{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:

Allo Darlin' - "My Heart Is A Drummer" from Allo Darlin'
With members from Australia and around the UK, this magical mix of folk came together in London {like a lot of our favorite bands}. The album and their handful of releases have made many critic jump for joy, so it's with extreme glee that we here in the U.S. get a proper stateside release of this brilliant debut album on October 5, 2010 on FortunaPop!.  It is with extreme-r glee that we here at Three Imaginary Girls get to present Allo Darlin's first ever Seattle show on Friday, October 29, 2010 at the Rendezvous.  If your heart is a drummer and you want to hear the whole album {and screen-print and craft away with us}, join TIG at Neptune Coffee on Sunday, October 17 for the Imaginary Crafternoon Listening Party. While crafting aplenty we'll be playing the Allo Darlin' album in its entirety {along with the Idlewild album - see below}.     

Sidenote: If you want to get into Allo Darlin'-related bands: Elizabeth is in Tender Trap, Paul and Michael are in Hexicon, Bill is one half of Moustache of Insanity and also in Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern.   

Apples in Stereo - "Dance Floor" from Travellers in Space & Time
The latest album from Apples in Stereo released back in April on YepRoc, but on October 26th the  Denver, CO/Lexington, KY band will bestow their psych-indie hooks on us at the Crocodile with imaginary favorite BOAT.

Orca Team - "Vancouver BC" from Let It Go
The stripped down songs of the Orca Team that travel by way of the Drums slash Interpol slash Beach Boys demos vibe are just what we need to get past the mess that sometimes clogs our sugary sweet hearts. On top of that, we're a sucker for any kind of namecheck of our fair city (we're pretty sure they didn't mean the sentiment they relate in the song). The Portland band is going to be at the Funhouse on October 16, 2010.

Elf Power - "Stranger In the Window" from Elf Power
Forget what the stat books say, I think that Athens, GA    is Seattle's sister city. Ok, they are just my sister city. That's why I don't mind one bit that one of our most imaginary of staffers is moving there at the end of October {imaginary keenan is now Athens, GA editor imaginary keenan!}. To send her off with a bit of Grit, Elf Power is performing at the Vera Project with Your Heart Breaks and Major Organ + the Adding Machine (film) on October 27, 2010.

Idlewild - "Take Me Back To The Islands" from Post Electric Blues
Post Electric Blues will be released in the U.S. on October 12, 2010 - but many of you might already have it in your collection. Seems that those DIY Scottish boys self-released this, their sixth full-length studio album, to around 3000 fans in June 2009. A few months later, the album was released on October 5, 2009 on Cooking Vinyl to the rest of the UK (and those of us with amazon.co.uk accounts).  We're celebrating this state-side release at our Imaginary Crafternoon Listening Party on October 17, 2010 at Neptune Coffee {see above Allo Darlin entry}.

This song calms me down like a baby being driven around the mall parking lot. It could be that I'm a sucker for indie-rock violin or the soft spoken way Roddy sings "put your hand in my hand."  The song takes my breath away and cracks open my heart with its modern Nightswimming sentiments.

If you want to see me cry real Edinburgh tears in the front row, join me at the Crocodile on November 20, 2010.