Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Another exhausting Rocktober has finally come to an end. Of course, who better to close it out than R Kelly?
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/25/12-10/31/12”
Success looks good on Tony Lucca. Since the last time he graced a San Francisco stage, he’s been busy. First, he had a good run on NBC’s second season of “The Voice,” making it all the way to the finals with Adam Levine as his coach, and ultimately coming in third. More importantly, though, he showed the world his talent (not to mention grace, as he endured near-nonstop criticism from Christina Aguilera, who he must have somehow offended in another lifetime) and scored a record deal with Adam’s 222 Records. After watching the show all season, I’ve been eagerly awaiting my next chance to see Tony perform. When the day finally rolled around, I was thrilled to show up to Cafe du Nord to see him (last Sunday night), especially upon learning that he had a special guest touring with him: Justin Hopkins, also from last season of “The Voice.” (He was a member of Team Cee-Lo.) Best of all, the two managed to pack this little venue, playing to a spirited, sell-out crowd. Continue reading “Show Review: Tony Lucca with Justin Hopkins at Cafe du Nord, 10/21/2012”
It’s extremely unusual, in the modern live music scene, to see long-time-famous rock acts who are NOT following the popular gimmick of playing one of their classic albums from start to finish. It’s a strange phenomenon to think about, because for many of these bands, such a concept would have seemed bizarre back in their original heyday; part of the intrigue of a live show comes from wondering whether the band onstage will play your favorite song, resurrect an unusual B-side from another time, follow the rhythm of playing popular pieces only, or even take requests from the audience. The unpredictability of the set adds excitement, especially when the show itself is also highly theatrical in nature, with custom-made stages and an ensemble of backing performers who dance, leap, and move in an acrobatic fashion, rather than simply add sonic accompaniment to the musicians before them. The Los Angeles alternative rock masters known as Jane’s Addiction carry these factors into their concerts in spades, bringing a brightly-lit and ever-shifting spectacle to their performance, and with a set that spans all 25 years of the band’s work.
Continue reading “Show Review: Jane’s Addiction with thenewno2 at The Warfield, 10/18/2012”
“Oh, that’s just semen.” Matthew Lillard is trying to put me at ease about a mysterious glob on the chair I’m about to sit in. As I express my comfort with this substance and take a seat, I stare across the table and look directly into one of the most unforgettable faces of my teen years. Between Serial Mom, Hackers, and Scream alone, Lillard is arguably one of the key cult actors of that greatest of decades. Throw in SLC Punk!, She’s All That, Mad Love, and even If These Walls Could Talk, and we’re talking about a bona fide generational icon. By the time he hit paydirt with his uncanny embodiment of Shaggy in the 2002 blockbuster Scooby Doo and its 2004 sequel, Lillard seemed unstoppable. Then, after a decade of steady and successful work, Lillard entered a lengthy fallow period that tested his personal and professional resolve. But with two high-profile acting gigs over the last year and the victorious release of his long-gestating directorial debut, Fat Kid Rules the World, Lillard is back on the scene in a big way.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Matthew Lillard on “Fat Kid Rules the World””
The term “supergroup” is often used to refer to a set of musicians who are best known in association with their respective bands — musicians who haven’t necessarily operated as solitary acts in their own right, and are culled together to see what their individual untapped energies will create when synthesized. By contrast, when speaking of a pair of artists that write and perform together, each possessing their own prolific solo careers, the relationship is usually defined — accurately, but less overtly bombastically — as a “collaboration” between them. It should be preemptively stated, therefore, that the “collaboration” between David Byrne, former founder and frontman of world-famous new-wave-art-rockers Talking Heads, and Annie Clark, better known as the gorgeously cacophonous St. Vincent, possesses all of the grandeur and might that the term “supergroup” conjures the image of. Backed by a seven-piece horn section, sampling engineer, and percussionist, Byrne and Clark have birthed one of the most unusual but compelling albums of 2012, a 45-minute opus titled Love This Giant, and the Orpheum Theatre, best known as a host of many musicals and plays from all eras and countries, offered its stage to the pair for the San Francisco stop on their tour.
Continue reading “Show Review: David Byrne & St. Vincent at the Orpheum Theatre, 10/15/2012”
Happy Mid/Late Rocktober. Good luck clearing your calendar!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/18/12-10/24/12”
The late 90s and early 2000s were an interesting time for popular metal music, when an often-bemoaned genre known as “nü-metal” clawed its way into existence, its rap-infused tendrils hot on the heels of bands like Rage Against The Machine and Faith No More, with its core still deeply rooted in groove-filled pop sensibilities that made it edgily acceptable to throw onto the radio. As the scene began dying out with the advent of metalcore and the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, groups that were still passionate about performing fought desperately to stay relevant, deigning their sound by bringing new elements into it that clashed with the original tunes that made them famous. It can be argued forever, of course, which bands did this as an attempt at creativity, and which bands did it as an attempt to appeal to more fans and listeners. The Sacramento quintet known as Deftones, however, have stood the test of time through this transition, and despite the definite traces of nü-metal within their sound, their desire to experiment and push boundaries has always remained constant.
Continue reading “Show Review: Deftones with Scars On Broadway at The Warfield, 10/10/2012”
Seven Psychopaths may only be the second feature-length film from writer/director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges), but it appears that he’s already having his 8 1/2 moment. A fragmented and bizarre but explosively funny crime comedy, it is ostensibly the story of Marty (Colin Farrell), a screenwriter attempting to write his next script, titled…Seven Psychopaths. There’s just one problem: despite the title, Marty has only thought of one psychopath. But when his friend Billy (Sam Rockwell), an aspiring actor and serial dognapper, and his dognapping partner Hans (Christopher Walken), unwittingly steal Bonny, the beloved shih tzu of vicious L.A. gangster Charlie (Woody Harrelson), Marty begins to realize that he may actually be surrounded by psychopaths.
We’ve reached the mid way point in “Rocktober,” and things certainly aren’t mellow… I may be at a show all 7 of these days. You will be, too!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/11/12-10/17/12”
It is impossible to go and see an electronic music concert without being exposed to a phenomenal light shot and staggeringly complex visual performance, with dancing projections and rapidly-pulsing animations taking center stage for its entire span. As a result, electronic musicians are in a constant race to push the envelope of their live productions further than they have ever been pushed before, in an effort to bring a continuously relevant and engaging visual accompaniment to their own ever-evolving musical set. When Brazilian virtuoso Amon Tobin began work on the live version of his 2011 opus ISAM, the focus on organic sounds paired with pummeling synthesizers led to the creation of a new type of visual spectacle. Developed by production company V Squared Labs, ISAM Live takes the form of a gigantic white sculpture, comprised of several stacks of cubes at differing angles, onto which a set of sequences are projected, and mapped to compensate for the 3-dimensionality of the sculpture. The unorthodox screen comes to life in a dizzying display of pulsing lights, zigzagging lasers, ever-shifting patterns and creeping shadows; with the magic of surface-mapping, the structure appears to break apart, reform, and undulate like a living creature. After a worldwide club tour that experienced a ton of sold-out shows and highly-favorable reviews, Tobin and V Squared have reworked their performance and rebuilt the ISAM surface for an even larger and more dazzling show, which found its way to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on a chilly autumn night.