Author: Dakin Hardwick

MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN 2022 FULL LINEUP REVEALED

Hello Folks! Remember in 2020, I posted the line-up to an amazing music festival that never happened? WELLL!!!!!! It looks like it’s been reborn as Mosswood Meltdown and it’s happening July 2nd & 3rd in Mosswood Park in my own lovely city. Tickets are available here! 

Full Lineup: 

Day 1
Kim Gordon
The Dirtbombs
Shannon Shaw
Bleached
Flipper
Twompsax
Carbonas
SNõõPER
Rubinoos

Day 2
Bikini Kill
Hunx and His Punx
Pansy Division
The Linda Lindas
The Fevers
Podium
Brontez Purnell
Fatty Cakes and the Puff Pastries

DJ’s
BABY DONUT – Allison Wolf (Bratmobile)
Jonathan Toubin – NY Nightrain 
Omar Perez – Pop Scene 

Single of the Week: “Good Day” by Seratones

The most effective form of protest is experiencing joy in the face of darkness. I honestly can’t wait for a Single of the Week post to proclaim an expression of pure joy and relief… Until then we have statements like “Good Day” by Seratones. It’s a funky, soulful number really does fire up production of the brain chemical that is the band’s punsake. 

“Good Day” is out there on all the DSPs. Like something physical? Love & Algorhythms, the upcoming full-length that contains “Good Day,” is available for preorder here to be in your hands on April 29th. 

Single of the Week: “Growing Up” by The Linda Lindas

The last year or so have been a whirlwind for The Linda Lindas, the LA band of high schoolers that have been together since they were middle schoolers. They landed on our radar back in 2019, when they managed to open for one of the epic Bikini Kill reunion shows. The band has literally grown up in that time and their songwriting and playing chops keep getting better. Last year’s Racist Sexist Boy was the anthem of the Summer. The single of the week for this week, “Growing Up,” is a power-pop confection that is just the key to dancing your way through the doldrums of post-Christmas winter. 

“Growing Up,” the song, can be enjoyed at your local DSP. The Linda Lindas debut album also called Growing Up, is out April 8th. You can reserve your copy here!

Single of the Week: “Ceci n’est pas un cliché” by Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul

I love dance music. But I need my dance music to feel like it’s made by humans. This track by Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul has a tight, solid groove and an infectious bassline that all sounds and feels like it was made with human hands. They call to mind 00’s legends New Young Pony Club, The Rapture, and yes, even a little LCD Soundsystem at times. (But without all the things that make LCD Soundsystem an absolute bore. Yeah. I said it.) “Ceci N’Est Pas Un Cliche'” is a great song for when you need a great sweat. 

“Ceci N’Est Pas Un Cliche'” is out now in all the usual places. Their upcoming full length record, Topical Dancer, is coming to stores, DSP’s, and your mailbox on March 4th and can be prewhatevered here. Oh, and as regular readers of this site have gotten drilled into their skulls- get yourselves vaxxed and boosted and keep your N95 sealed to your face so you can catch them live this Spring, including a gig at our beloved Popscene on May 18th! 

Single of the Week: “Looking Backward” by Melody’s Echo Chamber

It’s been far too long since we’ve heard from Melody’s Echo Chamber. Her delightful psychedelic pop is kind of a warm, sonic hug. “Looking Backward” features her soulful soprano over layers of harp, funk bass, guitars, strings and electronic elements that manage to send you into space, the mall, and home on the couch with a hot chocolate that may have a microdose of LSD, or might just be made with whole milk. Either way, it’s a pleasant experience. 

“Looking Backward” can be enjoyed right now in all the usual places. It’s the lead single off Emotional Eternal, her full-length album coming to DSPs and your turntable on April 29th. Reserve your copy / prep your playlists here! 

SF Sketchfest Moved to 2023

I hate making these posts. But, at this point, I think I’d hate NOT making these posts more… The hypertransmissibility of the Omnicron variant has forced SF Sketchfest to move the whole shebang to next year. The good news? They’ve managed to rebook nearly every single show to January 20th – February 5th, 2023. This means that you still get to see Viva Variety!, David Alan Grier, and freaking Perfect Strangers reunion, and even see me faint at the sight of the great D’Arcy Carden doing an improvised musical! 

An updated schedule can be found here. Hold onto your tickets, because they will be good for the new date. If you can’t make it, the individual ticketing companies will be reaching out to handle refunds shortly. (Just please give them some time, as everyone is drowning right now)… Until then, why don’t you listen to my interview with 2023 SF Sketchfest performer Jean Grae while waiting in line for your booster. Also, GET YOUR BOOSTER!! GET YOURSELF SOME N95s. CAN’T FIND THEM? DOUBLE UP YOUR MASKS AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE ON TIGHT. 

Single of the Week: “Against Face” by Cy Dune

When the world lost Akron / Family’s Miles Seaton last year, we lost one of the greatest noise experimentalists of the modern era. Now, 11 months later, we are getting new music from another member of the Akron / Family, er, family- Seth Olinsky’s new project Cy Dune. The first release from Cy Dune is “Against Face,” a song that has flavors of the experimental layers of his former band, with a garage punk grit and groove that makes you want to both scream and dance. So, please, play it LOUD. LOUDER!!!

“Against Face” is the first single off Cy Dune’s upcoming full-length of the same name, out March 3rd. Preorder & presave details coming soon. Keep an eye out here for more info when it comes! 

Spinning Platters’ Top 20 Albums of 2021

By The Spinning Platters Staff

This was an intense year… It feels like we’ve lived 300 in the last 3 months, TBH. Anyways, here’s the Top 20 records of 2021 as voted by the staff at Spinning Platters. You may notice a couple of late 2020 releases here… Similar to the Grammy’s, we don’t do a typical calendar year. Instead, we do 11/20-11/19 as a year. Because, really, in those last six weeks of the year, can anyone develop an emotional connection to a record? Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Top 20 Albums of 2021”

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Season 3, Episode 3 with Jean Grae

It’s been a loooong time, hasn’t it? Fear not- I will try not to leave you, my loyal listeners, hanging for this long again. And it was worth the wait… This might be the only episode that is- ENTIRELY UNEDITED. I got to speak with noted polymath Jean Grae about, well, pretty much everything. We talked about being highly ambitious from a young age, we talked about her career in music, her jump into stand-up, writing a book, composing score, and pretty much everything else you can imagine. We even discussed the Lisa Lisa in great detail. And for those that stop listening halfway through, we do ACTUALLY solve COVID in the last five minutes, so you will definitely want to hang on for that.
 
Jean Grae is coming to SF for SF Sketchfest the final weekend of the festival. Her schedule can be found here! Grae is also still putting out music faster than most people can decide what to listen to, and her Bandcamp page is full of amazing stuff for you to listen to and purchase.

 

Show Review: Wet Leg with Fake Fruit and DJ Aaron Axelson at Rickshaw Stop, 12.15.21

It was the middle of June in the year 2021. This decade has been pretty terrible, but that single month may have been the most optimistic month of the hellscape we are living in. That’s when employers started hiring again en masse. Biden was hitting a solid stride in the White House. COVID was actually looking like it was about to turn a corner. And, for what felt like the first time years, the world was gifted a song born during the darkness that had killer hooks and lyrics that are purely silly. That song was “Chaise Longue,” and for me, it represented hope. Something that had been missing for far too long. 

In the months since that blissful song entered our lives, the world has gotten darker. Yet, more and more people were quickly embracing Wet Leg. A second single, “Wet Leg,” came as things started to really subside again, and, somehow, it helped boost my mood again. That single was accompanied by news of a short winter tour- three cities in three nights. With the pangs of Delta uncertainty knocking at the door, I still decided to buy tickets. It was a good thing I did because those three shows sold out fast and quickly turned into a dozen. And as the news grew darker and more sour, I knew Wet Leg was coming to America. I made sure to get my booster and some well-fitted N95s in order to stay safe because I wasn’t missing this show.  Continue reading “Show Review: Wet Leg with Fake Fruit and DJ Aaron Axelson at Rickshaw Stop, 12.15.21”