Popscene and Live 105 proudly present SXSF : A South By San Francisco Music Fest with Persephone's Bees (Oakland), The Duke Spirit (UK), Ting Tings (UK) and Hottub (Oakland). We all know (at least you should) that Persephone's Bees puts out some awesome Russian-influenced pop music but this particular show we are most excited about The Duke Spirit. They are hitting the West Coast for a run of dates through LA, Seattle and San......

Aaron Axelsen has been a major force in promoting local independent music with San Francisco's indie-dance party, Popscene and his Sunday night radio show on Live 105. (You can listen from 7-10pm. Check out what he plays, here.) We wanted to feature his top ten albums of the year to find out what he thinks rocked 2007. Here's the list: Aaron Axelsen, Live 105 Music Director's, Top 10 Albums of 2007 1. Great Northern......

This week we want to focus on the local music scene even though it seems that Portland natives' Blitzen Trapper and Stephen Malkmus have captured San Franciscan's hearts - Wednesday's show is sold out. (There aren't even any tickets available on Craigslist!) Friday night you'll want to head over to Slim's to catch six bands: Perfect Machines, Fyre Away, High Like Five, the Paper Sons, Punch Face and Bob Hill Band. We're most excited about......

As the winners of Live 105's Local Band competition, Maldroid will be opening for Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, Angels & Airwaves, Spoon, and Paramore tomorrow night at the "Not So Silent Night" bash at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Maldroid's sound is a mix between The Beatles and The Hives. They first became popular when their video, "He Said, She Said," won "The Youtube Underground" competition - Youtube's first ever music video competition. They......

The results are in: Maldroid is currently the best local band in San Francisco according to Live 105's local band competition. They will be opening for Spoon, Angels & Airwaves, Paramore, Jimmy Eat World and Modest Mouse. According to Ryan Devine's blog (the lead singer), "[It] sucks that Paramore and Angels & Airwaves have to embarrass themselves after us. Looking forward to Modest Mouse and Spoon though!" Well, well, well... someone's shit doesn't stink.......

Kids, it's time to get rocking. (Especially before the "Private Party" dry spell that is coming on. Yikes.) This week, the San Francisco music gods are offering a vast array of newbies and veterans - something that we will graciously partake of any day of the week. Now that the bets are in (okay, so no one really cast any bets - how boring is that?), you can go to Cafe du Nord, tonight,......

We had twenty but it's down to the last five. Live 105, a big supporter of local music scene (see popscene) is at it again. Each December, Live 105 hosts the "Not So Silent Night" event which brings a host of great bands - this year it's Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, Angels & Airwaves, Spoon and Paramore - to San Francisco. (Seems like a great line-up to us.) To make it even more......

Judging from the range of performers this week, there is something for everyone. Starting first, in our weekly recommendations, is New Zealand singer-songwriter, Brooke Fraser. Prior to this post, we knew nothing about this accomplished 19 year-old but a quick visit to her MySpace page and we were hooked. Tuesday, you can catch this gorgeous, pop-writing sensation at Cafe du Nord. If not, download her latest release, Albertine on iTunes. Wednesday, we are welcoming......

-- Unspeakable (2007): Documentary about the life of Satanic Priest Steven Johnson Leyba, "ordained by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, is known in the underground art world as the 'Father of Sexpressionism.'" (Chortle) Screens tonight at 7:45 p.m., 9:05 at the Roxie New College Film Center; $6. -- The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Local comedian's show, it seems, is "designed to end racism...in about an hour." Praise Jesus. This night o' comedy will......

Back in May, we were introduced to a great indie-pop band called Great Northern. We quickly fell in love with their latest release, Trading Twilight for Daylight and have been trying desperately to see one of their shows to no avail (they have been touring constantly since their release). They've been through San Francisco several times so we're sure you've already heard about them. (We hope!) Even our own Aaron Axelsen from Live 105 has......

UNKLE's James Lavelle sure would like to show you his elbow. Maybe you'll get the chance to see it live? Downtempo, trip hop duo from England, UNKLE, has been a popular outfit on the dance floor for years. Now, for the first time ever, UNKLE will make its appearance as a live band. Using guitars, bass, drums and synths set against a backdrop of lights and LED screens for a unique audiovisual experience -- do......

Our top 5 moments at Feist's Fillmore show on Tuesday, June 26th:      5. Hearing a cash register clang at the back of the venue in the middle of the set, and realizing that the sold-out crowd was perfectly silent. San Francisco concertgoers can really take their music seriously. You stay classy.      4. Instead of playing to the crowd, Feist literally played the crowd by dividing us into three sections (by type of shoe......

Dude, she was shot at Jonestown! it doesn't matter she didn't win her race for Lieutenant Governor. Former State Senator Jackie Speier speaks at the Commonwealth Club tonight about the book she co-authored, This Is Not The Life I Ordered, which tells not only her story, but the story of three of her friends as well. $18, reception at 6, reading at 7, at 595 Market 2nd Fl. (x 2nd). Other events: --The Stars and......

Live 105's annual BFD Festival this Saturday brings 25 bands (check out the full lineup) to Shoreline Amphitheatre, but Interpol has ponied up two spots on the guest list for one lucky SFist winner. There's something about Interpol's first album, Turn On The Bright Lights, that reminds us of our two year stint living in Manhattan. Perhaps it's because we were leaving the city just as Interpol were taking it by storm, but more than......

It's our turn to read the Weeklies this week, and we start with SFist Sarah L's pick of last week, the newly-re-indied East Bay Express. Congrats! The letters hate on the UC Regents. Something about racial bias in contracting, we didn't really understand it. The story behind those "nappy headed hos" t-shirts at Bear Basics. Cover article: Some well-paid lackey of "Golden Pig" Don Perata. Bless their hearts at the EBX! They've also started summarizing......

There was a time in our lives when we were convinced the Smashing Pumpkins were going to save rock n' roll. There was also a time in our lives when we were convinced Billy somehow plugged into our subconscious and in "Gish" captured the sound we dreamed of in the middle of the night. That was a long time ago. So we're not sure what to think of the announcement today that the Pumpkins 2.0 are going to play eight shows at the Fillmore from July 22 to August 1. ...

It smelled like someone spilled a pitcher of Sangria inside Cafe du Nord Friday night, when we stopped by to check out the North Carolina band Annuals for Noise Pop. We always find the crowd so interesting at Cafe du Nord, with the pool players chatting amiably in the back, the lively bar, and there's always that smattering of smartly-dressed people on dates, but who look like they aren't really into indie rock. We always......

One of the glories of GooTube is that if you miss a show for whatever reason, there's a good chance it'll pop up on soon enough on the site. Like Live 105's "Not So Silent Night" show from last weekend, one of those shows that always sells out quickly and which Live 105 then proceeds to hit everyone over the head with the fact it's sold out. Luckily, a bunch of performances are posted,...

SFist Jon and SFist Chris went to last night's Wolfmother show at the Fillmore. Opening up for them was Live 105 fave Silversun Pickups and some other band we'll get to. Thus explaining SFist's hangover today. Instead of doing a full on review, we thought we'd let SFist Jon and SFist Chris discuss the concert, that is what they can remember of it. And you know what this means? A whole post in first person!...

A hotel that's been set up as housing for homeless people is running into a problem-- there's no internet access. And yes, this is a big problem because as we all know, being internet-less can be a hindrance in life these days and the whole point of the program the people are in is to help them become less hindered. Having the internet helps one find a job, connect with other people, and get casual encounters. Hell, how can they even know what's going on in this city without the ability to check out SFist! ...

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......

There sure are a lot of fans of The Decemberists, judging by the fact that they're about to play tonight and Friday night here at the relatively giant Warfield Theater. If you haven't heard their new album The Crane Wife, we're giving you a chance to win a copy of it plus a 20"x10" lithograph signed by all 5 members of the band. We'd show you a photo of the lithograph if we had one,......

We're going multimedia tonight and sending our mellifluous and not-so mellifluous voices over the airwaves as Madden at Live 105 has graciously asked us to appear on his local music hour around 8 tonight. ...

The police today released recordings of all the 911 calls made during that hit-and-run rampage last month. Judging by the amount of airtime these things get on TV news channels it appears that people love listening listening to these kind of recordings, but we don't. We find it a little bit too voyeuristic and like aural rubbernecking. But since we're all about giving people what they want, click here if you want to hear them. Transcripts can be read here. ...

This past Monday we headed down to The Fillmore to see Cold War Kids open for Editors. Cold War Kids had all the right ingredients to stand out from the pack, especially with singer Nathan Willett’s piercing voice. None of what they played sounded derived or expected, which is an impressive feat these days. Judging by the resonance of crowd favorite "Hospital Beds", we’re witnessing another dazzling San Francisco export. Editors played their catchy and......

We were driving to work the other day and heard an oh-so-familiar voice on Live 105's Morning Show. Sure enough, it was Gavin, making his way to yet another morning radio show. That dude sure does get around. After talking about all the boring stuff like issues and homelessness and his new Project Connect, the conversation finally got around to the juicy stuff and he was asked about life as a single guy. Apparently, from what he said, it's hard to out there to be a Mayor in the dating world. He even jokingly said he should put up a profile on Match.com. Of course, it sounds like he might have been fronting, but you know how it is when Gavin gets all earnest and puppy-dog'ish-- how can you not take what he's saying at face value? ...

Lots of people love Memorial Day weekend because of the three-day weekend and the non-stop binging on fleshy dead animals, but we love it because all the rock radio stations bust out their "Top 500 of All Time" lists. We love those lists. It's where we get to hear what the mass of radio listeners consider their favorite songs and not the lunk-headed snots at Pitchfork. Will "Stairway" still be on top? Will people finally realize just how God-awful the Eagles really are? And most importantly, how much radio do you have to listen to just so you can hear the classic rock goodness that is the Top 20 songs? This year, both Live 105 and 107.7 the Bone busted out their Top 500 lists and that made the weekend even that more exciting. It was a veritable smorgasbord of rock. It also meant we got to hear what the favorite songs of both forty-something mullet heads and the alienated youth are. It's like a parallel world thing-- one is a list of everything before 1990 and the other is a list of pretty much everything after 1990. If we had only gotten Top 500 lists from both Alice and KFOG it would have been that much better because we could have also have gotten the favorite songs of Marina Chicks and white-bred Yupsters too. But, alas. ...

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Bottom Feeder asks a good question, which is: why did Sports Illustrated run an excerpt of the Barry Bonds book and not the Chron? He doesn't say, but we're going to guess money. In a separate story, the value of Bonds baseball cards has dropped. Hey, EBX, shouldn't you be focusing on your own baseball team instead of SF's? Cover article: E (aka, "thizz") stops being a raver......

We're shipping off to SXSW on Saturday, and even though we're in for a ton of music in Austin we're really sad about what we'll be missing here in San Francisco. For instance, this weekend we're missing some of our favorite bands including Silversun Pickups, Virgil Shaw, and Electric Six at the Independent (say hello to our buddy John R. Dequindre for us). We're sending one of you to a show we wish we could......

Back before the Wonderful World of the iPod (B.I.) when we used to listen to the radio, one of our favorite things was listening to KFOG's 10 at 10 on Friday the 13th. And we didn't even listen to KFOG (yes, Virginia, we listened to Live 105). We did, however, love listening to the 10 at 10 on Friday the 13th because on that day, they'd break from tradition and play "Hits from Hell." What are "Hits from Hell" you might be asking? Well things like "You Light Up My Life." Or the god-awful "We Built This City" or "We Are the World." It's nothing but pure, unadulterated crap music and there's nothing our cheese-loving, ironic-hipster-posing-hearts love more than crap music played for the sheer hell of it being crappy. Plus, it's one full hour in which KFOG won't play Bonnie Raitt, Coldplay or John Mayer. ...