Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Spinning Platters album reviews category. Click here to see all album reviews from the Bay Area Music Nerds.
Australia’s Jet is back with Shaka Rock, its follow up to 2006’s Shine On. Can these Aussie rockers bring the goods again, or have they moved on or changed their sound? Let’s see. Continue reading “Album Review: Jet — Shaka Rock”
Last year, Scarlett Johansson released a record called Anywhere I Lay My Head, a moody collection of Tom Waits songs arranged by David Sitek. He put together a band consisting of members of TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, and the Celebration. Reviews were very mixed, but I enjoyed the record a great deal. The record has its fans, but in the end was a bit of a flop. I don’t think anybody expected her to put something out again, especially so quickly.
Continue reading “Sing It Hasselhoff: Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson Break Up”
Once again I get the chance to review an album from a band that I have not heard before and, in this case, a new band. Golden Silvers are a band from London signed to the independent label XL. The line-up consists of vocalist and keyboardist Gwilym Gold, Ben Moorhouse on bass guitar, and Robden Alexis Nunez on drums. The band gained recognition by winning Glastonbury’s prestigious New Talent competition in 2008. Their debut album, True Romance, was released in the UK in April 2009 and has hit the US this week Continue reading “Album Review: Golden Silvers — True Romance”
Listening to the new Jay Reatard album, Watch Me Fall, has presented me with a puzzle I’ve never had to solve before. What if you like an album too much to do a proper review of it? How would you approach it? You’d do it by relying on the biggest security blanket a modern writer has. You’d make lists. So read on to see just how many lists I managed to make out of Jay Reatard’s masterpiece of an album. Continue reading “Album Review: Jay Reatard — Watch Me Fall”
The Nutty boys are back with a vengeance but can you really be as nutty almost 35 years after you started out and when you approach 50? I think I bought every Madness single for around five years but, interestingly, I don’t think I ever bought an album. Now here they are, 20+ years later with all seven original members intact, with an album that has a theme if not a full-on concept, all in celebration of London. Read on for the skinny on Madness’ The Liberty Of Norton Folgate. Continue reading “Album Review: Madness — The Liberty Of Norton Folgate”
Choir of Young Believers is led by 26-year-old Danish singer Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, who works with a rotating cast of supporting players. This Is For The White In Your Eyes is their debut album. It’s rare these days to get to listen to something new without any preconceptions, hype or other factory distorting your viewpoint. So lets see how it worked out. Continue reading “Album Review: Choir of Young Believers — This Is For The White In Your Eyes”
I’m a big Brendan Benson fan. I was a fan before The Raconteurs. Lapalco being one of my all time favorite albums but I was not overly happy with his last album, The Alternative To Love, which had its moments but was, overall, somewhat inconsistent. So how does his new one My Old, Familiar Friend stack up. Keep in mind that this review is all based on a first listen and of course songs may grow or otherwise on me given time. So what has spending his time with Jack White done for Brendan? Continue reading “Album Review: Brendan Benson — My Old, Familiar Friend”
Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Retail Release Date: August 25th, 2009
Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date: July 30th, 2009
The negative of listening to an early leaked version of an album is the possibility of subpar sound quality. I really hope that this is what’s going on with the new Arctic Monkeys album Humbug and not that this is the way they meant it to sound. Continue reading “Album Review: Arctic Monkeys — Humbug”
What do you get if you take a sampling of the Scandinavian delights of Abba and the rock-based Backyard Babies or Hellacopters ? Add in some Max Martin style production and maybe even some A-Ha and you have The Sounds new album, Crossing The Rubicon.
Continue reading “Album Review: The Sounds — Crossing The Rubicon”