Noise Pop Festival – Page 3 – Spinning Platters

Noise Pop Film Review: Ticket to Write: The Golden Age of Rock Music Journalism

Engaging new doc brings us back to rock criticism’s glory days

Last Sunday night, thanks to co-presenters Noise Pop and KQED, a crowd of music aficionados at the Swedish American Hall was treated to a viewing of writer/director Raul Sandelin’s documentary Ticket to Write: The Golden Age of Rock Music Journalism, followed by an engaging Q&A with rock critics Robert Duncan (Creem) and Joel Selvin (San Francisco Chronicle). Sandelin’s film had been making the festival rounds, but has just become available on Amazon Prime, which should please ardent rock history fans everywhere.
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Spinning Platters’ Guide to the 2017 Noise Pop Festival

Noise Pop 2017 is upon us. For eleven straight days, we will be enjoying the finest in film and music that the scene has to offer. There is literally too much to do, and there is no way you can be everywhere at once, so here is a quick guide to the best of the fest. Of course, you may disagree with my choices, and if so, there’s the full schedule to choose from.

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Spinning Platters Interview: Jordan Kurland of Treasure Island Music Festival, Noise Pop, and Zeitgeist Management

Photo by Andrew Paynter

Jordan Kurland has been influential within the Bay Area music scene for over two decades. He helped make Noise Pop a major music festival, and is one of the masterminds behind the Treasure Island Music Festival, currently heading into it’s 10th year. As one of the primary forces behind the mainstream acceptance of Indie Rock, you probably owe about half of your record collection to him. Spinning Platters had the opportunity to talk to this legend about how to book a great festival, the future of Treasure Island Music Festival, and a bit about the new ways bands are getting creative with drumming up revenue.

FYI, Treasure Island Music Festival is October 15th and 16th, and tickets are on sale NOW! Also, Noise Pop 2017 (the 25th year!) Super Fan Badges, went on sale today, and are moving fast. These include admission to 25 shows in the months leading up to next year’s festival, in addition to the entirety of Noise Pop 2017. You can buy this here!

It seems that this is the last year that TIMF is happening on Treasure Island. What is the future of TIMF? Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Jordan Kurland of Treasure Island Music Festival, Noise Pop, and Zeitgeist Management”

Noise Pop Show Review: Metric at The Masonic, 2/23/2016

It’s a little jarring when your relationship with a band isn’t reflected by the show you see them put on. I’ve had this happen before; when I saw Marina and the Diamonds the first time, I was surprised to see a woman playing an intimate set at a piano. I was confused; where was the pop dance sarcastic and snarky dance diva I’d fallen for? I learned to love this other aspect of her, however, because being a fan means being open to compromise and loving new angles on bands you like. Metric has flirted with so many genres and sounds over their long career that I didn’t know what to expect from their show. I had no doubt that they would deliver a hell of a performance, and looked forward to watching them put their raw emotion and technical versatility on display.

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Noise Pop Show Review: Carly Rae Jepsen, Cardiknox, Monika at The Warfield, 2/27/16

2015 was an interesting year for Carly Rae Jepsen. Tasked with the impossible feat of following up “Call Me Maybe” — likely to be remembered as the greatest pop song of the decade — Jepsen managed to do something that very few people in the pop world have done: release a follow-up that became one of the most critically lauded records of the year. Very few performers do well with their sophomore record, but Jepsen’s release hit #3 on The Village Voice‘s Pazz & Jop Poll, sharing space not with fellow popsters, but with folks like Kendrick Lamar and Courtney Barnett. This, plus a slot on the indie-centric Noise Pop Festival, prove that Jepsen has attained something that very few Top 40 artists have: respect from critics, along with acceptance by the very picky indie rock community. In fact, despite the presence of such long defunct acts as Drive Like Jehu, Her Space Holiday, and American Football at this year’s Noise Pop, Jepsen’s was the most anticipated set of the festival. Continue reading “Noise Pop Show Review: Carly Rae Jepsen, Cardiknox, Monika at The Warfield, 2/27/16”

Noise Pop Show Review: Kneedelus and Kamasi Washington: Two Nights of Jazz in San Francisco

San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival has been well known for packing hordes of genres and artists into their lineup, but rarely have they picked a collection of artists that are so solidly categorized as jazz musicians before anything else. True to the latter half of its name, the festival tends to want to pick acts that have those hooks and rhythms which you want to sing or dance along to with a common familiarity, or even are comfortable with hearing on the radio. There are, of course, certain acts (like seminal hardcore favorites Drive Like Jehu this year, or Yoko Ono a few years back) that defy such conventions, but you can generally bet on finding the bands to be less on the blatantly esoteric side of things. Thus, it was a bit of a risk throwing some jazz artists into the mix; however, it absolutely paid off, as all four shows (spread across two nights, two artists, and two venues) sold out, weeks in advance, and the two performers — elecronic-wizard-plus-jazz-quartet Kneedelus, and newly-Grammy’d tenor sax master Kamasi Washington — definitely did not disappoint.

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Noise Pop Film Review: Hustler’s Convention

Before the beginning, before ‘The Last Poets’, was a genius toaster whose natural conversation always had rhythm and rhyme. Jalal Mansur Nuriddin was the influence of our influences on rap. He is a storyteller with flare and purpose using intrinsic linguistic connections with a purpose beyond what is considered ‘dope’ today. The documentary is an authentic perspective of Jalal and how his work influenced our current music influences. The film itself has a poetic flow driven to inspire future artists by referencing his work and the revolution that followed.. Jalal’s last album ‘Hustler’s Convention’ was pressed and release 1973 world wide. It was a time when poets were the educators. Jalal, aka Lightn’ Rod, as most influential people, spoke on untouchable topics. Ideas and Events that were known but never to be discussed. It was the use of words as bullets and his mouth as a gun with style and purpose that generated a spark. The spark that created an artist revolution. And even to this day, Jalal remains a timeless influential lyrical inspiration.

Interview with Film Hustler’s Convention Executive Producer – Lathan Hodge: Continue reading “Noise Pop Film Review: Hustler’s Convention”

Spinning Platters Interview: Chad Heimann, Noise Pop Talent Booker

The first Noise Pop Festival was in 1993. It was one show for $5 at The Kennel Club, and it was headlined by The Fastbacks — who are amazing, if you don’t already know them. 26 years later, we have a multitude of bands crossing over dozens of genres, and a festival that spans a week! Spinning Platters recently had a chance to speak to their music booker, Chad Heimann, about this year’s fest.

The fest is about halfway over, but there still are plenty of gigs all over town that you’ll be really sad that you missed. The schedule can be found here! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Chad Heimann, Noise Pop Talent Booker”

Spinning Platters Guide to Noise Pop 2016

Korla Pandit, Godfather of Exotica Music (whom you can see on February 20th during this year's Noise Pop Festival!) — *Korla Pandit, Godfather of Exotica Music* (which you can see on February 20th during this year’s Noise Pop Festival!)

This is a really big year for Noise Pop, one of the most long-standing and widely-genred music festivals in the Bay Area. For the first time ever, the festival is running 10 days — double its usual duration. They’ve expanded the film portion of the event, featuring 22 films in addition to the usual assortment of bands covering the entire gamut of “noise pop,” including hardcore punk, bubblegum pop, hip-hop, jazz, garage, twee — everything, basically! Of course, with such a huge variety of entertainment taking over the town for nearly two weeks, you’ll need some help deciding on what to go to. That’s what we’re here for — letting you know our picks for the best things to see and hear at this year’s Noise Pop Festival! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Guide to Noise Pop 2016”

Spinning Platters Interview: Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

Thao Nguyen is a hometown hero. She’s continuously pushing the boundaries of folk music, and making the acoustic guitar an instrument you can dance to. Her 2013 record We The Common is a beautiful and thought provoking piece of work. She’s headlining the 20th St Block Party this weekend alongside Nick Waterhouse, Dominant Legs and many more. This is a totally free event, so there is no excuse not to come.

Spinning Platters had an opportunity to chat with Thao ahead of this performance. Here’s a bit of what we talked about: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down”