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 of the best…

The latest Duran Duran album, 2015’s Paper Gods, was all over the place. But it’s predecessor, 2010’s All You Need Is Now, rightfully resurrected the career of the ’80s new romantics powerhouse by bringing back everything the band did right earlier in their careers and adding up-to-date production techniques.…

Jess Williamson. Courtesy. “See You In A Dream” walks the line between balladeer country and ’50s Motown. Musically, the nearly five-minute mid-tempo tune bu Jess Williamson casually saunters along. Lyrically, Williamson desperately begs for an apology and longs for something or someone missing from her. “I cared about your stories/ I was…

Van William. Surprise! Van Pierszalowski has a solo side project. We at RIFF love WATERS and his previous band, Port O’Brien. We’re also huge fans of First Aid Kit’s golden harmonies. And with “Revolution,” Pierszalowski gives as the perfect blend of indie rock and Americana. The friendly-sounding song, which debuted at…

New York’s Public Access T.V. have been cranking out several guitar-driven songs in recent months, which have raised our hopes for a resurgence in angular rock music. The band is nearing the release of their debut album, Never Enough, later this month. Judging by the songs, and in particular…

Here’s your chance to get in on the ground floor. As of this moment, Elki has fewer than 100 followers on Twitter. I have been listening to “Thunder” daily since it premiered a couple of weeks ago. It’s only the second track she has released. I can’t easily determine…

Photo: Roman Gokhman Sacramento-born, San Francisco-grown musician and graphic artist Tycho (Scott Hansen) is preparing his next album, and today released the first song off the forthcoming work. “Division” swaps out his sunrise/sunset color scheme for something bordering more on the abstract, but the song retains his thinker’s mood…

Bastille, courtesy. U.K. band Bastille dropped the first song off their upcoming sophomore album, Wide World, yesterday “Good Grief” is a musical trek back tot he ’80s for Dan Smith, with skittering beats and handclaps. But the synth lines and grandiose vocal delivery that dozens of other acts have tried to…

Our neighbor to the north, the country that brought us Carly Rae Jepsen, has produced another potential pop talent in Ruth B. Ruth Berhe — not to be confused with Katy B or Cardi B, recently released her video for single “Lost Boy,” a surprisingly mature track given the subject matter. This…

Charli XCX performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on July 23, 2015. Charli XCX not only acts in the “Angry Birds” movie, she sings on the soundtrack, which was released earlier today and also features Blake Shelton, Demi Lavato and even actor Peter Dinklage—he of the the “Game…