Red Hot Chili Peppers perform at BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 28 2023. Nate McKinley/STAFF. NAPA —The final day of a music festival often starts with relaxed vibes. Attendees at BottleRock on Sunday laid out blankets and took advantage of the mild weather. Many…

Lil Nas X. Let’s go over this again: The reason this column is called RIFF Rewind is because back in 2018 I listed my top five (or so) songs of every year from 1967 to 2018. I don’t know how I actually finished the project, but I did it.…

Our list of the 20 best hip-hop albums of 2021 includes (L to R): Row 1: Lil Nas X, Polo G, Tyler, the Creator, J. Cole, Nas. Row 2: Little Simz, Meek Mill, Isaiah Rashad, Czarface & MF DOOM, Backxwash. Row 3: Vince Staples, Wale, Your Old Droog, BROCKHAMPTON,…

The best albums of 2021 include Adele, Chvrches, Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine, Halsey, Lil Nas X, J. Cole, Orla Gartland, Black Country, New Road, Aesop Rock and Blockhead, and Black Veil Brides. Down to the top 20. Whew! Now’s a good time for you to let us…

Lil Nas X performs during WiLD 94.9’s Jingle Ball at The Masonic in San Francisco on Dec. 8, 2019. The debut album by Lil Nas X, Montero, has been a long time coming.  The Atlanta rapper has transformed before audiences from the meme zeitgeist of “Old Town Road” to a…

Insert Foot and Lil Nas X vs. the real Satan The pandemic must be over, the economy is obviously soaring, and everything is A-OK, situation normal, we’re all fine here … how are you? I’m great. Because Satan is back. I waxed nostalgic a while back over America again…

L to R. Row 1: Finneas, Carly Rae Jepsen, BANNERS, August Burns Red, Lil Nas X. Row 2: Lights, Black Pumas, Chloe Flower, Ben Caplan, Liam Payne. Row 3: Dallas Smith, ROZEI, Dashboard Confessional, Dee Snider with Lzzy Hale, Josie Dunne. No one could have expected that 2020’s Holiday…

Make up your own Coachella by blasting your favorite artists while wearing very little clothing, and cranking the heat and turning up the humid. Day 2 of Coachella was supposed to be happening right now. Yes, it’s rescheduled for October, which is better than a full-blown cancelation. But what…

Gary Clark Jr. performs at BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 25, 2019. Shawn Robbins/Staff. For those who haven’t been reading this column for its entire two-year run, the reason it’s called “RIFF Rewind” is because for its first year I listed the top five…

Editor Daniel J. Willis shortly after hearing “Baby Shark” again. Design: Roman Gokhman. It’s the end of 2019 so, as I did at the end of 2018, it’s time to revisit all the things that were just profoundly awful in music. I don’t mean the music is awful, mind…