Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Happy New Year! For our first single of the week of 2023, here’s a sweeping ballad from DEBBY FRIDAY. “SO HARD TO TELL” is simutaneously warm & comforting and dark & sweeping, kind of in the Bjork / Kate Bush school of composition without sounding anything like either.
“SO HARD TO TELL” is available in all the usual places. Her SubPop debut, Good Luck, is coming to you March 23rd, and is available for pre-order NOW!
By The Spinning Platters Editorial Team
Good news, everyone! Just like every other year, Spinning Platters is publishing the LAST top albums of the year list you’ll be reading. Our entire team has been listening to each other’s favorite records, no matter how painful it can get, and we’ve voted on our 10 favorite albums of 2022! Without further adieu, here we go: Continue reading “Spinning Platters’ Top 10 Albums of 2022”
Representation Matters in Christmas With You Starring Aimee Garcia and Freddie Prinze Jr.
About ten years ago, a friend of mine said, “They never make movies about people like us unless it’s about our trauma or a white person growing. Why can’t we have happy endings, too?”
It was true; all my favorite movies were helmed by white people, and the few that weren’t were about trauma. The rest of the time, we were in supporting roles as best friends, maids, taxi drivers, gangsters, or terrorists. Sometimes the story was about us, but it wasn’t really about us; it was about the white teacher who changes our lives, the white writer who is inspired by us to tell our stories for us. It still centered on a white person’s journey of growth. Continue reading “Film Review: “Christmas With You””
Babylon, this season’s third (yes, third!) movie about the movies is by far the worst of the trio. While The Fabelmans and Empire of Light have a few pluses, Babylon is too bloated and draggy to recommend. Writer/director Damien Chazelle (La La Land; First Man; Whiplash) clearly loves the movies, but with Babylon, he’s made one that might actually steer his audience away from the form instead of toward it.
Issac Brock and crew sauntered out to fervent fans in Oakland Wednesday night. The 25th-anniversary tour for The Lonesome Crowded West has twenty-one scheduled tour dates full of 90s gems that soundtracked college dorms through the early 2000s. This one was sold out, with fans of all ages and all eras of the band attending. Beanie-topped tidy grunge folks in the teeming audience at the Fox howled when the first licks of “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine” began. The setlist continued down a nostalgic path stirring ephemeral eddies of light-push-moshing. “Doin’ The Cockroach” is their disco grind dance number. The crowd obliged. Continue reading “Show Review: Modest Mouse at The Fox Theater, 11/30/22”
Hollywood loves to make movies about itself. My last review was on The Fablemans, a movie about the magic of movies. This review is about Empire of Light, a movie about the healing power of movies. And my next review will be about Babylon, a movie about, you guessed it, the good and bad of the movie industry. If Hollywood wants to get folks back into theaters, maybe making a bunch of narcissistic films about itself isn’t the best way, but nevertheless, here we are, with three releases within a month that basically say, “Movies are awesome! Go to the movies!!” This week’s offering makes its case mightily, and somewhat succeeds in spite of the pervasive layer of schmaltz that covers the picture.
I have never seen Veronica Mars. I barely know the premise. But from the minor key muted strum opening this track, I’ve never been more intrigued by a TV show that I missed nearly 20 years ago. The song actually places me in My So-Called Life territory, the greatest TV show ever. This song is a fuzzy, emotive burner and my only complaint is that it’s too short. And I’ve NEVER said that about a song before.
“Veronica Mars” is available in all the usual places. She’s touring with Suki Waterhouse and, yes, I’m sad that there is no Bay Area date, too.
Our good friends at SF Sketchfest dropped a BUNCH of new shows in our laps for their 20th iteration! Some that I’m really, really excited about. Tickets are on sale now RIGHT HERE! Continue reading “MORE NEW 2023 SKETCHFEST EVENTS!!!!”
Thank You Come Again do not have my favorite band name. I spent time actively avoiding them due to this. However, they are literally friends with everyone in the Bay Area, they are worth the benefit of the doubt. Then this positively face melting track, “Bite The Hand,” landed in my eardrums. So loud. So heavy. An air guitar masterpiecce.
Today is Bandcamp Friday, so feel free to hope over to their Bandcamp page and buy this track and some others! They will be getting us a full length in the near future, so keep an eye out there and here.
