Starting this week off right, The Teenagers are playing their sleazy Parisian pop music at The Independent on Tuesday night. Michael does vocals and plays the bass, Dorian does guitar, computers and vocals, and Quentin is the songwriter and lead vocalist. These three Parisian punks are still the foul-mouthed horny dudes they were when they were 13. Nothing has changed except for now they get to sing about sex instead of just talking about it. They even sing about their newest crush in their new hit, "Scarlet Johansson". You can win a spot on their guest list by entering below. Check your email today as the winner will be chosen before 4pm. Two of our favorite local bands will be opening: The Frail and LoveLikeFire. Both bands are super hot and LoveLikeFire's music video, "I Will" was the "Official Selection of SXSW 2008 Film Festival." We've got inside information that they'll be performing new material as well! The best part of the night: SonicLiving and The Owl Mag will be giving away free beer from 8:30-9:30pm with a drink ticket. All you have to do is RSVP and you get free beer and some awesome swag from The Teenagers. (No actual teenagers allowed. Sorry. 21+) more ›

Starting out this week, Peck the Town Crier is celebrating his sophomore CD, Groundhog's Day by performing at Pier 23. You can hang out with this San Franciscan native from 7:30-10:30 for absolutely nothing - it's free. "Recorded at the famed Hyde St Studios in San Francisco, Groundhog’s Day blends Peck’s unique story-raps and verbiage with hand played instrumental arrangements that pull from the gambit of [great] American music..." It's a bit weird, a bit... more ›

We don't say this lightly, because there are really a lot of great artists coming out of the Bay Area, but we do have a current favorite: Birds & Batteries. We've been telling you about this co-ed quartet for a little while now, and our expectations for their new record were really high. Thankfully it's good news: we love I'll Never Sleep Again. It's still the B&B we met on their last release, but this time the woeful steel guitar and Mike Sempert's deep drawl are buffered by better production, including warm bursts of synth so thick you could hold them in your hand. The record starts out by making the simple, straightforward Neil Young classic "Heart of Gold" into an existential epic, and we love the song "Starclusters" so much that it's secured a solid entry in our top 10 tracks of the year. One lucky winner will get a Birds & Batteries prize pack, including two tickets to the CD release party on Wednesday night at Cafe Du Nord, a limited edition copy of the CD with silk screened artwork, plus a poster from the show. Enter to win (contest ends 6/25; winner will be notified via email). more ›

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We’ve been on tour of sorts this week, but since it’s for our day job we regret to inform you that there’s nothing very rock about it. We are happy to say that we’re meeting some fellow –ists along the way though. Last night we met and chatted with Kyle and Nicole from DCist. We commiserated with Kyle about the burden of keeping up too many blogs (check out his excellent music blog Information Leafblower) and listened with envy about his plans to cover the Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend. Tonight we’ll be meeting some Chicagoists, which makes us think we should create some sort of dorky visualization out of which –ists we’ve met/haven’t yet met, something like those cardboard maps for collecting state quarters. more ›