Keep Live Alive: SF Sketchfest & Noise Pop Open Their Archives

Before the COVID Virus decided to destroy life as we know it in the Bay Area, we were lucky enough to get to enjoy two of the best festivals the Bay has to offer: SF Sketchfest and Noise Pop. Both fests had banner years, and as a thank you to the venues that helped make them happen year after year, both SF Sketchfest and Noise Pop are opening up their rich archives of great shows. This gives you the opportunity to either relive these shows, or if you couldn’t make it, actually get to enjoy shows you missed, and all to raise money for these venues so they can reopen once the pandemic is contained, as well as other local charities!

Continue reading “Keep Live Alive: SF Sketchfest & Noise Pop Open Their Archives”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-04-15 – 2016-04-20

A Storm will be looming over San Francisco this week, bringing rainbows and songs.
A Storm will be looming over San Francisco this week, bringing rainbows and songs.
Happy Tax Day! One of the two sure things. OK, so let’s turn in the paperwork and then let’s go to a concert.

Preview time, guys. This week in the Bay Area, we have natural events, nouns, piercings, and a tradition that Louis Pasteur likely might not have smiled upon. But you never know.

And so we preview. Preview time. Let’s preview. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-04-15 — 2016-04-20”

From Beck to The Boss, here are 70+ albums to look forward to in 2014

If there was one thing the contributing writers, and staff, of Spinning Platters agreed on during our annual gathering to determine the best albums of the year, it was that 2013 was a bit underwhelming for music. The silver lining in what was mostly a mundane, forgettable time for music was that a lot of women broke through and achieved some well-deserved recognition. Daft Punk and Deltron 3030 returned after a near-decade hiatus and did not disappoint. Still, the fact that Miley’s antics garnered any attention, whatsoever, and were even considered “interesting” didn’t exactly bode well for collective musical output.

It’s time to move forward and hope for a better turnout these next 350-plus days (some of us are still recovering/getting acclimated, thank you). If you’ve noticed a pattern in titles such as “50 must-hear albums coming your way in 2014,” with an emphasis on the staggering figure, from other publications, it’s because, well, there are already that many hotly-anticipated releases to look forward to in the coming year. Of course, there are more to be found here because we’re delightfully (right?) exhaustive (in case you haven’t noticed our other, alternative best-of-2013 round-ups).

This list offers an alternate variation on what has already been published by the likes of SPIN and Consequence of Sound; but if there’s one thing we can all agree on, we’re stoked for the return of Beck. Not included: soundtracks, EPs, reissues, and live recordings. Special thanks goes out to Pause & Play, a wonderful, consistently updated resource for new album releases on the horizon. Without further ado, here are the anticipated links – some with videos, links to singles, and even full album streams. Enjoy.

Continue reading “From Beck to The Boss, here are 70+ albums to look forward to in 2014”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/25/13-5/1/13

grownmantypennington

Looking for a better time than a bath tub full of rubber duckies? Look no further!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/25/13-5/1/13”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/28/2010-11/3/2010

Eat'n Park cookie FTW.

Check out the spooky array of shows happening around the Bay Area as pumpkin month gives way to turkey month.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 10/28/2010-11/3/2010”

Show Review: Built To Spill at Slim’s, 7/15/2010

Frontguy and basketball enthusiast Doug Martsch at work.

Had Built To Spill been resting on their laurels?

The two previous albums before the current There Is No Enemy LP displayed what could be construed as the gentle complacency of an aging NBA star on a team going into the rebuilding process: a few gems here-and-there to remind us what they were capable of, but a general sense of the motivation just not being there.

Doug Martsch‘s band had released several albums and tracks widely regarded as classics: the Perfect From Now On LP; songs like “Car,” “You Were Right,” and the gorgeous, haunting “Randy Described Eternity.” He’d spearheaded and mastered his own brand of good-natured wide-striding heavily-layered swirling guitar-heroics-based indie rock. Now what?

What would it look like if Boise’s second-favorite export had something to prove?

San Francisco got the answer when Built To Spill took the stage at Slim’s.

Continue reading “Show Review: Built To Spill at Slim’s, 7/15/2010”

New Release Round Up, 10/6/09 – 28 Instant Album Reviews

Is it Christmas album season already?  Oy vey.
Is it Christmas album season already?

I was super busy with work this week. I tried squeezing in more music but just couldn’t. A lot of my time was spent listening to lame music. I will redeem myself next week. Continue reading “New Release Round Up, 10/6/09 — 28 Instant Album Reviews”

Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 4 – Outside Lands Festival

We're getting psyched for this weekend
We're getting psyched for this weekend

Episode 4 of the Spinning Platters podcast is now available below, and in iTunes.  Dakin, Gordon and D.P. are joined on this episode by Carlos Rodela of Mevio.  You can see him weekly on Rad on the Web and Press Pause, or hear him below.  This week’s topics are:

  • What we’ve been listening to
  • Outside Lands Festival Cage Match — We put bands playing at the same time up against each other to decide who you should be seeing
  • Rad on the Web, and what other joy you’ll find on the Mevio Tech channel

Click on to listen, or even better,  subscribe to the Spinning Platters podcast on iTunes. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast: Episode 4 — Outside Lands Festival”