Straight Outta Albion – Spinning Platters

Show Review: 2 Nights of Sleater-Kinney with Kaina at The Fox Theatre, 11/16-11/17/19

These two shows at The Fox Theater in Oakland marked what was basically the last night on the road for what may have been the most challenging tour in Sleater-Kinney’s 25 years on this Earth. Not only were they out to support the single most-divisive record in their catalog, but their long-time drummer, Janet Weiss, abruptly quit the band in the middle of rehearsals.

A lot of hardcore fans felt betrayed. People were demanding refunds because they bought tickets under the impression that they were getting the core trio of Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss and Carrie Brownstein. All of this meant that, instead of hitting the road in celebration of their career, Sleater-Kinney have to prove themselves all over again. They couldn’t rest on their reputation of being the fiercest live band around.

Continue reading “Show Review: 2 Nights of Sleater-Kinney with Kaina at The Fox Theatre, 11/16-11/17/19”

Single Review: Blur – Fool’s Day

Birthday-1 — I totally feel like this kid today

I am, and there’s no better word for it, a Blur superfan. They’ve been my favorite band since I was 17. That was 1995. You can do the math. But all old jokes aside, I was very sad that I couldn’t make the trek to London to stand in line for hours and get one of the 1,000 copies of the new Blur 7″ “Fool’s Day” released for Record Store Day in the UK. As an old-school collector who spent all my lunch money on imported Blur singles, this was a painful decision. At least no one could go because of some sort of apocalyptic devil-ash, and I take solace in that. And in the fact that the internet exits… but I’ll get to the song now. Continue reading “Single Review: Blur — Fool’s Day”

Album Review: Marina & The Diamonds – The Family Jewels

I first heard Marina and The Diamonds’ album The Family Jewels in my usual fashion: in the background while I did something else. It caught enough of my attention that four songs in I turned to YouTube, wanting to know more. What I found there horrified me. This travesty of a video made me spend the next two days telling everyone who would listen about this horrible woman they should never listen to. Now it’s three weeks later and per lastfm I have listened to these songs 186 times. So, what happened? Continue reading “Album Review: Marina & The Diamonds — The Family Jewels”

Album Review: Sunshine Underground – Nobody’s Coming To Save You

What do you get if you cross The Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian and The Killers? Apart from an excited album reviewer with a weird fascination for the letter “K”, you get Sunshine Underground. At times sounding eerily similar to The Killers (especially the vocals) but also evoking the beat driven rock of the other K-bands mentioned. The Sunshine Underground were formed 2005 and Nobody’s Coming To Save You is their second album, following 2006’s Raise The Alarm. The album was released Feb 1st 2010 in the UK. I could not find a US release date at this point. The last trivia point before I get going is that the band is named after a Chemical Brothers song. Continue reading “Album Review: Sunshine Underground — Nobody’s Coming To Save You”

Album Review: Ellie Goulding – Lights

Ellie Goulding is the hottest new artist in the UK. Championed by Florence and The Machine, she won the BBC Sound of 2010 award along with the 2010 Brits Critic Choice Award which is given to the artist expected to breakthrough in 2010. She was born in Hereford England, about 10 miles from where I was born, though admittedly it was almost 20 years later. So should we believe the hype on her debut album Lights, which is out in the UK now and will be released in the US on March 16th? Continue reading “Album Review: Ellie Goulding — Lights”

Album Review: Emmy the Great – First Love

Emmy

I’m kind of a sucker for female singers with a British accent. Ok wait, I’m kind of a sucker for British accents in general, but let’s ignore that for now. Lucky for me there seems to have been some point in the last few years when the music industry decided that the new “it” thing was female British singers. I won’t name them, but you know who I’m talking about: they are always grouped together even though their musical styles are different just because they are of the same gender and geographical area. First Love, the debut album by Emmy the Great (aka Emma-Lee Moss), might fit the quirky-folk contingent. Continue reading “Album Review: Emmy the Great — First Love”

Album Review: a-ha – Foot of The Mountain

AHA_foot_of_the_mountain

Why am I reviewing a-ha you may ask yourself. Perhaps it’s because I am the most mainstream pop fan around here but in truth it’s because they released a fantastic album, Analogue in 2005, which, even with my very short attention span for music, remains on my playlist on a regular basis. This is not really the a-ha of 80’s “Take On Me” fame, though the members are the same as when the band formed in 1982: lead vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, the music they are making has grown up significantly. I am told their lyrics are Christian based but, to be honest, I don’t pay that close attention and just hear great songs. Analogue featured some amazing balladic tunes and I was happy to hear of the Europe-only release of their new album Foot of the Mountain. Continue reading “Album Review: a-ha — Foot of The Mountain”

Album Review: Reverend And The Makers – A French Kiss In The Chaos

Reverend And The Makers - A French Kiss In The Chaos

Reverend and the Makers come from Sheffield, which gives them a huge head start in my book with that being the home of my all time favorite, Jarvis Cocker, and many others such as The Human League and Arctic Monkeys. This is a British band I had heard of but never really listened to. A French Kiss In The Chaos is the band’s second full length album following on from 2007’s The State Of Things which reached #5 in the UK charts. The album was released July 29th in the UK but currently shows no signs of a US release.
Continue reading “Album Review: Reverend And The Makers — A French Kiss In The Chaos”

Album Review: Jeremy Warmsley – How We Became

trans087x

How We Became is the album everyone forgot to notice when it came out last fall. Then again, the only people that could have noticed it live in England. America, I present to you the Jeremy Warmsley.

I stumbled upon Jeremy Warmsley on my quest to go through as many Blogotheque take-away shows as possible. There Jeremy Warmsley was hidden, gangly and unassuming in front of a church, armed only with his acoustic guitar and his warbley voice. I was smitten. And so I found my way to How We Became. Continue reading “Album Review: Jeremy Warmsley — How We Became”