Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
As we all know, tackling a festival like Noise Pop can be tough… There’s a lot if different things to do, and you know that they are all awesome, but how do we know which events are most awesomest of all? Well, since I am of great personal taste, you should simply obey my guidelines, and then you can do no wrong.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Guide To Noise Pop 2011”
Someone was tweeting something about cover songs, and I immediately went to work on twittering away the rules of cover songs. I got to rule #3, remembered that I’m the editor of a music blog, and went to work writing the other rules down. And now, I present to you, everything you need to know about cover songs. Is there anything I left out? Let me know below. But first, we’ll start with rule #1: Continue reading “The 7 Rules of the Best and Worst Cover Songs”
by The Spinning Platters Staff
Unlike last year, we spent more than a month at the Spinning Platters offices (our homes) passing albums around to try to determine a staff list of the Top abums of 2010. We were going for “Top 10 and ties,” and that ended up at exactly 10. There was a nomination step, a finalist selection step, a final voting step, and then we had a list. No list is perfect, but ours is not only pretty darned good, it also manages to represent the wide variety of musical tastes among our team here (i.e. some of us hate some of these albums). Now, read and enjoy our Top 10 for 2010. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents the Official List of the Top 10 Albums of 2010”
Okay, I promise you I’ll never consider pursuing a career as a copywriter with the headline above but I just can’t help myself; some of the premiere products and services in the music tech space are giving back to the community in a generous way this Holiday season and I’ve decided to round up some of the key promotions happening in cyberspace at the moment. ‘Tis better to give than receive, of course, but winning is still a whole lot of fun when prizes of this caliber are up for grabs.
Keep reading to find out how to win an unlimited subscription on Rdio for one year, a trip to the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, and a $100 gift card from Threadless.
Continue reading “‘Tis the Season to be Winning: The Ultimate Holiday Giveaway Guide”
In less than a week, the seventh installment of the biggest and best day-long music technology conference to ever grace the Bay Area will take place on Monday, December 6th at Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco’s Japantown district. If you’re an artist, music journalist, or involved in any facet of the industry, then you certainly don’t want to miss out on the sessions or, quite frankly, the abundance of opportunities to network and learn from some of the leaders and innovators in this space. After the jump, find out more about the event and how you can save money simply by being a reader of Spinning Platters…
Continue reading “SF MusicTech Summit 7: Why Attend and How to Save on Admission”
I sent out an email to everyone from Spinning Platters that went to the Treasure Island Music Festival on Sunday. I asked them to send me back something about their favorite act from the day. From some people, I got nothing, but from nearly everyone who responded, I got the same news. Belle & Sebastian was their favorite act. So you’re about to read mainly a Belle & Sebastian love-fest, and look at a whole lot of pictures of Monotonix. And other than the rainy, windy, cold conditions and some energetic sets from Surfer Blood, Superchunk and Rogue Wave, that’s my biggest takeaway, too. Continue reading “Staff Picks from Treasure Island Music Festival — Sunday 10/17/2010”
Sure, one could write hundreds of words about each band on the bill at the Treasure Island Music Festival, but then the entire comment section would be filled with a lot of “tl;dr” comments, which aren’t much fun. And I could write a “best-of” post, which basically translates to “I took a nap during Jamaica’s set.” Instead, in the tradition of our fan-favorite Instant Album Reviews columns, I instantly review Saturday Treasure Island Music Festival, with the help of some great photos from David Price. Continue reading “Day 1 of Treasure Island Music Festival 2010 — Instant Band Reviews”
(This post is about a year old, but I’ve made some updates for 2010)
This weekend’s Treasure Island Music Festival has quickly become my favorite musical event of the year. There are no conflicting set times, so you can see everyone on the bill. The size of the festival is fairly small, so it’s easy to get around. The setting in the middle of San Francisco Bay is absolutely stunning. And something about all of these combine to keep the people going in a relaxed, pleasant mood that makes being there all the more enjoyable.
Now, you might think going to this festival is as easy as hopping in your car and going to the festival to enjoy some music, but you’d be wrong. Read on, and I’ll teach you how to avoid rookie mistakes. Continue reading “The Insiders’ Guide to the Treasure Island Music Festival (Updated for 2010)”
It seems like every other week, a new music service is launched with the intention of being the ultimate, one-stop “music discovery tool.” Truth be told, any savvy music aficionado will own up to the fact that they use at least two or more tools to find, stream, and download new and classic music alike.
Since there’s always the promise of “the next big thing” looming, whether it’s the rather failed impact Ping (the social extension of iTunes 10) had on consumers or Google’s forthcoming music service that’s reportedly making a grand debut on Christmas day, I decided to spend some time with Shuffler.fm, which I discovered through a feature on Mashable, to see if it’s something I’d actually use on a consistent basis. The answer, quite surprisingly, is “yes” and “daily.”
Continue reading “Channel Surf the Blogosphere for the latest tracks with Shuffler.fm”
This past Thursday, I attended the fourth installment of Flux Summit – a free, single-evening event that unites up-and-coming electronic and hip hop artists with professionals for an open discussion on the evolving dynamics of the industry. Hosted at Pyramind Studios, the session featured three panelists doling out expert advice on how you can get your music licensed in television shows, video games, and film.