Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
It’s funny… Alexis Castrogiovanni sent me a different track for single of the week, and I thought, this is really good. And then I clicked on “Ex-Girl,” and was taken aback. This driving cello puncutated by lyrics that puncture your heart? OH SHIT! And then a baritone sax kicks in? MY GOD! This song is so brutal!
“Ex-Girl” comes from Alexis Castrogiovanni’s EP, Someday My Thoughts Will Be Like A Range of Mountains, which is availble NOW from her Bandcamp page.
It’s been two and a half years since the start of the pandemic. For many of us, things have begun to feel increasingly “normal” again, whatever that means. For me, that means seeing live music regularly, and I couldn’t be happier to have this opportunity back. Every once in a while, I even get to see a live show right here in my hometown of Napa. This was the case late last week when Rodrigo y Gabriela graced the outdoor stage at Charles Krug for Blue Note Napa‘s summer sessions.
Every single time I talk to a member of the Habibi camp, I gently remind them that I’m still waiting for their self-titled debut to get re-released on vinyl. And I give them a good amount of space on this site, so those conversations have been pretty frequent. Well, their manager has hinted that this was in the works for the last few years without saying it. So, now that it’s true!!! Even better, it’s been taken off the roster of the now-defunct Burger Records label and picked up by the polar opposite label: KILL ROCK STARS! (My favorite record label.) Continue reading “Vinyl Reissue Spotlight: The Habibi Back Catalog”
It’s not often that we leave the breezy confines of the San Francisco Bay Area, but on occasion, we like to venture outside of our comfort zone, and the annual Fall festival in Sacramento known as Aftershock is one huge reason to do so. They definitely didn’t hold back on the lineup this year, and it looks like a great opportunity to go and show off all the black t-shirts that we’ve collected over the past year of catching up on live events. Like any other music festival with multiple stages and dozens of bands, Aftershock doesn’t happen without a bit of scheduling conflicts that will make it impossible to try to decide which barricade to consider posting up on. Fear not though, as Spinning Platters will attempt to breakdown any major conflicts and present reasonably valid reasons to choose one band over another throughout the four-day weekend.
Continue reading “Aftershock 2022: What you do not want to miss!”
A sure fire sign of a great groove is when you impulsively nod your head as the song starts. If you accidentally say the word “Yeah!” under your breath when they hit the fourth bar, and then look around and hope nobody noticed, then it’s a solid number. This psych-soul number, “Landslide” did all of that for me. This track is just plain hot.
“Landslide” is the second single off Barbara’s forthcoming LP, Nothin’ But Time, coming to you both digitally and physically on November 11th. Make the necessary accomodations to bring this one in your life here. She’s playing the absolutely bonkers Freakout Festival in Seattle in November, too.
With the success of Knives Out and its upcoming sequel The Glass Onion (which will open the Mill Valley Film Festival on Oct. 6th), murder mysteries are back in vogue, and you can’t blame filmmakers for wanting to capitalize on the trend. But just because you can make a murder mystery doesn’t mean you should, and the new British whodunit See How They Run is a case in point.
Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro
So, what is there really to do in retirement? Move to an over-55 community in Florida and play golf, shuffleboard, and pickleball until death? KISS has been retired since their Farewell Tour in 2001, right? Wrong! Ozzy Osbourne‘s No More Tours farewell tour was 30 years ago, yet he just put out another new record! Eagles, Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac, and many other legacy classic rock bands never even bothered to retire and just keep going with the same hit song setlists. For all those mere mortals who are not lifelong rock stars, retirement might be something to look forward to after working a desk job or whatever for 40 years, but for Vince Neil (61), Mick Mars (71), Nikki Sixx (63), and Tommy Lee (59) of Mötley Crüe, their retirement in 2015 was definitely not the right choice.
Mötley Crüe’s first tour since then was actually announced nearly 3 years ago and was supposed to happen in 2020… and then 2021… and now in 2022, with Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Stadium Tour finally happened! What better way to say We’re Back than to jump straight into stadiums as if there was never a cessation of touring agreement that they signed in January 2014…
The WAEVE took me a long time to figure out how to pronounce. (It’s “wave” for my fellow Americans) They are also a “supergroup” made up of Rose Elinor Dougall, my favorite Pipette, and Graham Coxon, the best part of Blur. I had no idea this was in the queue, but this song is a lovely piece of psych pop that takes one on some surprising turns. It’s a 4:22 journey through a myriad of sounds, and I’m excited to see what else comes from this partnership.
“Can I Call You” can be found now in all the usual places. Their self-titled debut record is coming your way February 3rd, 2023, and for those who like to make their shopping decisions early, there are plenty of fancy packages available for preorder.
The best songs transplant you to another place. The let you feel something that your current surroundings can’t give you. I haven’t dug into the lyrics of “Midnight Legend” quite yet, so I may re-assess this in a month, but this song and accompanying video manage to take me back to my harder partying days, both the good and bad of those nights.
“Midnight Legend” is the latest single off New Orleans’ band Special Interest’s upcoming record, Endure, due out on November 4th. You can get a fancy yellow vinyl pressing with TWO bonus 45s if you preorder here!
In my humble opinion, The Decline of Western Civilization is the greatest film ever made about youth counter-culture movements. Director Penelope Spheeris later directed Wayne’s World, another impressive depiction of youth culture that captured the much-maligned and misunderstood 80’s LA punk scene. The NYC and UK scenes were the “important” scenes. LA was overly aggressive and lacked artistic credibility in the eyes of music critics. This is where hardcore was born, which often marked the “end” of punk for many folks. Continue reading “Show Review: Descendents, The Circle Jerks, Fake Fruit at The UC Theatre, 8/26/22”
