Phoenix performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on Sept. 8, 2018. Photo: Paige K. Parsons. July 14 is Bastille Day; basically, the French version of the 4th of July in the United States. But that comparison doesn’t really do it justice. With all due respect to the Founding…

Beck performs at Kia Forum in Los Angeles on Aug. 7, 2023. Chas Alm/STAFF. LOS ANGELES — Beck and Phoenix brought their co-headlining Summer Odyssey tour to the Kia Forum on Monday, dazzling the crowd. Beck has been part of the music landscape for so long that it’s easy…

Charlie Hall, “Invisible Ink.” Charlie Hall has spent most of his music career making other people sound good. Hall is a multi-instrumentalist, but he’s best-known as the drummer for Grammy-winning band The War On Drugs. He has a reputation among other musicians as a generous support player. Now, Hall…

Rachel Goodman’s top alt-rock and alt-pop songs of 2022. L to R; Row 1: Fontaines D.C., Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, Julia Jacklin, GIFT, The Linda Lindas. Row 2: Automatic, The Eaves, The National Parks, Ron Gallo, Love’n’Joy, Blitz Vega. Row 3: Bellows, Heart Racer, Oliver Marson, CVC, The Steens,…

The best albums of 2022 include Orville Peck, Bruce Springsteen, … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Ozzy Osbourne, Phoenix, Eddie Vedder, Aurora, Death Cab for Cutie, Skillet and Halestorm. We’re now well into our countdown of our list of the best albums of 2022.…

Phoenix, “Alpha Zulu.” To record Alpha Zulu, Frenchmen Phoenix moved into Musée des Arts Decoratifs, inside the Louvre in Paris. The band was allowed special access to the space and put the album together surrounded by some of the most famous art and artifacts in the world. Being immersed in the creative…

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:…

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…

Phoenix photographed at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on June 10, 2017. Alessio Neri/STAFF. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In the corner of the trailer, a smallish TV hung from the ceiling is playing a documentary on Burt Bacharach. Right below, on a love seat, Christian Mazzalai and Deck…

Photos: Alessio Neri MOUNTAIN VIEW — Thomas Mars and Phoenix brought their traveling Italian disco show to radio station Live 105’s BFD festival at the Shoreline Amphitheatre Saturday. The Parisians, the final of 25 acts to perform at the annual radio station start of summer show, played three songs off…