Twin Peaks stage at Golden Gate Park at Outside Lands 2017 on August 11, 2017. Photo: Alessio Neri. Now in its 11th year, the Outside Lands Music Festival is safely in the conversation for the best music festival in the U.S., right alongside Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bonnaroo as a destination…

CYN, courtesy. The last two years could have seemed like a blur to Cynthia Nabozny, who went from writing songs in a notebook to performing in front of pop star Katy Perry in her home, but for the Michigander, time seemed to drag as the itch to release her…

Photos: Karen Goldman OAKLAND — Fresh off dropping his sophomore album, Blue Madonna, breakthrough pop singer-songwriter BØRNS kicked off a tour at the Fox Theater Wednesday. The Michigander, whose real name is Garrett Borns, started off his set in high gear with “God Save Our Young Blood,” the first single from…

Courtesy Kaique Rocha Happy New Year from the RIFF Team! We decided to do something a little different for our weekly Tuesday Tracks new music column. Below, we present to you 10 tracks to help settle in to the first day of 2018. Some of these are traditional, while some…

Photos: Alessio Neri SAN FRANCISCO —  Garrett Clark Borns, better known as Børns, performed to a sold-out Popscene crowd at Rickshaw Stop, his second appearance inside the tiny club. The difference now is that Børns sells out considerably larger venues. His 60-minute set was long enough to entertain and interact with the crowd. Fans asked questions,…

Garrett Borns of BØRNS, Courtesy. When he was 10 and growing up alongside the dunes of the east Lake Michigan coastline, in Grand Haven, Michigan, Garrett Borns already had his sights on the arts and the life of a showman. But music hadn’t yet become his primary obsession. That…

Charli XCX performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on July 23, 2015. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. Perhaps the point Charlotte Aitchison was trying to make at the Fox Theater in Oakland Thursday evening was one of irony–-combining grrl power anthems with faux pole dancing and flashing of the lower half…