John Cale, “Mercy.” John Cale‘s musical life has divided itself between rock and roll and the avant-garde. The Velvet Underground founder and droner-in-chief’s latest album, Mercy, feels more like the minimalist compositions of La Monte Young than VU’s rollicking and raucous “Sweet Jane.” But at 80, that’s probably to…

In early European folklore, black swans were mythical creatures—until a Dutch explorer saw one in 1697. While white swans signified purity and truth, the very existence of the black swan came to represent impurity. It became equated with witchcraft and evil. While the symbolic essence of the elusive bird…

MØ. Ian Young/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO – Danish singer-songwriter MØ saved her new single, the Snakehips duet “Don’t Leave” for the end of her set at the Warfield Sunday night, but the rest of her set was also not without fireworks, as she crowd-surfed and even performed from the upper…

RIFF wants you to get out to more shows! So we’re curating a running compilation of concerts that we know our readers will be interested in checking out. Our concert calendar features artists of all genres, with a focus on the best hidden gems the music scene has to offer. If you’re looking for…

Every week, there’s a plethora of new music at our fingertips. Oftentimes, new singles are lost among the sea of radio hits and artists that are tough to sort out on Spotify go unnoticed—these are the hidden gems we’ve decided to share. This month, we’re starting a weekly feature for…