R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe realizing he never wrote a song specifically about rolled ankles. But Julien Baker did! Ow. I am, to say the least, breakable. Occasionally my joints just kinda decide not to be joints anymore. For example last weekend while foolishly attempting some light yard work I rolled…

Phoebe Bridgers performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Nov. 27, 2018. Photo: Chloe Catajan. The end has finally arrived—the end of 2018 that is. That means it’s year-end list time. With great albums comes great songs, and in a year that brought us plenty of great singles,…

Boygenius performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Nov. 27, 2018. Photos: Chloe Catajan. OAKLAND — It may have been Julien Baker at the top of the marquee Tuesday at the Fox, but the Memphis singer-songwriter shared equal stage time with her two openers, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.…

Kyle Kohner’s five-part series ranking the 50 best albums of 2017 continues with numbers 40 to 31. Missed the first entry? Start at the beginning. 40. Ariel Pink – Dedicated to Baby Jameson Dedicated to Bobby Jameson signals a return to Ariel Pink’s roots with a lo-fi approach, thus making this project feel less manufactured…

Photo: Jay Demetillo Welcome, once again, to my annual countdown of my most entertaining music experiences of the year. I attended 54 concerts this year, up from 51 last year and 41 the year before. In compiling this list, I’m not trying to scientifically list the best or most technically proficient…

Photos: Kyle Kohner LOS ANGELES — Nearly two months since releasing her stunning sophomore project, Turn Out the Lights, singer-songwriter Julien Baker graced the masses at the iconic Palace Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles on Thursday night. Per usual, Baker gifted her audience with an intensely emotional affair, as she mixed in…

Like most, my first experience of Memphis singer-songwriter Julien Baker happened through the opening lines of her groundbreaking debut single, “Sprained Ankle:” “I wish I could write songs about anything other than death.” These words met me at a most vulnerable point and ensued to gradually devastate every fiber…

Photo: Alessio Neri Every week, there’s a plethora of new music at our fingertips. Artists on platforms such as Spotify and Bandcamp are plentiful, and the radio offers a steady deluge of new singles, but who has time to sort through all that? RIFF does! We pooled our resources to find some…

Joywave: Photos: Shane Johnson BOISE – It’s never easy opening a show, but Joywave seemed at ease as it settled into an all-too-quick set warming up the crowd for headliners Cold War Kids at the Knitting Factory in Boise on Aug. 10. Cold War Kids, Joywave 7 p.m., Monday Ace of Spades, Sacramento…

Photos: Alessio Neri SAN FRANCISCO — The last time Julien Baker played Noise Pop, in 2016, she fell in with the ranks of rising artists. Thursday, she returned as a bonafide success by selling out the Great American Music Hall, and keeping an entire room on pins and needles…