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 the positives. I’ve certainly continued ingesting and thinking about all things culture-related, just find myself less able to capture the associated thoughts. So, here’s a showcase of Top 15 things that have been on the T-Sides radar while we’ve been dormant (not in order of preference, simply in the order of thought). Click the jump to see!

1. TV on the Radio Remixes – Read Silence

Truth be told, remixes rarely appeal to me. A relationship with a song can be so personal, so intimate, that for it to be broken down into pieces and transformed can be like going to bed with someone you love and waking up next to a stranger. But holy hell, all three remixes on the Read Silence EP are breathtaking reinterpretations. The handy craft of Glitch Mob, Gang Gang Dance and Jneiro Jarel on these selections from Dear Science are perfect companion pieces to TV on the Radio’s compositions. It’s like finding out that someone you already love is an amazing cook or volunteers to teach children how to read or something.

TV On The Radio: “Shout Me Out (Willie Isz Remix By Jneiro Jarel)” (download)

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2. Neko Case, Neko Case, Neko Case

Oh, Neko. It’s quite possible that my girl-crush on her has gone too far, considering I’ve begun to imitate her promotional art in portrait form. Middle Cyclone enchanted me so deeply that I went back to listen to Fox Confessor… and Blacklisted, and more frequently than any other current listening habit I’ve developed, I have a tendency to just put those three albums on shuffle. It’s only a matter of time until I own and then do so with her entire catalog.

Neko Case: “Runnin’ Out Of Fools” (download)

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3. Mariah Carey, “Obsessed”

The reasons why this song is on repeat deserve their own list, because it mostly involves the lyrics, like “All up in the blogs,” and “Lyin’ that you’re sexin’ me,” but especially the line, “Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex, seein’ right through you like you’re bathin’ in Windex.” Really. Oh, and it’s a Mean Girls reference. What’s not to love?

Mariah Carey: “Obsessed” (download)

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4. Ear Farm

Go ahead and call me biased since my name has appeared on the site a time or two, but truth is, it’s not bias, it’s bloggist envy! The crew at Ear Farm have been coming up with some ridiculously insightful, entertaining and impressively original features. From countdowns like the “Top 10 Most Metal Classical Music Pieces” to exposes about fake myspace accounts to dinnerviews, Ear Farm has me constantly checking their site for updates – and checking my brainstorming well for better ideas.

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5. Yeasayer

It’s not that I want these dudes to rush, by all means, I want them to take as much time as they need to write their perfect, perfect songs, but oh god I can’t remember the last time I was so prematurely excited for an album. All Hour Cymbals is still still still on heavy play because it is so so good, and “Tightrope” is so so good, and it’s just so so hard not to get so so anxious/eager/greedy for more! Their “Odd Blood” recording blog is a bright spot on my Google Reader every update, whether it be picture updates from their Woodstock recording cabin, random themes, crueal teasers or actual news. Between this and their upcoming Pier 54 gig, I hope my thirst for Yeasayer will be satisfied.

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6. Jay-Z, “DOA”

Hovy Hov, it’s not that I stopped loving you, but the leaks and singles since the American Gangster stuff have been… well, mediocre. Your “A Billi” version of “A Milli” is fierce, and “Brooklyn We Go Hard” is a serious jam, but it’s not going to be on Blueprint 3? That made me think you had something better coming, but nothing I heard has really topped that. I was ready to side with your detractors and brush you off as an old man, outta touch – which, truthfully, I don’t neccessarily completely disagree with. But there’s something about you, that swagger, that love of old soul samples, that epic, hit-making ear that keeps me coming back for more. So I didn’t lose all faith. And then you relased “DOA,” which deservedly rips auto-tune, has those hot brass and guitar riffs and references my other favorite big-time rapper (Young Jeezy). Not to mention, a seriously piiiiimp video, featuring exploding assets, you smoking a cigar in front of an NY skyline and playing poker with Harvey Keitel. There I was, finessed by you again.

Jay-Z: “DOA” (download)

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7. Music Direction on “The Sopranos”

Anyone who checks in on my personal tumblr has heard me talk about this before. I’m closing in on “The Sopranos” finale (and if you try to spoil it for me, I’ll cut your head off) after a couple years spent watching it via Netflix and friends’ copies of the show. Most HBO shows use music in the most incredible way, and “Nip/Tuck” is another great example of television music direction, too, but “The Sopranos” is so perfect, it’s as if they had an army of thousands, possessing the knowledge of every song to ever exist when selecting, as if they had brackets and votes and cage matches of which song is best for which moment. My recent favorite selection was the use of The Rolling Stones’ “Moonlight Mile” in the Season 6, Part 1 closer. And, yes, I do already know what the big finale song is – but that’s all I know.

The Rolling Stones: “Moonlight Mile” (download)

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8. Jaime Foxx, “Blame It”

I hated “Blame It” the first time I heard it. It’s demeaning to women no matter how you look at it – either we need liquor to have a one-night stand so as to not feel “easy” (women can’t be as sexually promiscuous as men), or Foxx is acknowledging that such a double-standard exists and is exploiting a loop hole (but is still, basically, trying to bone women by getting them hammered) – that stutter is annoying as hell if you’re not in the right mood, and someone should probably tell Foxx he’s not Usher (speaking of which, wherefore art thou, Usher?). That said, “Blame It” is club R&B gold, catchy and sing-a-long-able as all hell, and unsurprisingly fun to drink to (or get ready to drink to). I also acknowledge that the video is killer, though I probably only think so because it features an appearance from fellow redhead and The Music Man star, Ron Howard. Yep, that’s right. Ron Howard in a club video. Point: Jamie Foxx.

But I’d still love it if a woman did a version of “Blame It” targeted at male drinking stereotypes. (Hint: Ironically, it rhymes with frisky stick). Someone put me in touch with Beyonce and Rihanna’s agents!

Jamie Foxx: “Blame It (Feat. T-Pain)” (download)

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9. Built To Spill

The minute Pacific Northwest Rock Royalty Built To Spill were announced as headliners for this year’s Siren Fest, I pulled out Keep It Like A Secret and There’s Nothing Wrong With Love, and haven’t stopped listening to them since. As with Neko Case, it’s only a matter of time until I jaunt through their entire discography. Luckily I’ll be getting another addition in the fall, in the form of There Is No Enemy.

Built To Spill: “You Were Right” (download)

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10. VeniSin

From the gents who bear such musical fruits as Lilum and The Jobz comes VeniSin, an exericse in indulgence, masculinity and rock. You don’t need words, you just need to listen to this.

VeniSin: “Koadak Blues” (download)

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11. Jake One, “Home”

Click here to view the embedded video.

What’s that? I already posted this? You don’t say…

Actually, I don’t say, because it’s worth talking about again, between the opening shot at my beloved Dick’s Drive-Thru on Broadway, the Sir Mix-A-Lot cameo, the jokes about Seattle being a city of potsmokers, the digs at Seattle sports teams, and the laid-back, positive vibes. Seattle doesn’t get enough theme songs, so I’mma pimp this one, our best one, as much as I can. Even if you aren’t from the Emerald City, you can appreciate the skill of some of its best emcees.

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12. The Dead Weather

After playing witness to their in-store at Jack White’s pop-up Third Man Records, it’s hard to listen to Horehound, which lacks some of the intensity and complexity of the live performance. But, at the very least, on “Treat Me Like Your Mother” and “I Cut Like A Buffalo,” Jack White’s passion is infectious, and Alison Mosshart makes a great toughsexy frontwoman for him to spar with. The rest of the album requires more digesting on my end, but I may never get past the way both songs make me want to slinky-swagger my way down the sidewalk and spit in some dude’s eye, or the violent video for “Treat Me Like Your Mother.” Can you imagine if you and an ex could have a shoot-out, knowing you wouldn’t kill the other person? I also have to point out the deliciously sinister fact that it’s filmed right outside some sort of copycat suburban housing plot.

The Dead Weather: “Treat Me Like Your Mother” (download)

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13. Phoenix

The French popsters from the Lost In Translation soundtrack hit it big with this year’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, particularly opening tracks “Lizstomania” and “1901.” They have me smitten – me and everyone else, that is.

Phoenix: “Lizstomania” (download)

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14. Wilco

I’m fully aware of the fact that I’ve knocked Wilco before. Though I’ve admittedly warmed up to them, in some ways, I still stand by my original statements. It takes way too long for Wilco albums to hit home, longer than I’m usually willing to spend on an album without some amount of faith in the artist. After hearing some live recordings, though, I decided to splurge on seeing the band with Yo La Tengo (who I, regrettably, only saw the last song of), and came away something closely resembling a fan. My favorite moments involved songs from A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky and the incredible guitarmanship of Nels Cline, who made sounds I’d never heard before. I don’t know that I’d call Wilco a new favorite, but I came away from the show willing to put a little more faith in their hands.

Wilco: “You And I” (download)

15. Domino Records

So, about that job thing. After an exhaustive job hunt, I’ve taken a positon with Domino Records (US), fine purveyors of alternative artists. Being a critic and working at a label puts me in a right compromising position, one that will be solved by my not expressing opinions regarding Domino artists. This unfortunately means I’ll have to refrain from further editorializing on Domino artists I’ve written about before – Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, Cass McCombs, The Notwist, Arctic Monkeys – but is the best route to ensure things don’t get cloudy around here. There is a chance that I will decide to report facts - without critique or comment – from events I attend (for example, Animal Collective’s show at Prospect Park that I bought tickets for months and months ago), but should I do so, will disclose things of that nature to you, the T-Sides readers. Credibility and integrity still remain two facets I hold dear, despite being known as a blogger and the source of my current paycheck.

Van Morrison: “Domino” (YouTube)

Part of the reason why it’s nice to have contributors here on T-Sides is to get different perspectives and tastes. What’s covered on T-Sides is what most appeals to us in a wide sea of culture, but it’s impossible to thoroughly cover everything that’s worthy of attention. There are things we – gasp! – might not know about or be behind on. Enter friend of T-Sides Taylor Brown to talk about the music for Battlestar Galactica, a show we have heard many good things about, but have never seen – and her write-up just makes us want to see it even more. (Also, homboy’s name is Bear?! BAD.ASS.)

Supposedly there’s this guy named Bob Dylan? He wrote a song called “All Along The Watchtower.” That song was covered, quite famously, by this other guy – Jimi Hendrix. You guys heard of him? I wouldn’t have known either one, had it not been for Battlestar Galactica.

Growing up in a Billy Joel/Beatles partisan household, my music education has some significant gaps. Dylan and Hendrix are two. Of course, I knew of them – I wasn’t that far under a rock, but I’d come up for a loss if you asked me to hum some of their tunes. It wasn’t until Battlestar Galactica used “Watchtower” for dramatic effect that I became aware of the song as a piece of music in its own right.

The trend towards cross-promoting new and upcoming bands as a sort of product placement (“On tonight’s O.C., you heard music from…”) hasn’t really filtered into the science fiction genre yet. Then again, aside from John Williams’ scores, soundtrack music to epic space battles usually doesn’t make it to pop cultural consciousness. Already a fan of Battlestar, I came across a blog written by the show’s composer, Bear McCreary, where he explains the process of creating the score for each episode, from inspiration to instrumentation. It’s an education within itself, and the care and detail that McCreary puts into his process is evident. It’s somewhat technical for those of us not familiar with music theory, but McCreary takes the time to translate the nitty gritty.

Does the music stand on its own? I can’t answer that for sure, as it’s embedded into my appreciation and emotional response to the show, but as scores go, Galactica’s is deeply accessible. Familiar soundtrack instruments (violin, french horn) blend with more exotic combos (shaimsen, a Japanese string instrument, and bagpipes). The specific themes that McCreary has chosen for each season’s soundtrack are a good mix of shorter, two- to three-minute themes and longer seven-plus-minute acts.

The civilization portrayed on Battlestar is supposed to parallel all parts of our own – so McCreary dips into multiple styles and musical tradition: the relentless Irish jig of “The Dance” in season three, the Italian lyrics for “Battlestar Operatica” that translate to a joke aria (“Woe upon your Cylon heart/There’s a toaster in your head/And it wears high heels”), and the hard rock of “Black Market” (unfortunately placed in a dismal episode of the same name, one of the few missteps of the series). McCreary can’t take credit for the main title, a full orchestral version of the Gayatri mantra, as it was created by miniseries composer Richard Gibbs, but he takes the cue and includes Sanskrit vocals to match up to the religious themes in the show.

McCreary and his small army of instrumentalists who play things like the yialli tanbur and zurna aside, what captures me about these songs is the forward movement of every cue. A soundtrack is necessarily tied to the plot, but McCreary composes with such detail that it sounds the other way around, as if the music is driving the characters and the story. This idea becomes quite literal with “Watchtower” (spoiler), as the song creates the mathematical backbone for the coordinates that our heroes are destined to go to.

Bear McCreary: “All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan Cover)” (download)

McCreary tapped his own rock band brother, Brendan, to provide vocals on this version of “Watchtower” – it’s not my favorite – but his voice demands attention, even among the ghostly distorted guitars playing at 11 and a base line that drives it home. While the classic melody of the song stays the same, McCreary changes the guitar key and adds instruments (i.e. he replaces harmonica solo from Dylan’s version with a electric sitar and then adds harmonium and a variety of unique instruments) to create a distinctly Indian-inspired sound.

Bear McCreary: “Roslin And Adama” (download)

Battlestar’s score is a lot like the show itself: dark, worldly and very aware of the repetitious nature of the universe. One of the main reasons I’m glad McCreary writes the blog on his Battlestar score is the knowledge of how he creates a musical cue for each character, and in some cases, for relationships. One of the most heartbreaking and stirring themes, “Roslin And Adama,” revolves around the surprise love story of the show. First heard in season two, the theme crops up again played against dramatic cues both emotional and action-oriented. McCreary also changes keys on character themes, depending on emotional states. [Ed. note: Someone studied leitmotifs!]

McCreary’s reliance on heavy-handed percussion can wear you down over a season’s soundtrack, or in the show, but what makes this score more than background music is the way individual songs can stand alone, but combine to much more. One of my favorite songs, “Passacaglia,” in season one, mutates to three separate songs across seasons (“The Shape Of Things To Come,” “Allegro” and “Violence And Variations”) that resolve back to the original idea. Listening in for McCreary’s nods to musical and plot continuity in the last season was one of the great pleasures of the show for me.

T-Sides always welcomes contributors. If you’re interested in writing something you think would be appropriate for us, get in touch!

As you may have guessed from a few entries, or read in recent interviews, T-Sides can’t get enough of TV on the Radio and their latest album, Dear Science. In honor of these talented men from our home-base borough of Brooklyn, we’re giving away a poster designed by singer Tunde Adebimpe. I looks like that picture up there.

What do you have to do to win this poster? Glad you asked!

To get a chance at owning this poster, please e-mail (comments on this post will not be counted as entries) taylor @ t-sides.com and tell us what TV on the Radio song matches your favorite television show and why. Your reasoning can be as straight-forward or as complex as you’d like. The subject should be “T-Sides TVOTR Contest.”

Here’s our example: One of my favorite television shows is Deadliest Catch, about the dangerous work of fishing for crab in the Bering Sea. The TV on the Radio song that goes best with Deadliest Catch is “Dirtywhirl,” because towards the end, they sing, “all I ever wanted to be / was destroyed at sea / the hurricane rescued me / savage calamity.”

TV on the Radio: “Dirtywhirl” (download)

Winners will be picked on Dec. 2nd. The best answer will be published on T-Sides and will receive the poster you see above.

Check out this video on the making of the “Golden Age” music video while you wait for inspiration:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And now check out the result!:

Click here to view the embedded video.

TV on the Radio Official Site
TV on the Radio on MySpace

It’s highly likely that most of you have seen these by now, but the Smoking Gun has a plethora of letters from viewers concerned about the subject matter that Prince’s performance supposedly represented (a cigar is never just a cigar, right?). Here are a few highlights:

“CBS Sports producers knew, that when the former penist named Prince brought out that guitar it wasn’t going to be good. What next are we going to have Black Sabbath biting the heads off bats or some other pornographic entertainment at the next half-time show the CBS Sports presents?” I’m curious what, exactly, a “former penist” is. Also, if biting the head off of a bat is pornographic, I’m rather afraid of what this person’s sex life entails.

“During Prince’s rendition of Purple Rain, which I think is a really great song, there seemed to be a shadow puppet of his (penis). The sheet? that was the backdrop seemed to be (stained?) with something (semen?) My children were watching and now I have to explain to them what a wet spot is on a cum covered sheet. Thanks CBS.” WOW. I’m sure that’s no exaggeration, I’m sure that’s exactly what everyone thought, and this woman wasn’t letting her imagination/obvious sexual frustration run wild. I kind of like that she put parentheses over the naughtier words, like she was whispering them.

“A cloth with him silhouetted behind it with a guitar that very much looked like an enlarged engorged penis! and him stoking it!!! and this is supposed to be better than an “accidental” tenth of a second glimpse and you miss it over her breast , but a long drawn out show of a simulated masturbation is ok??!!” The rampant misspellings and exclamation marks lead me to believe that this person was either a) very “excited” when thinking about Prince’s display of “masturbation,” or b) they were twelve and playing a prank on the FCC.

“I am very offended and would preffer not to have showed it to my 4 children who love football. One of them has hoped to be a quarterback and now he will turn gay. I am actually considering to check him for HIV. Thanks CBS for turning my son GAY.” I really, really hope this isn’t real.

And that’s just the first four. Read all of them (plus complaints about a Snickers commercial where men kissed (or something)), here.

Prince: “Purple Rain” (download)

Yesterday I was walking to Whole Foods in Union Square to grab some lunch, and as I was crossing the street, I saw Malan Breton, of Project Runway Season 3 fame. You may remember him as making weird faces, having a creepy laugh, coming off as slightly pretentious and making a ruched up brown dress that got him kicked off. He was making a funny face and carrying some clothes on a hanger (new clothing designs? his dry cleaning?).

This makes this my second Project Runway contestant sighting in just three months. And if I run into someone from the first season, then I’ll have all three seasons covered!

The subject on tonight’s cutting block, so to speak, is Michel Gondry’s long and anxiously-awaited Science of Sleep, starring indie and foreign flick heartthrob Gael Garcia Bernal and actress/chanteuse Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of Serge. (Athough, I’d like to mention that, if we’re translating directly from French here, the translation should be Science of Dreams since the French title is La Science des Reves, and Reve means “dream” en Francais.)

The plot is pretty straight-forward: Stephane’s (Bernal) father dies, and he goes to France to live with his mother, who has set up a calendar illustrating job for him. One day, while walking out of his mother’s apartment, he starts helping some moving men who are moving a piano into the apartment across the hall, but injures his hand in the process. The women in the apartment, Zoe and Stephanie (Gainsbourg), take him in to help heal his hand. He falls for Stephanie and finds out that she has a similar quirky, dreamy sense of things that he does. However, Stephane has trouble separating dreams from reality, which quickly interferes with his work and his relationships.

Apparently, this is the first major film that Gondry has written and directed alone (for others, he usually collaborated with script writer Charlie Kaufman), and it shows. The animation is as much a star of the film as the actors, giving the film the surreal quality that it requires.

However, I dare say that he went overboard a bit. Somewhere along the middle, my mind tended to wander during the animated parts. It quickly regained my attention, but as the movie ended, I couldn’t help but feel that there were too many animated sequences and not enough substance. Most of the conflict in the movie is created out of confusion and there are times when the viewer can’t help but feel confused, as well. Again, Gondry does a good job creating the right aesthetic — he just goes a bit too far with it. Just because the characters are confused doesn’t mean the audience needs to be, as well. We don’t get a strong enough sense of their relationship, because most of what we see is dreams. When Stephane and Stephanie are fighting, it’s hard to tell what they’re fighting for, because it seems like they’ve spent a little amount of actual time together.

Still, Bernal and Gainsbourg play their parts perfectly. I was surpised at just how well Bernal could play the shy, weak, whiny boy character, because the last film I saw him in was The King, in which he was an incredibly manipulative, manly character (in one of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen). I’ve seen him play such a vast array of characters at this point, you’d think I’d stop being surprised at how good he is. Gainsbourg does a masterly job of handling Stephanie, who we don’t learn nearly as much about, as the film is always from daydreamer Stephane’s point of view.

Overall, Science of Sleep is much like a dream itself — it makes you sad, happy, confused, and sends you through a beautiful, entrancing, creative world. There’s just not much more to it than that.

A few notes:

Death Cab For Cutie: “Your Heart Is An Empty Room” (download)
Death Cab For Cutie: “Dream Scream (Daniel Johnston Cover)” (download)
Originally, they used “Your Heart Is An Empty Room,” for the trailer, which I admit, is a more trailer-friendly song, but if it were up to me, I would’ve used their Daniel Johnston cover, “Dream Scream.” For a long time I really hoped that Death Cab would move in a weird, experimental direction, because this song is just so good. Hell, who am I kidding? I still wish that they would move in that direction.

Anyone who was a fan of Mr. Daniel Vosovic from last season’s Project Runway will surely be jealous of me and my movie companions, because mere seconds after we arrived to wait in line, none other but the first runner up got behind us. Yes, I was standing just a few feet away from Michael Kors’ last season lover. He looked exactly like he did on television. He was wearing a brown sweater and jeans and dashed inside after standing in line for a few minutes. I can’t confirm for sure that he was seeing the same film as us, but, realistically, he probably was. I would’ve tried to talk to him or find him in the theater, but I rooted for team Santino last season, so…

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Yours truly was linked (and slightly mocked) by the big bad music blog patrol, Idolator — a recent music-focused start-up from the Gawker enterprise. They had this to say about my Roger Waters write-up:

“The longest rebuttal to a weeks-old New York Times concert review you’ll ever read.”

I could write about how I think that Idolator is just a glorified version of Stereogum, but I won’t (or, I guess, I just did… Oops!) Instead I’ll write WTF, because in their own post on the same day, Idolator posts something that they admit is months old. Talk about pot vs. kettle!

Still, they posted a link to it despite its lateness, so I guess there must’ve been something in it they liked? Or maybe not. Either way, thanks for the traffic, dudes.

Still, I did hear an interesting item while transcribing the other day – someone brought up a question about a cover photo featuring Steve Jones & Johnny Rotten that may or may not have been axed after the Sex Pistols told the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame (which RS is involved with) to piss off. It was apparently supposed to be the cover for the current issue, which instead features Heath Ledger (who lost – ouch) – or so this person had heard. However, the story that the two were in wasn’t in that issue, so maybe it just got pushed back? Hard to say…

I also transcribed a really fascinating interview with a man putting together footage from a concert/series of concerts from ‘69 (the same year as Woodstock). This series was apparently given no coverage, and most people haven’t heard of it, even though it had names like Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, BB King and Nina Simone, and a speech from Jesse Jackson. It’s African-American performers in-front of an African-American audience in Harlem – which brings up the question of whether or not the lack of attention was unintentional (or intentional) racism. Supposedly the police didn’t want to be involved with the event, so the Black Panthers were called in as security. Fascinating stuff. I don’t know the name of the concert series, but the film is supposedly going to be in Sundance next January – so look for it (I’ll remind you, provided I can keep this running that long).

Lots of improvements are being made around the office – we interns who know very little of the office goings-on are assuming it’s because of the upcoming MTV television show. Of course, it could just be that the office needs the improvements and we’re just bitter.

Speaking of which, we’ve (we being me and the current team of RS interns) been brainstorming fun tasks for the RS interns/contestants to do – who can transcribe a Pete Wentz interview the fastest (and correctly)? who can assemble the news packet the quickest, with the best stories, in the right order? who can pick up someone’s lunch the quickest? Of course, the contestants on the show will probably get to do things like go to shows and get free swag/CDs (neither of which we get (to do)), but it’s fun to think they’ll be doing the same menial tasks we face every week.

I’d like to give you more than this after my extended absence (last semester senior year can really be a bitch, huh?), but I’m afraid I’m coming up short. I was originally going to do a cover-themed post, but instead I’m working on a themed post that will be much more interesting for all parties involved (basically themed around mixes that I’ve received from friends within the past six months or so). Ideally it’ll be up this weekend, but I’m interning more than usual this week (it’s spring break for some of the other interns), so it may take a little longer. Still, I’ll hopefully have another Internial on Thursday, and for now I’ve got a little something to whet your hungry ears–

As I mentioned in the history of my music life, I started out on musicals. This love was also held by my mother, and we eventually spread that love to my cousin, Kelly, who grew to love them more than anyone I know. In her good taste, she introduced me to Jason Robert Brown.

He’s really quite amazing – his music conveys emotion in really unique, unusual ways. He makes use of strange chords and dissonance. Anyone who’s taken a few 20th Century Music courses will probably really appreciate that aspect of some of his songs — but more than that, anyone who has been looking for musicals with modern significance (beyond “RENT”), or who just likes musicals in general will probably enjoy his work.

He posted a new song, “In This Room” (download), on his website. On his blog, he writes that he wrote it for his wedding: “I wrote it for my wedding, where it was performed by two magnificent singers who happen to my two of my closest friends, Lauren Kennedy and Rozz Morehead, accompanied by my favorite string quartet, Ethel.”

It’s a gorgeous, very moving song, and actually reminds me a bit of my favorite song from his Off-Broadway work, “The Last Five Years,” which is “Goodbye Until Tomorrow / I Could Never Rescue You” (download). The whole work is pretty incredible (though I admit I’ve only heard 3/4 of it), and I’ve been assured that “Songs For A New World” is equally amazing, but I’ve only heard two songs from that. He also has a non-musical collection of songs that I’m really curious about but know nothing of (if you have it, hook a sister up)…

Things were going on outside the office just as much as inside this past week.

Jann Wenner + Wenner Media were all over Gawker in relation to firings and a new suit involving the former Men’s Journal EIC. Jann even made the Page Six and Memo Pad columns, which is kind of funny because both of those columns are in the media packets that get distributed around the office – including to Jann himself.

Also, thanks to the other interns and looking in the Gawker archive, I found out that there’s going to be an MTV reality show based on Rolling Stone interns. A bunch of kids are going to intern at RS and fight for a chance to be a contract writer. Did I not hint at an idea for a realtity show like this in my column about reality television about a year ago? I upsets me to no end that I did not find out about this until it was too late to apply. Sure, I’m already interning there, but I’m not getting the chance to be a contract writer. Bah!

Inside the office, the latest cover boy, Shaun White aka “The Flying Tomato,” stopped by. As I was coming off of the elevators from lunch, I almost crashed into him and his family, who were standing right infront of them. He’s kind of short.

Lastly: HELP ME (kind of sort of) GET PUBLISHED IN RS. You know those funny videos and websites that get passed around via IM, myspace and e-mail messages? Any time you get a link like this, please send it to me! But try to stick to things that are really, really new. Our supervisors are asking us to give them five links like this every week prior to a closing week, along with 50 word summaries. If they like what we write, it might be printed. We probably won’t get bylines, but, hey – getting printed in Rolling Stone is a big deal no matter what.

South By Southwest. Large indie music festival blah blah blah. Wish I was going blah blah blah. Bitter that I’m not so I’m not going to say much more than this blah blah blah. Go download TONS OF FREE MP3s from the artists that are playing it here, blah blah blah.

[Edit: I recommend the tracks from Bound Stems, The Captiol Years, The Changes, Coach Said Not To, The Dansetes, F For Fake, Gingerbread Patriots, Greyhounds, Jaymay, Low Skies, Lying In States, Magnet, Monsters Are Waiting, The Standard, and of course, the Velvet Teen.]

Some By Sea

One of the bands that I am upset to be missing at the aforementioned event (even though I’ve seen them a handful of times already) is Seattle’s Some By Sea. They’re hometown favorites, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve met their big break outside the Emerald City, though they certainly deserve to. Lots of people mention other hometown heroes Death Cab For Cutie in the same breath, and though the influence is there, I don’t think they’re so similar. Still, DCFC fans do have a tendency to enjoy SBS (possibly because lead singer Chris has a Ben Gibbard love that supposedly revials mine, or so I hear). It was a bitch trying to find their new song in MP3 form, so please appreciate the effort that I went through to get it by downloading “The Things We All Carry Around” RIGHT NOW.

Then visit their website, download more songs and buy their album(s).

Christopher Walla

Speaking of the ever so wonderful Death Cab For Cutie, I thought it time I give some love to another attractive boy genius in the group, Mr. Christopher Walla – partly because I find it incredibly adorable/humanizing that he has a myspace profile, and partly because he has some really interesting solo MP3s up on the website for Hall of Justice, his recording studio. I read in a (somewhat) recent interview with Chris that Ben was mostly the one holding the band back from doing more experimenting, wheras Chris claimed to be into it all along. At first I found this hard to believe, but after listening to his MP3s – well, I’m intrigued. Is it too soon for Death Cab to start working on their next album?

Fiery Furnaces

The new Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea, is allll over the place. To be honest, I never got that into them, their work is a little too much for me. This new stuff is a little more accessible at times, but still a bit strange, of course. Stereogum, Fluxblog, Gorilla vs. Bear and Said The Gramophone all posted new tracks, so here’s the round-up. “Police Sweater Blood Vow” is definitely my favorite of the four.

“Nevers” (download)
“Black-Hearted Boy” (download)
“Police Sweater Blood Vow” (download)
“Teach Me Sweetheart” (download)

Random: Loopy ‘lupe

This is ancient news by now, but for those of you who want to relive Project Runway contestant Guadalupe Vidal’s supposedly only alcohol-induced insanity, the good folks at bloggingprojectrunway have the video for your repeated viewing pleasure. (Not a Project Runway watcher? You’ll probably find it hilarious, anyway.)

Stay tuned for one helluva internial post tomorrow (no, really!), and maybe even a proposition for a regular posting schedule.

p.s. – if it weren’t for the charming Ricky Lewis telling me he’s been enjoying this blog, I probably would’ve procrastinated on posting this for at least another 24 hours. so thanks to Ricky!