", but their newest record Stranger Ballet, out today on Afternoon Records, finds them growing into their own brand of loud, fast and heartwarming indie rock. Come to the show to rock and leave with a grin, and possibly some bruises (but you know, happy bruises). Supporting are Seattle's own the Bismarck and Runt.

Ever Kings of the Summer Jam, PCC has done it again with the Cheap Trick playing the Who-like swingin' "Some Ordinary Vision". Check out a live version of it beyond the jump to get pumped for the show!

more...

Our last day out at this year's Sasquatch! music festival went out with an absolute bang. The morning started out with the sweet, big guitar + indie.altpop sounds of the Young Evils on the Yeti stage, followed by a smash-up singalong set by the Old 97's on the main stage (where we promptly got our Rhett-o-sexual on, big time!). On the recommendation of some friends, we took on the only blind set of the weekend -- a band we'd heard of but not listened much to, Noah and the Whale -- and we were not disappointed. It's worth noting they absolutely took the win for style points out of anyone else we saw all weekend, buttoned up in three-piece suits in what felt like baking summertime sun.

The foreign invasion continued with the gorgeous, orchestral buildup-melodies of Stornoway on the Bigfoot stage, followed by a shift-up into the tie for best set of the weekend, !!!. These guys were an absolute full-force marathon of awesome, tearing into the crowd, hamming it up for the photo pit, and bringing some of the best beats we'd heard over our time at the Gorge. Keep scrolling for more of Monday's photos!

more...

Sunday morning's installment of the Sasquatch! music festival found us with smiling, weary eyes and happy tired feet from all the blissing-out (two posts' worth!), which worked out perfectly with the grey sky vibe and our first sets of the day. The alt.folk.traditional-yet-bizarre sounds of Cotton Jones began the trip for us on the small (Yeti) stage, and their sounds bled nicely into the warm, longing big-guitar melody of the Moondoggies on the Bigfoot stage. Bursts of sun came through just in time for the straightforward rock of Black Joe Lewis, who lifted us up perfectly to take on a dusk set from Gayngs and a mindmelting mainstage show from the Flaming Lips.

Photos below!

more...

{This is part two of our opening day coverage of this year's Sasquatch! music festival at the Gorge -- click here to take a peek at part one!}

Our first full day at Sasquatch! kept rolling strong, with a big-guitar kick-ass set from Sharon van Etten, which shifted flawlessly over to an intimate solo performance from J. Mascis on the Yeti stage. The noise kept coming with the simultaneously loud/pretty sounds of Wye Oak, after which we changed gears to take on the upbeat, alt.indie.powerpop-ish party of Matt & Kim -- what a blast! The fading sun brought a powerful, dusky mainstage set from Bright Eyes, and we welcomed the night with an impressive (albeit late) performance from Robyn on the Bigfoot stage.

Closing out the night with a local flourish, hometown faves Death Cab for Cutie took us out well into the dark with a killer mainstage performance that spanned an impressive portion of their current and back catalog. Photos below!

Sharon van Etten:

more...