Chris Stapleton, “Higher.”   Chris Stapleton is one of the most accomplished musicians in country music today. The Kentucky native has garnered eight Grammy awards and 14 Country Music Awards. Plus, he’s penned hits for everybody from Kenny Chesney to Taylor Swift. Stapleton’s latest album, Higher, his fifth, travels…

The Breeders perform at the Warfield in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2023. Courtesy Sandra Jamaleddine. SAN FRANCISCO — “Did you know this record is 30 years old?” The Breeders singer Kim Deal asked fans assembled at the Warfield Monday night, referring to the band’s sophomore album and grunge standard,…

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, “The Silver Cord.” For many, life in the 21st century is about options. We can sample cuisines from all over the world, pursue any number of careers, pick from a seemingly endless variety of religious and spiritual traditions, embrace any number of strange…

Peter Gabriel performs at Chase Center in San Francisco on Oct. 11, 2023. Steve Carlson/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — Peter Gabriel brought a multimedia extravaganza to Chase Center Wednesday night, delivering not just a feast for the eyes and ears, but lots of big ideas to mull over during the…

Queens of the Stone Age performs during Aftershock Festival at Discovery Park in Sacramento on Oct. 8, 2023. Courtesy. SAN FRANCISCO — As Bay Area temperatures soared, Queens of the Stone Age brought their own heat to Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Friday night. Josh Homme, the band’s frontman,…

Sufjan Stevens, “Javelin” Evolutionary biologists contend that in nature, living things tend to evolve from simple to complex. This natural growth in complexity is seen in single-cell organisms evolving into multi-cellular creatures and eventually into plants and animals over millennia of millennia. But you can also find this increasing…

SAN FRANCISCO — Psychedelic musical chameleons Osees played the first of four sold-out shows at The Chapel on Sunday night. One of the busiest bands in show business, was fresh off the release of new album Intercepted Message and a string of shows in Europe, with the San Francisco…

“Peter Frampton at Royal Albert Hall.” Frampton Comes Alive has sold more than 20 million copies since its release in 1976. Any full and complete reckoning of the cultural impact of rock superstar Peter Frampton‘s double live album would have to include all the awesome vans inside which the…

OSEES, “Intercepted Message.” There are certain things we’ve come to expect in the late summer: mostly short vacations, climate emergencies and back-to-school sales. But ’tis also the season for a new Osees album. Since 2003, John Dwyer and company have released at least one album per year, first as…

Sonic Youth, “Live In Brooklyn 2011.” Sonic Youth was my generation’s Camelot. Too young to see Kennedy in the White House, our fin de siècle kingdom was a prolific noise band helmed by grunge’s ultimate power couple, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. The band meant a lot of things…