In visual art, it's called a triptych -- a piece divided into three connected sections or panels. The individual panels could, in theory, stand on their own, but each adds meaning and significance to the other two, creating a single work that is more than the sum of its parts.

We don't have a name for this concept in music, but we should, especially in the new digital landscape, dominated as it is by singles rather than albums. Three songs is the smallest unit of musical arc, of emotional progression, the midpoint between the song and the album. Two songs only creates a straight line from point A to point B; three allows for a curve, for a complete musical thought.

With that said, here are five great rock triptychs. If we missed your favorite, leave it in the comments.

​The Beatles: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "With a Little Help From My Friends," and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)

If you had listened to this for the first time in 1967 (and maybe you did), the crowd noise in the opening seconds of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" would have tipped you off that the Beatles were up to something new, something bold. As the song nears its end and Sir Paul introduces Billy Shears (a.k.a. Ringo), something funny happens -- "With a Little Help from My Friends" emerges not from the customary silence between tracks, but in one fluid motion from the song before it.

Although this technique may be common now, at the time it was essentially revolutionary -- multiple songs could really be part of one larger thought, despite being listed separately. Conceptually, this was a leap.

Moving forward, the Beatles lead us on a continuous journey, rather than hopping from track to track. In "With a Little Help from My Friends," for example, the line "I get high with a little help from my friends" seems a bit odd in what is otherwise a sugar-sweet song, but it works as foreshadowing for the alternate universe ahead in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

When "Lucy" ends, we find ourselves firmly entrenched in the Beatles' dream world, which is the profound achievement of this triptych -- it begins by asking us to suspend our disbelief and enjoy a fictional band and ends with us down Sgt. Pepper's rabbit hole.

(Listen here.)

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Irie Cartel is one of the DJ groups performing at the free Fillmore Dub Music Festival on Saturday.

​If you're reading this blog, you've probably already heard of it -- it's heavy, it wobbles, and it's not the Bay Bridge.

A fast-growing electronica genre with roots in reggae and dub music, dubstep is taking over the Fillmore this weekend. The Dub Fillmore Festival goes down at Fillmore and O'Farrell streets this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., featuring DJs like Mochipet, Nebakeneza, and El Diablo. It's funded by a grant from the mayor's office.

Dubstep "brings together all these different people and blends it in and remixes it in," head organizer Shanell Williams says, stressing the festival's ability to draw a younger crowd to the area than jazz generally does. "Dubstep is that meeting place where everyone can come together and agree upon the sound because you have so much in there."

She agrees that the Fillmore may be known mostly for jazz, but believes that's about to change.

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​After an eight-month break, the Indie-Mart Party returns this Sunday to Thee Parkside in Potrero Hill, bringing the only three things we care about -- music, food, and booze. Oh, and there's gonna be shopping and such for those of you who don't have your priorities straight (or just want to see some unique stuff, whatever).

The suggested donation for entrance is $3-5, which will help fund Indie-Mart founder Kelly Malone's cancer treatment.

Hit the jump for full details and line-up information.

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A typical crowd at the Dancing Ghosts darkwave party.

​If you like Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, or Kanye West, you probably shouldn't go to the Dancing Ghosts party at the Cat Club tomorrow night. If you normally wear lots of bright colors when you're out on the town, or if you like to spend time in the sun for fun, then you'd probably feel a tad out of place.

Formerly at the Stud Bar in SOMA, Dancing Ghosts isn't your typical nightlife scene -- along with events like Shutter at the Elbo Room, it's one of San Francisco's several goth parties, billing itself in fliers as a "darkwave dance party."

For the uninitiated, darkwave music is basically goth music -- sorta.

"'Darkwave' describes a certain era and a handful of foundational artists" from the late '70s and early '80s like Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, and Clan of Xymox, says Alex Westhoff, who organizes Dancing Ghost and spins as DJ Xander. In some ways, Westhoff says, Bauhaus's 1979 song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" started the goth movement.

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Two days ago, LaTosha Brown probably wouldn't have considered herself famous. But that may change soon -- since YouTube featured her impromptu performance of the spiritual "I Know I've Been Changed" yesterday, the video has racked up almost 500,000 views (and counting).

The video is part of a series by local label Porto Franco Records. Label cofounder Peter Varshavsky wrote in an e-mail that Porto Franco just tries to "promote everything we like," mostly but not exclusively music and artists from the Bay Area.

Hit the jump to get all tingly from watching it.

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Face it, people: Heavy metal is dead. Over. Done with.

What's that, you don't believe us? Just look at these pictures from the Rockstar Mayhem festival this weekend at Shoreline Amphitheatre, and let us guide you through the top 10 reasons heavy metal is dead.

10. There's no more room for new tattoos.

Christopher Victorio

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With loud, heavy, guitar-based music -- as with this guy's body ink -- there are just no more places to go.

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Young McCartney always dreamed of the day he would become a real boy.

​Last week, our colleagues in Broward County and Los Angeles shared their lists of the five worst Beatles songs. While amusing, both omitted what objective science tells us are, in fact, the honest-to-God stinkiest Fab Flops: "Mr. Moonlight," "The Fool on the Hill," "Blue Jay Way," "Piggies," and, of course, that ear-bleeding, makes-time-slow-down crapsterpiece "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite."

(And, for what it's worth, here are the Five Most Underrated Beatles Songs that Should Replace "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on All Classic Rock Radio Formats: "You're Going to Lose That Girl," "Hey, Bulldog," "Rain," "I've Got a Feeling," and "No Reply.")

Now that that's settled, let's take on a much tougher question: What is the single worst song written and recorded by an ex-Beatle?

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We've not always been very kind to Christina Aguilera on this blog. Last time we mentioned her, we accused her of being "wasted out of [her] yodeling, gurning mind," for example. We may have also mentioned that, when Stripped came out, she looked more like Dee Snider from Twisted Sister than Dee Snider from Twisted Sister did. We're pretty sure we also suggested that if you touched her, she would probably leave an oily film on your hand that you couldn't wash off without the aid of bleach.

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No, we've definitely not been nice about Christina Aguilera. And at the time, we honestly couldn't help it -- all that wailing and howling and tacky sleazemongering was just too much for us not to mock. But, dear readers, something strange is afoot, for in recent weeks we have found ourselves not just liking, but also -- gasp! -- respecting Christina Aguilera. And it feels a little bit like hell just froze over.
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John Vanderslice and Magik*Magik's Minna Choi

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It's a rare artist who, upon realizing all great art is
danger, seeks first to test the idea upon their own nerves.

This Friday night at the Herbst Theater, S.F. indie rock powerhouse John Vanderslice will play his acclaimed new album White Wilderness in its entirety, accompanied by the wunderkinder of the Magik*Magik Orchestra. The inspiration for this evening of indie-pop orchestral collaboration lay in this artist's stuntman-like love of precarious situations. While we await curtain time on Friday night, let's pass a pleasant few hundred words with this prodigious local talent.

What was the inspiration for the orchestral arrangements on White Wilderness?

My goal is put myself in a completely new and unstable situation for each record. Emerald City was kind of a live rock record. Romanian Names was where I decided to do really heavy overdubs, using the studio as an instrument, and it took nine months to record. In White Wilderness, I wanted to enter into territory that I didn't feel comfortable in. I think there is something magic about being put in a creative situation where you're fighting for your life. The biggest, most intimidating idea I could think of was to make a record in essentially three days where everything was recorded in one room, live, with 25 other musicians, all of whom had been playing their instruments since they were two or three years old. For me, it was like brave new world stuff.

 

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Don't you know that crime doesn't pay, SpongeBob?

​This week, Ad Rock proved that not only is he still one of the coolest men in music, he's actually probably one of the coolest humans alive.

For the record, we thought the Beastie Boys had used up their 2011 cool quota with the mind-blowing, cameo-strewn video for "Fight for Your Right (Revisited)" in April -- arguably one of the greatest music videos of all time. If you haven't seen it yet, find a spare thirty minutes and watch this -- all of this:



But no, Ad Rock went above and beyond the call of duty this week by getting into an altercation on a New York subway train -- with SpongeBob SquarePants (which feels a little bit like an out-take from the "Intergalactic" video). SpongeBob -- or rather the shady criminal hiding inside a SpongeBob suit -- tried to rip off Rock by accusing him of breaking his watch, then demanding money. What was Mr. Rock's response? Bemusement? Amusement? Panic?

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