review – Page 4 – Spinning Platters

Album Review: Fanfarlo – Let’s Go Extinct

Rating: Bronze+
On their third full length, Let’s Go Extinct, London’s Fanfarlo deliver their most ambitious and yet most distant and uneven album to date. Though the album is well produced and performed to perfection, the music falls flat due to Fanfarlo’s reluctance to take the risks necessary to set them apart in a crowded genre. This seems like a paradox when the band is taking on bigger themes with even bigger production, but for all the grandeur at the surface, there are no new or imaginative takes on the genre nor is there any genre defining moment that would solidify Fanfarlo as an important part of the Baroque pop scene. Instead, the album bogged down by mediocre songs and overwrought imagery. That’s not to say the album lacks imagination or is devoid of musical highlights; it’s just that the album, as a whole, fails to deliver upon its ambitious promises.

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SF Sketchfest Review: Celebrity Autobiography: The Music Edition on 2/8/2014

This year, I seem to have been a little cursed when trying to get to a Sketchfest show at Marines Memorial Theatre. I had two events there this year, and both times, I couldn’t avoid being late. The first time, I missed most of the show due to insane traffic. This past weekend, I missed fifteen or twenty minutes because I had to make a choice: leave the day’s first event (The Benson Movie Interruption: “Twilight: New Moon,” something I looked forward to all year long) early, or take my chances with being late to event number two. I opted for the latter, rushing out in the rain to my car, across town, and to do my best to quickly find parking near the venue. Even so, I was late and there was nothing to be done about it except sit down, shut up, and enjoy the rest of the show. I’ve requested to review Celebrity Autobiography before: Rachel Dratch, Fred Willard, Florence Henderson, Pamela Adlon… Need I say more? Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Celebrity Autobiography: The Music Edition on 2/8/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Megan Mullally in Concert with her band Nancy and Beth on 1/31/2014

Stephanie Hunt and Megan Mullally are Nancy and Beth.

One of the best things about SF Sketchfest is that it brings fantastic comedic talent we might not otherwise have a lot of opportunity to see right here to the Bay Area. For example, Megan Mullally. The woman is equal parts brilliantly funny and beautiful. I’ve been a fan of hers since Will & Grace, though admittedly haven’t followed her career as closely as perhaps I should have. That’s why I’d never heard of her musical act (a duo with funny girl Stephanie Hunt, who I know from How to Live with Your Parents…, Californication, and Friday Night Lights), Nancy and Beth.Anyway, thanks to Sketchfest’s awesome musical offerings, I was able to catch their set last Friday night at SF’s JCC with the utterly wonderful and hilarious opener The Lampshades, and one night was all it took to make a fan out of me! Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Megan Mullally in Concert with her band Nancy and Beth on 1/31/2014”

Album Review: Soft Cotton County – The Man Who Walked on the Moon EP

Hi, this review isn’t Troy McClure. You may remember this EP from such Spinning Platters posts as “Individual Writers’ Lists: The Best Albums of 2013.” You’ll see there I made this my second-favorite record of 2013. And it’s an EP, so it is a breeze to listen to.

I have a … soft spot in my heart for Soft Cotton County. They’ve straddled the line between ambient and indie pop for about four years now. Some call it “dreampop.” I call it “cloudcore.” You can, too, but no one will know what you’re talking about. They’ve been firing out an EP roughly once per year, although a full-length may be in the works soon. We’ll see. Continue reading “Album Review: Soft Cotton County – The Man Who Walked on the Moon EP“

Album Review: Painted Palms – Forever

San Francisco based duo Painted Palms thrive in a world of disconnection. Whether it be their creative process, in which members Reese Donohue and Christopher Prudhomme write independently and then collaborate over the internet, or their lyrical content, which dwells upon the things that cannot be communicate. Painted Palms writes about the kind of isolation that can only be a product of this digital age. Yet this isolation rarely feels like a prison. From the propulsive guitars in “Hypnotic” to the saccharine psych pop of the title track “Forever” these songs ooze with curiosity and imagination.
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Show Review: Kate Nash, Emmy The Great at The Fillmore 11/22/13

Kate Guitar1.jpg — All Photos by Michelle Viray

Oh great music philosophers, Sorockcrates and Rufus (yes dudes, I went there), I beseech thee. Is there ever a good answer to the following question? Do you want your favorite artists to evolve or stay the same?

Unless you move to a desert island accompanied by your top ten albums of all time, there probably is no good answer. But like anything, we must realize, no matter how much you want your adorable puppy to stay that adorable puppy, it’s going to grow up. Being “excellent to each other” requires room for growth. Without growth, the chance for something even greater might as well be stuck in a phone booth stuck traveling through time. So unless you’re one of those people who go to great lengths to breed puppy versions of dogs (I’m looking at you desert island folk), I implore you to keep an open mind.

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Show Review: Cults at The Fillmore, 11/13/13

Stuck in a Cults-like Trance

Give me the big show. When it comes to a live musical performance, I always want the big show. The greeting. The city salutation. The witty banter. Comments on the venue. The running dialogue. The background on what the song is about. The “we were in L.A. last night and the crowd here tonight is definitely louder than last night” bit. The impromptu jump into the crowd OR the planned jump on to stage-set speakers. The call and response. The encouragement also known as “feel free to sing this song with us if you know the words!” I call it: the big show.

Now, the big show doesn’t have to be all those things. The big show can be subtle, humble, and true to the band. It should serve as a way for the audience to connect to the music through the performers. The big show doesn’t always have to include fancy pyrotechnics or multiple confetti guns, lest you think I bring a Flaming Lips-only / Wayne Coyne-and-thousands of red balloons-on Halloween bias to the table. What I always like about a live performance is the fact that it’s unique. There is something to be said for raw talent but I also believe there is something to be said for engaging a crowd when it comes to a live performance. I believe the big show should match the band and should get the audience closer to the music and to the performers.
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Let’s Not Make This Awkward: A Survey of Dave Chappelle and Bill Cosby

I laid there comfortably. I was coming off of some great painkillers thanks to a little minor surgery and moving had become a bother. It was beautiful outside but I had settled into a 6-hour marathon of ‘The Cosby Show’. It was one of my favorite episodes where Claire Huxtable tries to lose weight to fit into a dress as Debbie Allen played her no-nonsense trainer. The episodes fluctuated between seasons: from Rudy young to Rudy pre-teen from Lisa Bonet’s short ‘do to her long, flowing, dread-full (see what I did there) locks. I even experienced a little ‘jump-the-shark’ Olivia. I was enthralled. The episodes were funny, heart-warming, and insightful. They were timeless.

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Show Review: The Julie Ruin with La Sera at Slim’s, 9/18/13

All photos by Kara Murphy. Check out the full gallery here!

The last time Kathleen Hanna performed music in San Francisco was over 8 years ago, opening for Beck at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. It was the first time I had gotten a chance to see her, after being consistently sold out of gigs for most of my life. Their 45 minute set was excellent, but I kept wanting more. I wanted a crowd that cared. Alas, I had to wait nearly a decade to see the woman that coined the phrases “Riot Grrl,” “Girl Power,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” play a full set of music. Sure, I really wanted a Bikini Kill reunion, but getting her to dig up her old Julie Ruin moniker with fellow Bikini Killer Kathi Wilcox on board was a suitable replacement.

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Album Review: The Julie Ruin – Run Fast

The Julie Ruin will make existing Julie Ruin fans happy, as well as the younger siblings, nieces, and nephews of said fans. “Run Fast” is occasionally brilliant and rarely annoying. I had really high expectations, and they were almost met, with the tracks at the end of the album sounding about 20x better than the pre-release singles.

This paragraph is dedicated for some information fans may already know. Kathleen Hanna was a one-woman show using a pseudonym when she released the self-titled “Julie Ruin” in 1997. It was tremendous, but it was also the only release under that name. Fast forward 16 years, and Hanna leads a group called “the Julie Ruin,” who have released an album called “Run Fast.” Whether this has anything to do with Le Tigre’s “Let’s Run” is beyond me.

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