It’s “love and hate” week at RIFF. We’ve taken on the theme of Valentine’s Day to talk about breakups, both sides of it. We’re finishing off with my Top 10 breakup songs, but there are some caveats: These are only since 1980. So, there’s a whole bunch of old really good soul,…

Vivian Shih It’s “love and hate” week at RIFF. We’ve taken on the theme of Valentine’s Day to talk about both sides of love. Today. we asked our writers, photographers and editors about their favorite breakup songs. Additionally, we’ve partnered with talented artist Vivian Shih, who has illustrated some of…

If you’re like me—and odds are either you are or you aspire to be—you don’t really want to be associated with Valentine’s Day. Some people spend weeks festooning everything in cutesy red hearts and some spend those weeks raging against the mere concept with songs about getting dumped. But not people…

“lus,” Illustration: Vivian Shih It’s “love and hate” week at RIFF. We’ve taken on the theme of Valentine’s Day to talk about both sides of love. Today, we asked our writers, photographers and editors about their favorite love songs. Additionally, we’ve partnered with talented artist Vivian Shih, who has illustrated…

  Illustration: Vivian Shih It’s “love and hate” week at RIFF. We’ve taken on the theme of Valentine’s Day to talk about both sides of love. We’re starting off with my favorite love songs, but there are some caveats: These are only since 1980. There’s a whole bunch of really…

President Donald Trump has been hard at work in the past two weeks shouting at world leaders and saving America from Syrian children. As his approval rating sinks, the tension in the country is heating up. We wanted to capture the mood, so we asked some of our staff…

The United States was founded on activism. As an active group of people that wants to see the environment and indigenous people protected, action must be taken to prevent the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and Keystone XL Pipeline from happening. It won’t be easy, because Donald Trump earlier this week decreed that…

Sofi Tukker As I finish this list from across the ocean in Australia, I can’t help but reminisce on what an unpredictable, and oftentimes sad year 2016 has been for music fans. Starting with the tragic passing of David Bowie in January: A fearless visionary, iconoclast and personal hero.…

L to R: Buckwheat Zydeco, Prince Buster, Phife Dawg, Jean Shepard, Don Buchla. Art: Roman Gokhman It’s safe to say that 2016 has been something of an all-around dumpster fire, especially when it comes to the sheer volume of iconic artists we’ve lost. The list of familiar and life-changing…

Let’s admit that 2016 was a rough year. But one of the bright spots was great music. Here’s our top 5 music moments of 2016. 1. Hip-hop artists dropped surprise albums The year was full of surprise, especially politically, socially and globally. Music, on the other hand, had some of the best surprises, particularly in…