Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
The Wombats’ new album This Modern Glitchhas quickly become my favorite of the year, overtaking all the others on my iPod until it spent two weeks as the only thing I listen to. So on a Friday night after a long week I had high hopes that this would be the perfect night. Continue reading “Show Review: The Wombats with The Tender Box and Wild Party at The Rickshaw, 6/3/11”
Architecture in Helsinki is an unfortunately named band. Whenever I tell people about them, the response I hear has something to do with traveling in Europe. I have to explain that, no, they’re a fun, synth heavy band from Australia. Or more recently, since I’m going to Finland this summer, they’ll think I’m mentioning the architecture in Helsinki, for real. I can’t imagine what they go through. Apart from answering questions about their band name (which they’ve had for years — get over it already), they also come to San Francisco to play shows, including this week at Great American Music Hall.
Roughly a year and a half ago, British post-punk dreamers Echo & the Bunnymen came to American shores for just a few stops to host a darkly gorgeous, orchestra-accompanied performance of their classic album Ocean Rain. No doubt inspired by the success of their tour and the continuing trend of artists who perform full-album sets at their shows, the Liverpool-based quintet was back in town with a similar formula, although taken to a much greater length. This time around, frontman Ian McCulloch and the rest of the crew were performing TWO of their older records — their debut Crocodiles and sophomore effort Heaven Up Here — with a 3-song encore after each. Lest the smallish crowd and the lower capacity of the venue place doubts in the mind of those who passed by the Warfield Theater on Thursday night, the excitement and enthusiasm from the fans was even more fervent than for the band’s Ocean Rain performance, and the group themselves performed with even greater intensity than before.
Continue reading “Show Review: Echo & the Bunnymen with Kelley Stoltz at The Warfield, 5/19/2011”
If you read Spinning Platters with any regularity, you know I love Donald Glover, so let’s just get the personal stuff out of the way now. I spent all day with an increasing sense of agitation waiting to see if I was going to get a pass for the IAMDONALD show at the Fillmore tonight. I got stuck in some angry self-righteous critic reel where I actually thought I deserved a ticket. Well, I did write this review of the preview show. Then I campaigned hard for Donald Glover/Childish Gambino’s album Culdesac to win album of the year in 2010. Then I gave his fans a SXSW award (and missed The Dead Milkmen to see him!). Is it possible this makes me his biggest fan? And is it possible for a show to live up to expectations after all that? Continue reading “Show Review: IAMDONALD tour with Donald Glover/Childish Gambino at The Fillmore, 4/28/11”
I’ve been waiting to see this band for a long, long time. They’re one of my absolute favorites, so when I got my little fan club email about tickets going on sale, I was ALL over it. Like woke up at the crack of dawn over it. Their newest album Zonoscope was just starting to have little early “leaks” that were streamed over the internet. I’ve been beside myself for months… I was going to see Cut Copy on this US tour no matter what. Continue reading “Show Review: Cut Copy with Holy Ghost! at the Regency Ballroom, 4/16 and 4/17/2011”
The 54th annual San Francisco International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday, April 21, bringing with it two weeks of jam-packed film programming until its conclusion on May 5. Special guests and honorees this year include Oliver Stone, Matthew Barney, Zoe Saldana, Clifton Collins Jr., and Christine Vachon. The festival will also feature a live performance of the film scores of Claire Denis by Tindersticks.
For full information, check out the official festival website. But first, look after the jump for our top 15 movies to see this year at the SFIFF.
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Guide to the San Francisco International Film Festival 2011”
The Joy Formidable is a hard band to describe to people. I’ve seen them called “ecstatic dance rock,” “evolutionary shoegaze,” and last night, one extremely drunk fan called them “the best band in the world!” over and over again until the rest of the crowd finally told him to shut up. As an admitted obsessive fan, I’m not sure I have anything particularly wise or witty to add to the conversation, other than an excited “fuck yeah!” in response to the aforementioned drunk fan. That makes me both the right and wrong person to be reviewing the band, so here I go. Continue reading “Show Review: The Joy Formidable with The Lonely Forest at Bottom of the Hill, 4/14/2011”
Keaton Simons has a degree in ethnomusicology (the study of world music). Curtis Peoples calls his style of music “coffee shop/arena rock.” At first glance, these two may seem an odd pair for a mid-week one-night stint at the Hotel Utah. The truth is, though, that the two have been friends (and sharing stages) for years. Both are LA-based singer/songwriters with mostly acoustic sets and guitars, sprinkled with a little piano here and there, and both have been so hard at work on new albums that neither has been to the Bay Area in at least a year. And both have fans that were happy to skip the Giants game in favor of a night’s worth of their music. Continue reading “Show Review: Keaton Simons with Curtis Peoples and Whitney Nichole at Hotel Utah, 4/13/2011”
Scala & Kolacny Brothers need marketing help. They admitted during their set on Tuesday night that the had sold “500,000 units in Europe, and about 50 in the U.S.,” and asked us, “tonight, let’s make it 60!” Part of this is probably due to piracy, but part of this must be name recognition. I told many people beforehand that I was going to see them tonight, and they said, “who?” I said, “Y’know, the group that does the cover of ‘Creep’ from the Social Network trailer.”
“Oh! Them! I bet that’ll be good.” But none of them came. The crowd was made up of people more likely to be seen at a classical music event than at the Independent. But then again, the Independent has proven itself to be a versatile venue. So how would a Belgian choir go over on a cold San Francisco night?
Continue reading “Show Review: Scala & Kolacny Brothers at The Independent, 4/12/2011”
Most of you know Brian from his various comedy roles on shows like Mr. Show and Just Shoot Me, and a few of you might know him as that creepy guys next door who enjoys night-digging. I know him as the funny stoner guy who enjoys vintage arcade games and SF strippers. Continue reading “Show Review: Brian Posehn with Ngaio Bealum at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 4/8/2011”