Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
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”
There was a lot of discussion in the weeks leading up to this show about why it was happening now. None of that seemed to matter when I saw the marquee, pictured above, with the name and dates. It was really Leonard Cohen, live in concert!
I’d listened to the NPR recording a few times; needed to make sure he was still going to sound good at age 74 before I made the effort to go to the show. There’s nothing worse than going to see a legendary act and have that act look and sound awful. It can ruin all the memories. But the NPR recording sounded so good, I came in with high hopes. Continue reading “Leonard Cohen at The Paramount Theater, 4/13/2009”
Beirut-March of the Zapotec/Holland
Release Date: February 16, 2009
As a girl who claims to be quite a huge Beirut fan, my natural reaction when I first heard about the newest production from said band was, OMG! I had read in an article in Fader Magazine that front man, Zac Condon, had traveled down to the Oaxaca region of Mexico and recorded with a troop of local musicians known as Banda Jimenez of Teotitlan del Valle. This bit of information made Zapotec all the more exciting, as a blogger of Mexican decent, to feast my ears on. Continue reading “Beirut: March of the Zapotec/Holland”
They released the initial line-up for this year’s Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, and if you haven’t already seen it on the 20,000 other sites that are posting it, here it is…
Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Incubus, Black Eyed Peas, MIA, Jason Mraz, Ween, Band Of Horses, TV On The Radio, The Dead Weather, Atmosphere, The Mars Volta, Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, Tom Jones, Silversun Pickups, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, The National, Q-Tip, Brett Dennen, Built To Spill, Mastodon, Raphael Saadiq, Calexico, Os Mutantes, Midnite, JJ Grey & Mofro, Kinky, Deerhunter, Lila Downs, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave, The Dodos, Betty Lavette, Dengue Fever, Heartless Bastards, The Dirtbombs, Lenka, Akron/Family, John Vanderslice, Matt & Kim, Portugal. The Man, The Morning Benders, The Duke Spirit, Zee Avi, Blind Pilot, Sambada, Ryan Bingham, West Indian Girl, Extra Golden…
Now, I think it looks pretty good, and I can discuss all the bands at length if you wish, but I am a bit more worried about all of the things that can go wrong with this show. Continue reading “Outside Lands Festival Lineup Analysis”
The Anvil Experience at Slim’s promised a preview screening of the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil followed by a live performance by the band itself. I figured this was going to the best possible way to see this movie, so off I went.
I’d be lying if I said I were familiar with Anvil. Their name sounds familiar, but it’s so generic, it would sound familiar to anyone, I’d imagine. They are a Canadian metal band that’s been playing together since 1978, and although they were influence on a few more famous bands, they never found success themselves. Thirty years later, they still play together and try to make their rock and roll dreams come through. The band goes on a comically bad tour of Europe, tries to get a record deal, and just try to keep themselves together as a band.
I’ve seen interviews where the band’s leader “Lips” does not like comparisons to This Is Spinal Tap, but here comes some. And if he has anyone to blame, it’s the director. There are some spoilers in the next bullet points, both for Anvil! and This Is Spinal Tap, so be warned. Continue reading “The Anvil Experience at Slim’s 4/12/2009”
I thought I was seeing a White Lies show, and it was nice that Friendly Fires were playing. But by the time the show was over, it was clear I had seen a Friendly Fires show, and that it was nice that White Lies were playing.
I got there right as White Lies were taking the stage. (There was an opener called The Soft Pack but I was unable to see their set. Other reviewers might lie about this.) I like White Lies album a lot, and the music sounds good live. It’s just that they don’t do much on stage. They just stand there. Their music calls for them to be dressed better, too. I still like the album, but their set left me cold.
I scooted up front with some friends to watch Friendly Fires, and this band is a great time! The songs sound so lively on stage, and the band performs with a catchy intensity. It makes it hard to not dance. There was, in fact, much dancing. I still can’t recommend their album other than as a demo for their live show. Their set was only 40 minutes or so; they’re going to need more material to become a true headlining band. But if you are at a festival where they’re playing, make a point of visiting their stage.
When the email came through announcing that Green Day was playing the Independent (a 500-or-so capacity venue in San Francisco) that same night, I bought tickets before I could consider whether I could actually go. How did I get the email fast enough to buy tickets? I thank Blackberry push email. Thanks Blackberry!
When I arrived, there was still a lengthy line at will call. There were folks walking up and down the line offering big money for tickets, but I decided $200 a ticket wasn’t worth both missing the show and the ribbing I would take from people for missing the show. (My price was going to be $500 a ticket, but I wasn’t going to ask and no one was going to offer.) Besides, you wouldn’t be reading this if I had taken the money, and you–the readers–are very important.
As expected the show leaned heavily on the material from the new album. Thanks to the photo above and Wikipedia, I was able to determine the likely song titles for everything they played. The setlists and my full review are below:
Silversun Pickups – Swoon.
Retail Release Date: April 14, 2009
The Leaky Faucet Acquisition Date: March 26, 2009
The Silversun Pickups new album Swoon landed on my hard drive last week. I wasn’t thrilled with the last Silversun Pickups album. I really liked their live show, but the energy of that show didn’t end up on the record. This album continues that trend, but is overall a far better album anyway. Why’s this?
Swoon is the kind of album that simply isn’t made much anymore: a major-label 90s alternative rock record. What I mean by this is that it has that shiny perfection in every sound and an overall gloss that makes it really easy to listen to. There’s strings in parts where there should be strings. The guitar is fuzzy but never distorted. The vocals are clean with just the proper amount of reverb. If you fondly remember the production style of Bush’s Sixteen Stone or Candlebox’s debut album, then you’re totally going to dig this record.
The songs are good here, especially the driving rhythm section. There’s a decent amount of dynamics here; Silversun Pickups don’t do Pixies-ish loud-quiet-loud too much, but rather slow builds from soft to loud. The lyrics sound cool, but in the end have no real meaning to me. I might not be paying attention that much because the groove is really quite excellent.
Again, these songs are likely to sound even better live, but this album is a good listen. Recommended.
On to the more of my SXSW thoughts…
Back to Wednesday Night! Continue reading “Dakin’s SXSW Diary, Part Two”
I sat down to make a top 5 list of my favorite musical moments from South By Southwest 2009, but as I started putting it together, I thought I’d rather just give my comments in each of a few different categories. Read ahead to see: