BLUR, “The Ballad of Darren.” Damon Albarn recently described The Ballad of Darren as “an aftershock record.” The long gaps between albums certainly make new Blur music feel like a seismic event. After all, it’s been eight years since 2015’s The Magic Whip, and 20 years since its predecessor,…

Gorillaz perform at Chase Center in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2022. Onome Uyovbievbo/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — Wednesday evening’s concert by Gorillaz was full of surprises and the enthusiastic crowd at Chase Center was there for it. During the show, frontman Damon Albarn debuted a new song called “Skinny Ape.”…

Songhoy Blues, Courtesy. At one point a decade ago, the members of Malian rock band Songhoy Blues weren’t allowed to play shows. The ban had nothing to do with pandemic shelter-in-place orders and everything with an Islamist group that had taken over northern parts of the country and imposed sharia law,…

Attendees at Outside Lands on August 11, 2017. With the first day of the 10th Outside Lands in the books, I thought it might be a good idea to look back on the five best things I saw today. But since I’m a generally cranky person you also get the five…

Photos: Alessio Neri A last-minute postponement by legendary hip-hop crew A Tribe Called Quest didn’t spoil the mood for tens of thousands Gorillaz fans Friday, the first day of the Outside Lands Music Festival. And Gorillaz, the electronic, animated project of Blur’s Damon Albarn did not disappoint with a…

The Bots perform at the 2014 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco. Two-member brother garage punk band The Bots dressed for a slumber party – a very loud slumber party – for their Sunday opening set at Outside Lands. Drummer Anaiah Lei (17) wore an oversize…