Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
I had only a passing familiarity with School of Seven Bells before it was suggested I would like them. I believe I was told, “If you like Murder By Death, you should check out School of Seven Bells.” That’s a poor “RIYL,” but it turned out fine in the end. Still, this is a band that needs my help to take their show to the next level. I hope they’re listening. Continue reading “Show Review: School of Seven Bells, Warpaint and Phantogram at Slim’s 10/6/09”
A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about what makes a show a “good” show, or a “great” show, and what makes for an “incredible” show. We came to the following consensus: a “good” or “great” show is one you go to because you know and love the band, and you will be there to sing every note of their songs until your throat is hoarse. An “incredible” show may include elements of a “great” show, but more often than not, it will be more than 50% surprise and unexpectedness; it’s even more incredible when it is able to knock even the casual listener off their feet.
So, to preface this review: Fever Ray gave an incredible performance. Continue reading “Show Review: Fever Ray at The Regency Center”
It will be a bit surprising to regular readers of this site that last night was my first ever visit to Hotel Utah, but I finally made it over there to see The Postmarks and Brookville for an early Tuesday night show. When I arrived, a sign announced that Brookville’s lead singer had a family emergency, and instead, the other members of the band would be performing as Saturday Club. Having never heard Brookville before, I found myself unable to be too disappointed, although I had been hoping to check them out as well. Continue reading “Show Review: The Postmarks and Saturday Club at Hotel Utah, 9/29/09”
Last night David Byrne hosted an event for the “29th Annual Literary Events Series Benefiting the 826 Valencia College Scholarship Program” on “Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around.” Also on the forum was Mike Teitz, a Senior Fellow and former Director of Research at the Public Policy Institute of California, David Chiu, the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Leah Shahum, the Director of the San Francisco Bike Coalition. I came not having read his book, Bicycle Diaries, or ever having ridden a bicycle in San Francisco. So, I felt like a bit of an outsider. But I don’t have a car and I am as big a supporter of bicycles as anyone who hasn’t owned a bike in ten years. Also, I like David Byrne and I am interested enough in what he has to say, on most subjects, to come out on a weeknight. Continue reading “David Byrne Talks About Bicycles, Herbst Theater, 9/29/09”
When TV On The Radio announced that they were going to “take a break for a year or so,” every music critic on earth wept. Mostly because we are going to go through 2009 and 2010 without a bona-fide record of the year. Yes, TVotR released the best records of 2004, 2006, and 2008. (All apologies to 2002’s OK Calculator- you were still finding your footing.) But I believe that after all that hard work and genius deserves a vacation. I’d rather the band take a break now than break up completely later.
It seems that these guys don’t take vacationing very well. David Sitek has been taking on many extra production assignments, and vocalist Tunde Adebimpe is working on a record with Mike Patton. Despite all this, the prize for the quickest end to the vacation goes to guitarist/harmony vocalist Kyp Malone. Merely five weeks after the announcement of the break, Malone released a solo album called Rain Machine and quickly assembled a four-piece backup band to take it on the road. This show at The Independent marks the fourth performance of this band with an audience.
Continue reading “Show Review: Rain Machine, Diane Cluck at The Independent, 9/28/09”
Seeing Living Colour and Fishbone on the same bill is my 1991 fever dream. Put Primus on there, too, and I may have passed out from excitement. As it is, I was pretty darned excited to be seeing these bands together. While I’d seen Living Colour a couple of times recently, I hadn’t checked in on Fishbone for more than a dozen years. I was ready for a loud funky night in the city. Continue reading “Show Review: Living Colour and Fishbone at The Regency Center, 9/25/09”
Pet Shop Boys concerts exist in their own universe. A universe of abstract expressionism, interpretative dance, avant-garde fashion, modular sets and (for this tour anyway) Adidas sports wear. They are such elaborate productions that the Pet Shop Boys themselves are almost accessories in their own shows. But that’s how it should be. From the very beginning they knew their minimalistic style couldn’t carry an entire concert. So they hired world class dancers and set designers to produce dazzling abstract synthpoperas. Continue reading “Show Review: Pet Shop Boys at The Warfield, 9/23/09”
What I learned last night: when going to a live Bon Iver show, it’s best to not have any expectations.
What I saw at the Fillmore last night went far beyond anything I imagined. It’s not that he had some stage act or any gimmicks; the tracks you love will be drastically different, but in an amazing way.
Bon Iver made a point to smash my expectation of a purely acoustic set, into a mixture of sounds and methods. Distortion, thumping bass, electric-slide guitars, ROCKING, respect-gathering falsettos, crowd participation, and delicate acoustic sets were what he served me up. I ate it up and was left wanting more. Continue reading “Show Review: Bon Iver at The Fillmore, 9/22/09”
Titus Andronicus is one of the unofficial official bands of Spinning Platters. This is because we saw them four times at SXSW last year, and hatched the idea for this blog upon our return. It got to the point where we were pretty sure they were sick of seeing us, even though we hadn’t tired of seeing them. So when we saw they were playing at Bottom of the Hill on Monday night, we recorded our podcast and headed right over.
Continue reading “Show Review: Titus Andronicus and The So So Glos at Bottom of the Hill, 9/21/09”
Ever since I was introduced to The Gaslight Anthem and their brilliant breakthrough album, The ’59 Sound, I’ve wanted to see them live. I missed a couple of chances due to unsolvable conflicts, but last night I finally got the chance. As a devoted reviewer, I got there plenty early to check out the three opening bands as well. Four bands on one bill can be a bit much, especially for a Sunday night. So how did it all go in the end? Continue reading “Show Review: The Gaslight Anthem, Murder By Death, The Loved Ones and Frank Turner at The Fillmore, 9/20/09”