We've got two giveaways this week, and the first one is particularly near and dear to our heart. We're halfway through 2007 and already thinking about what might make our annual list of top 10 records. One album that's sure to make the cut is Menomena's Friend and Foe. The band is back to play live this Friday night at the Independent with opener All Smiles, a.k.a. Jim Fairchild. We've known Jim since way back in the day when he was playing guitar in Grandaddy and we worked at their label V2 Records in NYC. It's great to see him stepping out on his own. We're giving away a prize pack with tickets to the show, a copy of Menomena's Friend and Foe, plus an All Smiles 7-inch record and a copy of the new CD Ten Readings Of A Warning. (Contest ends at noon Friday, winner will be notified via email.)

Our friend Will who runs New & Used Records is celebrating a CD release this week for The Passionistas. God's Boat, produced by Kelley Stoltz, may sound lo-fi, but the band isn't afraid to get a little high tech by documenting their misadventures with a series of YouTube videos. Catch them at their CD release party at Cafe Du Nord on Friday with Kelley Stoltz, The Dilettantes and The Specs. We've got tickets to the show and a copy of their brand new record for one lucky winner. (Contest ends at noon Friday, winner will be notified via email.)

We're back from our vacation in Austin and have new music to play for y'all, but we're too exhausted to get it together. Let's leave that for next week, and get straight to this week's show picks:

Tonight Menomena plays a free show at Amoeba at 7pm. That's right now, basically. We've been a big fan of Client's last two records, so it's pretty exciting and overdue that they're finally making their Bay Area debut tonight. Popscene has the sultry trio that we told you about last week and we imagine they'll take 330 Ritch by storm. The Rickshaw Stop presents Citay, The Makes Nice and The Barbary Coasters. You may have heard of singer-songwriter Mason Jennings who's playing at Bimbo's tonight, but chances are you haven't heard his opener Ferraby Lionheart yet. We're wondering if he can live up to that fabulous name; listen to his poppy croon and decide for yourself.

Listen to Client
Listen to Citay
Listen to Ferraby Lionheart and watch the video

On Friday, head to the Independent for that show with Menomena and All Smiles, or support the locals at Cafe Du Nord when New & Used Records presents The Passionistas record release party. We've learned we've got some mutual friends with the Austin band Brothers & Sisters, but maybe that's just because there are more than eight band members and Austin's still kind of a small town. At any rate, we feel compelled to tell you that they've brought their hippie/folk/co-ed/country/indie thing all the way here to play with Jeffrey Luck Lucas at the Hemlock.

You'll want to conserve your energy to be ready to rock all day on Saturday at Live 105's annual BFD Fest at Shoreline. David was our lucky winner of those tickets from Interpol, and the rest of you are on your own. It's a crazy lineup of all sorts of rock, but our don't-miss picks are Silversun Pickups and CSS, two bands that made our 2006 Top 10 list, plus The Faint, Cold War Kids and Honeycut. The BFD Afterparty is at Mezzanine and features sets by those crazy Brazilian kids in CSS, Busdriver and guest DJs Todd Baechle and Jacob Theile of The Faint. Also on Saturday, get your singer-songwriter fill at Bimbo's with "Various & Sundry" featuring Glen Phillips (of Toad The Wet Sprocket), The Watkins Family (of Nickel Creek) and Grant-Lee Phillips (of Grant Lee Buffalo). The funniest band name of the week comes from Hotel Utah's lineup on Saturday night: Alas, Alak, Alaska!

It's been a while since a bunch of our friends have all mentioned the same band name within the same few weeks. The Pipettes are on a lot of people's minds, so lucky for you they're here in San Francisco on Tuesday night. They start early at Amoeba for a free 7pm in-store, then Popscene presents a full, sold-out set at Rickshaw Stop with the talented young'uns in Smoosh. The Pipettes are an old-school harmonizing girl group, taking it back to (we love this description) "a time before The Beatles ruined everything." If you like your uplifting songs and handclaps served with a touch of punk attitude, The Pipettes are for you. Their EP Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me just came out this week, so get in early on this one.

Watch The Pipettes' video for "ABC":