HOT TUB, SUBTLE, AND THE FEDERALISTS

Not sure what to chat about whilst standing around the office water cooler? Impress co-workers with your superior foresight by demonstrating a keen ability to identify what's hot. Simply use our Band Barometer to know which local bands are heating up. Hot Tub: Hot Tub is everywhere. If they aren't headlining, these ladies make themselves the main event. Who doesn't love chicks that run their mouths off in that "we think we're so tough," sort of way, bringing cute rap on playful electro and old school beats? Hot simplicity with raunchy songs is getting this threesome lots of attention. They're wild and tacky, often campy, and ready to serve it hard—straight out of Oakland. They've got the bait and they ain't afraid to go fishin'. We're... > more

PAID DUES RETURNS

There's no room for stunna shades and ghetto egos at the Paid Dues Festival. Now in it's third year, the hip hop love tour, returns to the Bay Area with a show at the Berkeley Community Theater on June 14th. It's a smaller scale, less commercial Rock the Bells, really (produced by the same company—Murs 3:16 and Guerilla Union) and features independent hip hop artists that the press release suggests are "...largely shunned by the mainstream media." We've never shunned De La Soul or Hieroglyphics. But we see what you mean. Mainstream hip hop is defined more by the women in the videos and the size of rims. You won't get those types of egos here, especially with a lineup like this: De La Soul, Blackaclicious, Little Brother, Sage Francis, Hieroglyphics,... > more

HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS 2008

October 3rd - 5th marks the 2008 rendition of one of the coolest music festivals on the planet: San Francisco's own Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. This flurry of banjos will take place in Golden Gate Park not too long after the inaugural Outside Lands Festival, but here's the big difference between the two (besides Outside Lands' distinct lack of banjos) – HSB is FREE. Did you hear that? FREE. As in free of charge, free of money, free of increasing credit card debt, free of whatever. It's just free. The initial lineup for this year's festival features a legendary rocker, Bohemian punk and folk fave. Lineup: Robert Plant &... > more