Kathy Fennessy-approved Julia Holter will be at Barboza tomorrow! And we have a pair of tickets to give away. Lucky day!

To enter, just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Julia Holter in the subject line. A winner will be picked and notified at noon tomorrow (Wednesday the 23rd). I know Kathy already posted this video, but it's sweet enough to post again:

Jib Kidder is also on the bill and tickets are available here for $13. Doors open at 8 pm and the show is 21+.

(If you're a Mad Rad fan, you should know that we're also giving away tickets to their Thursday show at Barboza.)

Mad Rad will tear apart the Barboza (not literally... I hope) this Thursday night with Keyboard Kid and OC Notes, and you could GO FOR FREE!

To enter to win a pair of tickets, send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Mad Rad in the subject line. (If you've got money to burn, tickets are $12 advanced, available here.) Doors open at 8 pm and the show is 21+.

And now here's a little taste of what you're in for (hey, that's Trent Moorman on the drums!):

HOT.

To enter to win free guest list admission just send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with JK Pop in the subject line.

Good luck!

We have a pair of tickets to give away for each performance! To enter, just e-mail freetickets@thestranger.com. Put Seattle Rock Orchestra in the subject line, and put your show preference (Saturday's 8 pm show, Sunday's 1 pm matinee, or either) and first and last name in the body of the e-mail.

The winner's will be chosen and notified via e-mail on Wednesday.

Worth noting: Advance tickets are available here and they'd make a great Mother's Day gift for your Beatles-loving mom.

Father John Misty are playing Neumos this Monday and we have a pair of tickets to give away! Here's what Dave Segal has to say about the band in this week's U&C:

Father John Misty, Har Mar Superstar
(Neumos) If only Father John Misty's music were as wildly ambitious as the lavish CD packaging of their debut album, Fear Fun, is. Sub Pop and FJM—led by Fleet Foxes' former drummer J. Tillman—really went all out with Dimitri Drjuchin's outsider-surrealist artwork, the 17-by-17-inch lyric sheet, which includes an epic proposal for a "hypothetical video game" called Bed Bug Mountain (the font is too tiny and the margins are too wide for me to read it; if you have a free week, have at it). As for the music, Father John Misty hew closely to FF's burnished, earnest folk pop, but feature more hand claps, which are crisply and vigorously delivered. Guaranteed: You will love FJM if you love Fleet Foxes, and vice versa if you hate 'em. Anyone with eyes, however, should cherish the CD packaging, which probably cost more to manufacture than you'll earn this year. DAVE SEGAL

So if you like crisp and vigorous handclaps and/or the Fleet Foxes, you should enter to win a pair of tickets to the show! Just send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Father John Misty in the subject line. One winner will be chosen and notified tomorrow (Friday) at 4 pm.

Here are a couple FJM MP3s to enjoy, via SubPop.com:

Father John Misty - "Nancy From Now On"

Father John Misty- "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings"

Advance tickets are also available here.

Good luck!

Washed Out is playing the Neptune TONIGHT with Memoryhouse. Want to go for free? Today's your lucky day! We have a pair of tickets to give away. To enter to win, just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Washed Out in the subject line.

A winner will be picked and notified at 4 pm today. So hurry!

(And if you don't feel lucky, tickets are still available.)

Did you hear? The Tanlines show, originally scheduled for Barboza, has been moved upstairs to Neumos while they put the finished touches on Barboza (stupid construction delays delaying everything). But the show will go on! Rewards and USF open and tickets are available for $10 here (and if you already have a ticket, they'll grant your Barboza show ticket at the door).

YOU COULD ALSO GO FOR FREE. All caps. It's that important.

To enter to win, just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Tanlines in the subject line.

The show's 21+ and you'll need a valid ID to claim the tickets.

Good luck!

(FYI: Wednesday's Frankie Rose show has been moved from Barboza to Neumos, too. But then everything is on as scheduled!)

Now enjoy an Erin Resso approved Tanlines video, "All of Me," after the jump:

Continue reading »

To enter to win a pair of tickets, email your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Alcest in the subject line. A winner will be chosen and notified Wednesday afternoon.

Tickets are still available here, too.

I wandered into Everyday Music after eating a giant pork sandwich from Oddfellows late Sunday afternoon. A woman was repeatedly sneezing in the back of the store. Ten minutes into shopping, "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" came over the house system. I was surprised to see so many used LPs by the Jam. They had an affordable copy of In The City. Do people not buy Jam records?

By the time I got to the U2 section, I knew that the shopping trip was nearly through. I didn't even really want to buy anything, but I felt compelled to spent the $10 bill that I had in my shirt pocket. Then I saw a pristine copy of the "Fire" 12" from 1981. It has two great live b-sides, "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" and "The Ocean," which were recorded live in Boston. There's also a dubby jam called "J. Swallo" which I've always liked as well. I had this 12" as a youngster and really wanted to go home and play it, so I bought it.

While playing the record at home, I realized that I already have two copies of this 12". If you want it, be the first to claim it in the comments section and I'll send it to your house via Media Mail. Domestic addresses only, please.

A lot of people think that U2 are crap, but the early stuff is pretty wonderful!

This Thursday Champagne Champagne will turn Neumos into a sweaty dance pit and you could be there for the cost of zero dollars!

To enter to win a pair of tickets, send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Champagne Champagne in the subject line. The show is 21+, and you'll need a valid ID to claim the tickets.

Deadkill and DJ Radjaw are also on the bill, and tickets are still available here.

Good luck!

Quite a line-up! Monogamy Party, Blood Orange Paradise, Grenades, Baltic Cousins, and Rookery (which, I'm told, is a new band featuring members of the defunct Black Eyes and Neckties).

We've written about Monogamy Party here, and some nice words about Grenades are here. And you know who else is awesome? Baltic Cousins. Heavy and dark folk rock; have a listen:

The evening is also a CD release party for Blood Orange Paradise. Tickets are only $10 (on sale here), but we've got a pair to give away, too! To enter to win send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Monogamy Party in the subject line.

A winner will be chosen and notified at 5 pm TODAY.

Good luck!

Do you like French electro-pop? Then you will want to go to see France's Housse de Racket tonight at Chop Suey—and we have a pair of tickets to give away!

To enter just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Housse de Racket in the subject line.

Gems and the Fascination Movement are also on the bill. The show is 21+ and doors open at 8 pm.

A winner will be chosen and notified at 3 pm today. Hurry!

• Trent Moorman

This past December, the indie-pop and prog-rock sleuths of Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band ventured up into the gray maw of Anacortes to record in a church. The church, now a music studio called the Unknown, was at one point a sail-making shop. Without pews, the sanctuary auditorium is cavernous—large enough to create sails. The acoustics are expansive, as is the natural reverb. For the better part of a year, MSHVB had been removed on sabbatical, taking time off to let the group regroup from two years of touring and member shifts, and to write new material. The road had run them ragged.

The end result of the Unknown Anacortes sessions is an EP called Prehistory. It's a confession-filled collection of simple, coherent ideas, recorded mostly live. Guitar amps were placed in the church's confession booth. "The songs are about untangling and extricating yourself from unreal expectations and finding connections with worthwhile things," says singer, guitarist, songwriter Benjamin Verdoes. "Pressures had mounted. We were sapped. The business of music had evaporated the enjoyment of playing music. I almost had a nervous breakdown and needed time away. So I moved to San Francisco for the summer to reconfigure. I think now I know enough not to care about the imaginary world of success."

Read the whole story, and hear some of the new music, here. Then, when you're done with that, enter to win a pair of tickets to tomorrow's show at Neumos!

Just send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam band in the subject line.

Throw Me the Statue (another band that seemingly disappeared for awhile) and Cataldo open the show. It's 21+ and tickets are still available here.

Ceremony, of Matador Records (and formerly Bridge Nine), are playing the Vera Project this Saturday and we've got a pair of tickets to give away!

To enter to win, just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Ceremony in the subject line.

Milk Music and Society Nurse are also on the bill and the show is, of course, all ages. You can also buy tickets here.

Now here's the creepy video for their song "Adult," from their latest record Zoo.

• Daniel Pitout

Do you wanna see Hunxie and His Punxies tonight for free? Sure you do! The nice folks at Hardly Art Records are giving away two free tickets for tonight's show at the Crocodile. This show is rumored to have enough "live tigers and boners" for everyone, so it's kind of a can't-miss.

Send an email, with your first and last name and "boner" in the subject line, to drunk@thestranger.com to win. Send the email no later than 2:00 pm today. DO IT NOW!

Hunx and His Punx, with Grave Babies, Heavy Cream, Tacocat @ The Crocodile, tonight, 21+

Read a scandalous new interview with Hunx here!

UPDATE: Contest over. Congrats to Heidi, owner of the boner prize.

Hey headbangers! Next Friday, March 30, Black Tusk are playing the Highline with East of the Wall, Samothrace, and Crawlin'. Want to go for free? Yes you do! To enter to win a pair of tickets just send your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with Black Tusk in the subject line.

In the meantime, make sure you have a good pair of earplugs for the show:

Tickets are on sale for $10 via etix.com.

Next week THEESatisfaction are releasing their very, very great album awE naturalE, and they're throwing an album release party at Neumos to celebrate. The show's Thursday, March 29, and OC Notes and Chocolate Chuck will also be there, and we have a pair of tickets to give away!

To enter, just e-mail your first and last name to freetickets@thestranger.com with THEESatisfaction in the subject line. The show's 21+.

Now here's my 2012 anthem, "QueenS," from awE naturalE:

"Sweat through your cardigan."

You can also buy tickets here for $10 a pop. You better bring yourself.