Shit. It's Valentine's Day this Thursday and by the looks of it most of you have already planned your perfect date. Three shows are already completely sold-out: The Kills at Rickshaw Stop, Slightly Stoopid at The Independent and Common at Mezzanine. While there are still several shows you can chance Thursday night, it might be wise to stay home and wait till the weekend to take your crush out. We are. Friday, the local music......

The shows coming to San Francisco this week give us an excuse to talk about some of our favorite music of 2007. Perhaps the best album we've heard this year comes from a Texan named Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent. She's a seasoned touring guitarist for Sufjan and the Polyphonic Spree, but at only 24 years old she just released a debut album that's sophisticated, brave and artistically mature enough to make you think that......

This week's giveaway comes from The Finches, a local duo who play endearing folk pop. The songs are refreshingly gentle and Carolyn's voice rings with a true sincerity. See them Saturday afternoon at 2pm when they play a free in-store at Amoeba, or celebrate their CD release at Cafe Du Nord on Wednesday night with The Moore Brothers, Colossal Yes and The Mantles. We're giving away a copy of their brand new CD Human......

SFist reviews Noise Pop 2006 line up at Bimbo's Rogue Wave, Aqueduct, The Octopus Project and Srabbel...

Before anyone accuses us of having a soft spot in our hearts for bands from Texas, let us just go ahead and admit we do. That leads us to this week's giveaway featuring Pilotdrift, a band from Texarkana. Don't get any ideas about their sound from their hometown though. Their music is atmospheric, symphonic, theatrical, and the singer even sounds a bit like Bowie. Their debut album is out now on Good Records Recordings, owned......

Our concert picks for the week of 1/19-1/25. One more reason why SF is a great city for music: the feature length film about the annual Coachella music festival is showing here this week. The film showcases one song each from a long list of performers, including Bjork, Radiohead, Oasis, The Crystal Method and many more, plus acts you may not have had the chance to see live like Morrissey, Fischerspooner, Polyphonic Spree, Pixies and......