I’m excited to present my installment of RIFF’s year-end staff lists of the best albums of 2018. This year was one of transition and experimentation for artists, and I’ve used fairly simple criteria to narrow down my top 10 albums. These are the ones I found myself loading up…

Slim’s nightclub. Courtesy: Ted Maider. South of Market music club Slim’s is celebrating its 30th anniversary this week with lineup of shows while highlighting its rich history as a hub for music in San Francisco. The club, which musician Boz Scaggs opened in 1988, has been a home base…

Courtesy: Leeds Festival LEEDS, ENGLAND — By now, the majority of music fans are familiar with the music super-festival concept: a multi-day supersized concert with an endless number of acts, food, attractions and hangovers. The Bay Area does it well with Outside Lands and BottleRock, along with niche fests…

We’re writing this editorial in solidarity with more than 250 news organizations around the world. As of this writing President Donald Trump and his administration have not attacked music journalists, but we don’t expect that to last. Trump has attacked national and regional newspapers, online news outlets, cable news…

Florence and the Machine at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Aug. 11, 2018. Shawn Robbins. I can safely say that Outside Lands is the best large scale music festival running right now. Having been to my fair share of music festivals for about 10 years now, nothing beats…

Tunnel to Outside Lands in San Francisco on August 12, 2018. Photos: Joaquin Cabello and Shawn Robbins. Welcome to the third and final installment of my Outside Lands 2018 best and worst. (But not my last column in general; I shamelessly plug that at the end.) If you missed…

Ryu Kurosawa of Kikagaku Moyo performs at Golden Gate Park during Outside Lands on Aug. 11, 2018. Photo: Joaquin Cabello. I’m back with my best and worst of Day 2. Don’t worry, less than half is about pork products. I even mention music once or twice in there! Daoud…

Ranger Dave at Outside Lands in San Francisco on August 10, 2018. Photos: Shawn Robbins and Joaquin Cabello Outside Lands reveals its best and worst to me throughout the day, and it might not be what you expect. The best and worst of Friday are below. In short, I…

  Courtesy: BottleRock Napa Valley With a lineup ranging from The Killers and Bruno Mars to Snoop Dogg and Earth, Wind & Fire, few festivals can match BottleRock’s crossover appeal. Looking beyond the headliners reveals a diverse array of up-and-comers waiting to break big. At BottleRock, Napa becomes the…

Navigating the planning, scheduling and budgeting for SXSW, which begins tomorrow and runs for more than week, isn’t easy. Even those who have attended the festival for years feel bouts of frustration. It’s simply impossible to control everything. The festival’s encouragement of discovery means being flexible and having multiple plans…