John Dwyer – Spinning Platters

Single Of The Week: “The War Clock” by Various Artists

One the list of things you don’t know you needed- Kyp Malone of NYC art-rock legends TV On The Radio is in a psych-jazz band with John Dwyer of OSees and Dwyer-verse players Tom Dolas and Brad Caulkin. They are called Various Artists and their debut album is called Moon-Drenched. Or maybe this is just the band Bent Arcana’s second record? Either way, this track of a fierce piece of brain-melting fuckery that’s also 12 1/2 minutes of pure energy. Do you need something to help you focus on spreadsheets or cleaning the bathroom? This is it. Looking to get lost in your own head? This is also it. Just looking for guitar and sax fury? Yup! This is it. The one thing “The War Clock” doesn’t sound like to me is actual war… The song is “happy” exciting, not “scary” exciting. You may interpret it as you wish.

“The War Clock” can be played loud off Bandcamp and a full length, Moon-Drenched, is coming to this world on May 28th.

Show Review: OCS aka Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Shannon Lay at The Chapel, 12/18/17

John Dwyer & Ty Segall have been doing their holiday benefit for the SF Coalition on Homelessness for quite a few years now. They have been doing it for so many years that it’s become an established Bay Area Holiday Tradition. However, Thee Oh Sees and Ty both have played the Bay Area twice already this year, which, at first, made me question whether or not this was going to happen this year. Happily, the gigs still happened. And, instead of playing it straight, we got two very, very surprising sets by two of the most prolific acts in modern music. Continue reading “Show Review: OCS aka Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Shannon Lay at The Chapel, 12/18/17”

Album Review: Ty Segall – Manipulator

Rating: Silver

It’s been two weeks but the drug rug of “Manipulator” is still a hidden metaphor. Deeper and denser, though rarely as listenable as before, Segall deflects his past while finding solace in the past. “Tall Man Skinny Lady” is as much T. Rex as it is T. Segall: falsetto hooks and acoustic guitars harkening back to “Sleeper” but catchier. Ty has never been as lyrical as King Tuff or Mikal Cronin: “I can hear the sound/ When my love’s around/ Whistling the trees/ It sits inside the breezes” but that has never been the point with Segall. From the very beginning on “Ty Segall” all the way through the eponymous “Twins,” Segall has made his mark in the ephemeral. His songs, like a sugar rush, hit and dissipate but “Manipulator” is something more permanent. Continue reading “Album Review: Ty Segall — Manipulator“

Album Review: Damaged Bug – Hubba Bubba

Rating: Silver
Somehow, in-between putting Thee Oh Sees on hiatus, relocating to Southern California, and preparing to release another Thee Oh Sees album, John Dwyer has found time for another solo project. Hubba Bubba, his debut album as Damaged Bug, has Dwyer abandoning his fuzzy guitars for an even fuzzier synthesizer. But this foray into electronica isn’t Dwyer’s attempt at making a Depeche Mode album. Hubba Bubba sounds much more like a marijuana influenced Suicide album than an 80’s new wave rehash like so many artist are doing right now. The emphasis is placed on minimalist synth riffs behind Dwyer’s robotic vocals.

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Spinning Platters SXSW 2014 Report: 34 Instant Band Reviews

I didn’t go to SXSW last year. And I, literally, spent all of 2013 being sad about it. SXSW is like live music Disneyland. Sadly, complete with the lines and the getting frustrated about all of the people with Fast Passes cutting ahead of you. However, if you play your cards right, you can see an obscene amount of live music. In four days, I got to enjoy 34 bands. And I didn’t even try that hard this year.

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Show Review: Phono del Sol, 7/13/13

Phono del Sol is quickly becoming a festival to be reckoned with. In it’s third year, attendance seems to have more then tripled their attendance from the year prior, and I think, these year, have finally solidified itself as the tastemaking music festival of the Summer. It’s the perfect situation: a sunny day in one of San Francisco’s most underappreciated spaces: Potrero del Sol Park. It has a stage pre built directly in front of a skate park, making for a stage experience unlike any other show. This year they added an additional stage, doubling the amount of music. And, much like Treasure Island, the two stages were set up so there was no overlap, and, in fact, we got to enjoy 6 1/2 hours of continuous music.

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