Kyle J. Kohner checks in with his own list of the best albums of the year. The conclusion includes Angel Olsen, SWANS, IDER, Otoboke Beaver, Girl Band, Denzel Curry, Ioanna Gika, Megan Thee Stallion, Vagabon, Show Me The Body, The Murder Capital, Devon Welsh, Black Marble, (Sandy) Alex G,…

Clockwise from top left: Hollow Coves, (Sandy) Alex G, Elohim, Moonchild, Sui Zhen and The Shivas. 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…

“In the night/ I feel clean/ when the darkness swallows me/ I escape/ From the blue/ Like the steam coming off the pool.” Deep-seated anxiety and loneliness have always dwelled within the lyrics of Porches’ Aaron Maine. While these lines display much of the same, they signal a revelatory…

It was a long journey, but we’ve made it to the top 10. Before you get upset that I excluded your favorite album, let me first give a shout out to this year’s honorable mentions: The War on Drugs’ A Deeper Understanding, Algiers’ The Underside of Power, Cigarettes After Sex’s self-titled record,…

RIFF wants you to get out to more shows! To help you with that, here are our picks for where to go and who to see next week. RIFF’s video concert series features artists of all genres, with a focus on the best hidden gems the local music scene has to offer. If you’re…

My favorite quality of Alex G has been how he could consistently write diverse songs with such a succinct lo-fi sound; usually through an arsenal of unique vocal melodies and cheap noisy recording equipment and synths. Rocket (Sandy) Alex G May 19 Rocket is perhaps his biggest change in sound yet. He…