Björk performs at Chase Center in San Francisco on Feb. 5, 2022. Courtesy Santiago Felipe. SAN FRANCISCO — You can look at utopia as an ideal to strive toward, or you can caution about what will happen if people don’t strive for an ideal. Perhaps Utopia, the 2017 album…

Elujay, courtesy. Prolific 25-year-old Oakland native Elujay is a rising star. Last year, the singer and musician (now based in L.A.) coproduced and scored all the music for the TOMBOGO fashion show with founder Tommy Bogo, in addition to walking in the show as a model. His song “Swing Thru,” from…

The best albums of 2021 include Wale, Torres, Eric Church, serpentwithfeet, Mdou Moctar, Valerie June, Danny Elfman, Bobby Gillespie and Jehnny Beth, Japanese Breakfast and Mastodon. Best of 202 Whew, we’ve almost made it halfway through our list of the best albums of 2021. This year may have felt…

Clockwise from top left: San Fermin’s Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Ceremony, Hundredth, MONO/POLY, Jacques Greene and Cadence Weapon, and Jake Clemons. With so much music coming out at once, it’s easy to stick to what you know and avoid the intimidating ocean of tunes. Daunted music lovers can count on RIFF to…

Serpentwithfeet performs at Treasure Island Music Festival at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2018. Photo: Chloe Catajan. Stop right there, cheaters! If you are just joining me for my countdown of the 50 best albums of 2018, go back to parts one and two to catch up and…

Sharon Van Etten performs at Treasure Island Music Festival at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2018. Photo: Chloe Catajan. Kyle Kohner’s top 100 songs countdown gets one step closer to revealing his favorite song of 2018, with numbers 50 through 26. Catch up with part one and…

Janelle Monae So, you made it to part three! I think these 10 albums might be the most eclectic installment of this series, paring technical death metal with sci-fi neo-soul. It just goes to show how good 2018 has been for music in general, regardless of what type of…

Tame Impala performs at Treasure Island Music Festival at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2018. Photos: Chloe Catajan OAKLAND — Everything was a haze. Tame Impala closed out 2018’s Treasure Island Music Festival in what felt like a dream state. A hypnotic swirl on the “The…

Under the stage name Serpentwithfeet, Josiah Wise breaks through the surface of his immense potential. With captivating vibrato and range, Wise wields an uncanny ability to immerse his listeners beneath waves of lyrics reflecting deeply pensive love. While his 2016 EP gained recognition by the likes of Bjork, the project…

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…