Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
starring: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Jacki Weaver, Chris Parnell, Rhys Ifans, Brian Posehn, Mindy Kaling, Mimi Kennedy, David Paymer, Dakota Johnson
written by: Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller
directed by: Nicholas Stoller
MPAA: Rated R for sexual content, and language throughout
One of the great traditions of the San Francisco International Film Festival has been pairing up an indie rock band with a classic silent film. In past years these have always been classier films, such as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea or A Page Of Madness. It seemed to be a risky move to do something as populist as the slapstick comedy of Buster Keaton. Of course, in a genius move, they called upon Merrill Garbus, the mastermind behind Oakland’s experimental pop outfit tUnE-yArDs to compose and perform an all new score for four classic Buster Keaton short films. Garbus called up local avant garde guitarist Ava Mendoza to help compose the score, which they also performed live, alongside Nate Brenner on bass, and a horns section made up of Noah Bernstein and Matt Nelson.
starring: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally
screenplay by: Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare
directed by: James McTeigue
MPAA: Rated R for bloody violence and grisly images
We’ve got another full week of shows, and this one is chock full of some truly interesting and experimental music. Open your mind and your ears and go out this week!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/26/12-5/2/12”
If you asked someone what their favorite record by a female singer in 2011 was, odds are you would have gotten a reply that fit one of two options: 21 by Adele, or Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine. Both topped charts, and the former swept the Grammys, taking home the coveted Album Of The Year award, among others. Sadly, out of the spotlight (and off the radar for many a casual music fan) were a pair of records that rounded out Spinning Platters’ 2nd and 3rd place winners for our Album Picks of 2011, both by extraordinary women who have been captivating audiences all over the country, perhaps even the world, with their otherworldly but gorgeously eclectic brand of experimental indie rock. To pair the two together is a feat in and of itself, as the two have very different backgrounds — both in their own respective songwriting and in their own performing history — but it was, no doubt, an effective combination, as evidenced by the near sold-out crowd that arrived at Oakland’s Fox Theater on Tuesday night. The pair had skipped briefly across the country, even between two weekends at Coachella, and now were coming to the end of their trip: the Oklahoma-born, Manhattan-based Annie Clark, better known by her stage name St. Vincent, and Oakland’s own Merrill Garbus, more well known under the zanily-punctuated pseudonym of tUnE-yArDs.
April’s live musical options in the bay area are huge. Due to the sheer numbers of acts coming to town, mostly due to bands coming through because of Coachella. It means that you can be in twenty places at once in any given night this month. On the evening that I opted to see GIVERS, I decided based on putting five different gigs in a hat, and picking one at random. This brought me to Slim’s on a spring Sunday evening, and it very well could have been my best decision.
Continue reading “Show Review: GIVERS with White Arrows at Slim’s, 4/15/12”
starring: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner, Riley Thomas Stewart, Jay R. Ferguson
screenplay by: Will Fetters
directed by: Scott Hicks
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and violence
At the end of the day, what truly compels someone to come to a concert is their love of the music that their favorite band plays — and the sheer energy with which they present it to their fans. Take away the light shows, the falling props, the dancing backdrops, and the larger-than-life haircuts, and what brings people to a concert, what REALLY sells out a club and packs its patrons in tighter than sardines in a tin can, is the overwhelming desire to watch an artist deliver their heart and soul onstage, in the form of bellowing voices, howling guitars, and an onstage presence that drains the viewer just by beholding it. Irrespective of genre, of geographical location, and even of time period, it is truly the mindbendingly ecstatic bands that pulls in all comers — even well-known and loved artists of other musical worlds. Thus, it was little surprise that members of bands such as Rise Against, Metallica, Faith No More, AFI, As I Lay Dying, Death Angel, and Sevendust were on hand to experience one of the most incredible performances of 2012, when newly-reunited Swedish hardcore juggernauts Refused took the stage at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and delivered a set that was paralyzing and stunning in its intensity.
Continue reading “Show Review: Refused with The Hives and The Bronx at The Warfield, 4/18/2012”
2012 has already begun as the Year of the Dance Music Show, with electronic acts dominating some of the most popular venues worldwide and music festivals across the country. The Ultra Music Festival brought in 60,000 attendees per day this year; I Love This City, coming Memorial Day Weekend, plans to overflow AT&T Park with fans and over 40 huge acts of the dance music world. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the hot ticket to catch is on the club circuit: any highly-successful electronic act that packs their titanic stage show into an under-5000-people theater to shake the walls with earth-shattering bass and wild dancing. Though you’d normally be hard-pressed to find anything that isn’t pulsing house or swaying dubstep to pack a venue with concertgoers aplenty, the Fox Theater played their cards right in welcoming French dancemasters Justice to Oakland between their Coachella weekend visits, and the duo delivered brilliantly with precision, style, and a dizzying array of lights and sound.
Continue reading “Show Review: Justice with The Rapture at The Fox Oakland, 4/17/2012”
This year’s edition of the San Francisco International Film Festival will transpire in theaters around the city from April 19 to May 3. Last year’s SFIFF marked the Bay Area premieres of such critically acclaimed hits as Beginners, Another Earth, and The Future. This year’s reliably diverse lineup looks just as promising, featuring new work from actors like Shirley MacLaine, Jack Black, Diane Kruger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Greta Gerwig, John Krasinski, Freida Pinto, Emily Blunt, Val Kilmer, Lili Taylor, James Franco, Susan Sarandon, and Common, filmmakers like Richard Linklater, Michael Winterbottom, Lynn Shelton, Andrea Arnold, Lena Dunham, and little-known local winemaker Francis Ford Coppola, and documentaries on subjects ranging from Diana Vreeland and Marina Abramovic to ACT UP and the epidemic of sexual violence against women in the military. The festival will also feature several events, notably tributes to Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis (both of whom will attend), a Midnight Mass tribute to the late Ken Russell featuring a Peaches Christ-hosted screening of Tommy, and perhaps most awesomely, a program of Buster Keaton short films with live musical accompaniment by Merrill Garbus and her tUnE-yArDs crew.
After the jump, we break down the 20 films we’re most excited to see this year into three categories: World Cinema, New Directors, and Documentaries. All film descriptions are courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society.
Continue reading “The Spinning Platters Guide to the San Francisco International Film Festival 2012”