Kev Choice in SF Symphony’s ‘From Scratch,’ Courtesy: Kim Huynh. The San Francisco Symphony, not able to play any concerts since March, has pivoted to alternative programming over the last couple of months, including video and podcast series CURRENTS, illustrating the connection between classical music and the music of…

Brandon Leake performs in season 15 of ‘America’s Got Talent’ in Los Angeles on Sept. 1, 2020. Courtesy: Trae Patton/NBC. By the time Stockton poet Brandon Leake blew the “America’s Got Talent” judges and audience away on Sept. 1 with “Pookie”—about his mother’s fear every time he left their…

YELLE, Courtesy: Jerome Lobato. Julie Budet, one-half of French dance pop duo YELLE, points to the penultimate track on new album L’Ère du Verseau as one of numerous examples at the group’s more serious and mature direction. L’Ère du Verseau (The Age of Aquarius) YELLE Recreation Center, Sept. 4 “Peine…

Biffy Clyro, Courtesy: Ash Roberts. A Celebration of Endings, the new album from Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro ends with a screamo-prog-metal-funk journey “Cop Syrup,” on which singer-guitarist Simon Neil feverishly and repeatedly declares, “Fuck everyone! Whoo!” It may sound like the retort of someone who’s given up all hope,…

All We Are, Courtesy: Rebecca Hawley. From the Liverpool band’s home inside a 160-year-old decommissioned school near the center of the city, the three members of All We Are—all immigrants to England—have been watching how the last four years have seemed to turn the world from its axis. In…

VINCINT, Courtesy photo. Vincint Cannady was already a rising vocalist and didn’t want or need to compete on Fox’s “The Four” reality singing competition. The Philadelphia native, who blends his powerful pipes with soulful falsettos and huge dance hooks as VINCINT, twice rejected the show’s producers to try out.…

After experimenting with jazzy psychedelia and abstract songwriting on his third record, 2017’s Mister Mellow, Georgia producer-songwriter and chillwave artist Ernest Greene, better known as Washed Out, is back to his bread and butter on his return to Sup Pop Records with Purple Noon. Purple Noon Washed Out Sub…

Loyal Lobos, Courtesy: Diego Trenas. Colombian singer-songwriter Andrea Silva, who writes and performs as Loyal Lobos, is proud, inspired and terrified of her mother, who took on numerous ventures as Silva grew up to protect her family and ensure its well-being. Everlasting Loyal Lobos AWAL, Aug. 7 Silva, who…

The echoing single bass drum kick and string-like synths that slowly launch “Foundation,” the opening track on the new collaborative album by ODESZA and Golden Features—as BRONSON—could have scored a trailer for “Jurassic World.” The aptly titled song is our doorway into a world of high vistas and deep…

Neon Trees, Courtesy: Jen Rosenstein. Six years ago, when Utah dance-pop band Neon Trees last made an album, frontman Tyler Glenn hadn’t yet come out as gay to his bandmates. Since then, he also went on to leave the Mormon faith, no longer seeing a place for himself in…