Red Hot Chili Peppers

Sparks Win Over the Chapel With Minimalism, 4/9/13

Sparks Tuesday, April 9, 2013 The Chapel Better than: Going all the way to Coachella to see them! If you don't know about Sparks, here are the essentials: - The band is led by the two Mael brothers. Ronald on keyboards and Russell on vocals. - They have been around for 40 years and have released 2 ... More >>

Outside Lands 2013: Five Bands To Expect on the Lineup

It's official: The Outside Lands lineup will be announced a week from today, on April 16, 2013. And while some hints about this year's bill have spilled out on the Internet so far, it seems high time to round up what we know so far. Here, then are six artists we're pretty sure are on the 2013 Outsid ... More >>

Bay Area DJs Battle It Out at the Red Bull Thre3style Contest, 1/24/13

The Red Bull Thre3style Contest, featuring DJs D-Sharp, Dstrukt, J. Espinosa, Mei-Lwun, and Richie Panic Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 The Independent Better Than: Being stuck in a crowded arena of people sucking on pacifiers wondering whether you are baby-sitting or just better off never going out again ... More >>

Lollapalooza Suspended, Resumed After Dangerous Weather Conditions

BY ERIK THOMPSON The 2012 installment of Lollapalooza has thus far brought the requisite extremes, in terms of performances and potent weather. A two-hour delay cut through the middle of Saturday's entertainment at Chicago's Grant Park, and a good many people were wishing they had just the record h ... More >>

Live Review, 6/28/12: Avicii at Bill Graham Civic: This Is Why America Likes EDM

Avicii Thursday, June 28, 2012 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Better than: Dancing in a small, dark basement with people who obsess over rare music. Ha! No, it wasn't better than that at all. Up at the top of a very large model of the human head, just inside what would be the scalp, 22-year-old Swe ... More >>

K.Flay's Smart-Aleck Rhymes Could be the Bay's Next Big Export

A Smart Aleck with Rhymes

Meet K.Flay, the Stanford grad who might be the Bay's next big female rapper

Souls of Mischief's A-Plus Reviews His Own Discography

A-Plus​As part of the mighty Souls of Mischief crew, A-Plus ushered in a new style of Bay Area rap with the group's breezy and effortless "'93 'Til Infinity" anthem. Also a mainstay in the Hieroglyphics movement, the rapper and producer has been involved with releases from Del, Pep Love, and C ... More >>

Kreyshawn the Class Warrior Returns to Hate On Cokehead Bitches in "Rich Whores"

Kreayshawn, class warrior?​ The first listen was rip-our-fingernails-out awful, but about halfway through our second tour of today's new Kreayshawn single, "Rich Whores," we unwittingly found ourselves rooting for it. Really. And we didn't feel too good about that either -- until it hit us tha ... More >>

After 20 Years, the Vinyl Still Spins -- And Sells -- at Groove Merchant Records

Ian S. PortGroove Merchant owner Chris Veltri with a rare record.​Chris Veltri stands behind the cluttered wood counter at Groove Merchant record store. Dressed in a navy peacoat and Levis, with sandy blond bangs draped over his blue eyes, he watches three customers browse his small Lower Haight s ... More >>

Last Night: Tim and Eric, Neil Hamburger at Sketchfest

Danielle Hall​Tim and Eric: Pussy Whip Gang Bang, Neil Hamburger January 14, 2010 Mezzanine Better than: Watching This is Spinal Tap for the millionth time. "Q: What do you get when you put a penny in the asshole of each of the members of Smash Mouth? A: Nickelback." This was just one of many ... More >>

Mars Volta New Year's Schedule Gets PB Wolf

Radical Chick

You can't tell Natalie Maines to Shut Up & Sing

Kings of the Stone Age

A quarter-century ago, the Weirdos jump-started West Coast punk. Now they're back.

Prick

Don't hate me because I'm corporate

Still a Beautiful Mess

Once considered just another L.A. rock casualty, former Thelonious Monster leader Bob Forrest returns to the land of the living with the Bicycle Thief

Night & Day

Air Canada

Behind his back, Kevin Dabbs' home-brew tape of his air drumming has drawn a growing cult in San Francisco

Oh, the Horror!

Night+Day

Suspicious Minds

Heavy Rotation

Mark Kohr, S.F.'s leading music video maker, hasn't had a free moment all year

Mondo 1995

Mondo 2000 nailed the emerging cybersexcomputerdrug Zeitgeist with its first issue in 1989, making media mavens out of its founders, Queen Mu and R.U. Sirius. But the trippy, fractious family that was Mondo began to implode in 1993, torn asunder by inter

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