Results tagged “thisweekinrock”

First off, we're sorry we missed last week's music offerings - Wallpaper, Eric Hutchinson and The Trucks - but we're back. A lot has happened in just one week. First off, New Kids on the Block debuted their newest single, "Summertime" with the announcement there's going to be a tour and new album. Frankly, from what we've heard, it's not that bad. Actually it's kinda good in a pop-ish, upbeat "summer" hit kind-of-way. Madonna also announced that she will be bringing her "Sticky and Sweet" tour to Oakland on November 1st. You better make sure you get your tickets fast!

This week you have the opportunity to catch a bunch of bands that were just here in the past few months. This time they are all playing different venues. First off, tonight Basia Bulat will be opening for Devotchka at the Fillmore. Last time we saw her she was at Bottom of the Hill. Her stuff was good then; it still is. If you haven't checked her new album out, listen here.

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+)

We have some exciting news! We're offering two free tickets to Rilo Kiley's Thursday night performance at Concourse at SF Design Center. Now, here's some even more exciting news: Kanye West and Rihanna will be performing at the HP Pavilion on Saturday night. With Rihanna's summer blockbuster hit, "Umbrella," she finally created a "Hit Me Baby, One More Time." Instead of the standard sexy school-girl outfit, Rihanna dawned on two outfits: black leather and the contrasting white cotton. It's hot. It's fierce. It's damn sexy. She's even been called, "The next Britney Spears." (We're assuming that they're referring to Ms. Spears when she was actually a "pop princess" and not as she currently is: a hot mess.) It's fine with us. We just want to see if she can really deliver a performance where she actually sings and dances at the same time.

Ingrid Michaelson is back - this time on the hugely popular, Hotel Cafe Tour. She'll be here on Friday night at the Great American Music Hall. It is sold-out but we did find one ticket on craigslist, for only $22! Cary Brothers, Meiko, William Fitzsimmons, Jim Bianco and Jessie Baylin will also be hanging out playing some great music.

Oh Darling, an indie-pop band from Oregon, will be on their Spring Tour this week hanging out in the Bay Area. On Tuesday at noon, they will perform at San Jose State and then following it with a radio show appearance at KSJS, 90.5 FM, San Jose State's radio station, at 3pm. The best part: both shows are free! They'll be up in San Francisco on Wednesday night at Red Devil Lounge supporting Pete and J.

Though Friday night is where it's at, Thursday night's highly anticipated Justice show will rock as well. (Justice did just win the Grammy for Best Electronic/Dance Album.) Following the concert, you can head over to popscene, where they will be dancing the night away with popscene's very own DJ's: Omar, Aaron and Nako. You'll definitely be in the mood to D.A.N.C.E.

Even with several sold-out shows this week, there are still some amazing concerts that you can get into and for fairly cheap ($10-26). Tonight Alice Smith, the sexy/sultry R&B/pop singer, will be headlining at Bottom of the Hill. We called her sound a mix between "Toby Lightman, a little Alicia Keys and a more sophisticated Amy Winehouse." She's definitely something to talk about.

Usually, we don't feature arena concerts, but Wednesday night's concert featuring Mute Math, Alanis Morissette and Matchbox Twenty, is well worth it and is something to talk about. First off, who ever decided that those three bands ever belonged together? Strange enough, we kinda think it works (in an extremely 90's kind of way). With the arena setting, hopefully Mute Math will finally get the extra push to become a household name. Their concerts are continually called "amazing" and Alternative Press named them as the "#1 Band You Need to See Live Before You Die”. (What a title!) We think it's slightly awesome that Alanis Morissette is touring even though she hasn't had a record release since 2005. Her upcoming seventh studio album, Flavors of Entanglement is being released on May 20, 2008. It is being produced by one of our music heroes, Guy Sigsworth. The evening is headlined by Matchbox Twenty. We assume that their set list will be quite similar to their latest album, Exile on Mainstream. It featured six new songs and eleven greatest hits - sounds like a perfect set list to us.

Nicole Atkins starts this week off strong with some soulful tunes from the Jersey shore over at The Independent, starting at 8pm. She's crazy-cool and has a voice of gold. If you're more of a rocker, than get to Cafe du Nord early to see Cold Hot Crash and Filter play. It looks like the only way you can buy tickets is at the door and there's not too many of them. A Fine Frenzy, an alternative singer-songwriter and pianist headlines at Cafe du Nord on Tuesday night. She'll be supported by the talented Ferras and the English rock band, Ben's Brother. Again, get there early, the only way you'll get tickets is at the door.

Join us tonight at the Fillmore, where Sia (one of our favorites) will be headlining. We saw her at the end of last year and the show was definitely fantastic; we highly recommend checking out tonight's show. Her latest album, Some People Have Real Problems, is stellar and has garnered critical success jumping to #26 on the Billboard charts, selling more than 20,000 copies and finishing ahead of fellow press darling Kate Nash (all in the first week of sales). The show starts with Har Mar Superstar at 8pm (doors at 7pm). See you there!

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.

It's that time again. (We can't believe it's already Monday.) As usual, there is great music going on every night of the week so make sure you take the jump to see our daily recommendations. We've been counting down the days to see Sara Bareilles since we heard about this tour back in December. It's here. Finally. Bareilles will be opening for James Blunt in the VH1's "You Oughta Know" tour. There's no way you haven't heard of James Blunt - his single, "You're Beautiful" was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. This was the first time a Brit had been in the #1 spot since Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" in 1997. Clearly, everyone knows who James Blunt is. The real question is: Do you know who Sara Bareilles is? We've been spouting praise about this singer/songwriter since we saw her open for Aqualung almost a year ago. We knew she would be big; we just had a feeling. Now with "Love Song" on regular airplay on radio stations nationwide there's a reason she's opening for Blunt in the "You Oughta Know" tour. With high-powered vocals, Bareilles can out-sing most, if not all, of the music industries' pop stars. Not only do we love her rich yet effortless voice, but her clever music is indeed what pop music needs right now. We would never miss her concert and you shouldn't either.

This week there's a recommendation every night at a different venue - talk about a great week of music. Starting with Monday, MGMT, the super-hyped duo from Brooklyn, will be playing Bottom of the Hill. MGMT is: Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, two psychic pilgrims whose paths first intersected in the green pastures of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, circa 2002. After a post-college "existential crisis" they decided to create their masterpiece, Oracular Spectacular, released last week. (Check out the video, here.)

Wow, one show on Monday and twelve on Friday. This week we definitely start off a bit slow, but by the end of the week, we have a ton of choices.

Back in December, The Lovemakers, a glam-rock outfit from Oakland, decided to stay put and forego their national tour to record their next full-length album entitled "Love is Dead." (For a band called "The Lovemakers," that's quite a title!) According to their blog, they've also decided to "be a 3-piece [band] again for the next while live. Scott, Lisa and Michael Urbano on drums. Back to basics. Very cool. Very fun." What we didn't realize, is the fact they are trying out their new stuff just for us at their Thursday night residency at Cafe du Nord for the entire month of January. Last week they played with Panda and Maldroid, while this week it's N. Lannon and Astra Heights. You might want to wait for later in the month when they play with Elephone and The Frail (who we just instantly fell in love with) on January 24th and Audrye Sessions and Poor Bailey on January 31st. Better yet, why don't you go to all three shows and support some awesome local music? With great bands playing with The Lovemakers each week, we figure you won't be disappointed. Their reputation is based on their "solid and legendary bawdy, flawless and theatrical live performance." We hope they hold up to that awesome reputation.

The UK's latest sensation, Kate Nash, makes her San Francisco debut this Saturday night at popscene at 330 Ritch Street. We are so very excited about this show. Not only do we absolutely love Kate Nash's EP (her CD is coming out tomorrow) but we get an added bonus of seeing Minipop, San Francisco's own indie-pop band. This show is bound to be genius.

If you haven't decided what you are doing to celebrate the New Year, it's okay - it seems that limited tickets are still available to tonight's biggest shows. We have a feeling they will go quick. If you don't like crowds, you can check out Radiohead's New Year's Eve bash on your couch with a bottle of booze. For the partiers, there are several options ranging from $8 at Hotel Utah to $100 at Cafe du Nord - something for everyone. We put the Radiohead broadcast on tivo and are headed out to the rockin' party at Bottom of the Hill where San Francisco's own, Scissors for Lefty will be headlining. If you want to dance, instead of rock, then check out popscene's dance party featuring Blaqk Audio. Where will you be tonight?

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!)

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...

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,...

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...

Earlier this month we mentioned that The Decemberists' five-night engagement at the Fillmore was canceled. It was going to be the highlight of our week, but we guess tofurkey will just have to do. This week, our picks are Travis who are playing with Maximo Park at the Fillmore tomorrow night. Friday night at the Fillmore, The Drones (listen to "Shark Fin Blues" here) are opening for Band of Horses, an indie-rock band based...