Alternately titled: How I got in to Two Sold Out Yeasayer Shows in New York City, A Tale of Happiness & Triumph
One of the biggest challenges a music writer can face is writing about a band you adore. Sometimes you like something so much that the task of describing it is an overwhelming pressure. You [...]

If you want some idea of what I’ve been up to/where I’ve been hiding, you can tune in to East Village Radio tomorrow (Monday, Oct. 5th) morning, to hear me DJ the Domino Records Show from 10am – 12pm (EST).
You can also listen to the last couple shows I DJed by going to the archive [...]

I’m truly sorry T-Sides and all related projects have been offline for so long. Chalk it up to summer, chalk it up to a quarter-life crisis, chalk it up to any sorry excuse for life taking us away from the things we love that require any amount of work. But let’s turn the focus on [...]

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Time flies when it’s summer in New York City… though, truth be told, my professional life has been the focus, leaving little time for labors of love such as this one. But we’re not dead, so please don’t forget us. Just on a temporary [...]

Former MK Ultra front-man and current solo artist/singer-songwriter John Vanderslice is nothing if not consistent. At his “worst,” Vanderslice is simply pleasant — at his best, he’s transcendent.
It’s been awhile since he’s hit transcendence, though. Since Cellar Door, arguably his most alluring and diverse album, he’s lost a bit of the aesthetic and lyrical punch [...]

“You are no longer a river to me,” Miles Seaton sings on “River,” the new single from Akron/Family’s upcoming album, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free.
Akron/Family: “River” (download)
He compares his lover to several bodies of water – a docile stream, a glassy bay, a vast and open sea. And though his lover and the element [...]

The album art for Bitte Orca, the Dirty Projectors’ upcoming fifth album, shows band members Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian, their faces painted over in connecting red and blue circles. It harks back to the cover of Slaves’ Graves & Ballads, the band’s 2004 release, which some consider to be their strongest to date. But [...]

Cursive: “From The Hips” (download)
“From the Hips” is one of the tracks that most echoes the band’s earliest sentiments on their excellent new album, Mama, I’m Swollen. Opening slow and somber, front man Tim Kasher wearily sings, “I’m at my best when I’m at my worst,” used as a line on a date in this [...]

First off, I should acknowledge that sharing this song kind of makes me an asshole. “Tightrope” was recently released as a special track for the charity compilation Dark Was The Night, which aims to raise money for AIDS awareness. I listened to it for the first time today and it’s very, very good, and I [...]

A couple weeks ago, I shared an airplane with St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark). I was on my way to San Francisco, and as I discovered a day or so before I left, my long weekend trip coincided with Noise Pop. I scored tickets to see Les Savy Fav, but had plans that kept me [...]