Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Episode 3 of the Spinning Platters podcast is now available below, and in iTunes. Dakin, Gordon and D.P. are joined on this episode by writer Raffi Yousouffian for a discussion of:
Click on to listen, or even better, subscribe to the Spinning Platters podcast on iTunes.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 3 — The View”
I the Mighty are a fairly new band, having developed out of a two-man acoustic project called Breakpoint. Now signed to Bay Area indie label Talking House Records, we caught up with them as they prepared to play what they expect to be their biggest show yet, this Friday night the 21st at Blake’s on Telegraph in Berkeley. I the Mighty are:
Brent Walsh – vocals/guitar/piano
Ian Pedigo – guitar/vocals
Chris Hinkley – bass/vocals
Blake Dahlinger – drums/percussion
Spinning Platters: You’re a fairly new band. How are you describing yourself to others? Continue reading “10 Quick Questions with I the Mighty”
The last time I saw Third Eye Blind was in 1996. They opened for Oasis at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. They didn’t have a record deal, and nobody who purchased tickets purchased tickets to see them because, well, they were never advertised. I thought that they were catchy, but didn’t really think much of them. One year later, they released the record that was impossible to hide from. Cut to 1999, they release a second record, called Blue. Didn’t have any hits, and the band seemed to fall off of everyone’s radar. In 2003, they released a third record, which featured production by Andrew WK and vocals from Kimya Dawson of The Moldy Peaches and Kim Shattuck of The Muffs. It sold about 500,000 copies, which is a dramatic drop off from the six million of the first record. It was also the record that taught me to like the band. They were much more aggressive and passionate then they ever had been, which of course meant they were dropped from their major label deal.
Fast forward to 2009. They release their first record on an independent label. Bands such as Fall Out Boy and Taking Back Sunday rise to prominence, borrowing a few strategies from the 3EB playbook, especially the fusion of power pop with elements of grunge. They think it’s time for a comeback. It’s time for the rest of the world to figure it out, too.
Continue reading “Third Eye Blind, The Upwelling at The Fox Oakland, 8/17/09”
It’s another week of greatness for your week… Enjoy!
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: August 18th-24th”
It starts at the gate on a wooden table, security searching bags, removing water bottle caps. It’s not a line, but a mass of people, compressed into a singlularity, squeezed through metal detectors like orange juice through a strainer–the pulp left behind: water bottle caps, drugs, Diet Dr. Pepper cans piled in neat towers around the parking lot (each layer an epoch) and something else…something less tangible. Metal detectors root out invisible men with sirens: a novel assimilation process to remove their weapons and expose their water. An invasive beep accompanies me through the plastic archway, where a woman– African American, in a yellow staff polo– asks me if I’m wearing a belt. I pull up my sweater and t-shirt, the small metal belt buckle is proof enough of my identity; a gentle pat down proves that I am indeed visible and physical. No, I am not an invisible man, merely an inappropriately dressed white male with a balding pattern and an open bottle of water, covering a culture I know only through books, Boondocks episodes and BET. Continue reading “Rock the Bells: A Journey Through Time and Memory”
Yes, I admit it, I like to play Rock Band on the Xbox 360. Some people seem to think that’s not a cool thing for a “real” music fan and musician to do, but as the latest versions of Rock Band (Rock Band: Beatles) and Guitar Hero (Guitar Hero 5) hit stores over the next couple of weeks, let’s stop to ask ourselves if and why these games matter. I’m going to argue that they do. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: Reasons Why Music Games Are Important”
Word coming across the Twitter-wire is that Les Paul has passed away.
A friend and I went to see him play about a dozen years ago at a bar in New York. We figured we only had a little time left to see this living legend (I think he was about 80 at the time). I half expected that he would already be frail and unable to tear shit up on the guitar, but he was absolutely amazing. He also stayed behind afterward to chat and sign autographs with everyone. It was a great night.
Next time you hear or play an electric guitar, be sure to think of Les.
So, Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit is October 24th-25th. For those that aren’t already aware, Neil and Pegi Young have a school for the developmentally disabled. Every year, they put together an acoustic show with a few friends in the business. In the past, these friends have included Tom Waits, Paul McCartney, Green Day, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Ministry, and, well, the list can go on for miles. Today, I am going to try to predict six of the bands playing. They usually announce the bill about six weeks in advance, so we have a bit more time, and as some acts get confirmed, I will revise the bill. Well, on with the show: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: An Early Educated Guess At Bridge School”
Listening to the new Jay Reatard album, Watch Me Fall, has presented me with a puzzle I’ve never had to solve before. What if you like an album too much to do a proper review of it? How would you approach it? You’d do it by relying on the biggest security blanket a modern writer has. You’d make lists. So read on to see just how many lists I managed to make out of Jay Reatard’s masterpiece of an album. Continue reading “Album Review: Jay Reatard — Watch Me Fall”
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”