Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Do you like classic underground rock? Because this list has The Flaming Lips, Death, The Dwarves, The Sonics, Television, Mazzy Star, The Avengers, The Urinals, and Deerhoof on it. So, if you like classic underground rock, this is a great seven days worth of shows for you.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/31/13-11/6/13”
Lou Reed passed away on Sunday, October 27th. I found out over a lovely birthday breakfast with four of my closest friends. The message came as a text based alert from a popular music news site. My initial thought was “That’s a bummer, but not unexpected.” Then I started really thinking about Mr Reed. His music, and more specifically, the music of The Velvet Underground has had a huge influence in my life. I still listen to “Sister Ray” in it’s entirety at least once a month. I once had a dream where I met Lou backstage at a Nine Inch Nails concert, and he told me that he was a big fan of mine, and how excited he was to meet me. He was also shaving his own head at the time. I thought that my perfect mate would be a woman that thought that our perfect first dance at our wedding would be “Pale Blue Eyes.”
If you ask me, Macy Gray’s career was ahead of its time. Fourteen years ago, On How Life Is came out, and all I’ve known about it in the time since is 1) that while I was beyond tired of hearing radio-saturated “I Try,” it was a great song, 2) Macy has an amazing, interesting, soulful voice, and 3) that the critics loved her. When I saw that she had a show scheduled in the Bay Area, at a favorite tiny venue (Yoshi’s Oakland, last Friday night), I decided it was high time I gave her my full attention. Continue reading “Show Review: Macy Gray at Yoshi’s Oakland, 10/25/2013”
It’s getting difficult to determine which is Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s side project: the psychedelic pop band Braids, or the dreamy, synth-pop duo Blue Hawaii. Both are developing into major contributors in the burgeoning Montreal music scene and between the two bands, Preston’s output over the past three years is almost prodigious. But where she once had two disparate projects, she now has two very similar bands evolving in the same direction. That’s why it’s easier to appreciate Flourish//Perish, the newly released EP from Braids, in the context of Blue Hawaii’s 2013 release Untogether.
It was exciting to imagine what the product of a Ridley Scott-Cormac McCarthy collaboration would be like. Add in an all-star cast and the anticipation grew stronger. Unfortunately, the finished product leaves so much to be desired. The Counselor features an original screenplay by McCarthy, who’s normally credited only with writing the novels on which a few film adaptations have been based (No Country For Old Men, The Road), and the inexperience shows here. The dialogue in The Counselor lacks flow, and in a story as convoluted as this, the flaws in the script are all the more blatant.
Stephen Kellogg is a friend of a friend (or several friends, actually). Even so, I’ve never met him, and though I’ve seen him once or twice, I couldn’t have named a single of his songs… until last night. His newest album, Blunderstone Rookery, came out this summer, and when I heard he was playing Cafe du Nord on a chilly Wednesday night, I couldn’t think of anything else I needed to do. It was about time I finally laid ears on him, and a bonus, too: opening act Fort Atlantic. It wasn’t hard to find a girlfriend up for some live tunes, and soon we were settled into the dim venue with a plate of their fantastic fried pickles, ready for the night to get rolling. Continue reading “Show Review: Stephen Kellogg with Fort Atlantic at Cafe du Nord, 10/23/2013”
You are probably wondering what the above video has to do with our weekly show preview… Well, the adorable red head on the piano is playing several shows this week, including a high profile gig opening up Bridge School each day.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/24/13-10/30/13”
I learned from my mistake of yesterday and left my downtown Oakland apartment at 10:30 am. Instead of making my way to the shuttles at The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, I took the transbay bus and transferred to the 108 Muni line at the Transbay Terminal and used that to get to the island. It took my exactly one hour from leaving my place to my arrival to the Bridge stage. Which also meant that I got there early enough to walk right up to the barrier, and I got to enjoy some time with the group of hardcore Animal Collective fans that were determined to stay put all day. And a trio of hard core Deep Sea Diver fans.
Hailing from Essex, England, The Prodigy have attacked the electronic music universe for over twenty years, successfully blending punk, reggae, and dance music into sounds that have been constantly reinvented over time, all while driving their fans mad all over the world with their notoriously bone crushing live performances. This I can personally attest to, being witness to gigs at The Fillmore and The Warfield, the only moments in my concert going history where I felt concerned for my safety, losing 10 lb. of sweat in the process. At the forefront of this rebellion is longtime Prodigy MC, Maxim. He has recently branched out into the DJ scene and in anticipation of his first ever tour, which includes a local appearance at 1015 Folsom on Friday, 10/25, I caught up with him during a busy schedule for a few questions.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Maxim of The Prodigy”
There were quite a few hurdles over this year’s Treasure Island Music Festival. Not only were they up against a the BART strike, essentially crippling transportation into San Francisco, but it may have been the coldest October weekend I’ve ever experienced in San Francisco. However, those things didn’t stop the people from coming out in full force to this year’s event. In fact, it was a sell out year for the event! Proof that us San Francisco residents don’t let little logistical nuisances spoil our fun.
Continue reading “Treasure Island Festival 2013 Journal, Day 1”