Author: Dakin Hardwick

10 Quick Questions With Hugh Cornwell, formerly of The Stranglers

The Stranglers were one of the most influential punk bands from the UK, and although they never had the crossover success that peers like The Clash and The Sex Pistols had, they remain one of the most important acts in the history of rock n roll. While while a version of the band is playing Glastonbury this year, they didn’t invite original vocalist Hugh Cornwell along with them. Instead, he opted to record an excellent new solo album that you can download for free from his site, where you can also purchase the record on one of three different packages, a la NIN’s The Slip. He is also playing a Yele Haiti benefit at The Red Devil Lounge on March 31st, part of a three week North American tour.

Spinning Platters had an opportunity to e-mail Mr Cornwell a few questions concerning his legacy, his thoughts on the current version of The Stranglers, and here’s what he had to say:

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Album Review: Live From Axis Mundi — Gogol Bordello

The amazing Gogol Bordello are gearing up for a very active 2010. They have a new record coming out on April 27th, called Trans-Contiental Hustle, which will probably be excellent. Around this time, they will be kicking off a world tour, which gives Europe and Northeastern America quite a bit of love, but very little affection toward the rest of the world. (As of yet, of course…) Well, I know all of that can be a long way off, and with all of the Gogol news, it’s hard to be patient for something new. That is, of course, only if you missed the late winter release Live From Axis Mundi.

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Album Review: Liars – Sisterworld

My first experience with the New York combo Liars is an interesting one. I went on a date with a girl to go see the band Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The opening acts were two New York bands, one band that was already getting a fair amount of press called The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the other was Liars. They blew my mind! They played brilliant layered noise that was chaotic and danceable. I was overjoyed to learn about this new band. My date thought that they were absolutely wretched. By the end of the night, I had a new favorite band, and she started making out with some guy that resembled Kim Thayil of Soundgarden. I think I won.

The years have been very kind to Liars, gradually improving upon their sound, while also building a fan base. I was always going to be excited about a new release by these guys, but nothing prepared me for Sisterworld.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/10/10-3/16/10

Hunting for H2O this weekend at Thee Parkside
Hunting for H2O this weekend at Thee Parkside

Hey Kids! It’s time for your early/mid-March guide to music in the bay. It’s going to be good! Lotsa bands visiting on their way to Texas, lotsa people starting tours that end at Coachella… Spring is a good time for living in Northern California!

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/3/10-3/9/10

Appearing at Bottom Of The Hill this weekend. Also opening for Vampire Weekend next month. This dude is pretty hip.

Kind of exciting… SXSW Music starts in only two weeks, which means that a whole lot of great bands are starting to tour. Expected hippest of the uber-hyped to be coming around these parts. Here’s the very beginning of it: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 3/3/10-3/9/10”

Noise Pop Show Review: The Ghost Of A Saber Toothed Tiger, If By Yes, Consortium Musicum at The Independent, 2/24/10

This show was, to some degree, the after party for the big  YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND on Tuesday night. It was just quite a bit later, but every member of the Plastic Ono Band was onstage, aside from the very famous lead singer. In fact, only one person appeared on stage tonight that didn’t appear at the previous evening’s show. It also consisted almost entirely of music that isn’t yet available in recorded form, which helped even out the familiarity playing field, but based on the turnout, it had little effect on ticket sales. It was a rare show that all in attendance came based on the reputations of the performers. Of course, when you have the son of a Beatle, leaders of two of the most innovative and influential acts ever to come out of japan, and the go-to girl for session violin of the alternative rock era, you’ve got a pretty set to work from.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/24/10-3/2/10

Four nights of four fences with the Kronos Quartet
Four Nights, Four Fences, One Quartet. Nice.

There’s more to life than Noise Pop. Not much more, so these week’s list is going to be a bit shorter than usual, but there is still plenty to do that isn’t with the masses.

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Noise Pop Show Review: Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band with Deerhoof at The Fox Oakland, 2/23/10

I have spent a lot of time defending different artists in my day. Usually this is because, well, my tastes are difficult to define, to say the least. (Case in point: two of my early reviews, which happened one right after the other were this and this) But, the one single artist that I come to the defense of more than any other is Yoko Ono. Everyone has an opinion about her, and generally speaking, this opinion is pretty negative. The primary cause of this is most likely either a.) they blame her for the break up of The Beatles (I still think that this was Linda’s fault) or b.) they blame her for the widespread acceptance of the avant garde. I personally don’t hold her responsible for either of these things. I also think people either don’t take her seriously enough, or take her far too seriously.

I must give a respectful shout-out to the good people of Noise Pop for making this show happen. They took a chance at booking such a divisive figure for their opening night show, and it paid off pretty nicely.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/17/10-2/23/10

Sharing a bill with Visqueen & 311 in Santa Cruz caused this goat to faint.
Playing at the Catalyst this Monday night.

As we warm up to the upcoming Noise Pop Festival, here’s a few shows to let you warm up your earplugs with.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/10/10-2/16/10

Friday Night At The Uptown

Since this week gives us both Valentine’s Day and President’s Day, I am going to create a theme to all our recommended shows list: Every single show listed features a performer that has had an affair with a sitting president of a country. The person that guesses which member of which band band for each show listed gets a special surprise! Please leave your guesses under the comments section. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/10/10-2/16/10”