Warpaint performs at the UC Theatre in Berkeley on Aug. 22, 2022. Sean Liming/STAFF. BERKELEY — “Swamp water” is a term of endearment for the syrupy concoction that results from filling a cup with equal parts of each available selection from a soda machine. Also regionally known as a…

The morning after Donald Trump was elected president, I cried in my car like many others with a knowledge of history and a functioning ability to empathize, listening to The Flaming Lips “Waiting for Superman.” I was sad and, looking back, probably a little naive, wondering how the political…

Jennylee & TT perform at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Feb. 25, 2020. Joaquin Cabello/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — “We have some special things in store this evening,” Warpaint‘s Jenny Lee Lindberg said as she and her bandmate Theresa Wayman took the stage at Bottom of the…

Washed Out performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Aug. 16, 2017. The project of Ernest Greene will perform a DJ set several days before Noise Pop 2020 kicks off next week. RIFF STAFF. San Francisco’s yearly Noise Pop Music Festival always seems to feature a billionty bands.…

Phoenix photographed at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on June 10, 2017. Photo: Alessio Neri RIFF doubled in readership in 2017, and as editor-in-chief, so did my workload. As one of five people running our humble little publication on a day-to-day basis, while planning as far out as…

Depeche Mode performs at the Oracle Arena on Oct. 10, 2017. Jon Bauer/STAFF. OAKLAND — Dave Gahan paraded his moves all over the stage of Oracle Arena on Tuesday night as if it was his personal dance floor, perhaps because it was. Depeche Mode played the second of two Bay Area…

Indie rock band Warpaint may be from Los Angeles, but singer-guitarists Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman call Eugene, Oregon home. I asked to speak to them specifically, because I share their hometown. We’re about the same age, were there at the same time and went to competing high schools.…

While there was disappointment about A Tribe Called Quest’s postponement turning into a total (and mysterious) cancellation, Metallica’s spectacle of a performance more than made up for it. A band that’s been touring off and on for more than 35 years doesn’t really have bad shows anymore, but even by…

Photos courtesy: Andrew Jorgensen/Outside Lands Ten years in, the Outside Lands Music Festival has become one of the most iconic music gatherings in the U.S. Which other festival offers a top-notch lineup alongside giant lit-up cypress trees in a magical fairy forest in the middle of a bustling metropolis?…