Dakin Hardwick – Page 44 – Spinning Platters

Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: Gimme Some Truth. The Ultimate Mixes. by John Lennon

Terminology in recorded music can get really confusing sometimes. There is the “remix,” which is generally a dramatic alteration of a song, with new elements added, and some elements removed. The “mix” is only a small element of the change. When I opened up the press release for Gimme Some Truth. The Ultimate Mixes, I was skeptical to say the least… I was expecting a full album of Diplo-fied John Lennon songs, and expected it to be pure pain. By the grace of either God or respect for one of rock’s most important songwriters ahead of his 80th birthday, this release is NOT that. Instead, it’s a compilation of many of John Lennon’s greatest tracks, only going back to the original master tapes and giving a few subtle adjustments to the actual levels of different elements. Continue reading “Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: Gimme Some Truth. The Ultimate Mixes. by John Lennon”

Single Of The Week: At It Again by Slow Pulp

Admittedly, when I saw this press release come to my inbox, I got my hopes up, thinking we had a new Pulp single. I looked at it again, and realized the name of the band is “Slow Pulp.” I was mad and refused to listen to it. Then, when trying to decide on my single of the week, I gave it a whirl. And, much to my delight, this balance of fuzzy and dreamy is right out of early 90’s / 4AD Records heaven! Coming in somewhere between Belly and Curve, “At It Again” is a fantastic song that deserves repeated plays, and will force you to forgive them for the name.

Their debut album, Moveys, is coming out October 9th, and can be preordered / presaved from a a slew of places that you can find here!

Spinning Platters Presents: “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 5 with Clare O’Kane

Clare O’Kane is one of the finest stand up comics to come out of the 2010’s SF stand up scene. She’s been featured in Viceland’s show Flop House, and is a writer on Hulu’s Shrill. She’s also one of my favorite people in the world to talk with. We had an excellent chat about her decade in stand up comedy, how she programmed her career, and how she fell into TV writing.

You can keep an eye on everything she’s doing on her website, clareokane.com, and you can also find her as @babysfirstgun on Twitter and @clareisokane on Instagram.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents: “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 5 with Clare O’Kane”

Single Of The Week: Our Deal (Live In Studio 2020) by Best Coast

This week’s Single Of The Week is a bit of a cheat. It’s a great song, but it’s also 10 years old. HOWEVER there is a compilation coming out TODAY- That’s Friday, September 4th. And it’s ONLY AVAILABLE TODAY. It’s called Good Music To Avert The Collapse Of American Democracy, and is only available at Bandcamp. It’s the brainchild of Dave Eggers (of 826 Valencia) and funds raised will be donated to Fair Fight, and organization that is fighting for free and fair elections. Which we really, really need right now.

So, please, buy the compilation. And, while you are floating around Bandcamp, remember that today is the day that Bandcamp doesn’t take any commissions from sales, so buy some records / merch from bands that can’t tour this year!

Full Track Listing is after the jump Continue reading “Single Of The Week: Our Deal (Live In Studio 2020) by Best Coast”

Spinning Platters Presents: “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 4 with Stefan Aronsen of Balanced Breakfast

Stefan Aronsen is the creator of Balanced Breakfast, which is a group of musicians and music industry professionals that get together for breakfast to discuss how to best help each other reach the widest audience. There are chapters all around the world, and they are meeting online during the pandemic. We talked about how he got his start in the music business and how to Balanced Breakfast managed to grow quickly and how to manage that. We even discussed the annual Balanced Breakfast Summit, mostly about how magical it was that they managed to get in a 2020 edition before the world closed.

Feel free to follow Stefan and Balanced Breakfast around everywhere: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents: “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 4 with Stefan Aronsen of Balanced Breakfast”

Single Of The Week: Hysterical by Sad13

Sadie Dupuis of the excellent Speedy Ortiz is getting ready to give the world her 2nd solo album. But, before that happens, there’s the usual trickle of singles. That brings us to this week’s Single Of The Week, the addictive “Hysterical.” This song is catchy as hell, and is just one of those songs that immediately latches onto you! Ironically, it’s a song about comedians complaining that political correctness is killing comedy. The accompanying video, directed by Spinning Platters fave Jamie Loftus (At least follow her on Twitter. You won’t regret it.) and Kate Banford and features Loftus, Mitra Jouhari, Demi Adejuyigbe and some murderous ghosts.

Sad13’s sophomore album, Haunted Painting, is coming out on September 25th, and physical copies can be preordered here, as well as digital copies for the excellent price of $6.66!

Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: Pylon Box by Pylon

When Corin Tucker, of Sleater-Kinney fame, first brought her solo band to SF to play a show at Great American Music Hall, I had the pleasure of speaking to her after the show. My giddy fan boy heart was aflutter, and all I could think of to ask her was “What should I be listening to?” She had one word for me: Pylon.

Pylon were an early dance punk band out of Athens, GA. The same scene that gave us REM and The B-52’s. I went to investigate, and was saddened to learn that nothing was in print by this band, so I didn’t get to have the shopping spree that I had hoped for. I did get to dance in my apartment to videos I found on YouTube, however. Continue reading “Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: Pylon Box by Pylon”

Spinning Platters Presents: How Did I Get Here? Episode 3 with Vickki Acuna of General Election LA

Vickki Acuna has been working in music for years, putting on shows before she was old enough to drive, street teaming for Part Time Punks, running the Box Office at The Echo in LA, and working as the Digital Coordinator for Goldenvoice Festivals in LA, including Coachella & Stagecoach. Now she runs General Election LA, an organization leveraging our darkened venues to help get out the vote!

Vickki is active on social media as herself, in addition to General Election LA. To follow: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents: How Did I Get Here? Episode 3 with Vickki Acuna of General Election LA”

Inside Lands Schedule IS LIVE

The “Inside Lands” schedule is up and live!!! And, as I hoped, that legendary Gorillaz set, including one of maybe five times Damon and Del played “Clint Eastwood” together, is part of the mix for a late night Friday set! They also added some Gatromagic fun for the 10pm hour, and sets by LP and Elton John have been thrown in, too! This is starting at 4pm on Friday at twitch.tv.

The full schedule can be found here.

They are even selling merch, which is kind of awesome. Especially since they are doing this for free, and are missing out on 2020.

And, don’t forget to buy tickets for 2021. I know I’m chomping at the bit to get “Outside” again, and I don’t even care how bad that pun is.

Single Of The Week: Bitch On Wheels by Body Double

“Bitch On Wheels” is the second single off Oakland-based punk band Body Double’s forthcoming album, Milk Fed. It’s a dreamy, fuzzy song with a wonderfully weird video attached. If you want to really understand what “awkward bliss” is, this is the track that will teach you about that. If that isn’t enough of a selling point, here’s what bandleader Candace Lazarou has to say about the track:

“At around 30 years old, underground musicians start admitting they like very popular bands. It’s too exhausting being niche! I wrote “Bitch On Wheels” right after I was in an all-girl Nine Inch Nails cover band called Miss Piggy, and I was finally forced to love a synthesizer. This song heavily features an Akai AX60, which I like because it only listens to my instructions half the time.”

Now I really want to see Miss Piggy play live, which will hopefully happen after the pandemic is over. In the meantime, you can preorder Milk Fed here on vinyl, or here on the streaming platforms. The record is due out September 18th!