Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
After an inexplicable ten years without seeing They Might Be Giants, I got to the Fillmore early to get that spot right up front just like I remembered. What I wasn’t sure of was if I would still hear my favorite song and would the two John’s still rock it like crazy. Lucky for me, and hopefully everyone else at the sold out show, everything I hoped for happened, plus even more. Continue reading “Show Review: They Might Be Giants with Jonathan Coulton at The Fillmore, 11/12/11”
An age old argument in music is this: is this band better live or on record? Electronic music seems to be the ultimate fertile ground for this argument because essentially the live show is the record plus lights, isn’t it? Well, not if it’s done right.
Brandt Brauer Frick perform in two different varieties. There’s the Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble, an 11-piece combo that plays the material as written on composition paper. Then there’s the core trio, which leave the paper at home, and take chances on stage. Is this electronic music done right? Continue reading “Show Review: Brandt Brauer Frick with Psychic Friend and James & Evander at Rickshaw Stop, 11/11/2011”
Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m just getting old, but maybe it’s everyone else who might have thought 9:30pm was too late to start a show, well on a Wednesday anyway. You’d think someone who has become a critical darling in Sweden, would have had people coming in by the truckload. Upon arrival, at best the place was maybe half full? But the education system in Sweden is much better than ours, so my gut is telling me to go with two-fifths full as my official number. After all accuracy in measurement is the key to successful construction of IKEA furniture.
Continue reading “Show Review: Loney Dear, Harbors at Cafe Du Nord, 11.9.11”
starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgard, Stellen Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Brady Corbet, Udo Kier, Cameron Spurr
written and directed by: Lars von Trier
MPAA: Rated R for some graphic nudity, sexual content and language
starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, Ken Howard, Jeffrey Donovan, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Lucas, Denis O’Hare, Stephen Root, Ed Westwick, Miles Fisher
written by: Dustin Lance Black
directed by: Clint Eastwood
MPAA: Rated R for brief strong language
Yes, the great Heavy D passed away yesterday. We here at SpinningPlatters are definitely sad, but the best way to respect the memory of a fallen musician is to go see live music.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 11/10/11-11/16/11”
Welcome to a new, and possibly recurring feature on Spinning Platters, Not Necessarily New Release Tuesday. In this, I’ll recommend some new music to listen to. Some of these will be actual new releases, but not necessarily. I’ll also be including recently discovered imports, leaked albums, and rediscovered music as well. Sometimes I’ll just try to get you to listen to a forgotten record that I love. Since this is a new feature, I’ll be making it up as I go along so I absolutely want your feedback; therefore, please comment below and together we can make this the best Spinning Platters recurring feature ever. (Take that, Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts!) Continue reading “Not Necessarily New Release Tuesday, 11/8/2011”
The longevity of Weird Al Yankovic’s career will always boggle my mind. He’s been recording for over 30 years, and has consistently remained one of the most easily recognizable faces in America for most of that time. He is currently touring to support his 13th studio album, Alpocalypse, and its companion DVD, The Alpocalypse Tour, and this tour included a very, very rare Bay Area tour stop. (This is only his second time playing here since 1997!)
Continue reading “Show Review: Weird Al Yankovic at The Fox Theater — Oakland, 11/6/11”
If there is one subject that art constantly draws its attention to, it is love. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, utterly perplexing and impossible to define or simplify, and poets, painters, writers and musicians the world over have attempted its expression for a long as human history can recall. It is a funny concept, because it often takes the joyful, numbing jitters one feels in moments of tender intimacy, and pairs them up with the glorious, whooping sensation of a fiery passion to run to rooftops and scream your newfound devotion to the world below. Artists who know and have felt these moments of indescribable sense have done their best to bring forth their craft and communicate both sides of that spectrum, and everything in between, in their chosen mediums. It stands to reason, therefore, that two artists, both experts at their craft and both devotedly, passionately in love with another, will craft some of the most fantastic, loud and rambunctious work, while also taking moments of elegant poise, and charmingly stumbling between the two along the way. Such a scene was set and displayed with jubilant wonder by the couple that graced San Francisco with their presence for two separate nights: literary and screen writer Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods, Stardust and Coraline; and his wife, mindbending songmistress Amanda Palmer, the frontwoman of The Dresden Dolls.
Just about two weeks shy of one year ago today, a hotly rumored about Wild Flag embarked on their first tour. Nobody new what to expect. Yes, we knew what the pieces were, and most of the people in this band have played together before. As we know from history, without even a single note on a myspace page, they managed to sell out every venue they played along the west coast, melting faces off in each town. This time the band has done some of the more traditional things, like put out a record. (Mind you, one of the best reviewed records of 2011, the self titled Wild Flag) On this chilly November night, the good people of San Francisco were treated to their second ever dosing of Wild Flag. If you weren’t in attendance, which was a rather silly decision to make, after the jump, I will tell you what you missed.