Oliver Brink – Page 5 – Spinning Platters

Show Review: Peter Hook and the Light, El Ten Eleven at The Wiltern 5/18/18

Take The Shock Away!

It often feels like a number of artists these days are playing up the waves of nostalgia for their music. So many bands that have been laying dormant have been coming out of the woodwork with reunion tours, new albums, and renewed activity, enough so that my lovely editor had made mention in passing to me that most of the bands at festivals were made up of 50 year olds. Personally, I don’t really care. I like music, and if a band I like gets back together or does something new, I’m all for it. So when I first heard that Peter Hook had formed his own band in 2008 and started playing Joy Division songs I was pretty much all for it. I love Joy Division. I lamented that Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu’s live Joy Division cover shows were so far out of reach and further lamented missing out on Hook’s shows, but it’s looking like 2018 is just starting to turn into MY year for concerts! Continue reading “Show Review: Peter Hook and the Light, El Ten Eleven at The Wiltern 5/18/18”

Show Review: Steven Wilson at The Wiltern 05/12/18

This band plays it To The Bone

Steven Wilson (Wiltern)-5 Steven Wilson is easily one of the most prolific recording artists of the last couple of decades. At the same time he was the main creative force behind Porcupine Tree, he also managed a number of side projects like Blackfield, No-Man, and Storm Corrosion, as well as remixing numerous classics by Yes, King Crimson, XTC, and others. After Porcupine Tree was put on an indefinite hiatus—there is still yet to be any official “end” of the band—Wilson’s solo career has flourished even further, defying genre expectations of the “progressive rock” scene in favor of creating honest artistic expression. His latest work, To The Bone, continues to push forward towards the art of “pop” even further than his last release, while still maintaining a melancholic edge that has been a theme of his work for quite some time. The North American leg of the To The Bone tour is coming to an end and I caught his Los Angeles performance at the historic Wiltern in Korea Town.

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The Substance of Peter Hook

Peter Hook and the Light hit the North American stages once again!

No language, just sound, that's all we need know. — Photo by Jonathan Pirro at The Mezzanine (SF) in 2011.

Peter Hook’s saga of rock and roll history is not one to be trifled with. His indelible mark as a bass player and musical progenitor has been left in the forms of both Joy Division and New Order, two bands who influenced incredible waves over their tenures. What probably sets him apart from most musicians involved in such influential and groundbreaking groups is his unabashed and pure honesty in recollection. Anyone could just accept the moniker of “groundbreaking creator,” but how many will tell you that their entire style evolved over the fact that their equipment was shit and they just couldn’t hear themself during band practice?

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Show Review: Deerhoof, Christina Schneider’s Genius Grant, Mayya and the Revolutionary Hell Yeah at Teragram Ballroom, 09/22/17

Deeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrhooooooooooofff!

Deerhoof-30

I cannot start this without immediately stating my bias. I love Deerhoof. I’ve been in love with this strange quirky band since I was 16 years old in high school, and a friend of mine played the cleanest version that exists of “Gore in Crown,” though we knew it as “Gore in Beans.” They are a band that — for whatever reason — manages to attack their inspiration ceaselessly and never get redundant in doing so. Like Fugazi‘s later career, each album is new, fresh, and exciting, better than the album before it. This says nothing of their performances — of which the following is my fifth as an audience member — which always retain some of the highest energy of any show I’ve ever been to.

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Show Review: Dead Cross, Qui, Secret Chiefs 3 at El Rey, 8.21-22.17

“Nothing stops this tour!”

Dead Cross-20

Since supergroups seem to be the big deal right now, it’s hard to recognize any band who comes together in collaboration as anything but. However, it becomes crystal clear, when the band performs live, that “supergroup” is not as appropriate of a term. When talking about Dead Cross it is completely fair to say that this is a band, not another one-off album release. The self-titled album, recently released on Ipecac Records, is a blistering hardcore punk set that injects a new vitality into the genre.

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Festival Preview: FYF Fest

2017 seems to be the year of the music festival. With new festivals like Desert Daze and Burger Boogaloo gaining traction, the stalwarts have upped the ante on their lineups, boasting unique and eclectic selections of damn fine music. FYF Fest has come a long way from its meager Echo Park beginnings and from July 21st to 23rd it will once again take over Exposition Park in Los Angeles this year and damn if they haven’t booked one hell of a lineup.

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Album Review: Bad Cop/Bad Cop – Warriors

“We will not back down, we must refuse to stay silent!”

Probably one of the best things to happen from Donald Trump becoming the—and I shudder as I type this—President is the anticipation of all the amazing politically-charged punk rock that will invariably come back into the public consciousness. This is not to say that it wasn’t always there—it was and always will be—but humanity is a fickle species and without something to kick its ass into gear occasionally, it relegates the plaintive cries of the marginalized into the background. That’s where punk rock comes in to kick everyone in the face and scream “LISTEN UP!”

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Festival Review: Punk Rock Bowling – Day 3 (Las Vegas, NV)

“No one can take away our memory!”

Discharge Kids

If Day One was about old school and hardcore and Day Two was about politics, then Day Three was about unadulterated partying and England. Admittedly, I am not much of an “oi/streetpunk” fan. It’s not that I am opposed to it, mind you, it’s just that very few of the bands in the genre have impressed their importance onto me. So it was with some trepidation that I embarked to the site of the final day of the festival, with every intention of keeping my mind open and enjoying some hearty music from across the pond.

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Festival Review: Punk Rock Bowling – Day 2 (Las Vegas, NV)

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!”

Choking Victim-8

Despite, or maybe in spite, of the heat I woke up for day two feeling refreshed and ready to go. The usual first day kinks had been worked out and entrance into the venue was faster, although I heard some rumor about ISIS threatening to bomb Las Vegas was flying around, which may have accounted for the somewhat increased security at the venue. Punks don’t take too well to the authoritarian attitude of aggressive security guards, so you can probably imagine a lot of grumbling and arguments were to be heard from the lines. Regardless I made it inside with plenty of time to grab a water bottle and head to the stage for the opening act of the day.

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