RIFF wants you to get out to more shows! To help you with that, here are our picks for where to go and who to see next week. RIFF’s video concert series features artists of all genres, with a focus on the best hidden gems the local music scene has to offer. If you’re…

America is a funny place. It seems like everyone has a strong opinion on its unique culture, its values and, of course, its art. Even though she was born and raised in Australia, Juanita Stein is heavily influenced by American film and music from being constantly exposed as a young child…

RIFF wants you to get out to more shows! To help you with that, here are our picks for where to go and who to see next week. RIFF’s video concert series features artists of all genres, with a focus on the best hidden gems the local music scene has to offer. If you’re…

Back in 2011, Black Up by Shabazz Palaces shook up the rap game with its unique take on abstract lyricism and wonky glitch-hop production. Death Grips and Danny Brown were also dabbling in similar experimental techniques, but Butterfly and Baba made it their own with a more relaxed tenor. Quazarz: Born on a Gangster…

Broken Social Scene is one of those bands with a unique style, yet gains its edge from a blend of established sounds. Case-in-point, Canadian collective’s latest: Hug of Thunder. Hug of Thunder Broken Social Scene July 7 Like a neapolitan milkshake, Broken Social Scene has managed to combine three usually-independent flavors that no one…

Los Angeles alt-rock and electropop trio DREAMERS swear they didn’t write a song called “Drugs” to glamorize substance abuse. The song isn’t even about any controlled substance. Still, it didn’t stop organizers of one festival to kick the band off its lineup, bassist Marc Nelson recalled in an email interview…

Photo: Paige K. Parsons Pegi and Neil Young have canceled the annual Bridge School Benefit concert in 2017—and possibly beyond, the Bridge School announced. The annual benefit show is a nonprofit charity event held every October at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. It celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. Neither Young nor…

Producers of the 10th annual Outside Lands announces the daily lineups of the festival that runs from Aug. 11 to 13. English electronic band Gorillaz and hip-hop icons A Tribe Called Quest headline Friday. Rockers Metallica and Queens of the Stone Age take center stage on Saturday. Classic rock band The Who and pop singer-songwriter…

It’s already been four years since Arcade Fire released its last LP, Reflektor, but now the Canadian indie rock band is back with Everything Now, out July 28, and an autumn tour that includes a date at Oracle Arena in Oakland. The self-titled first single is reminiscent of the band’s most recent style, combining alternative…

My favorite quality of Alex G has been how he could consistently write diverse songs with such a succinct lo-fi sound; usually through an arsenal of unique vocal melodies and cheap noisy recording equipment and synths. Rocket (Sandy) Alex G May 19 Rocket is perhaps his biggest change in sound yet. He…