The Useless Critic 2.0

In this new ongoing series that I have been meaning to do for years but have never done ... I will be comparing songs with the same/similar name and determining which one is better. Utterly a useless exercise, but did you read the blog name?! Yeah ... it's a reoccurring theme ...  This week, we've got in one corner, indie queen Jenny Lewis! Her latest album "On the Line" just dropped this past Friday and Lewis is riding an impressively large wave of media coverage at the moment. And honestly, she deserves it.  And in the OTHER corner, we have that beloved indie rock band from the turn of the century - Yeah Yeah Yeahs! Karen O has been up to a bit lately, but I have only followed from a distance and thus feel unqualified to pontificate on it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The songs that are duking it out today? "Heads Gonna Roll" vs. "Heads Will Roll." Let's look at "Heads Gonna Roll" first - a lead single off Jenny Lewis's "On t...

(If this doesn't hit you right in the feels, then I don't want to talk to you!) Sid Sriram just released his debut LP "Entropy" and is currently touring across North America. He's a new find for me - an interesting new find, combining elements of R&B, pop, hip-hop, some soul, and Carnatic music - which is a traditional form of Indian music.  "Entropy" itself is a relatively strong debut, but "Limitless" itself feels like it was custom made for pop radio. This clip of Sriram performing the song features noneother than a choir taught by the singer's own mother. It's a cool way of showing a journey going "full circle" so to speak.  Keep this guy in your periphery vision ... he's got a lot of promise. For more, visit his website:  https://www.sidsriram.com/

With Ringo Starr on drums, Jenny Lewis came BACK. She's touring, heavily promoting her new album, and quite frankly, kicking ASS. May age be this graceful to all of us.  Seriously though, this song sounds like if Fleetwood Mac came out now. Jenny Lewis's solo career has been littered with badass anthems (like "She's Not Me") and this track belongs right there with the best of them. WB, Jenny! I would never order this drink EVER - sounds like a stroke in a glass TBQH. 

One thing I'm happy to admit is that I spend a lot of money on music. This is often a Herculean struggle for me internally - as much as I absolutely love the experience of live music, I hate crowds, and I hate the absurd wait times some artists inflict on their audiences. I went to a lottttttt of shows in 2017, cut back some in 2018, and this year looks like it'll be modest but worth it.  I'm not seeking to hit an exact # here - I've been to somewhere between 30 - 50 shows at this point, and probably hundreds of smaller, lesser known bands. I chose 13 for now because that just seems like the fair way to do things.  Is this the best use of money?! For me, YES. I rather collect experiences than things, and look forward to purging myself of some of the junk that I've accumulated the last several years (it does not bring me joy!)  I invite you to comment about any specifically memorable shows you've been to, and what makes them so grand in retrospect.  Honor...

As you may know - if you are as big of a National fan as I am -  that there is a new podcast dedicated to dissecting each song the band has ever done. It's called "Coffee and Flowers" per the line in "Conversation 16" and I became aware of the podcast last year when they followed me (and my equally National-enthralled sister) on Instagram. Egads! They just went live with their first season, covering the band's masterpiece, "Boxer."  At first the idea seemed a bit odd to me, but as we know, there are podcasts that serve every purpose now. So why shouldn't this be a thing? The National are a good enough band! Not just good enough - they are AMAZING and probably one of the best mainstream rock bands at the moment (as if you needed me to say this.)  I listened to the majority of Season 1 last night and I have to share - it's pretty great. Despite I often differ from the hosts in my interpretations of the songs (isn't that the beauty...

This is a perfectly trippy little rock song. It's not the same Foals we've come to know (a band that's not completely ever grown on me). This is a more pensive, spaced-out. And I'm pretty sure it's about the end of the world, but to me it feels like a rumination on the waste of adulthood and how exhausting being yourself can be. Especially if you, like me, are plagued by self-loathing. Also, you can take that more dystopian look at it, but whatever.  2019 is shaping up to be an interesting year for music!

This song is going to sound AMAZING live. It reminds me of math rock a bit, but it sounds like a jittier companion piece to "Sleep Well Beast." The duet with Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie's bassist) is unexpected, but works very well. All in all, this song sounds very upbeat for a song regarding a failing relationship. Wah! P.S.: I'm the sole contributor to the blog now. It's been quietly happening for the past two years, but I cemented it this past weekend. This just means more consistency and creative control for me. I, Britt Kemp, have become "Useless Critic." Stay along for an interesting and unexpected journey.