Coming off of a whirlwind Wasteland Weekend experience mere days before, I grabbed my camera and jumped right in to Adult Swim’s inaugural Adult Swim Festival. Taking place in DTLA’s The Row next to the now vacant American Apparel factory, the festival showcased Adult Swim’s animation and television series while musicians and comedians who have worked in some capacity with the company, performed back to back on two cat-themed stages across the long stretch of pavement from each other. The next two days were jam packed with non-stop entertainment featuring a plethora of artists that I was experiencing for the first time both sonically and visually.
Is it too early to call it? Sleater-Kinney’s latest may be 2015’s best.
Don’t call it a comeback. It’s just worth acknowledging that years have passed since the forecast for upcoming releases has been this bright. Here’s hoping it doesn’t amount to an audio equivalent of the anticipation and subsequent let down one might experience on New Year’s Eve. Giorgio Moroder (who really made Daft Punk’s latest album a worthwhile listen), The Juliana Hatfield Three, and Sleater-Kinney are just a few of the sorely-missed acts making triumphant, long-awaited returns in 2015.
This list may have grown by twenty additional albums compared to last year, but that doesn’t mean every last major release was included. Sorry to inform you, in advance, that you won’t find the likes of Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson, Fall Out Boy, Fergie Ferg, or Canada’s *pride*/current Calvin Klein cover boy, Justin Bieber listed. Even Mumford & Sons will not be mentioned beyond this sentence. That’s just Spinning Platters allowing me and my subjective musical tastes to run amok. However, there is something here for every musical taste imaginable and as I mentioned at the conclusion, if there was something we must all know about that was overlooked, let it be known in the comments.
Read on, discover some new gems, and get an overview of what to expect this coming year. I’ve even included links to lead-off tracks where they’re available and, of course, my own witless banter when absolutely necessary. Happy New Year of listening.
Kitten are, hands down, one of the top 10 live bands I’ve ever seen. Frontwoman Chloe Chaidez is the most fearless woman I’ve ever seen take to the stage. Sometimes I’m amazed that she is still alive, considering the type of torture she puts her body through on stage. This is their first time in the Bay Area since the release of their first full length record (after three excellent EPs). Their eponymous debut is a fun collection of synth pop songs with infectious hooks, and I highly recommend it. Although the live show is really the bread & butter with this band.
Kid Koala capped off my Friday evening, and I wasn't drunk. He really was wearing a koala suit. (Kid Koala action photos by David Price.)
What you might be thinking is, “why does he get to write all of his Noise Pop comments in one post when everyone else did full reviews of each night they went?” From an excuse standpoint, I’ll just say that I’ve been so busy editing posts, resizing & captioning photos, and redesigning the website, I decided to give myself a little slack. (Editor’s privilege?) But really, this all started because of Wednesday night.
They're outside, but they're at the show. Confused? Read on.
At least for a couple hours, it’s Dan Deacon’s show and we just live in it. You know it right from the beginning; from before the show even, considering his reputation. The acts before him were pretty straightforward players (save for Ed Schrader’s Music Beat but more on that soon) but Deacon breaks it from the get-go: starts a piece that gets the crowd all riled up, plays just a few seconds and then abruptly stops “Okay that works,” he says. What a tease. Continue reading “Noise Pop Show Review: Dan Deacon with Altars, Oona and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat at The Independent, 2/22/2011”
As we all know, tackling a festival like Noise Pop can be tough… There’s a lot if different things to do, and you know that they are all awesome, but how do we know which events are most awesomest of all? Well, since I am of great personal taste, you should simply obey my guidelines, and then you can do no wrong.
A different gang of four guys is playing at The Fillmore this weekend.
Next week is Noise Pop! If you’re not excited about Noise Pop for some reason, get excited about it! Look left, right now, see the pretty advertisement for the festival, click on it, and buy some tickets to something. But if you’re some sort of meany who hates Noise Pop and everything they stand for, there’s still plenty of shows for the likes of you. We don’t support the skipping of Noise Pop, but we do appreciate the variety of shows available this coming week. You can dance, wear purple, or be a black emperor. It’s a doozy!
When the darkness finally arrived on Treasure Island on Saturday night, I decided it was time to put the camera and notebook down, and just dance. So nighttime at Treasure Island, as seen through my eyes, is a lot of disconnected sweaty memories. That is, of course, until I tried to leave the island, which turned out to be a lot tougher than I thought. Continue reading “Treasure Island Festival Diary, Part 2: 10/17/09 Nighttime”
The day is finally here for the Treasure Island Music Festival! This morning, I woke up with an extra bounce in my step which disappeared quickly as I started packing my backpack. Camera? Check. Laptop? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Now off to take the long public transit adventure to Treasure Island for a day of music and fun in the sun in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Continue reading “Treasure Island Festival Diary, Part 1: 10/17/09 Daylight”
