Spinning Platters – Page 324 – Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds

Show Review: Manic Street Preachers and Nico Vega at The Fillmore, 9/24/09

I’m wholly unqualified to a review a Manic Street Preachers show. This is because I’m an American. The Manics (as I’ll refer to them for the rest of our time together) never did have any hits stateside. They were always a cult band here, and I was never part of that cult. If I were to make a ranked list of all the Britpop bands that I like (as opposed to ones I’m either ambivalent about or dislike), the Manics would be at the bottom of that list. They’d make the list, for sure, but they’d be right below Ash, and apologies to Kula Shaker. That said, I’m going to review it anyway. Continue reading “Show Review: Manic Street Preachers and Nico Vega at The Fillmore, 9/24/09”

New Release Round Up 9/22/09 – 29 Instant Album Reviews

This band is not made up of girls. Didn't they learn their lesson from Barenaked Ladies?

When Pouria started writing this weekly column, he said there might be weeks where he was too busy to listen to 30-or-so albums. I said, “no problem, we can get a guest columnist on those weeks.” So when he told me this week that he was too busy doing stuff like seeing Bon Iver to write this week’s column, I said “wait, you were serious about that?” Since I hadn’t arranged a guest, I’m doing it myself. Let’s just say that doing this is a lot harder than Pouria makes it look. Now, on to the mini-reviews. Continue reading “New Release Round Up 9/22/09 — 29 Instant Album Reviews”

Show Review: Pet Shop Boys at The Warfield, 9/23/09

Pet Shop Boys concerts exist in their own universe. A universe of abstract expressionism, interpretative dance, avant-garde fashion, modular sets and (for this tour anyway) Adidas sports wear. They are such elaborate productions that the Pet Shop Boys themselves are almost accessories in their own shows. But that’s how it should be. From the very beginning they knew their minimalistic style couldn’t carry an entire concert. So they hired world class dancers and set designers to produce dazzling abstract synthpoperas. Continue reading “Show Review: Pet Shop Boys at The Warfield, 9/23/09”

Show Review: Bon Iver at The Fillmore, 9/22/09

What I learned last night: when going to a live Bon Iver show, it’s best to not have any expectations.

What I saw at the Fillmore last night went far beyond anything I imagined. It’s not that he had some stage act or any gimmicks; the tracks you love will be drastically different, but in an amazing way.

Bon Iver made a point to smash my expectation of a purely acoustic set, into a mixture of sounds and methods. Distortion, thumping bass, electric-slide guitars, ROCKING, respect-gathering falsettos, crowd participation, and delicate acoustic sets were what he served me up. I ate it up and was left wanting more. Continue reading “Show Review: Bon Iver at The Fillmore, 9/22/09”

Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 5 – Digital Delay

This Gordon could kick our Gordon's butt in a fight.

Episode 5 of the Spinning Platters podcast features guest Caroline Hernandez of Spinning Platters joining us to discuss the upcoming Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. As always, we go off on our crazy tangents, and we invite you to listen to the crazy digital-delay blooper all the way at the end of the podcast.

We also discuss the following: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 5 — Digital Delay”

Spinning Platters Picks Six: Reasons Not To Kill Kanye West

This photograph may negate this entire list

[Editor’s Note: Spinning Platters does not actually encourage the murder of pop stars.]

I really can’t stand Kanye West. The character that he has created, the socially awkward egotist, comes off unnatural and a bit bothersome. He has become an icon that is bigger than the music he creates, which is generally a bit boring. His emotional outbursts in the beginning were funny, but now are just embarrassing. I agree that George W. Bush may not care about black people, but I don’t think Kanye was looking to make a statement, he was looking for a soundbite.

I should not be so judgmental. He may even be a nice guy! So, I will do the Christian thing and compile a list of six things that Kanye West has done that I believe are good things.

Thus begins my six reasons not to kill Kanye West:

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: Reasons Not To Kill Kanye West”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: September 22nd-28th

kid koala — Raised by wolves and rockin' the six turntables Friday night at the Independent.

Fall has begun, which means lots of shows that aren’t big festivals… Get back to the clubs and help those kids make some money!!!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: September 22nd-28th”

Show Review: Titus Andronicus and The So So Glos at Bottom of the Hill, 9/21/09

Your life is over. Your life is over. Your life is over.

Titus Andronicus is one of the unofficial official bands of Spinning Platters. This is because we saw them four times at SXSW last year, and hatched the idea for this blog upon our return. It got to the point where we were pretty sure they were sick of seeing us, even though we hadn’t tired of seeing them. So when we saw they were playing at Bottom of the Hill on Monday night, we recorded our podcast and headed right over.

Continue reading “Show Review: Titus Andronicus and The So So Glos at Bottom of the Hill, 9/21/09”

Show Review: Little Boots and Music Go Music at The Independent, 9/19/09

We were dancing too much to use our cameras.

A bunch of the Spinning Platters gang went to The Independent last night to see British pop sensation Little Boots perform on her first American tour. Because we enjoyed the No Doubt review, where we all shared our brief remarks, we thought we’d repeat this. Yes Giantess was also on the bill, but four fifths of us worked earlier that night, and got there only in time to see Music Go Music. So what did we think of Little Boots? Were her boots made for walking out the door or for dancing the night away? Continue reading “Show Review: Little Boots and Music Go Music at The Independent, 9/19/09”

Album Review: the breakUps – Illness at Ease

One of the advantages of being a famous album reviewer for the world renowned Spinning Platters is that I get people sending me music for review. I knew eventually all my laziness work would pay off. Today it’s Illness at Ease from the dubiously grammared, unsigned band the breakUps. Most review requests seem generic but this one had a directness and honesty that caused me to give the samples a listen and led me to this full album review. Continue reading “Album Review: the breakUps — Illness at Ease”