Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Warning! This article has unsponsored, unfiltered tales from the Photo Pit. I’m excited to share highlights of Mosswood Meltdown, an absolute pinnacle event. I’m ever grateful for its return each year and its host, John Waters. Continue reading “Mosswood Meltdown — An Epic Punk Rock Festival”
I often hesitate before I type certain statements. Of course, what writer doesn’t, but more often than not, I find myself questioning how much truth I’m putting down. No self-respecting writer wants to publish hyperbole; it is the enemy of serious writing. With that, I think it is safe to say that heavy metal music has been experiencing a renaissance. With festivals like Sick New World, Mayhem, Metal Injection’s inaugural Summer Slaughter (upcoming), and massive world tours with sonically packed lineups like Chaos and Carnage, it’s a hell of a time to be a metal fan.
Continue reading “Show Review: Death To All 6/27 and 6/28/2024 @ The Regent (Downtown Los Angeles)”
Remember the 00’s? It was such a hopeful time. The activism community was really fired up against Bush and his so-called “war on terror.” It felt like we were making real headway as progressives, and it felt like there was a real unified front. Sadly, at the same time, the Tea Party managed to devolve into the frighteningly authoritarian MAGA movement, and, to be frank, I’m feeling a little hopeless right now. BUT! I opened my inbox to find two records that really motivated me during that era and are coming back into circulation: Bratmobile’s Ladies, Women, and Girls and Girls Get Busy. These two records mean the world to me, and without Bratmobile playing shows again (including an appearance at Pitchfork Music Festival THIS WEEKEND!)
Colored Vinyl and CDs are coming to you on October 25th (two days before my birthday!). You can preorder here, including a really cool-looking shirt with the classic logo.
And you can stream these two classic records right now for a nice hit of ambition for your day:
Continue reading “Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: Bratmobile’s Lookout Records Era”
Oakland’s King Isis keeps getting better. “Dissonance” truly is a perfect title for a track that blends both sonic dissonance and lyrical dissonance. It’s a magic piece of work, and I can only see her stock rising with time.
“Dissonance” is available in all the usual places. She’s also bringing her band to The Emerald Cup, happening August 17th-18th, kicking off the reopening of Oakland’s historic Henry J Kaiser Center.
As one of the resident heavy music fans of Spinning Platters, it is often equal parts duty and pleasure that guide me from show to show. Duty in the sense that there aren’t many other writers in our humble group that cover punk and metal, pleasure in the sense that I absolutely fucking love it. It also helps that we’ve been in somewhat of a watershed year since 2023, for heavy music, with many bands releasing some of their best music to date, as well as a slough of new bands pushing their way into the lights. Nothing quite embodies that statement like the Chaos and Carnage Tour this year, so it was my absolute pleasure to leave work a bit early to zip on over to Downtown Los Angeles to see one hell of a metal music lineup.
Continue reading “Show Review: Chaos and Carnage at The Belasco, 05-24-2024”
(You’re reading Day 3. Be sure to check out Day 1 and Day 2!)
The last day of BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 started out warm and clear. Despite arriving at the Napa Valley Expo a bit later than the two days preceding, I had a full day planned. First up was The Beaches at the JaM Cellars stage. I almost missed this set because the band name didn’t ring a bell. Fortunately, another photographer mentioned that they were an all-girl band, which caused me to take a minute to look them up. As soon as I did, I realized that this was a band I’d been hearing recently (“Blame Brett”), so I tagged along to check them out. They’re a fairly high-energy pop-rock band serving plenty of attitude, and their set was a good time. The ladies of the band were cracking me up as they first took the stage, talking about wine hangovers and being “so ready to crush some grapes later!” They were trying to function after one hour of sleep, guitarist Leandra Earl explained, due to having played Red Rocks the previous night. “Who’s ready to be hungover again tomorrow?” lead vocalist Jordan Miller asked as they began “Grow Up Tomorrow.” BRNV is pretty good at putting the right bands at the right times, and this was no exception. You can find their entire setlist here. Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 Festival Journal, Day 3”
(You’re reading Day 2. Be sure to check out Day 1!)
Saturday in Napa dawned bright and sunny for another day of festival fun! My first stop was the Verizon stage, where I caught Holly Humberstone. The girl’s voice is absolutely angelic, and while I only know a few of her songs so far, I enjoyed her performance. She was a treat to start a lovely day, and I was happy to hear both “The Walls Are Way Too Thin” and “Falling Asleep at the Wheel.” You can find the entire setlist here (Verizon; BRNV photos) Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 Festival Journal, Day 2”
Even if I weren’t eagerly awaiting this year’s BottleRock Napa Valley, as I do every year, I would have known it was coming: Napa weather has been absolutely perfect lately. Highs in the mid-70s, clouds are few and far between, and there’s often a lovely breeze if you get a little hot in direct sunlight. Seriously, it’s been wonderful. It’s perfect festival weather! Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2024 Festival Journal, Day 1”
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro
Decapitated photos by: Zoran Theodorovic of Capital Chaos TV
After just over a month on the road, co-headliners Decapitated and SepticFlesh, along with Kataklysm and Allegaeon, held their penultimate show of the Cancer Culture Over North America tour at DNA Lounge in San Francisco. The show was packed from the first band to the last, and all four felt like they could have been the headliner!
Continue reading “Show Review: Decapitated + SepticFlesh at DNA Lounge, May 18, 2024”
I’ve waited 18 years for this. CSS was a big part of my 20’s. I was heavy into the electroclash universe, and made it through plenty of drunken dance parties, sweating the booze out to “Let’s Make Love (And Listen To Death From Above.” But I never ended up seeing them. It simply never worked out, and as their visits to the States became fewer and further between, I just chalked it up to the “I can’t see everybody.”
Well, then Just Like Heaven released their 2024 lineup. I already knew Gossip was back, but I was surprised to see CSS hidden on one of the lower lines. (SACRILEGE!) Not long after this announcement a small number of tour dates appeared, and I decided it was finally time to make this one happen.
Warming up the crowd was LA’s Agender. This is one of those bands that simply hit on the nose EXACTLY everything that I usually want to hear. They pooled elements of disco, hardcore, pop-punk, and stoner metal into a joyful cacophony that flooded my brain with some much-needed serotonin. This was excellent.
CSS took the stage to the bouncing beats of the Vengaboy’s classic, “We Like To Party.” They seemed to burst onto the stage in a fit color and energy, powering through “CSS Suxxx” in all its pop-punk glory. Lead singer Lovefoxxx would fling her Rapunzel-esque hair with such intensity that I was nervous band members would get hurt. The energy was infectious, and this certainly didn’t feel like we were watching a band that hadn’t performed together regularly in almost a decade.
With no new material to pull from, the setlist itself did largely feel like a career retrospective, with Lovefoxxx telling stories about the early days of the band, and hitting songs from every portion of their career. She spoke of auditioning for CSS while wearing a Motörhead shirt, despite only knowing “Ace Of Spades” and being a tad embarrassed, only to find that the band was more Madonna than Motörhead anyway. They even covered a few songs that they used to play in their early days- an epic rendition of Madonna’s “Hollywood,” and a live mashup of Sleater-Kinney’s “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone” and Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny From The Block,” which was far more fun than you could ever imagine it being.
The joy of this set and the happiness emanating from the stage made it hard for me to believe that this tour was a one-off. They sounded as tight as ever, and everyone on stage seemed to be having the time of their lives. The audience gave right back, with a mix of newer, younger fans who never got to see the band in their heyday alongside folks who never missed a show, dancing up a storm, and giving right back to the band. The electroclash hits felt like an old friend that we lost contact with and then found each other again after years, but it felt like no time had passed. Two key moments where this happened with me were “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex” and “Alala.” I forgot how much I moved to those songs in the past, but it was just like riding a bicycle.
I genuinely hope we get to spend time with CSS again. This show was everything that makes going to shows great: the songs, the crowd, the band. It was such a joy.
