The Mars Volta

The Melvins' Dale Crover on Lazy Musicians, Knucklehead Slayer Fans, and the Band's Record-Breaking Tour

Over the course of closing on 30 years, Melvins guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have co-piloted their seminal underground outfit through a wildly varied exploration of heavy sounds. Inspired by the lumbering tempos and downtuned guitar of Black Sabbath and the dissonance of punk maver ... More >>

Tangerine Dream's Edgar Froese on Improvising, Technology, and Why He Doesn't Like Remixes

Along with contemporaries and countrymen Kraftwerk, pioneering German electronic music group Tangerine Dream stands as one of the most influential acts to ever plug in a synthesizer. Founded by keyboardist/guitarist Edgar Froese in 1967, Tangerine Dream got its start creating ferociously psychedelic ... More >>

Lass Out Loud: Rachel Fannan on Her New Band, Only You, and Playing with "Three Vixen Warlords"

The women of the Bay Area music scene are breaking rules and defying expectations. Lass Out Loud is a new column exploring their lives and work. Former Sleepy Sun singer Rachel Fannan's new all-girl group, Only You, takes a break from the sunnier shores of Southern California to perform at Brick an ... More >>

5 Reasons We're Thrilled About At The Drive-In's Reunion

Earlier this week, At The Drive-In posted a not-so cryptic message on its not-very-old Twitter page, announcing: "¡ATTENTION! To whom it may concern: AT THE DRIVE-IN will be breaking their 11 year silence THIS STATION IS ...NOW...OPERATIONAL." To say we leaped out of our chairs, did a happy dance, ... More >>

Soundgarden's Reunion Tour Will Deafen San Francisco This July

Raise your hand if you miss the real '90s. ​ Short of a zombified Kurt Cobain rising from the grave in Lolita shades to sing "Heart Shaped Box" to a bunch of kids raised on Miley Cyrus and sexting, we're pretty sure this '90s revival thing has now gotten as crazy-ridiculous as it can get: Lad ... More >>

Quitzow, Battlehooch, and Setting Sun at the Rickshaw Stop

Setting Sun​Quitzow Battlehooch Setting Sun August 3, 2010@ Rickshaw Stop  Better than: A musical adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream set in outer space. Let it not be said that Crispin McCabe of SFitall books a show unimaginatively. It can't be easy to place loca ... More >>

Futuristic New Release: Vinyl and CD on One Hybrid Disc

​Now you don't have to pick between the cool of vinyl and the convenience of CD: electronic/dance musician Jeff Mills' latest release, The Occurrence, is out on a disc with one side encoded as a CD and the other side cut into vinyl. Axis Records calls this thing a "hybrid of Science Fiction a ... More >>

The Ghosts of Outside Lands Past

Now that this year's Outside Lands lineup has been released in full and stayed true to its lil-bit-hippie-lil-but-hip-hop roots and the folk vs. funk vibe, will you be forking over some coin when the tickets go on sale tomorrow? How do you think this year's lineup fares with those of previous years? ... More >>

What To Do? Monday's Pick: Mates of State

​Mates of State @ Cafe du Nord The ingredients of Mates of State are so simple and few -- drums, organ, two voices, the infectious glow of marital bliss -- that you'd think the band would be treading water after five albums. Quite the opposite: The ever-harmonizing pop duo of Kori Gardner and Jas ... More >>

Married to Drums and Keyboard

Outside Lands Post-Script

EKAphotographyVinyl Vamp: Zap Mama​ Fickle weather and last-minute headliner replacements aside, Outside Lands was a success, by most yard sticks. Here's what folks are saying about the three-day extravaganza, which drew more than 100,000 people to Golden Gate Park: Local reaction: The Chron ... More >>

Outside Lands Day Two: Street Sweeper Social Club, Trombone Shorty, Black Eyed Peas, The Mars Volta

EKAphotography​Outside Lands Day 2: Street Sweeper Social Club, Trombone Shorty, Black Eyed Peas, The Mars Volta, & more, Saturday, August 20, 2009.Better Than: sitting in the park, waiting for you.The first day of Outside Lands was a huge freakin' success, especially if you stayed at the Twin ... More >>

Outside Lands Day 1, Pearl Jam, Tom Jones, Black Joe Lewis

Chritopher VictorioTom Jones​Pearl Jam, Tom Jones, Incubus, Black Joe Lewis & the HoneybearsOutside LandsFriday, Aug. 28, 2009Better than: Anything else you could be doing in Golden Gate Park on a Friday night.The opening day of the second annual Outside Lands was, overall, what I'd call a ple ... More >>

Mastodon exposes its inner prog

Outside Lands Announces Ace Lineup: Beasties, Ween, Tom Jones, Dirtbombs, and More

Soren Solkaer StarbirdSan Francisco's giant music marathon, Outside Lands, announced its lineup this morning, capping its press release with headliners like Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Modest Mouse, and, yes, Dave Matthews Band hitting Golden Gate Park between August 28-30. Also in the ... More >>

Bonnaroo Lineup Announced

BruceSpringsteen.netThe BossBreak out the Sharpie and circle your calendars. The lineup for the 2009 Bonnaroo Festival has just been announced, and suffice to say Woodstock and Lollapalooza have nothing on this. Just when you thought the four-day music and arts extravaganza, held on a farm in rural ... More >>

Be Green

Classical music’s no-frills Mission digs

Coachella, Mortified confessions, Ascended Master and the Golding Collection of Rock Art - Your Monday Morning Hangover

How to Tell Your Hippies from Your Heshers from the Black Keys

Triclops!

Out of Africa (Alternative Tentacles)

The Mars Volta

The Bedlam in Goliath (Umvd Labels)

Black Mountain's Psychedelic Sprawl Needs a Roadmap

The Mars Volta's Bedlam in Goliath Album Review, Stream and MP3 Download

The Daily Show, The State, and Vagina Dentata — It's Your Monday Morning Hangover

The Daily Show, The State, and Vagina Dentatas — It's Your Monday Morning Hangover

The Daily Show, The State, and Vagina Dentatas — It's Your Monday Morning Hangover

Mars Volta New Year's Schedule Gets PB Wolf

New Mars Volta Single Releases Today on iTunes

Strippers, Escort, and New Year's Eve plans: Your Friday Morning Pre-Party

Strippers, Escort, and New Year's Eve plans: Your Friday Morning Pre-Party

Strippers, Escort, and New Year's Eve plans: Your Friday Morning Pre-Party

New Year's Eve in SF: Cake vs. Seas of Cheese; White Comedy vs. Black Comedy

Mars Volta Chases SF New Year's Date With 'The Bedlam In Goliath'

Avant Noise Metal Group "Atomic Bomb Audition" this Saturday at 21 Grand

The Mars Volta Announces New Year's Show in SF, New Album

Mars Volta to Ring In Bill Graham Civic New Year with Tinnitus

Two Gallants Announce Summer Tour, New Album Release Date

Get on the Guest List

El-P plays hip-hop host

Hella

ThereÕs No 666 in Outer Space (Ipecac Records)

The Sounds of Violence

Triclops! Acid-damaged punk noise!

It Was a Year Of ...

Well, lots of things, actually

Crime Pays, Eventually

Local rock act artfully indulges its prog roots

Metallic Apex

Mastodon destroys cookie-cutting rock

De-Lousing the Mars Volta

The Italian Job

Local imprint offers prog-rock masterworks from Italia's other Renaissance

Piper at the Pearly Gates

The Big Bang

Entering Comets on Fire's blazing parallel universes

On the Down-Low

Shovel away all that Usher, Prince and Lil Jon you've been jamming and dig this year's buried black-music treasures.