We are, of course, living through a moment in which both the threat and presence of death feels suffocating. I’ve always been wary of Soul Sides turning into one long death roll of musicians and artists that I admire because it would feel unrelenting but I also don’t want to ignore all these giants that we seemingly are losing on a daily basis. In the end, we can mourn their passing but also celebrate what will survive them for years to come: the music that made them memorable to begin with.

This isn’t meant to be remotely […]

Continue reading IMMORTALITY

Bill Withers has passed away at age 81. I’ve written a fair amount about Withers on this site (see here and here) but the closest I feel like I’ve ever come to articulating what made him such a memorable singer and songwriter came with this 2012 review I wrote of his Complete Sussex and Columbia Masters anthology.

At risk of being solipsistic, this is what I wrote for my intro and it still stands true to me today. […]

Continue reading RIP BILL WITHERS

Charles Bradley has died at age 68.

Folks here know how much I liked and respected the man and his music. I got to review his album in 2013 and then write about “Things We Do For Love” a few years later. And Tommy Brenneck broke down how he and Bradley came to work together on episode #7 of The Sidebar.

Some of my favorite Bradley songs:

Sad news: David Axelrod has passed.

I’ve written about him many times on this site and it’d be hard for me to do him any better justice than when I tried back in 2002.

My peoples…I don’t even know how to process everyone we lost this year.

As with many of you, ATCQ meant everything to me. I’m not ready to put Phife in context or nothing like that. Just mourning someone gone far before his time. I’ll let Ted speak my mind:

The Funky Diabetic made the sweetest music. He's still here.

— Ted Bawno (@tedbawno) March 23, 2016

I don’t know why this song, of all of Womack’s, is my favorite by him. But it is.

Gone too young.