Opinion
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10 albums we’re anticipating in 2020
You should be excited about new albums from Tame Impala, Frank Ocean, Grimes, Lorde, AJJ, Yves Tumor, The 1975, The Cure, Tierra Whack and IDLES in 2020, writes Kyle J. Kohner. Now that another phenomenal year and decade in music has passed, it’s time to look forward at what…
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Tuesday Tracks: RIFF’s best finds of 2019
Clockwise from top left: Beabadoobee, CYN, Pallbearer, Sawyer, The Midnight Hour and French 79. It’s been quite a year here in the Tuesday Tracks camp. RIFF’s mission to provide you with songs you might otherwise leave behind has lead us to many diamonds in the rough. Our final mission,…
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Black and White: Gary Chancer’s favorite concerts of 2019
Photographer Gary Chancer’s favorite concerts of 2019 include The Chainsmokers, Dave Matthews Band, Phil Collins, Meek Mill, Anti-Flag, Sum 41, AJR, Atretyu, Inhaler and Slash. Picking one show as the best I saw in 2019 is a hard task, shooting as many as I have. Instead I picked some…
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Devil’s advocate: The 50 best albums of 2019: 20-1
Kyle J. Kohner checks in with his own list of the best albums of the year. The conclusion includes Angel Olsen, SWANS, IDER, Otoboke Beaver, Girl Band, Denzel Curry, Ioanna Gika, Megan Thee Stallion, Vagabon, Show Me The Body, The Murder Capital, Devon Welsh, Black Marble, (Sandy) Alex G,…
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Devil’s advocate: The 50 best albums of 2019: 35-21
Kyle J. Kohner checks in with his own list of the best albums of the year. The second part includes Thom Yorke, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Sharon Van Etten, Lana Del Rey, A.A. Bondy, Injury Reserve, TEEN, Nilüfer Yanya, Field Medic, Kate Tempest, FONTAINES D.C., TR/ST, Boy…
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Devil’s advocate: The 50 best albums of 2019: 50-36
Kyle J. Kohner checks in with his own list of the best albums of the year. The first part includes ALCEST, Patriarchy, slowthai, Rico Nasty & Kenny Beats, Danny Brown, Tōth, Richard Dawson, Kim Gordon, Weyes Blood, Deliluh, Chasms, Better Oblivion Community Center, Chemical Brothers, Billie Eilish and Mount…
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Professor Music’s 20 futuristic albums for the 2020s
It’s almost 2020. We’re living in an era when many of science fiction’s classics are supposed to take place. As a science fiction writer and a scholar who studies the genre, I’m acutely aware that we are not yet living in the stainless steel techno-utopia we were promised. Where’s…
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In Memoriam: Daniel Johnston and 14 other artists we lost in 2019
Our team explains why the following people have moved us as music lovers: Bushwick Bill, Germs bassist Lorna Doom, Stephen Fitzpatrick and Audun Laading of English duo Her’s, Gershon Kingsley, Keith Flint of Prodigy, David Berman, Daniel Johnston, Ric Ocasek of The Cars, Roxette singer Marie Fredriksson, Roky Erickson,…
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PLAYLIST: Behind the scenes with Roman Gokhman’s year in interviews
Roman Gokhman writes about his favorite interviews of the year: Cautious Clay, Rhett Miller, Suzannah Powell, Joseph, Aurora, Joy Williams, SHAED, K.Flay, Hozier, Ivory Layne, Yoke Lore, Lumineers, Just Loud, Josh Malerman, the Dandy Warhols and JR JR. As RIFF has continued to grow, my free time has continued…
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Daniel J. Willis: The death of Dick Dale and the worst of 2019 in music
Editor Daniel J. Willis shortly after hearing “Baby Shark” again. Design: Roman Gokhman. It’s the end of 2019 so, as I did at the end of 2018, it’s time to revisit all the things that were just profoundly awful in music. I don’t mean the music is awful, mind…
