Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Normally, for a show like this, I would have arrived at the venue at 7:00 pm, then had a drink, made my way over to the front of the stage to plant myself there for the rest of the evening in anticipation of one of my favorite acts. However, after a stressful week it figures I didn’t get there until Neko was already on stage. Continue reading “Neko Case at The Warfield, 6/10/09”
Describing Patrick Wolf is hard. I was just asked, “what kind of music is he?” I did not have a quick answer. I hemmed and hawed. I know I like it, and I know it should make for an interesting live show, so there I was at Slim’s on a Monday night seeing the Nylon Summer Tour with headliner Patrick Wolf. Little I did know how crazy the night would actually get. Continue reading “Patrick Wolf at Slim’s, 6/8/09”
God Help the Girl is supposed to be the soundtrack for a musical that has yet to be scripted and filmed. It is the brainchild of Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian. Murdoch said the project was born from material he couldn’t use for for Belle & Sebastian because the songs should be sung by three female characters. The outcome? A Belle & Sebastian record with female vocals and a light sprinkling of musical theater.
I first discovered God Help the Girl because of a message from a friend. “Stuart Murdoch is having an open call for singers! You should try out.” Upon further investigation I discovered it was true; if you logged into imeem.com you could download instrumental versions of two songs: a Belle & Sebastian favourite “Funny Little Frog” and a new song called “The Psychiatrist is In.” The instructions were to choose one and post it up on an imeem message board. I promptly downloaded the songs and started calling around to find someone to help me record them. In the end my friend Cynthia and I, with the help of her husband Russell, spent a fun weekend recording and submitting the songs. Then the obsession really began. I listened to everyone’s entry and made lists of favourites. Weeks later three finalists for each song were chosen to submit a second song (Cynthia and I did not make the cut; we were robbed!) and when the winners were announced I at least took solace in the fact that one of the winners,Brittany Stallings, had been my favourite singer.
I was excited to hear the final product after so much time and obsession, but I was bound to be overly critical of the singing.
Your guide to the best shows that bay area has to offer for the week of June 8th-14th: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Official Weekly Tip Sheet For the Week of June 8-14”
In Queensryche’s heyday, they were an awesome force of a band. Geoff Tate was an absolute beast, a singer with an incredible voice and an incredible range. The twin lead guitars of Michael Wilton and Chris Degarmo alternated heavy riffs and bright solos with the greatest of ease. And the solid, spectacular rhythm section of Eddie Jackson and Scott Rockenfield carried the whole thing forward with fierce momentum. That was 1990 or so. This is 2009. What are they like now? Continue reading “Queensryche at The Fillmore, 6/4/09”
For some reason, I thought Jens Lekman would be very serious. I’m not sure why I thought this, but I assumed he’d stand up at his microphone, quietly singing his songs by himself. So I was more than pleasantly surprised to see him dancing happily along with his 5-piece band right from the very beginning of the show. He had a smile pasted on his face the whole time, and so did I. Continue reading “Jens Lekman at Bottom of the Hill, 6/2/09”
This summer, a new festival comes to the Lake Tahoe area called the Wanderlust Festival. I’m extremely excited about this festival, and have already reserved a hotel room and picked up tickets. Now, I’m simply holding my breath and hoping they sell enough tickets for it to happen. Their marketing is poor. They’re selling the festival like this: Continue reading “Festival Preview: Wanderlust Festival in Squaw Valley, 7/24/09-7/26/09”
If you come to my apartment, you’d see walls coated with rock posters, boxes full of poster tubes, and a giant flat file under the bed with even more posters. So to kick off this feature, where Spinning Platters writers will pick six of something in music that they really like, I’m going to share a quick list of some of my favorite poster artists.
I’m not trying to make a “Best Of” list here, just sharing some of my personal favorites. I’d love to see comments about your favorites, so leave them in the comment section. That way I’ll know of more artists on which to spend my money! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: Rock Poster Artists”
Animal Collective are one of those bands that people either love or hate. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground with them. Yet I found myself smack dab in the middle before seeing them live. Admittedly, I don’t know their material all that well. I love some of their songs; I hate some of their songs. My favorites of their songs are ones that sound an awful lot like Conspiracy, the ridiculously obscure Yes side project that featured tons of vocal interplay. The songs I can’t stand are the ones that meander endlessly, seemingly without purpose.
So what was the live experience like? A little from column A, a little from column B. Continue reading “Animal Collective at The Fox Oakland, 5/26/09”
