Let’s Go Crazy With The Best Albums of 1999!

Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down?
Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down?

All conversations converged to one singular point at the close of 1999:  The End of the World, and because of it, every possible best list of the century.  Whether it was about greatest album, or greatest toenail clipper, a list was compiled by the fanciest per-milenium robots.  Now the singular list missing from the cornucopia of lists was: The Music of 1999.  Everyone, consumed in their chicken little theories of Y2K and end of the world were too mad to see what was really happening.  The end of music as we knew it! In reality it seemed to set the youth of America back about twenty years. (If you take a look at the top record sales for 1999, trust me, you’ll want to cry). I’m as easy going as the next guy, but the Grinch himself would have shuddered at the sound of pop music sung by teen queens, boy bands, and all the music to come out of the entire state of Florida.  They all belonged on the naughty list, and should have been banished to the island of misfit albums.

Luckily I was able to see through the doomsday smoke, and find some albums to balance out the slew of trash on radio airwaves or Total Request Live. Continue reading “Let’s Go Crazy With The Best Albums of 1999!”

New Release Round Up, 1/26/10 – 26 Instant Album Reviews

Pouria mentioning Kidz Bop in his intro is a great excuse for running this classic still from their "Since U Been Gone" video

Kidz Bop is really awful and weird and I swear it was on American Idol last night. Not that I watch that or anything. Continue reading “New Release Round Up, 1/26/10 — 26 Instant Album Reviews”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: October 28th-November 3rd

Landing at The Independent on Sunday night
Landing at The Independent on Sunday night

Dakin’s in Florida this week, so when he sent me his Bay Area concert guide for this week, it was a bunch of shows happening in the Tampa Bay Area. I know some of you would fly down to Tampa to see Styx, REO Speedwagon and Night Ranger share the stage at the state fairgrounds on Friday night, but most of you want to know what’s happening back here in the San Francisco Bay Area. So I’ve scrapped Dakin’s otherwise useful column (Attack Attack! at the State Theater in St Pete?  We’re there!) and brought you some shows to check out here at home. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: October 28th-November 3rd”

New Release Round Up 9/22/09 – 29 Instant Album Reviews

This band is not made up of Girls.  Didn't they learn their lesson from Barenaked Ladies?
This band is not made up of girls. Didn't they learn their lesson from Barenaked Ladies?

When Pouria started writing this weekly column, he said there might be weeks where he was too busy to listen to 30-or-so albums.  I said, “no problem, we can get a guest columnist on those weeks.”  So when he told me this week that he was too busy doing stuff like seeing Bon Iver to write this week’s column, I said “wait, you were serious about that?”  Since I hadn’t arranged a guest, I’m doing it myself.  Let’s just say that doing this is a lot harder than Pouria makes it look.  Now, on to the mini-reviews. Continue reading “New Release Round Up 9/22/09 — 29 Instant Album Reviews”