Show Review: Two Days with Florence & The Machine

louder than sirens, louder than bells
louder than sirens, louder than bells (photo by Anna Garcia)

In the past two years, a number of new artists have suddenly sprung out of the woodwork of obscurity and made headlines and huge sales numbers with their debut records. The staying power of these acts is often questionable; the general musical mood of the public at large shifts so quickly, so often, that it is even more difficult than ever to ensure that one is not lost in the tide. In the wake of diminishing record sales, a band must tour to really gain their followers, and must, at every single show, captivate and amaze their audience, leaving no doubt of their staying power within their minds.

For someone like Florence Welch, this is absolutely no contest. She has a voice that can move mountains.

Continue reading “Show Review: Two Days with Florence & The Machine”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 11/4/2010-11/10/2010

Great Scotts! Delorean are playing Great American Music Hall on Wednesday!

I’d like to thank Jason LeRoy for taking over the list for the last couple of weeks. I hope that you listened to him, because if you didn’t, we’re just going to have to turn this website around and go back home…

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 11/4/2010-11/10/2010”

Spinning Platters Presents the Official List of the Top 15 Albums of 2009

She's clearly got the best album cover on our list, but where did her album end up?
She's clearly got the best album cover on our list, but where did her album end up?

by The Spinning Platters Staff

The past month at the Spinning Platters offices (everyone telecommutes) was spent passing albums around to try to determine a staff list of the Top 15 Albums of 2009. We chose 15 because we had 15 voters, so maybe everyone would get one of their pet favorites on the list. There was a nomination step, a finalist selection step, a final voting step, some senior staff picks,  and then we had a list. No list is perfect (and we recognize that albums are still coming out this year), but ours is not only pretty darned good, it also manages to represent the wide variety of  musical tastes among our team here (i.e. some of us hate some of these albums). Now, read and enjoy The Official List of the Top 15 of 2009. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents the Official List of the Top 15 Albums of 2009”

Spinning Platters Podcast Episode 11 – Everybody Votes

We take this ballot thing very seriously
We take this ballot thing very seriously

In episode 11 of the Spinning Platters Podcast, our regular hosts are joined by six additional Spinning Platters staffers to talk about our favorite albums of 2009. Also, D.P. talks about his day at the SF Music Tech Summit, and we head gloriously off course, as usual. The recording session took more than two hours, so we’ve broken the podcast up into two parts. Come back soon for part 11.5, but until then, enjoy the show! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast Episode 11 — Everybody Votes”

New Release Round Up, 10/20/09 – 42 Instant Album Reviews

Undisputed winner of the holiday value for money championships
Undisputed winner of the holiday value for money championships

“Fill in for Pouria” they said, “yes” said I.  Little did I know what I was in for. Of course being someone who appreciates Hannah Montana but not the super-cool indie bands this could be a little different.

I’ll start by saying I wish I could have done this last week when the Editors In This Light and On This Evening was released.  I loved their last album and eagerly awaited this one, I planned to write a full review but in the end could only muster one word (or perhaps many versions of one word) – unlistenable (which may, in fact, not even be a word).  So there you go, I managed that review.  Now onto this week: Continue reading “New Release Round Up, 10/20/09 – 42 Instant Album Reviews”