RIFF’s best albums of 2024 include Tyler, The Creator, Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Brittany Howard, Kamasi Washington, St. Vincent, The Cure, Jack White and Vampire Weekend. Our album reviews are the opinion of one writer, while this list is a survey of our entire…

Vampire Weekend performs at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on June 15, 2024. Matt Pang/STAFF. BERKELEY — As the sun dipped behind the columns of the Greek on the first of the band’s two-day stand in the East Bay, Vampire Weekend took to the stage with a finesse that…

Vampire Weekend, courtesy. A week after announcing their return, Vampire Weekend on Friday released two new singles and announced a lengthy amphitheater tour that will see the New York pop band playing the Greek in Berkeley on June 15 and 16. The 39-date tour follows previously announced festival appearances…

Lizzo performs at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2021. Adam Pardee/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — There was only one point in her show at Outside Lands on Saturday in which Lizzo was wrong. Lizzo. “I’m the worst headliner,” Lizzo said while coordinating a TikTok video with the…

Changephobia, a term Rostam coined to surmise the feeling of wrestling with our ever-changing lives, is the ambient, glossy album we need to bring us into a bright summer. With the opening of movie theaters and concert halls, artistic spaces where talent is splattered in grand displays, the album…

For many who lived through the nuclear fear of the 1980s, these past few years may have felt like the first real societal existential crisis since that era. While nuclear annihilation might not be at the top of the list of 2021 worries, pandemics, society in upheaval and crumbling…

  Kanye West performs at the SAP Center in San Jose on Nov. 17, 2016. Photo: Paige K. Parsons Goodbye, 2017. It was great knowing you! Not really. Actually, 2017 sucked … except for the music; the music was great! Hello, 2018. It’s time to look forward to what is to come…

Chris Baio, courtesy. Quirky is certainly one way to describe Chris Baio’s Man of the World, his second released under the name Baio. You’ve likely heard him previously playing bass and providing background vocals for Vampire Weekend, of which he’s a founding member. Man of the World Baio June 30 Baio…

Vampire Weekend drummer Chris Tomson, picks up the guitar as Dams of the West, his first solo project. It has yielded the thoughtful and sardonic Youngish American, an LP that speaks to the heart of any newly turned 30-something, reassessing life—but in a manner we can all relate to as…

“lus,” Illustration: Vivian Shih It’s “love and hate” week at RIFF. We’ve taken on the theme of Valentine’s Day to talk about both sides of love. Today, we asked our writers, photographers and editors about their favorite love songs. Additionally, we’ve partnered with talented artist Vivian Shih, who has illustrated…