Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Do you know what today is? It is Leif Erickson Day here in the USA. Let us celebrate explorers as well as arbitrarily-horned helmets.
Also, the Litquake festival begins in San Francisco! A solid day for a book about explorers.
After that’s done with, let’s look at the concerts coming up this week in the Bay Area. Skol, let’s preview! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts: 10/9/15-10/14/15”
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.
Thus begins my daunting task of compressing the highlights of 35 hours worth of music, comedy, and food into a mere three posts. It’s not easy, as this was definitely one of my favorite Outside Lands experiences ever, with the most even distribution of wonderful things to do that I’ve ever enjoyed from this shindig. Here’s how it all started:
I took to the internet this morning to start discussing the Outside Lands headliners and lineup with the Bay Area music nerds, and to get some instant reactions from the Spinning Platters staffers. The 2014 Outside Lands lineup doesn’t look like every other festival lineup happening this summer, and that’s no surprise. We’ve always been able to count on the festival to provide different headliners from every other festival. How else can you stand out when everyone else is booking the same ten bands? Continue reading “Instant Reactions to the 2014 Outside Lands Lineup”
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”
[Editor’s Note: Spinning Platters does not actually encourage the murder of pop stars.]
I really can’t stand Kanye West. The character that he has created, the socially awkward egotist, comes off unnatural and a bit bothersome. He has become an icon that is bigger than the music he creates, which is generally a bit boring. His emotional outbursts in the beginning were funny, but now are just embarrassing. I agree that George W. Bush may not care about black people, but I don’t think Kanye was looking to make a statement, he was looking for a soundbite.
I should not be so judgmental. He may even be a nice guy! So, I will do the Christian thing and compile a list of six things that Kanye West has done that I believe are good things.
Thus begins my six reasons not to kill Kanye West:
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Picks Six: Reasons Not To Kill Kanye West”
I know, right, a hip-hop record leaking, impossible! NO, really it did. Despite the fact that Jay-Z traveled all the way to Hawaii to record, the Blueprint 3 is still leaked, someone must have got on an air craft with a copy, what is the TSA doing! Continue reading “Album Review: Jay Z — The Blueprint 3”