Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
If you heard Adam Driver belt out “Being Alive” in Marriage Story two years ago and thought to yourself, “Wow, I sure wish I could hear Adam Driver sing more,” well then you’re in luck. The musical Annette opens today, and Driver warbles his way throughout, so if you’re into that, go check it out. But for the rest of us, be warned: this overly long, joyless rock opera is no fun, and a chore to sit through.
Just over two years ago, timeless whimsical art-pop duo Sparks made their first appearance in the Bay Area in years, in the form of a stripped-down two-man show that spanned the entire course of their career. What probably WASN’T immediately well known, however, was the presence of members of another band at at least one of those very same shows: Alex Kapranos and the other musicians of Franz Ferdinand, who watched the show as regular members of the audience (and then joined the boys backstage after the gig). This wasn’t the first time that Ron and Russel Mael, the brothers of Sparks, had discussed working with the Glasgow rockers, but this gathering became the impetus to make something even bigger — and less than a year after those concerts, the supergroup FFS (named for the bands that make it up) was formed, with their eponymous album cranked out a few months later. The album and the band are their own unique experiences; FFS has a playfulness that recalls the best work of Sparks, which blends smartly with the bombastic showmanship of a big rock show — the sort of thing that Franz Ferdinand is well known for. Lest fans be worried that there’s a clear divide between the two groups, the truth couldn’t be more clear: the two sets of musicians play off of each other marvelously, and when it all comes together under one roof, the FFS live show is a different experience all by itself.
Continue reading “Show Review: FFS at the Fox Oakland, 10/15/2015”
For our holiday episode of the Spinning Platters podcast (released after the holiday), Dakin, Gordon, and D.P. welcome Amy Miller of Sonic Living to talk about some of our favorite Christmas songs before going into an in-depth discussion of Sonic Living, which of course leads us off in a million different directions. Click the giant button on the left to subscribe, or you can download or listen below. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Podcast Episode 12 — The gift of Sonic Living”