We're not crazy about instrumental music (in case you haven't noticed) so we're especially impressed when an artist can break through our predilections. RATATAT's music is so melodic, varied and compelling that it makes vocals and lyrics seem superfluous. The Brooklyn duo expertly mixes snakey synth lines with sneering guitar, cello, sleigh bells and samples like the appropriately primal roar in "Wildcat". It's a little early to tell, but RATATAT's Classics just might make it......

SFist had a rock-n-roll weekend that started last Friday night at Varnish for our 2nd birthday party. Not only did DJ Ted of BAGeL Radio rock the house with a few hours of his finest tracks, our friend Nick Tangborn from Jackpine Social Club also brought Mark Eitzel down for a few beers. It was great to meet some readers and the SFist bingo game was a real highlight, especially when one of our partygoers......

Earlier this week we told you about some of the great shows at the Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival, including a special performance by Dieselhed at 12 Galaxies on Sunday night. We're sending two of you to the show. Preview some songs off their 1999 album Elephant Rest Home and enter to win. (Contest ends Friday at 5pm. Winner will be notified via email.) Another great show is happening at 12 Galaxies next Wednesday......

Pull out your wallets because we'd like to tell you about a few new records that you should consider buying. The Herms celebrate their new CD Record Machine (out May 23rd) early tonight at Great American with Loquat and The Husbands, so head down to congratulate them and get your hands on an advance copy of the CD before it's out in stores. We haven't heard their record yet, but we trust our friend Nick......

In case you haven't already heard us say this in ten different ways, Feist is a genius. That's why we're so excited to offer one of you a pair of tickets to go see her Noise Pop show tonight at Bimbo's. There's something for everyone in tonight's lineup: Feist will indulge your taste for something smooth, sophisticated, and heady; John Vanderslice (one of our favorite humans) takes the singer-songwriter genre in a quirky and creative......

Being a blogger by day and fashion correspondent by night is freakin' tiring. While we didn’t make it out to the Palace of Fine Arts Thursday night, we were back and ready for fashion on Friday, and Krissy even made it out to the Jackpine Social Club party at the end of the night to see Alejandro Escovedo. See our all our Friday Fashion Week photos on out Flickr page.......

Our concert picks for the week of 8/25 - 8/31. ">Local label Jackpine Social Club generously doles out another few helpings of free stuff this week. Two of you will win a pair of tickets to the Jackpine Social Club party at 12 Galaxies on Friday night where No Depression's "Artist of the Decade" Alejandro Escovedo headlines. Jon Dee Graham plays also, and Jackpine artists Jesse DeNatale and Loquat complete the bill. (Enter now --......

The Bay Area should be proud of at least two high profile record releases from local artists this week. Oakland's own The Lovemakers drop their major label debut Times of Romance on Interscope Records, and San Francisco's John Vanderslice keeps it real by releasing his latest, Pixel Revolt, on indie stalwart Barsuk Records. Even if you can't afford to rush to the CD store on Tuesday, we wouldn't want you to go without some local......

For those of you who haven't already fled to Canada, here are this week's concert picks. Friday night presents a lengthy ballot of entertainment candidates, but this time those troubling middle states won't keep us from our top choices. Start out the night with the laid-back acoustic funk of Citizen Cope at the Red Devil Lounge, or head to Booksmith for a free reading by legendary music critic Greil Marcus from his forthcoming anthology "The......