News: New Media: Tori's Hip Too!

Lest anyone think that we here at Undented are only about dusty, cobwebby old media, we hasten to point out that bloggers had their fingers in the SXSW pie (so to speak) as well.

While heavy-weight Brooklyn Vegan appears to have ignored Tori since the publication of Comic book Tattoo, Stereogum posted about the show, generating the usual quota of comments for and against Ms. Amos. Somewhat less known music blogs Music Justice and Have You Heard also attended the show and had good things to say about Tori’s performance.

Perhaps most interestingly though, Ann Powers, who helps co-wrote Piece by Piece with Tori, blogged about her SXSW experience and devoted several paragraphs to the showcase:

I don’t often write about Amos, because I cowrote a book with her, “Tori Amos: Piece by Piece,” in 2005, and am not entirely objective. But my notoriously free-thinking former collaborator rarely plays festivals, so I was curious how she would do in this one’s zoo-like atmosphere. And it was her first date since 2007, with material promised from her upcoming album and DVD, “Abnormally Attracted to Sin.”

In my view from the side of the stage, Amos played South by Southwest just right, taking a simple approach that re-established her intense bond with her fans and succinctly integrated new work with a sampler of favorites. Introduced by tastemaker and self-described Tori fanatic Perez Hilton and basking in the glow of joy from young women (and a few men) pressing toward the stage, Amos — in a diaphanous light beige gown, straw-straight red hair and killer heels — was confident, focused and in stunning voice.

Of the new songs, “Lady in Blue” stood out for its unadorned loveliness, but “Mary Jane” was the crowd-pleaser — a double entendre-flecked account of a teenage boy’s attempt to cajole his mother to let him indulge, not in sex with a girlfriend but in an illegal smoke. These new works complemented the older material, which included her breakthrough, “Silent All These Years” and a rousing “Take to the Sky.”

Thanks to Armen and Jordy for the links!