The Nutty boys are back with a vengeance but can you really be as nutty almost 35 years after you started out and when you approach 50? I think I bought every Madness single for around five years but, interestingly, I don’t think I ever bought an album. Now here they are, 20+ years later with all seven original members intact, with an album that has a theme if not a full-on concept, all in celebration of London. Read on for the skinny on Madness’ The Liberty Of Norton Folgate. Continue reading “Album Review: Madness — The Liberty Of Norton Folgate”
Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: August 11th-17th
More live music in your region… And you thought there was nothing to do…
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Show Review: Underworld at The Fox Oakland 8/7/09
Underworld formed in 1986, yet are often considered part of the mid-90’s electronica craze that also included acts like Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, and Crystal Method, among others. I’ve always felt that this was a bit of an unfair distinction, only because they are a bit different from the rest. (No disrespect to any of the aforementioned acts, they are all respectable within their own genres.) I feel that they are a pop group that incorporates elements of house, trance and industrial music. They also pay much closer regard to lyrics, oftentimes telling complete stories within their songs. Continue reading “Show Review: Underworld at The Fox Oakland 8/7/09”
Album Review: Choir of Young Believers – This Is For The White In Your Eyes
Choir of Young Believers is led by 26-year-old Danish singer Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, who works with a rotating cast of supporting players. This Is For The White In Your Eyes is their debut album. It’s rare these days to get to listen to something new without any preconceptions, hype or other factory distorting your viewpoint. So lets see how it worked out. Continue reading “Album Review: Choir of Young Believers — This Is For The White In Your Eyes”
Show Review: Phish at the Shoreline Amphitheater, 8/5/09
People ask me all the time, “which band have you seen the most?” To this question, I answer Moxy Fruvous. If they ask me who’s in second place, I can answer that it’s Phish. Last night was the 22nd time I’ve seen Phish in concert, but for the first time in a dozen years. It’s hard to “review” a Phish show; it is what it is. Consider this a personal exploration into an evening of Phish. Continue reading “Show Review: Phish at the Shoreline Amphitheater, 8/5/09”
Spinning Platters Picks Six: Classic Moments from John Hughes Movies
The tweet came a little while ago.
Breaking: John Hughes Has Died
Next thing I knew, I was on Youtube watching a video that was a compilation of great John Hughes movie moments. In that spirit, this is my tribute to the great musical moments (and a couple of others) from John Hughes movies. I don’t have a lot to say here; just watching the clips is enough. Pretty much everyone in my generation got a lot of personality shaping from his movies, so this is just my way of paying tribute.
John Hughes 1950-2009
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Spinning Platters Picks Six: Bands I Forgot From The 80’s
Lets be clear up front – this is a personal list. I came across the Associates the other day and it got me thinking about bands that I was REALLY into in the 80’s that I had forgotten about. I dug into some old records and websites and came up with this six. Some bands from the 80’s that you may have forgotten and loved will not make the list because I have not forgotten them. This is not a best bands from the 80’s. Purely a personal list of bands that touched me in some way that I had forgotten about.
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Album Review: Brendan Benson – My Old, Familiar Friend
I’m a big Brendan Benson fan. I was a fan before The Raconteurs. Lapalco being one of my all time favorite albums but I was not overly happy with his last album, The Alternative To Love, which had its moments but was, overall, somewhat inconsistent. So how does his new one My Old, Familiar Friend stack up. Keep in mind that this review is all based on a first listen and of course songs may grow or otherwise on me given time. So what has spending his time with Jack White done for Brendan? Continue reading “Album Review: Brendan Benson — My Old, Familiar Friend”
10 Quick Questions with Michael Butler, Podcaster and Bass Player
Michael Butler, Bay Area based musician and one of the original podcasters, runs the Rock and Roll Geek Show podcast along with playing bass for 80’s revivalist rock band Jetboy (and recently playing bass for live shows with Ginger from UK rock underground stars The Wildhearts.)
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Spinning Platters Picks Six: Ways To Discover New Music
I’m the sad case of a middle aged man who only likes to listen to new music and refuses to buy in to “it was all better when I was younger.” So this gives me a problem – How do I find new music? Well I have come across some excellent methods that work well for me. They allow me to discover new bands, listen to them and decide what I want to buy.
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