RIFF’s best albums of 2023 include the Rolling Stones, Blink-182, Cleo Sol, Miley Cyrus, Allison Russell, Victoria Monét, Kali Uchis, Fall Out Boy, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Manchester Orchestra, Janelle Monáe, JPEGMafia with Danny Brown, Blondshell, Doja Cat, Andre 3000, Mick Jenkins, Sir Chloe, Ryuchi Sakamoto, James…

Janelle Monáe, “The Age of Pleasure.” The video for Janelle Monáe single “Lipstick Lover,” begins with a shot of her lying on the ground poolside while her lover, clad in golden chainmail necklace, leans down to gingerly kiss her. Monáe barely has time to slip the camera a sly…

Rapper Flesh-n-Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony performs during the 93.5 KDAY Krush Groove 2017 concert at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. on April 22, 2017. Getty Images. Good news! It’s finally Halloween. Yes, I’m at Outside Lands this year, which means I can’t do much in the way of Halloween…

Mars rover Perseverance, courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech. I’m losing my mind over here and it’s gonna be at least a month or two until I’m vaccinated. So it’s important to take time to focus on the positive: Mars. Humanity landed another robot on Mars. This one is an atomic-powered, car-sized Mars…

I joke about running out of column ideas a lot in the intros to these things. And in the tagline to every column for over a year. And to my RIFF colleagues on Slack. And to my friends and relatives. And sometimes to the dog. It’s become somewhat of…

It’s almost 2020. We’re living in an era when many of science fiction’s classics are supposed to take place. As a science fiction writer and a scholar who studies the genre, I’m acutely aware that we are not yet living in the stainless steel techno-utopia we were promised. Where’s…

Janelle Monáe performs at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Aug. 12, 2018. Photo: Shawn Robbins. If you read part one of my list of the top 50 albums of the year, you may already be disappointed by some of my choices, especially with Robyn’s comeback album making a “premature” appearance…

Blood Orange Kyle Kohner’s top 100 list countdown continues with numbers 75 through 51. Catch up with part one first and then dive in. 75. “This Is America” – Childish Gambino Inciting reactionary essays and theorized debates, Childish Gambino creates a piece of music that transcends a contagious chorus.…

David Byrne performs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Aug. 22, 2018. Photos: Paige K. Parsons. I don’t usually rank my top 10 shows, but this year’s best show was so far above the rest, I decided to make it clear who was at the top:…

Janelle Monae So, you made it to part three! I think these 10 albums might be the most eclectic installment of this series, paring technical death metal with sci-fi neo-soul. It just goes to show how good 2018 has been for music in general, regardless of what type of…