Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
The night’s NoisePop lineup at the always intimate and enjoyable Bottom of The Hill was an inspired collection of complementary bands, each unique but playing through similar sugary grooves. We just caught the tail end of the first act, Agouti, but as first acts go, they were delivering capably. The crowd was good and warm by our arrival. Continue reading “Noise Pop Review: Anemone, Sugar Candy Mountain, Li Xi at Bottom Of The Hill, 2/27/19”
illuminati hotties and SOAR have different capitalization strategies, but collectively with Club Night, they blew the doors off the Starline Social Club.
This year marks the 26th year that the Noise Pop Festival debuted at The Kennel Club (now The Independent). Since then, it’s grown to become one of the primary tastemaking music festivals in the world! Past performers that have broken shortly after their Noise Pop debut have included The White Stripes, Death Cab for Cutie, Tash Sultana, Vince Staples, and many, many more. Spinning Platters recently got to speak to Niki Bodemann, one of the bookers of the festival to talk about what it takes to make a week of music that even frustrates the most decisive music fan.
Festival badges, single show tickets, and a full schedule can be found here!
Spinning Platters: How long have you been booking for Noise Pop?
Niki Bodemann: So, I have been a full-time talent buyer at Noise Pop for like a year and three months now. Then before that, I was an assistant talent buyer. So, I would like help with the support bookings like all the openers on our shows and stuff um, but like booking actual headliners and stuff. Uh, it’s been a little over a year, yeah. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Niki Bodemann of Noise Pop”
I’d like you to close your eyes for a moment and think of the nerdiest concert you can imagine. What do you see when you do this? Apocalyptica Plays Metallica by Four Cellos? The Fair Maidens Play Iron Maiden by Four Ukuleles? Queensryche doing Operation Mindcrime AND Operation Mindcrime 2? Well, my fellow music nerds, I am here to report that I have a concert nerdier than my wildest dreams, and it was wonderful.
Continue reading “Noise Pop Show Review: Nilbog with Chaki at Rickshaw Stop, 2/26/2018”
Let me say right here, at the outset of this double review, that I had no intention of deliberately pairing Too Much Johnson and Oddsac together for any comedic purposes. Yes, it’s very easy to “put too much Johnson into the oddsac” or snickeringly flippant to say something like “too much Johnson, the story of oddsac’s life.” Nope, not having it. You can’t pin it on me. Sure, accuse me of being wildly naive, but when I looked through the film offerings when the Noisepop 2018 schedule was released, I picked these two purely for what I thought was their cinematic possibilities. Too bad the best things about these two offerings are the many jokes that can be made from their titles.
Continue reading “Noise Pop Review:Too Much Johnson and Oddsac“
I’ll start by telling you that I have The Album Leaf’s emblem tattooed on the inside of my right wrist. Let’s just say, my love for their music runs deep, and my respect for them as musicians is significant. I’ve been able to see them perform live several times over the years, each time special and important to me – and Friday night’s show was everything I wanted. From the opening acts until the last note of “Lights” at the end of the evening, it was intimate, emotionally powerful, and beautifully passionate.
Beginning the evening was Indy Nyles, with a compact-but-complex set up on a table in front of the stage. It was an interesting dynamic to be on the same level as the performer, with no barrier to audience members seeing every cord connected, each individual button and key selected. I was impressed with his ability to capture the audience’s attention, forming a quiet energy while building and layering the arcs of his music.
Last night’s performances were raw, emotional, and beautiful. You know that feeling you get when someone chooses to open up to you, sharing a personal experience that may have hurt them deeply, but also helped shape them into who they are? All of the performers chose to open themselves up to a room full of strangers, connecting us to each other with emotive lyrics and personal stories of the human heart – both in their song lyrics, and in the backstories while introducing the next song. Continue reading “Noise Pop Review: Amy Shark, BOWER, MILCK at The Independent, 2/21/18”
Noise Pop is upon us again… Also known as that week where Bay Area music fans marathon as many shows as they can in a single week. And, well, not all of us can be in multiple places at once, so let’s try to limit our Noise Pop anxiety a bit!
Full schedule, full fest badges, and individual show tickets can be found here! Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Guide To Noise Pop 2018”
It’s hard to find a more jarring juxtaposition of talents and roles than those that Oakland-born hip-hop star Daveed Diggs has possessed as of late. After half a decade building a steady underground following as the MC of noise trio clipping., he became a household name after taking on the role of Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the original production (and first Broadway run) of the massive hit musical Hamilton. Finishing his theatrical run in mid-2016, Diggs hurtled right back into his work with the experimental outfit, knocking out two releases in the latter half of the year and continuing a heavy schedule of touring. The group’s Noise Pop gig at Oakland’s young-but-blossoming Starline Social Club was one of the first in the festival to sell out, and even with three openers on the bill and a long, rainy night to greet them at the end of it, rabid fans of the three-piece packed the walls of the bright ballroom and celebrated the return of their heroes, in the hometown of the man at their helm.