Pull up those bootstraps, kids, because The National isn't the only game in town that's got a double-decker lineup in Seattle this week. The Cave Singers are about to put on two nights of amazing sound-wall that'll knock you clear off your feet! Here's the deets:

Night One, also known as this coming Thursday, December 1st. The Cave Singers pack the one- in one-two by taking the stage for an all-ages night at the Vera Project {7:30p doors / $16 adv / buy tickets!}, with a stage-warming by none other than our pals The Young Evils -- who may very well be working on putting out one of our favorite local albums of 2012 as we breathe and type. It'll be a great room to catch both bands in with a music-focused, booze-free crowd.

If you're heading to the Neptune (or one of the other fine establishments in town) this Thursday, fret not: Night Two will be going down on Capitol Hill at Neumos on Friday, December 2nd. Sound-wise, it'll be a much darker-tinged night with openers The Builders and the Butchers taking the pre-Cave Singers stage spot, and also worth noting: this show is 21+. {8p doors / $18 adv / buy tickets!}

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at Neumos

Man, Two Gallants are a force to be reckoned with. After releasing less than a handful of records on Saddle Creek and after taking a two year break, it seemed like Two Gallants gained, not lost, steam after their hiatus. We were lucky enough to have caught them on their summer tour with The Mumlers and with support by Broken Nobles at Neumos on Monday night.

It was strange -- yet still fitting -- to see Broken Nobles opening the show. Seemingly drawing from the same influences as Two Gallants, it was kind of like being transported back in time to see one of those classic rock bands that never made it. Equipped with long hair, open shirts, and aviator sunglasses, they took the stage and started with a guitar-vocal duet. I thought this was the highlight of their show as the rest of their set morphed into songs that KZOK wouldn’t even play... to clarify: by no means was it awful, I even found myself singing along to a song of theirs -- it was rather more of a sharp contrast point between them and what we were expecting from the mighty Two Gallants.

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Ah, yes: Two Gallants are once again one!

After spending the past two years musically adrift, this grand duo has reconciled and will tour throughout the Summer. (Yes, we capitalized that. Summer. Summer, Summer, Summer!) They'll be taking the stage at Neumos on Monday, June 27th with the Mumlers and Broken Nobles -- and we want to send you to the show! Keep scrolling for details...

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at Neumos

The classic 4AD Records sound has been influential to a million bands in addition to remaining timeless in its unique place in history. The label is perhaps the greatest independent one in existence. Although the record company is still around today, it remains a mere shadow of its former self, a collective that released brilliant record after brilliant record during the 1980s and 1990s. Two noteworthy artists from that era, Brendan Perry (Dead Can Dance) and Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) are currently on tour together and they stopped in Seattle on Wednesday evening for a well attended show that was also part of the Noise for the Needy benefit.

Robin Guthrie opened the show with about an hour of instrumental guitar soundscapes that were a cross between The Cocteau Twins and dreamy soundtrack material. With him onstage, he had a young drummer and bass player to help fill out the layers of sound. For a few pieces, the other two left the stage and Guthrie performed atmospheric melodies on his own, albeit with a generous collection of guitar pedals.

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The exalted Elvis Costello once opined “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” With all due respect, anyone who’d fail to recognize that his given name of Declan McManus is light years cooler than any other moniker he could muster clearly doesn’t have all the answers. Moreover, Mr. CostelloMcManus has probably never had the pleasure of hearing Kevin “KJ” Sawka play drums.

I first became familiar with KJ Sawka in 2001 when he was playing in a superb trio called Siamese. It’s easy to oversell a performer and render the experience of seeing them for yourself anti-climactic. Nevertheless, I immediately came to realize that what my friends were telling me was absolutely true -- the things that Sawka can do with (and to) a drum set are nothing short of amazing. I can still recall thinking of a memorable line from the propaganda-fest known as Rocky IV: “He’s not a machine -- he’s a man!!”

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at Neumos

Most Wire fans agree that their first three albums are excellent recordings that still sound as vibrant and challenging today as they were upon their initial release approximately thirty years ago.

Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154 are all timeless classics in their own right and each successive LP was vastly different from the previous one, making them that much more impressive. Interestingly, Wire fans tend to have wildly fluctuating opinions about their subsequent output. Personally, I quite like the 1980s albums too, but have not exposed myself nor been exposed to any of their records after that period. Last Wednesday evening (April 13), Wire took the stage at Neumos and offered a retrospective of their entire career, which provided the audience with a sampling of each decade’s evolution through music.

Photo by: Amy Bernard

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This week, Seattle's Steel Tigers of Death! are playing two very noteworthy shows, both official album release parties: one is a band-stacked-for-a-great-cause Funhouse extravaganza, and the other a Neumos-hosted history-making punk rock event!

Details after the jump...

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You like Fences. You like Campfire OK. You have twelve dollars. You should be at Neumos on Saturday night.

What's that, you say? Don't have twelve dollars? Well, as the old folks like to put it -- today is your lucky day! Because our lovely friends over at Neumos have a pair of tickets to give away for this Saturday-night-ful all-ages show: just shoot us an email to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com with the subject line "AFenceAndACampfire" to be entered to win! We'll choose a lucky winner +1 to attend the show gratis by Thursday at 4p, so make sure'n get your entries in before then.

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Fresh off of a mini-tour documented by photographer extraordinaire James Bailey, Ravenna Woods is about to bring the buzz that everyone's been talking about them squarely where it belongs: on a hometown stage, this Thursday night at Neumos. With squarely solid support from the lovely sounds of Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives and an opening set by Big Sur, we're quite sure this is going to be a show to be reckoned with -- and thusly, we've got a pair of tickets to give away for you and a friend to attend.

Just send an email to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com with the subject line "SendMeToNeumos!" by 3p on Wednesday, April 6th. We'll pick a lucky winner before the end of the day and notify you by email that your plans for Thursday night are s-o-l-i-d. Don't forget, this is a 21+ show!

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Michael Gira has been to town several times in the past decade, both with his group The Angels of Light and as a solo acoustic act. He has not, however, brought his legendary original band to town since it was officially boxed up and stored in the attic back around 1998. In fact, he has rarely even brought along an electric guitar on the tours he has done. So when Mr. Gira reinvigorated Swans last year and announced that they would take on a massive tour, I knew this was going to be an experience that was not-to-be-missed. And last Saturday evening, this was exactly the case as Swans performed a ninety minute set of what very well may have been The Loudest Show That I Have Ever Attended.

Opening with a thirty minute cacophony in which each member of the band took the stage about five minutes after the previous one created a massive build-up: first drums, then hammered dulcimer, pedal steel guitar, bass; and finally guitars to finish off layer upon layer of noisy complexity before Swans launched into  "No Words/No Thoughts" from their excellent 2010 release. It was booming drums, bells, and guitars oscillating in some kind of mutilated brilliance.

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