Looking Forward & Looking Back: T-Sides is Two Years Old!
Amazingly enough, we’ve reached the two-year mark here at T-Sides. I say amazingly because as any avid blog reader/writer will tell you, blogs — and music blogs in particular — tend to have a short shelf life. After many unsuccessful brainstorms and attempts, T-Sides will not, in any foreseeable future, be implementing any sort of...
Lost MP3 of the Week: The Anniversary, “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”
The Anniversary’s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” is exactly the kind of song that I began “Lost MP3 of the Week” for. However, it’s a music journalist’s nightmare. The Anniversary: “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” (download) This is partly because I’m not sure how I came across the song. It was, in all...
Joanna Newsom @ BAM, Thursday, Jan. 31st
A Joanna Newsom album has never sounded as good as she did when she played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last Thursday. Even the most middling of fans, the most ardent of critics, could not possibly have walked away unswayed by the remarkable skill and charm she emanated throughout the evening. Accompanied by the...
Lost MP3 of the Week: Two Gallants, “All Your Faithless Loyalties”
Among the many reasons why I love Two Gallants, one of the most prominent is the way their songs feel alive, as if they posses minds of their own. Stephens recently told Sentimentalist, “I’m constantly changing things in the songs, even live.” It shows, in both live and recorded versions of their work. The more...
Lost MP3 of the Week: Foreigner, “Cold As Ice”
If there’s one major aspect of the rise of hipster irony (which seems to be, basically – so bad/ridiculous/awkward it’s good!) that I appreciate, it’s what it’s done for cheesy music. “Africa” by Toto, for example, is now widely played and appreciated by countless 20-somethings. Go ahead and cringe, but let’s face it: you liked...
Lost MP3 of the Week: Laura Nyro, “Gonna Take a Miracle”
There’s something so beautifully painful about “Gonna Take a Miracle.” In a way, she sounds almost happy about the hurt that her lover’s leaving has caused her. It’s a jubilant, upbeat song, and yet, she’s upset. Laura Nyro: “Gonna Take a Miracle” (download) It captures such a particular point in time, such a particular feeling....
Papertrigger @ Southpaw, Thursday, Dec. 13
Like a talent sandwich of sorts, Papertrigger was the filling center of an otherwise “meh” line-up consisting of the Diggs (unremarkable standard indie pop fare with stalkeresquely creepy lyrics) and Most Serene Republic (who started off strong but blended into repetition far too quickly). The relatively young Philly band (both in terms of the band’s...
T-Sides is a Winner!
Thanks to all who voted in the Hey! Nielsen Best Music Blog contest. T-Sides made it into the Top 20! Congrats to the other winners, which include T-Sides reads like Brooklyn Vegan, Gorilla vs. Bear and My Kentucky Blog. Led Zeppelin: “Thank You” (download)
The Dirty Projectors @ Bowery Ballroom, Tuesday, Dec. 4th
Dirty Projectors are the kind of band that music writers drool over. Describing a band like the Dirty Projectors is a kind of challenge we’re all too eager to accept, encouraged by the unique quality of the music and our own egos, itching to be the one who “wrote it best.” It brings out hyperbolic...
Ike Turner: 1931-2007
AP – Musician Ike Turner Dies at 79 Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm: “Getting Nasty” (download) The man was seriously dehumanized, and I don’t know enough about all of it to say much on that subject, but he wrote some damn fine music. Today, let’s remember him for it.
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