R.I.P. When The Lights Go Down In The City November 2004 - September 2007 It was SFist's first editor Jackson West who asked me to write a music column back in '04 and he also came up with the name of it. I thought, it's SF-related and a quote from a Journey song - perfect! For the past three years my aim has been to tell you about the music in San Francisco that......

It's been a long time since we randomly clicked on a band's website and were utterly captivated by the music we heard. We saw Bowerbirds' name and photo in Cafe Du Nord's show listings and were drawn to listen to the songs they stream on their site. It's amazing the beauty you can find sometimes just by turning over a few rocks. The music is homespun and intimate; Phil's gentle croon and the spare......

John Vanderslice is someone you can truly count on. Aside from his incredible talent, we're always impressed with his indie rock work ethic. He keeps his studio Tiny Telephone open as an incubator for top quality recordings, he's always good for a genuine smile and a hug when we run into him, and about once every 18 months or so he releases another incredible album through Seattle-based indie Barsuk Records. His latest release Emerald......

SFist re-runs an interview with John Vanderslice. He's playing at Noise Pop tonight. ...

We're doing our part for the SFist Holiday Gift Guide this month as well, by bringing you some extra special music giveaways. Barsuk Records is home to a lot of amazing artists, including San Francisco's own John Vanderslice. One of their newest signings is Portland's Menomena, a trio who manage to blend post-rock and pop in a deliciously haunting manner. Download the title track of their newest EP "wet and rusting" and see them......

We had a great week of music last week, starting on Thursday night when Live 105's Madden invited us to join him on air. Along with SFists MattyMatt and Jon we talked for a half hour about local music, Muni and of course Gavin's hair. Madden was a friendly and gracious host and we thank him for inviting us! On Monday night Cursive packed The Fillmore for a straightforward set of songs from their new......

We headed to Cafe Du Nord last Friday to catch the sold-out early show by Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton. By the 9pm showtime, the band was still soundchecking behind closed curtains and didn't start playing to the crowd until an hour later, but it was worth the wait. Haines crouched behind the keys, bird-skinny and soft-voiced, embodying the delicate yin to her animated Metric persona's yang. Eerie old black and white film clips......

SFist interviews Michael Taylor from the Court and Spark...

Once again the musical offerings in San Francisco are so plentiful and compelling that they force us into stressful choices. The upside is that no matter what you decide this week, you really can't go wrong. Let's get the first difficult choice out of the way by making you decide which giveaway to go after. Two amazing San Francisco acts are headlining shows on Friday night -- The Court and Spark celebrate the release of......

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers. Bostonist sees Boston and Somerville each whip out their art and face off. A plagiarized novel is the......

Now that Noise Pop is over, things are settling down at live music venues across the city, and we miss it a little. Our highlights from the festival included Feist at Bimbo's, Britt Daniel at Swedish American, Two Gallants at Bimbo's, the David Dondero and Craig Wedren show at The Knockout, and seeing old friends and making new ones. Feist's performance at Bimbo's, which SFist Emily posted a vibrant review of last week, was one......

Holy crap Noise Pop! We're going, are you? We gave away tickets to Feist, Rogue Wave, and Craig Wedren. We went to see Feist and Rogue Wave. We ran interviews with Aqueduct, John Vanderslice and Bing Ji Ling. And when we were done with all that, we went Noise Pop Shopping.......

Special Noise Pop 2006 edition Noise Pop '06 is already proving to be memorable. Tuesday night's Feist show was among the best shows we've ever seen, despite the relentless sound problems at Bimbo's, and last night we went backstage to witness a saucy embrace by Britt Daniel and John Vanderslice. Luckily our new favorite photographer Julie Schuchard was there to document the love; look for her photos in our show reviews! See another hot indie......

SFist reviews Feist, John Vanderslice, Youth Group, and The Boticelli's at Bimbo's as part of the Noise Pop festival...

SFist interviews John Vanderslice. Repeated for the Feist/ Vanderslice show at Noisepop 2006...

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......

March music madness is upon us, with SXSW happening in Austin mid-month (this SFist will be covering) and the Noise Pop Festival starting at the end of the month. Start your own music marathon this Saturday at the Rickshaw Stop when Mesh Magazine kicks off its third year with a party featuring The Herms, Tussle, The Ebb and Flow, DJs, artwork and more. We're giving away two tickets to the extravaganza. (We'll pick a winner......

So many of our favorite artists are coming to town this week, including John Vanderslice, Feist, Orenda Fink and Metric. There are also some strange celebrity bands coming through, the SF Jazz Festival is happening, and giveaways are back! San Francisco's own pride and joy John Vanderslice [read the SFist interview] recently released his fifth full length record in as many years -- let's hear it for that indie rock work ethic! He's also working......

John Vanderslice. Helllooooo...over here...brought to you by SFist. Oh, wait, we don't need to act cool, we've got plenty of readers (thanks for asking). We love them because they love to argue over breasticles! Not only do we bring it with the 'get' local interviews, we bring you news you can use. Please. For everyone's sake. We'd like to think that BarCamp was like a little Burning Man if, um, it was in downtown......

SFist inteviews musician John Vanderslice...

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......

How did we miss this last week? Mixing two offenses recently made popular by Minnie Driver (actors playing the role of "earnest singer-songwriter") and Shawn Colvin (artists appearing on "Oprah" to divulge details about personal struggles in the same week their new CD comes out), Robert Downey Jr. came out with his debut album The Futurist last Tuesday. That was the same day of his "Oprah" appearance, for anyone who's counting. Music is all......

[Ed. Note: And our pleading pays off yet again, with new SFist Krissy bringing news of the music scene.] True San Francisco hipsters and locals with the finest taste in indie rock will convene for a Tiny Telebration this Friday at Café du Nord and the Swedish American Hall.  What’s a Tiny Telebration, you ask?  It’s a party that San Francisco's unofficial musical mascot John Vanderslice is throwing to celebrate Tiny Telephone's 7th anniversary.  Vanderslice......