Kanye West performs at the SAP Center in San Jose on Nov. 17, 2016. Photo: Paige K. Parsons Goodbye, 2017. It was great knowing you! Not really. Actually, 2017 sucked … except for the music; the music was great! Hello, 2018. It’s time to look forward to what is to come…

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…

Magik*Magik 8 p.m., Friday Swedish American Hall Tickets: $15. SAN FRANCISCO — Conductor, pianist and arranger Minna Choi is about to kick off a three-hour rehearsal. But while several of her musicians from the popular Bay Area Magik*Magik Orchestra are on-hand, they’re not rehearsing for a recording session with…

As Election Day approaches Nov. 8, an independent website will issue new and unreleased music from Death Cab for Cutie, R.E.M., Aimee Mann and more as part of a “30 Days, 30 Songs” campaign. The website’s aim is to derail Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who came off one…