I spend hours listening to tracks trying to find the perfect Single Of The Week for you. Sometimes I don’t make it more than 10-15 seconds. Other times I find myself repeating the song 10-15 times in a row. “disappearing girl” definitely falls into the latter. With every listen, I pick up on some other element that makes my heart do that bubbly warm thing when a song is just great. And this song has it all: a catchy chorus, disjointed rhythms and time changes, potent, emotive vocals that *almost* crack at the right moment, a fun video, a Sonic Youth reference. Jesus. It’s just SO GOOD!
What is it that makes Future Islands great? Over fifteen years of consistent output has been compelling but can tend toward monotony. At first blush, the song lyrics are as boxy and obvious as the titles. The music is almost entirely devoid of melody. So what is it?Continue reading “Show Review: Future Islands with Oh, Rose at The Fillmore, 9/4/21”
One of my least favorite things about multi-stage music festivals is, well, having to decide who to see when multiple acts are playing at once… Remember having to pick between NERD and Carly Rae Jepsen in 2018? THAT WAS EVIL!!! How did I manage? By buying a ticket to see Carly Rae at her Outside Lands night show at The Independent the night before. That show was pretty much pure magic. Are you looking for a purely magical experience that’s slightly more intimate than your regular Outside Lands? Feast your eyes on their Night Show schedule:
To buy tickets, simply go here! The 2020 Eager Beaver presale starts Wednesday, September 22nd at noon PT, and the 2021 Outside Lands Ticket Holder presale begins Thursday, September 23rd at noon PT. Those passholders should be getting an email with a passcode shortly. If there are any tickets left, the general public gets their shot Friday, September 24th at noon PT. Good luck!
Habibi was one of like five bands to get to complete their 2020 tour before the world shut down. And their good fortune did not end there… Anywhere But Here landed the band on a slew of year-end lists, enough to get the attention of the legendary label Kill Rock Stars, which is AMAZING news because there were six years between the band’s self-titled debut and second record!
While the band is in the studio working on LP #3, they have treated us with an EP of cover songs from some of their favorite performers. The first single is a cover of the Kleenex classic “Nice,” translated into Farsi by lead singer Rahill Jamalifard. The EP, called Nice Try, will be ready for your ears very soon. You can watch this countdown clock with bated breath like I have to know the minute it’s read! And they are also going on tour! Check out the dates below: Continue reading “EP Preview: “Nice Try” by Habibi AND TOUR DATES”
In mid-July, legendary art-rockers The Residents announced the “Dog Stab!” tour, a 22-date run around the US to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their first live performance (in 1971!). A month later, they cancelled all except for three California shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz “due to continued concerns about the spread of Covid-19 cases from the Delta variant”. The show in San Francisco also served as the reopening of the historic Castro Theatre, which has been closed since March 2020, and Spinning Platters was invited to attend!
The eyes have it: Chastain shines in Bakker biopic
Andrew Garfield is Jim Bakker and Jessica Chastain is Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
“If you follow blindly, in the end all you are is blind,” Tammy Faye Bakker’s mother Rachel tells her daughter in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. As directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick; Hello My Name is Doris), the film, while heavy on the eye imagery, largely glosses over just how blind Tammy Faye actually was to her husband Jim’s defrauding of the couple’s vast televangelist ministry. Nevertheless, the picture is still a lot of fun, and features a showstopping turn from a nearly unrecognizable Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye.
You know your gonna get a real burner of a track when the video opens up with T-Bone Burnett riding in a vintage car. This song, off Adia Victoria’s latest full-length LP A Southern Gothic, which lands in stores and DSPs TODAY, is fierce and fiery. It’s classic southern blues, with that signature T-Bone Burnett spooky reverb and Adia Victoria’s potent vocal. If you are looking for a classic murder ballad when you need that hit of catharsis, this one is for you.
Just a quick heads up- if you missed your shot at Outside Lands tickets in the Spring, they are putting a small number of 3-Day and single-day GA tickets on sale TOMORROW! That’s Thursday, 9/16, at 10 am PST. Go here to snag your tickets!
Also, tomorrow happens to also be the last day to start your vaccine schedule be fully inoculated in time for the fest! Outside Lands will be requiring either proof of vaccination or a negative test taken within 48 hours of the event. More info can be found here about their health & safety policy!
The beauty of bringing a new body of work out on tour is that it allows the artist to find new ways to connect with their own music, oftentimes giving space for a song or collection of songs to grow and evolve. The performer-audience dynamic allows for both the fan and the songwriter to find new meaning and new layers in a piece of work.
Sadly, many of the best records of 2020 never got that chance to grow with an audience. I’ve spent the better part of a year and a half longing to hear what happens with Diet Cig’s Do You Wonder About Me? once given the chance for a live audience to take it in. Although that has yet to happen, the band has found numerous ways to reconnect with the songs and connect to fans without the opportunity to bring it live. They have done filmed livestreams. They’ve commissioned artists to reinterpret the album as a zine. And now they are blessing us with I Don’t Like Driving Like I Used To, and EP of alternate takes of tracks from Do You Wonder… that were recorded during this ever so lengthy quarantine.
This companion to a genius record is coming your way October 1st. You can presave your copy on your favorite streaming platform immediately.
Also breathing new life into their 2020 release is Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Temples is probably Thao’s most electric record to date, and like the Diet Cig album, a record that helped ease me through the despair of the last 19 months. On October 29th, she is bringing us Temples – Deluxe Edition, where she strips four Temples standout tracks free of the electronic elements and lays them down on acoustic instruments accompanied by strings, no doubt inspired by her neighbors that she introduced us to during her Tiny Desk Concert.
Preorders of Temples – Deluxe Edition will begin soon!
La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) tries to connect with Bill (Oscar Isaac).
In Paul Schrader’s new offering The Card Counter, the venerable writer/director proves that exploring the question of why humans can never quite find real connection will always make for worthwhile, if somewhat challenging viewing.Continue reading “Film Review: “The Card Counter””
