Dua Lipa went into her sophomore album with about as unenviable a task as you can have for a rising pop superstar. Following up the success of her stellar self-titled breakout debut would be no easy feat. To add to the challenge, she had to (again) catch lightning in…

Vanessa Carlton returns with her first new album in five years with the expansive Love is an Art, a deep dive into the different ways relationships manifest and how we experience them. Carlton writes about both her own experiences as well as observations of love in the world around her. Inspired…

Empire of the Sun performs at Golden Gate Park at Outside Lands on Aug, 12, 2017. Alessio Neri/STAFF. Sonoma Harvest Music Festival producers Monday announced the lineup for the third annual event at Glen Ellen’s BR Cohn Winery. This year’s festival will again take place on four days over…

SACRAMENTO — Jen Ledger is in an upbeat mood hours before her evening playing double duty: drumming for Skillet and fronting her own band, which will open the show at Ace of Spades. The band just arrived after a nine-hour bus ride from Portland the night before. Ledger doesn’t…

Silver Landings marks a return to form and a return to the music stratosphere for Mandy Moore. Moore broke into the pop music landscape in the late ’90s, along with a wave of superstar contemporaries like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson. After finding initial success, Moore grew…

Richard Marx. Courtesy photo. Richard Marx faced a professional dilemma in the months leading up to recording his new album, Limitless. He was happy with his life and work. He was able to tour the world and had ample opportunity to write songs with other artists. The thought of getting in…

Joan performs at Swedish American Hall in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2020. Sean Liming/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — One of the most compelling aspects of Noise Pop is figuring out which artists may rise to become tomorrow’s superstars. The festival features bands and artists each year that go on…

Jennylee & TT perform at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Feb. 25, 2020. Joaquin Cabello/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — “We have some special things in store this evening,” Warpaint‘s Jenny Lee Lindberg said as she and her bandmate Theresa Wayman took the stage at Bottom of the…

Dan Snaith, better known as Caribou, looked to distill his musical message following 2014’s critically acclaimed Our Love. That album looked at the concept of love at its most macro level. Going into the creation of his seventh studio effort, Suddenly, Snaith aimed to put that concept under a microscope. He looked…

Alter Bridge performs at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on Feb. 23, 2020. Photos: Chloe Catajan. SAN FRANCISCO — The idea that a band mellows with age doesn’t apply to Alter Bridge. The Orlando hard rockers have managed to push the envelope a little further with each passing…