Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
This week in The Bay Area we have music from across the Pacific Ocean, from across the Atlantic Ocean, and more. International travel is neat these days.
And now, previews. Preview time. It is time for us to preview. Let’s preview. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 2016-05-02 — 2016-05-08”
When you’re an internationally-successful musical act that bends and shapes a genre as complex and intricate as psytrance, how do you keep your work from becoming stagnant, in this ever-shifting world of electronic music with its seemingly endless count of subgenres? You’ve got a lot of competition in the field as 2011 draws to a close. There are the arena-filling behemoths like Tiësto and deadmau5, whose light and projection show rivals that of a second-world country’s first celebration of independence. There are the up-and-coming acts, who manage to pack a dancefloor with just a simple mixer and/or MIDI pad and a laptop chock full of cutting edge software and samples. To break the mold of the constant onslaught of knob twiddlers and fader pushers, it becomes necessary to add a human element and violently active energy to your stage show. It therefore should come as no surprise that Israeli psytrance heavyweights Infected Mushroom decided to move out from behind the keyboards and up to the front of the stage a few years back, and their November appearance at the Fillmore proved that their dynamite performance energy hasn’t dwindled in the slightest — if anything, it’s gotten even wilder than before.
Dakin’s in Florida this week, so when he sent me his Bay Area concert guide for this week, it was a bunch of shows happening in the Tampa Bay Area. I know some of you would fly down to Tampa to see Styx, REO Speedwagon and Night Ranger share the stage at the state fairgrounds on Friday night, but most of you want to know what’s happening back here in the San Francisco Bay Area. So I’ve scrapped Dakin’s otherwise useful column (Attack Attack! at the State Theater in St Pete? We’re there!) and brought you some shows to check out here at home. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide To Bay Area Concerts: October 28th-November 3rd”
I listen to a lot of music on Lala.com. It’s a great way to find new artists on new album day. But you have to sift through a lot of crap. Since I’ve been wading in music-waste for the past few months, it was suggested that I’d be a great guide as to what to skip and what to enjoy. These reviews will be by no means professional. Just one dude listening to music and reacting. Continue reading “New Release Round-Up, 9/8/09 — 31 Instant Album Reviews”