Stacks of compact discs sit on spindles. Courtesy: Joe McNally/Getty Images. Lady Gaga did it. So did Alicia Keys, then Sam Smith, Rufus Wainwright, The Dixie Chicks and Alanis Morrissette. The 1975 did it twice; from February to March, and then to late May (as of now). All of…

Clockwise from top left: Flor, KAYE, Dreamer Boy, Savage Ga$p, SimxSantana and High Waisted. Every week, there’s a plethora of new music at our fingertips. Artists on platforms like Spotify and Bandcamp are plentiful, and the radio offers a steady deluge of new singles, but who has time to…

MisterWives, Courtesy: Shervin Lainez. The Denver studio where MisterWives spent the morning working didn’t appreciate bassist William Hehir trying to light up indoors, which is why he’s found himself outside, joining the band’s vocalist and primary songwriter, Mandy Lee, in a phone interview Wednesday. MisterWives Foreign Air 8 p.m.,…

Chvrches perform at Sonoma Harvest Music Festival in Glen Ellen, Calif. on Sept. 21, 2019. Photos: Martin Lacey. GLEN ELLEN, Calif. — Alternative rock was the order of the day Saturday at B.R. Cohn Winery on the second weekend of the expanded Sonoma Harvest Festival. The second weekend had…

Phoenix photographed at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on June 10, 2017. Photo: Alessio Neri RIFF doubled in readership in 2017, and as editor-in-chief, so did my workload. As one of five people running our humble little publication on a day-to-day basis, while planning as far out as…

The last few months have been busy ones for New York pop band MisterWives. After completing their sophomore album, Connect the Dots, the band hit the road for the longest tour of their short careers, more than two straight months opening for Panic! At The Disco. MisterWives, Smallpools, Vinyl Theatre…

Sophomore albums are a tricky thing. A band often runs the risk of either sounding too similar or veering too far from its original sound. On Connect the Dots, MisterWives manage to masterfully push their sound, while staying true to their core. MisterWives, Smallpools, Vinyl Theater 7 p.m., Oct.…

St. Lucia Looking back on my interviews over the past 12 months, the first thing that surprised me was just how busy I stayed: nearly 50 interviews of 10 minutes or longer, about a dozen more than 2015, which had seemed much busier. Interviewing artists is just one part…

Welcome to my annual countdown of the most entertaining music experiences of the year. I attended 51 concerts this year, up from 41 the year before. Like always, this list is an account of how much I enjoyed the concerts I attended. I’m not attempting to list the “best”…

Photos: Jon Ching Fans of New York pop sextet MisterWives were given a treat at BottleRock Napa Valley when the band busted out one of five new songs written for the record that will follow up debut album Our Own House. “The Machine” is bouncy, energetic and sharp-tongued like…