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…

Clockwise from top left: Holy Fawn, Alex Jimenez, Blue Foundation, Mikal Cronin, Racket Man and Big Wild. SXSW just ended, and like many of my friends I tried to figure out how to sort through the myriad of artists and find the showcases we would want to hit up…

Ty Segall performs at The Fox Theater in Oakland during Noise Pop on Feb. 27, 2017. Diana Cordero/STAFF. OAKLAND — The 25th rendition of the Noise Pop Music Festival came to an end with a bang courtesy of Los Angeles rocker Ty Segall. Segall opened his set with “Break A Guitar,” which has…

San Francisco native Mikal Cronin has announced release plans for his new album, “MCIII,” and has shared a terrific, radio-friendly track that is sure to elevate his name in other parts of true country. According to the label, Merge Records, Cronin played nearly all of the instruments on the…

The Bay Area artists performing at Outside Lands 2014. Clockwise from top left: Watsky, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, Finish Ticket, Brothers Comatose, Trails & Ways, Tycho, Mikal Cronin and The Tumbleweed Wanderers. Rendering: Roman Gokhman/STAFF. Outside Lands is just one of dozens of summer music festivals that spring…

Nicki Bluhm performs at the 2014 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. I interviewed all but one of the artists with direct local connections to the Bay Area for a story on the Outside Lands Music Festival, which you can read here. The result was a magazine-length-worthy piece,…