Row 1: Charli XCX, Camila Cabello, The Weeknd, Khalid, Weezer. Row 2: Janet Jackson, Vince Staples, SPOON, GZA, Sky Ferreira, Row 3: Meg Myers, Rina Sawayama, Eddie Vedder, Black Country, New Road, and My Bloody Valentine. Row 4: Elvis Costello, BROCKHAMPTON, Alt-J, Avril Lavigne, Lykke Li. Not pictured: The…

The best albums of 2021 include Bleachers, My Morning Jacket, Ryley Walker, ZHU, Diana Ross, Made Kuti and Femi Kuti, Allison Russell, Chris Pierce, Hand Habits, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney, Weezer, Amy Shark and Heartless Bastards. Welcome back to RIFF’s year-end album roundup! If you’re joining us…

United Flight 93 memorial in Union City, Calif. Courtesy Union City. It was easily the most surreal day of my life. Journalists love anniversaries, so you’ve already heard more than enough about the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. It got boosted by the proximity of the recent U.S.…

“The Metallica Blacklist.” In honor of the 30th anniversary of their self-titled album, mostly referred to as the Black Album, Metallica is doing two things. The band is re-releasing the album with a lot of concert recordings and alternate versions. It’s not their first time doing so; in 2008…

Green Day performs during the Hella Mega Tour at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Aug. 27, 2021. Steve Carlson/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — It wasn’t the first post-pandemic concert here but the Hella Mega Tour at Oracle Park on Friday—with Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Weezer and the Interrupters—was…

Is there anything that Weezer cannot do? Mere months after releasing OK Human, its 14th studio album, the veteran band is back with Van Weezer, its metal-inspired pandemic-delayed album that’s more than a year in the making. Now, this isn’t a metal album, per se, but it pulls from the…

Weezer, “OK Human.” Think of the most on-brand thing that Weezer could do. Was your answer to surprise-drop a Beach-Boys-inspired album in the middle of a pandemic while everyone was still waiting a previously announced metal-inspired LP? If not, don’t feel bad. Even lifelong fans of the band couldn’t have…

The Avalanches have been together almost a quarter century and We Will Always Love You is only the Australian duo’s third album. The pair works at its own pace, obviously, and the result of this slow evolution is a star-studded album of mellow beats and deft knob twiddling. We…

Weezer many have pushed back the release of its new album, Van Weezer, but the band isn’t shying away from releasing new music. But while many artists are turning to streaming live performances and late-night TV, Weezer is doing so through “The Simpsons” on Sunday evening, where the band…

AJR Before breaking out with their single “Weak,” brothers Adam, Jack and Ryan Met of AJR had their fair share of bad days. With many failed label meetings and empty bars under their belts, the band now looks back on those days as wonderful fuel for the future. BottleRock…