Spinning Platters – Page 300 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

Show Review: Murder By Death with Ha Ha Tonka and Linfinity at Slim’s, 4/08/2010

MBDmaintop_ — Murder By Death, killing it.

I was excited for the opportunity to see Murder By Death again. The last time I had seen them was at 12 Galaxies on July 12, 2004. An eternity ago, as that venue doesn’t even exist anymore. Murder by Death was at the beginning of their career and their 2002 debut album Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing has forever been a favorite of mine since I first heard it back then. Actually, that’s all I’ve really known of them, and I was fine with it because I loved it so much. So in gearing up to see this show, I gave their new album Good Morning, Magpie a listen. Boy was I surprised that they barely sounded like the same band! I had to get my hands on everything in between to catch up to how they’ve been developing over the years, as they’ve been working hard putting out albums every two years. Continue reading “Show Review: Murder By Death with Ha Ha Tonka and Linfinity at Slim’s, 4/08/2010”

Defending Zooey: A Review of She & Him Volume Two

Truth time. This review is two weeks late and way beyond the relevant date for any She & Him fan. So I’m not going to write it for a fan, I’m going to write it for all you people who say Zooey Deschanel can’t sing or that She & Him is boring dreck. Because I think you’re wrong and if you are actually willing to have an open mind about it, you might change your mind.

When I first started listening to Volume Two and pondering the angle for my review I did my usual pre-writing ritual: hours of procrastinating on the internet. I ended up in one of my favourite places: ONTD (Oh No They Didn’t on livejournal.com for those not in the know). I was surprised by the amount of hate being spewed in She & Him’s direction, and started to wonder why. So I’ll take the negative comments posted to this entry, and do my best to prove them wrong. Continue reading “Defending Zooey: A Review of She & Him Volume Two”

Album Review: Goldfrapp – Headfirst

If Olivia Newton-John was one possible destination in Goldfrapp’s continuing journey that began on the steps of the majestic Felt Mountain, then it seems like she’s inching closer and closer to that point. I might be panicking. I might be overreacting. Still in love with that first album, her subsequent records up to date, although dancier and poppier, still satisfied me in some way. But her newest release, Headfirst, has me thinking a hot tub time machine might have been involved in the recording process somehow. Continue reading “Album Review: Goldfrapp — Headfirst”

Album Review: Jakob Dylan – Women + Country

In 2007, a strange and unexpected musical collaboration was released. It was the brain child of legendary producer T-Bone Burnett who decided that a full album collaboration between Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and modern day bluegrass icon Alison Krauss would be a brilliant idea. The album, Raising Sand, came out, and it was a moody collection of covers and originals that was both a critical and commercial success. It was a rare album that nearly everyone enjoyed, and was also the first album released on a independent label to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Fast forward three years, and a rather suspicious record gets released. Jakob Dylan, son of Bob and vocalist of 90’s buzz bin two-hit wonder act The Wallflowers, releases a record called Women + Country, featuring production by T-Bone Burnett and vocals by Alt.Country Super Heroine Neko Case. It all feels, I don’t know, impure? I was curious about this record, but also a bit skeptical. So, when I got an offer to review the record for this site, I decided to take it upon myself.

Continue reading “Album Review: Jakob Dylan — Women + Country”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/7/10-4/13/10

yuri-gagarin — Hello, my name is Yuri, and I will be throwing a big party in Mountain View on Saturday. I know it's kind of a long drive for some of you, and it might be hard to take public transit there, but I think you should just suck it up and come. I don't care if it takes you 6 buses and 5 hours, and you have to sleep on a bench somewhere. You should come to my party!

In case you were keeping track, we are about to kick off our first week of Fauxchella. So, starting Sunday I want you to enjoy the finest music festival that doesn’t actually exist, and we will have some warm up shows listed below, in addition to a few Fauxchella recommendations.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/7/10-4/13/10”

Show Review: Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller at Zellerbach Hall, 4/5/10

Patty Griffin performing in Seattle on April 1. Photo by Kirk Stauffer.

Heaven and Hell. Sin and redemption. The pointlessness of our earthly pursuits. Clinging desperately to faith in something good, despite the soul-crushing emptiness of life in a broken world. These were some of the themes of last night’s concert. And by Patty Griffin standards, it was a fairly lighthearted evening.

Continue reading “Show Review: Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller at Zellerbach Hall, 4/5/10”

Show Review: Owl City with Lights and Paper Route at The Fillmore, 4/5/2010

In July of 2009, I saw Owl City’s San Francisco debut in a tiny club at 330 Ritch, the home of Popscene, the city’s center stage for brand new acts. Adam Young, the main brain behind Owl City, and Matthew Decker, who added live drums to the wall of synthesizer sound, performed seven songs for a crowd of less than 200 people. Now, see the speed at which fame moves you: less than nine months after that show, Adam and Matthew — along with a new plethora of performers — have returned to San Francisco for two — two! — sold-out performances. I think I should also point out the fact that both shows were completely sold out MONTHS ago — not an hour or to before the show, as was the case for their Popscene debut. Needless to say, I was bewildered — but excited — when I found myself returning to the Fillmore for the first of these two concerts. Continue reading “Show Review: Owl City with Lights and Paper Route at The Fillmore, 4/5/2010”

Show Review: Flosstradamus at The Independent, 4/3/10

Flosstradamus on their decks — When will they put the Spinning Platters laptop sticker on there?

Flosstradamus isn’t really one of those groups that you’d want to go “see.” Flosstradamus is really a group that you go to simply dance to. Think of The Independent as your living room and these hundred or so random folks as some of your closest friends. Now turn down the lights, and turn up the Flosstradamus. Continue reading “Show Review: Flosstradamus at The Independent, 4/3/10”

Album Review: Brian Posehn – Fart & Wiener Jokes

You know the 5 stages of accepting death right? Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance… in the case of accepting your nerd-dom, you go through the same steps, but the best nerds go all the way back around to anger again, and there they will stay. Brian Posehn is an angry nerd, and fortunately a funny one, so he won’t completely alienate himself from his loving fans such as myself. His most recent comedy album, Fart & Wiener Jokes, has a little bit of old and a little bit of new, but enough raunchy material to keep the kiddies in the other room. Continue reading “Album Review: Brian Posehn — Fart & Wiener Jokes”

New Release Round Up 3/30/10 – 39 Instant Album Reviews

Star Wars — Paul and Storm have a new album, and are the only ones in this column who've been interviewed by us.

Instant album reviews is my favorite weekly column on the web, I use it as a way to filter out the LaLa.com list of stuff to decide what to listen to. With Pouria off in foreign lands, they needed a suitable fill in but since they couldn’t find one, you get me. I’ve been honing my pithy comments and I’m ready to go. Continue reading “New Release Round Up 3/30/10 — 39 Instant Album Reviews”