Rachel Goodman’s favorite alt-rock and alt-pop songs of the year for 2019 include The Dandy Warhols, The Knocks, Nilüfer Yanya, Strand of Oaks, Sharon Van Etten, Better Oblivion Community Center, Kirin J. Callinan, Mikal Cronin, The New Pornographers, Jenny Lewis and Cigarettes After Sex. Rounding up my favorite songs…

DIIV performs at The Fillmore in San Francisco on Dec. 8, 2019. Photos: Joaquin Cabello. SAN FRANCISCO — Indie rockers DIIV bathed the Fillmore in warm baritone layers of sound on Sunday, playing songs from their new album, Deceiver. The Brooklyn shoegaze quartet explored punchy and mysterious guitar rock and…

Conflict is the basis of every absorbing tale. For music, that tension and resolve conveys a sense of drama. On the other hand, uniform, cheerful and comfortable music often fails to convince with a fictitious, inauthentic narrative. When musicians break the constraints of inertia and commit to personal or…

Photos: Paige K. Parsons Photographer Paige K. Parsons is one of the most recognizable faces at concert venues throughout the Bay Area. Other photographers frequently remark about her skill of capturing the best possible shot while staying out of everyone else’s line of sight. And RIFF is lucky to…

Sufjan Stevens. Photos: Paige K. Parsons. Photographer Paige K. Parsons is one of the most recognizable faces at concert venues throughout the Bay Area. Other photographers frequently remark about her skill of capturing the best possible shot while staying out of everyone else’s line of sight. And RIFF is…

Portrait photos: Che Holts Cole Smith is not a fan of the popular perception of guitar rock. He and his bandmantes in New York rock band DIIV stray as far as possible from blues-heavy chugging guitar chord that lean on the contributions of others during the past five or six…

DIIV. Courtesy photo. Zachary Cole Smith, the enigmatic frontman and artistic leader of New York rock band DIIV, wishes he could take it all back. At the time of the release of his band’s sophomore album, Is the Is Are, in February, Smith felt obligated to describe the album’s…

Click to view the full map The 72 music performers at the 9th annual Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival next month represent at least 10 countries and 16 of the United States. Despite the absence of Asian and South American artists, as well as the classical penguin stylings…