late of the pier – Spinning Platters

Dakin’s SXSW Journal: 47 Instant SXSW Gig Reviews

5542594416_24ce02c858_b — It ain't no party unless the cops show up!

Another SXSW has passed, and this year, I intended on doing a daily diary, but the internet kind of sucked in our hotel, and I also really wanted to sleep, so instead you get this: a big, huge list of everything awesome at SXSW, including some amazing day parties thrown by our friends at Terrorbird, Force Field PR, Ticketfly, SPIN, NPR, and MOG (thanks!), leaving me pretty tired and delirious. For those of you that don’t want to read, I’ll sum it up: Best bands that I’ve never heard of before were Attic Ted, The Death Set, and DOM. The Kills did not kill, but TV On The Radio, Death From Above 1979, and The Dead Milkmen all played great comeback sets. Now, sit back, relax, have a Shiner Bock and read on:

Continue reading “Dakin’s SXSW Journal: 47 Instant SXSW Gig Reviews”

Spinning Platters Presents the Official List of the Top 15 Albums of 2009

She's clearly got the best album cover on our list, but where did her album end up?

by The Spinning Platters Staff

The past month at the Spinning Platters offices (everyone telecommutes) was spent passing albums around to try to determine a staff list of the Top 15 Albums of 2009. We chose 15 because we had 15 voters, so maybe everyone would get one of their pet favorites on the list. There was a nomination step, a finalist selection step, a final voting step, some senior staff picks, and then we had a list. No list is perfect (and we recognize that albums are still coming out this year), but ours is not only pretty darned good, it also manages to represent the wide variety of musical tastes among our team here (i.e. some of us hate some of these albums). Now, read and enjoy The Official List of the Top 15 of 2009. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Presents the Official List of the Top 15 Albums of 2009”

Late of the Pier at Popscene, April 16, 2009

Jack Paradise and Sam Eastgate of Late of the Pier

It’s been one month since I watched the stage crew for Direct TV’s SXSW Bat Bar single handedly tear apart Late of the Pier, oh, and then watch them get the plug pulled on them after three songs at their day show. Needless to say I was more then ready to watch the real thing after the teasers in Austin.

The crowd is ready and aggressive not to lose their hard earned spot up close to the stage which only stands a few feet taller then us. Sequin covered, they emerge from house right. Smiles to me are a good thing; they are ready and so am I. Continue reading “Late of the Pier at Popscene, April 16, 2009”

Gordon Answers Your SXSW 2009 Questions

Dead Sexy Inc bring the rock and roll to SXSW 2009

I sat down to make a top 5 list of my favorite musical moments from South By Southwest 2009, but as I started putting it together, I thought I’d rather just give my comments in each of a few different categories. Read ahead to see:

Which band had the best choreography?
What was the most average performance that suggested a great album?
What band is most likely to cause an indie music nerd pit to break out?
Who was my biggest surprise of the festival?
What band clearly got tired of playing shows and seeing me at them?
What act caused my fanboy drool reflex to start?
Which band needs the most practice to go from interesting to awesome?
Who caused a crowd to go from standoffish to dancing madly?
Which show that I tried to attend got visited by the fuzz?

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