Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
For our holiday episode of the Spinning Platters podcast (released after the holiday), Dakin, Gordon, and D.P. welcome Amy Miller of Sonic Living to talk about some of our favorite Christmas songs before going into an in-depth discussion of Sonic Living, which of course leads us off in a million different directions. Click the giant button on the left to subscribe, or you can download or listen below. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast Episode 12 — The gift of Sonic Living”
Our weekly column has been pre-empted for the following special announcement. New Year’s Eve is slightly more than a week away, and if you are like me, you have absolutely no idea what to do. Well, I’m just about to make it harder for you.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Guide To New Year’s Eve in the San Francisco Bay Area”
The immediate reaction to the opener on Yeasayer’s upcoming release Odd Blood, “The Children,” is that it sounds like the band decided to play a joke on downloaders by starting with a song designed to make the listener feel as uncomfortable as possible. It’s a weird cacophony of bells and creepy vocal processing, all played at a lumbering pace, seemingly built to frighten. What the heck happened to Yeasayer? Continue reading “Album Review: Yeasayer — Odd Blood”
‘Tis the season to be bombarded with more requisite year-end “Best of” and “Top Album” lists than one person could ever possibly absorb. MOG took notice and created a list culled from over eight hundred blogs that are affiliated with their network. On the other hand, Pitchfork found it necessary to add in a section titled “Honorable Mention” on top of their “Top 50 Albums” roundup. To top it all off, as the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, we have a whole new beast to contend with: The “Best of the Decade” lists. Do not get me started with how completely and totally out of touch Billboard magazine is with the current musical landscape. Nickelback is not the ‘band of the decade.’
Instead, I’d like to take this opportunity to look towards, not to mention forward, to the future. From what I’ve heard throughout the musical blogosphere of strategically leaked singles, 2010 is going to be an incredible year for releases from some of my favorite artists. This revelation alone has inspired me to share a list of my twenty most anticipated albums that will be legally available in the first few months of next year. One honorable mention goes to a band I personally don’t care for too much but most everyone else seems to go crazy over. Without further ado, here we go….
Continue reading “Looking Forward: My Twenty Most Anticipated Albums for 2010”
I emailed a friend talking about how I was about to see Brian Setzer, and she responded, “is he still around?” Well, thank goodness he is, because last week he collapsed on stage, making me wonder if the tour would go on. It got me looking him up on Wikipedia to see that he’s 50 years old, and that it was 15 years ago that he put out the first Brian Setzer Orchestra CD. He’s had a long and varied career, and he’s definitely still around. So how’s he holding up? Continue reading “Show Review: Brian Setzer Orchestra with Lavay Smith at The Warfield, 12/20/09”
I’m not that much of a Grinch when it comes to Christmas, I’m actually a bit of a nerd and enjoy it quite a bit, but even all the Christmas songs start to drive me crazy after a while. So here are my six songs I think it’s ok to like, or that won’t drive you crazy (I hope). Feel free to leave your favorite non-annoying Christmas song suggestions in the comments. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: Christmas Songs It’s Okay to Like”
“Does she still look like Janice from The Muppets?” asked a friend when I mentioned I was seeing Rickie Lee Jones at The Fillmore last night. There’s certainly a resemblance, that’s for sure. It’s been 30 years since her chart-topping debut single, “Chuck E’s In Love,” but Jones, 55, is still very much the picture of laid-back, blonde, heavy-lidded California cool. And if she feels slowed down by age, she certainly didn’t show it during her marathon two-and-a-half-hour set.
Continue reading “Show Review: Rickie Lee Jones at The Fillmore, 12/19/09”
Pouria took advantage of my being away, and saved up 50 albums over two weeks of the lowest profile albums in the entire world (with a few exceptions). That means you get FIFTY album reviews in ONE column! Who else can provide you such value? Read on! Continue reading “New Release Round Up for 12/8-12/15 — 50 Instant Album Reviews”
By a show of hands, who has started their holiday shopping…
Nobody? Good. Let’s keep it that way.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: December 16th-December 22nd”
Kevin Tong is a favorite among much of the crew here at Spinning Platters. We aggressively shopped his booth when we discovered him at Flatstock last year, and his output is consistently top notch. If you’re still looking for the perfect rock posters to buy the music nerd in your life, you can’t go wrong with Kevin Tong artwork. We asked Kevin if he would answer some questions for us, and he graciously agreed. Read on, and then go visit his site to see more.
Spinning Platters: What was the first work of art you did for money? Continue reading “Gift Guide For Music Nerds: 10 Quick Questions with Kevin Tong”