Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
There were more reasons to visit The Greek Theater last Saturday night than a mere love of ampersands. It was a rare night at The Greek where the weather was absolutely perfect- not too warm, not too cold. The early signs of the upcoming “Super Moon” were in the the sky. The crowd, a bit older than expected, and happily ironic mustache-free, arrived early enough to make sure they enjoyed every act on the bill.
I know a lot of you are sad that you didn’t win tickets to the Converse Represent shows at Slim’s. Fear not, as there is plenty of excellent rock to go with your roll this week! (Or you can follow them on twitter for another shot at winning)
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 6/20/13-6/26/13”
I sent out an email to everyone from Spinning Platters that went to the Treasure Island Music Festival on Sunday. I asked them to send me back something about their favorite act from the day. From some people, I got nothing, but from nearly everyone who responded, I got the same news. Belle & Sebastian was their favorite act. So you’re about to read mainly a Belle & Sebastian love-fest, and look at a whole lot of pictures of Monotonix. And other than the rainy, windy, cold conditions and some energetic sets from Surfer Blood, Superchunk and Rogue Wave, that’s my biggest takeaway, too. Continue reading “Staff Picks from Treasure Island Music Festival — Sunday 10/17/2010”
When Zooey Deschanel walked on stage in a sparkly dress you would have thought it was the next messiah walking out to greet her followers. In a weird way I guess she is the messiah of sweet indie-ness. Between her movie career and the success of She & Him, Zooey Deschanel is the It girl of indie rock. She certainly looked the part at The Fox: bouncy perfect hair, cute make-up, black tights and kitten heels, but what really sold the show was her voice. From the first note it was strong, clear and emotive, and for the next hour and a half it was glorious. Continue reading “Show Review: She & Him with The Chapin Sisters at The Fox Oakland, 5/29/10”
Every have one of those days where you can’t think of anything witty? Today is one of those days… Time to go see some live music to get inspired…
Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 5/27/10-6/2/10”
Truth time. This review is two weeks late and way beyond the relevant date for any She & Him fan. So I’m not going to write it for a fan, I’m going to write it for all you people who say Zooey Deschanel can’t sing or that She & Him is boring dreck. Because I think you’re wrong and if you are actually willing to have an open mind about it, you might change your mind.
When I first started listening to Volume Two and pondering the angle for my review I did my usual pre-writing ritual: hours of procrastinating on the internet. I ended up in one of my favourite places: ONTD (Oh No They Didn’t on livejournal.com for those not in the know). I was surprised by the amount of hate being spewed in She & Him’s direction, and started to wonder why. So I’ll take the negative comments posted to this entry, and do my best to prove them wrong. Continue reading “Defending Zooey: A Review of She & Him Volume Two”
‘Tis the season to be bombarded with more requisite year-end “Best of” and “Top Album” lists than one person could ever possibly absorb. MOG took notice and created a list culled from over eight hundred blogs that are affiliated with their network. On the other hand, Pitchfork found it necessary to add in a section titled “Honorable Mention” on top of their “Top 50 Albums” roundup. To top it all off, as the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, we have a whole new beast to contend with: The “Best of the Decade” lists. Do not get me started with how completely and totally out of touch Billboard magazine is with the current musical landscape. Nickelback is not the ‘band of the decade.’
Instead, I’d like to take this opportunity to look towards, not to mention forward, to the future. From what I’ve heard throughout the musical blogosphere of strategically leaked singles, 2010 is going to be an incredible year for releases from some of my favorite artists. This revelation alone has inspired me to share a list of my twenty most anticipated albums that will be legally available in the first few months of next year. One honorable mention goes to a band I personally don’t care for too much but most everyone else seems to go crazy over. Without further ado, here we go….
Continue reading “Looking Forward: My Twenty Most Anticipated Albums for 2010”