Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Retail Release Date: May 25, 2009
Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date: March 11, 2009
Phoenix is a French pop band that plays music that can only be described as Britpop. What does French Britpop sound like? It sounds like the band Phoenix. Perhaps I should explain. Continue reading “The Leaky Faucet: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”
Graham Coxon’s new solo album The Spinning Top is due to be released on May 11th, a month before his former band Blur reunites for a series of reunion tours. I must admit that I have been in fangirl love with Graham Coxon since I was 16 years old, and The Spinning Top makes this fangirl swoon. Musically, we’re back to a simpler Graham, focusing on him and an acoustic guitar, unlike his last two more rock-tastic albums. Thematically, The Spinning Top is more complex. It is a concept album, following the story of a man from birth to death, but the theme gets a little lost. It comes across more as a way for Graham to expose his deep inner self without having to be held accountable for anything that he reveals.
Continue reading “Album Review: Graham Coxon — The Spinning Top”
Throbbing Gristle are an early industrial band that formed in the early 70’s. They were known for both electronic experimentalism, and blatant shock value. I probably have read more about this band than any other band that I have never heard before. In fact, this show at The Grand in San Francisco will in fact be the very first time I actually will get to hear this band that has followed me for years as nothing but academic text.
Continue reading “Throbbing Gristle/Erika Andersson at The Grand Ballroom, 4/23/09”
I go to a lot of shows. And I get excited about them. Very excited about them. But few shows have I anticipated as greatly as this one. I love the bubble gum pop, and there is just something about her that has drawn me in from day one. I think she always has reminded me of the person that I had always dreamt of being when I was younger. I really like the idea of being a child star, then becoming a pop star, followed by making some very poor decisions in public, leading to heavy scrutiny from the media. I really enjoy the idea of fame at all costs, and Britney has lived that dream. She lives her life as if every day was her big return to the spotlight.
But I digress; you want to hear about the show. Just to answer a few of the questions that you may have before reading on-
No, she did not refer to Oakland as Seattle, or Santa Barbara, or Sunol, or any other town she may have been thinking about that day. In fact, she did not address us by name of our city at all.
She did not storm off the stage because of pot smoke.
She did not fake a knee injury to get out of performing.
She did not sing live.
That being said, on with the review: Continue reading “Britney Spears/Pussycat Dolls Oracle Arena, 4/22/09: An Unrepentant Fans Thoughts”
Robin Pecknold, lead singer of Fleet Foxes, emerges from stage right for an encore after an hour set; he comes wielding his acoustic guitar and a great looking beard. He banters with the crowd of the nearly sold out Fox theater in Oakland, then tell us all that he is going to “do this one without a mic”. He unplugs his guitar and steps up to the very front of the center apron of the stage and begins to play truly acoustically. Robin’s powerful voice emanates through the theater of about twenty-two-hundred perfectly quiet listeners. With a revolving cast of players in the five-piece Seattle-based band, it seems that Pecknold is Fleet Foxes. I enjoy the simplicity of a singular Pecknold in an other wise deeply woven creation of sound. Continue reading “Fleet Foxes at the Fox Oakland, 4/21/09”
The Fox Theater has had a run of sold-out shows over the past few days: BB King, Band of Horses and Black Keys all sold out the 3000ish capacity Oakland theater within the last week. Yet Bloc Party hardly sold any seats above the mezzanine level. I think some folks should have chosen differently; Bloc Party was the best of them all. Bloc Party writes songs that beg you to dance, jump, sing along, and get sweaty on a crowded dance floor. And all of this happened on Monday night.
Full disclosure: Continue reading “Bloc Party at The Fox Oakland, 4/20/09”
I am a sucker for actor albums. I have no control of the sick curiosity and need to either further worship (Zooey Deschanel) or further ridicule (everyone else) said actor for their musical exploits. Needless to say when I saw this EP by Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) I HAD to hear it. “Time Well Spent” has been out for about a year, but I just stumbled accross it last week. Little did I know it would have me going “Aw! It’s Draco!” while watching the new Harry Potter trailer.
Continue reading “Sing It Hasselhoff: Feltbeats (Tom Felton aka Draco Malfoy)”
A mere four hours before the show, I get a call from a friend of mine asking me if I want to usher the Black Keys show at the Fox, telling me I could sell my tickets and watch the show for free. After giving it a moment’s thought, I politely declined knowing full well that I wanted to plant myself up in front of that stage to get the full experience I had been waiting for since first falling in love with the band. Continue reading “The Black Keys at the Fox Oakland, April 18, 2009”
It’s been one month since I watched the stage crew for Direct TV’s SXSW Bat Bar single handedly tear apart Late of the Pier, oh, and then watch them get the plug pulled on them after three songs at their day show. Needless to say I was more then ready to watch the real thing after the teasers in Austin.
The crowd is ready and aggressive not to lose their hard earned spot up close to the stage which only stands a few feet taller then us. Sequin covered, they emerge from house right. Smiles to me are a good thing; they are ready and so am I. Continue reading “Late of the Pier at Popscene, April 16, 2009”
I hadn’t planned to attend tonight’s Green Day show at the Uptown in Oakland. I knew it was happening, but I wasn’t going to get there early enough to get in line, skip Franz Ferdinand, and spend another late night with Green Day. I wanted to, but I was just going to do something different.
Then a funny thing happened. Continue reading “Green Day at The Uptown Nightclub, 4/15/2009”