Show Review: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, YACHT at The Fox Oakland, 9/9/09

The eye is there to keep the audience safe
The eye is there to keep the audience safe

So, yesterday was 9/9/09, the day of the Beatle. While everyone was at home listening to the newly remastered stereo and mono boxsets or playing the make believe Beatles video game, I opted to attend a performance by a slightly younger band that may only be as big as the Pope, not Jesus. (Now, if anyone at Harmonix or EMI is reading this, and would like me to review either Beatles Rock Band or the new remasters, feel free to send them my way: email me at dakin@spinningplatters.com and I will give you my mailing address)

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Album Review: Muse – The Resistance

The cover to an album or a SciFi book?
The cover to an album or a SciFi book?

Whatever you think about the new Muse album, The Resistance, you’re right.  If you love it, you have nothing to be ashamed of.  If you hate it, you’re definitely within your rights to do so.  I don’t think this is a polarizing record.  I think it’s an affirming record.  It’s not going to change anyone’s mind on the band; rather, your opinion of Muse will be rewarded by what you’ll find.  So what will you find? Continue reading “Album Review: Muse — The Resistance”

Show Review: PAX Concerts, Seattle Convention Center, 9/4/2009 & 9/5/2009

The new fab four? Molly, Paul, Storm and Joco
The new fab four? Molly, Paul, Storm and Joco

Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle is a lot of things, but mostly it’s a gathering of a community of like minded gamers.  These are nerds and geeks who live by a simple credo popularized by Secretary of Geek Affairs, Wil Wheaton.  It simply states, “Don’t Be a Dick.”  So what does a bunch of gamers getting together in Seattle have to do with a music website?  First of all, this is the second year I’ve gone (out of many I will attend; it’s populated by uniformly awesome people).  Every year, PAX invites some musicians that are popular in the gamer community to perform at a popular series of concerts.  It’s time that these shows got a traditional concert review, so here it is. Continue reading “Show Review: PAX Concerts, Seattle Convention Center, 9/4/2009 & 9/5/2009”

Show Review: John Legend, India.Arie, Vaughn Anthony at The Greek Theater in Berkeley, 9/6/09

He wants you... He wants you so bad...
He wants you… He wants you so bad…

I’m not really sure why I volunteered to cover John Legend at the Greek. My feelings of him have always been pretty negative. I used to call him things such as “the music John Tesh uses to fall asleep” and “Soul Music’s answer to Yanni.” So, I wasn’t expecting much. I thought I was going to enjoy India.Arie, and then I would sneak out after a few songs, just enough to be able to fake a review… Continue reading “Show Review: John Legend, India.Arie, Vaughn Anthony at The Greek Theater in Berkeley, 9/6/09”

Album Review: Jay Z – The Blueprint 3

Blueprint_3

I know, right, a hip-hop record leaking, impossible! NO, really it did. Despite the fact that Jay-Z traveled all the way to Hawaii to record, the Blueprint 3 is still leaked, someone must have got on an air craft with a copy, what is the TSA doing! Continue reading “Album Review: Jay Z — The Blueprint 3”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: September 8th-14th

Opening for Flogging Molly at The Fox on Friday Night!
Opening for Flogging Molly at The Fox on Friday Night!

Now that Labor Day has come & gone, and the bridge is fully functioning again, here’s another guide to a week’s worth of rock & roll that you might enjoy:

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Album Review: Ingrid Michaelson – Everybody

Sneaking in through the backdoor of your mind
Sneaking in through the backdoor of your mind

You may not realize you know Ingrid Michaelson, but you do.  Back in 2007 her album Girls and Boys launched her into the stratosphere of VH1’s artists “you oughta know” fueled by the ubiquitous “The Way I Am.”  You’ve also not realized you were listening to her while you watched such quality television shows as Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill and Scrubs.  An album a year later, her newest release Everybody arrived last week on August 25th.  Will it also be something you constantly hear in the background of your favourite tv shows or will this be the album that brings Ingrid Michaelson to the forefront? Continue reading “Album Review: Ingrid Michaelson — Everybody”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: September 1st-7th

Millions Of Darling Cats will be playing at The Knockout tonight!
Millions Of Darling Cats will be playing at The Knockout tonight!

As we recover from our wonderful weekend in Golden Gate Park, dealing with our sunburns (Friday & Saturday) and our hypothermia (Sunday), here’s a few more shows to keep you going. All of them good, or at least have the potential for good.

On a side note: the Bay Bridge is closed this weekend, but BART will be running all night, so if you wanted to get wasted on the other side of the Bay on which you reside, this is the weekend to do it!

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Album Review: Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

Going dancing with the Wild Beasts
Going dancing with the Wild Beasts

In the world of hyper-literate esoterock fathered by Collin Meloy and nursed by Joanna Newsom came the Wild Beasts to remind us it should never be taken seriously. Their debut album Limbo, Panto along with their first five singles took the train The Decemberists made out of antique English imagery and lyrical grandiloquence and drove it off cliff, which is, frankly, where it belonged in the first place. Continue reading “Album Review: Wild Beasts — Two Dancers”