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.
Having released four records in six years, including Music for Listening to Music to earlier this year, La Sera have been here before. Queens is a bonus in that sense, delivering five tracks, including a Led Zeppelin cover. Continue reading “Album Review: La Sera, Queens EP”
It’s finally here, and it does not disappoint. When I heard last year that k.d. lang, Neko Case, and Laura Viers were releasing an album together, I naturally shrieked at my computer screen in excitement. Lang and Case are largely responsible for me (more or less) surviving my twenties intact. Their songs provided a compass by which I could navigate being sensitive and assertive, hopeful yet bitter. As with all collaborative projects between women, so much has been written about the harmonies, which are, yes, wonderful; but in my opinion, these have been over-extolled compared with the lyrical and textural content of the album.
In 2015, Briana Marela took off for Iceland to record her third album All Around Us. While the inspiration of Reykjavik and the music of Bjork are evident, the album is a beautiful contemplation on emotional honesty. Its messages are clear and concise, while the arrangements are emotionally soulful and filled to the brim with a translucent beauty, beckoning us to come and see rather than turn a blind eye.
Over the last 4 years, Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan has been a busy, busy bee. Aside from constant touring with his main band, and the incredible release of their 2013 work One of Us is the Killer, he somehow found time to form the supergroup Killer Be Killed with Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Nailbomb, Soulfly), Troy Sanders (Mastodon), and Ben Koller (Converge, Mars Volta), and release THEIR self-titled album to pretty strong critical reception. All the while, however, he was writing and piecing together material for something completely different, absolutely outside of the metal genre. I’m talking, of course, about The Black Queen, whose debut album Fever Daydream was released on January 29th of this year.
Continue reading “Album Review: The Black Queen, Fever Daydream“
There’s something about the 70s that has gripped so many facets of artistic expression across the board. Be it the New Hollywood filmmakers adding a gritty realism to a stagnant studio sound stage system, or the embellishment of fusing musical genres, the 70s were an exciting decade to be an artist. Lately, many musicians have been revisiting the great albums of the 70s for inspiration. Some of the results have been outstanding, some abysmal, and quite a few have landed in the middle. Gardens & Villa’s new release, Music for Dogs, falls somewhere in the middle. This is not to say that the album doesn’t have something; to the contrary, I have the distinct feeling that whatever their follow-up may be will knock Music for Dogs out of the water.
Continue reading “Album Review: Gardens & Villa: Music for Dogs“
2015 marks the 7th consecutive time that the collective staff of Spinning Platters have come together, selected our favorite records of the year, and then spent the following month listening to every possible contender on the list and picking the best of the best. With such an eclectic mix of music — from creative genres birthed into existence, to old artists returning to the fray, and, of course, new works by those still deftly holding fast in the tumult — it definitely made for an interesting set of choices. This year, we had a whopping 54 albums to choose from, and narrowed that list down to our ten favorites over the course of five weeks. Here are the records that made it to the final round.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents: The Top 10 Albums of 2015”
When I ponder my favorite singer-songwriters, I think about musicians that are authentic, honest, and speak from the inside out. Catchy hooks don’t hurt, either. Local musician Briget Boyle (www.brigetboyle.com) exemplifies these characteristics in her debut solo album, The Parts Interior. After many years spent performing in an assortment of music groups within multiple musical genres, Briget has now broken out as an individual songwriter and the result is an album both emotionally resonant and beautifully harmonious! I spoke with Briget about The Parts Interior and her journey to this point…
You’ve been on a long musical journey involving various groups and projects. What made now the right time for your solo debut?
Well, I had carved out a lot of space for myself creatively. Brass Menažeri is no longer together and I left Kitka a few years ago, and that space has given me the time to start writing again and really dig into myself as a songwriter. There was something holding me back for a long time. I wasn’t writing for a while. It’s hard to say exactly what it was, but I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself over the last couple of years and through that work, both emotionally and spiritually, I realized that I needed to let my songwriter shine. I had a lot of support from my partner, Harlow, and my community. I was able to raise money to do this and it all just fell into place really nicely.
Don’t call it a comeback. It’s just worth acknowledging that years have passed since the forecast for upcoming releases has been this bright. Here’s hoping it doesn’t amount to an audio equivalent of the anticipation and subsequent let down one might experience on New Year’s Eve. Giorgio Moroder (who really made Daft Punk’s latest album a worthwhile listen), The Juliana Hatfield Three, and Sleater-Kinney are just a few of the sorely-missed acts making triumphant, long-awaited returns in 2015.
This list may have grown by twenty additional albums compared to last year, but that doesn’t mean every last major release was included. Sorry to inform you, in advance, that you won’t find the likes of Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson, Fall Out Boy, Fergie Ferg, or Canada’s *pride*/current Calvin Klein cover boy, Justin Bieber listed. Even Mumford & Sons will not be mentioned beyond this sentence. That’s just Spinning Platters allowing me and my subjective musical tastes to run amok. However, there is something here for every musical taste imaginable and as I mentioned at the conclusion, if there was something we must all know about that was overlooked, let it be known in the comments.
Read on, discover some new gems, and get an overview of what to expect this coming year. I’ve even included links to lead-off tracks where they’re available and, of course, my own witless banter when absolutely necessary. Happy New Year of listening.
2014 was a good year for music — you just had to lose yourself in something unsafe. – Staff Writer Jonathan Pirro.
A lot of people seemed mighty nonplussed by 2014’s recorded music output. Sure, there was a lot of somewhat generic, unimpressive stuff. However, if you did some real hunting, you’ll find that there was some incredibly impressive stuff out there. Here are Spinning Platter’s Staff’s individual lists of favorite records of 2014, starting with my own list:
Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Best Of 2014: Individual Staff Lists”
Picking a list of our Top 10 albums has become quite the task here at Spinning Platters. Every year, we share a gigantic playlist with each other, made up of albums nominated by our entire staff. For 4-6 weeks, it’s the only thing I listen to. Sometimes we find a new favorite album, and other times we find ones we actively root against. But in the end, the votes are tallied up, and we get our Official List. We’ll start this one off with number 10. Continue reading “The Official List of the Best Albums of 2014”