The Useless Critic 2.0

You'd quite literally have to be owning a compound under a rock to miss the nonstop constant saturation of Taylor Swift's "Midnights" the past week. Hell, I'm a Taylor fan, and even I was overwhelmed! And of course by now most pop music fans have either streamed it nonstop ( testifying to the recent streaming records ), listened to some of it out of spite, or skipped over it completely. "Midnights" showcased a return to Taylor's penchant for strong power-ish pop mastery, like the kind she made explicitly known on "1989" (another collaboration with "Midnights" producer Jack Antonoff, who has gone on to work with Taylor numerous times, the Chicks, Florence and the Machine, Lorde, St. Vincent, and Lana Del Rey on my favorite album of all time "Norman Fucking Rockwell!")  Speaking of Lana, there was a much-hyped (and anticipated definitely for me) collab with her on the album. Titled "Snow on the Beach," the lyrics...

Erie-based singer-songwriter Brooke Surgener dropped her professional debut, "Moon Waves," this past Friday. If you like your music of the folky variety, I would recommend checking it out! Brooke is a well-known performer in the Erie area, and even though I haven't resided there for a decade, I follow enough Erie news on social media to see Brooke's name pop up a lot.  The winsome title of one single from the album, "I Hate You the Least," caught my attention immediately. I highly recommend giving it a listen if you like stuff like Phoebe Bridgers, The Weepies, even some She & Him. I really hope "Moon Waves" catches a lot of people's attention - Brooke is a talented artist and I look forward to seeing more from her (and catching a show in town someday!) In closing, here's her recent collab with another Erie-based singer-songwriter, Tommy Link, a cover of the Jim Croce classic "Operator." If you want to learn more about Brooke ...

A few weeks back after it originally came out, I checked out the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, "Cool It Down." I have to be honest, I didn't expect to hear anything new from this band for a long, long while (although every dance party I've been to in the past decade has played "Heads Will Roll" at least once.) And largely speaking I pretty much bypassed any buzz about their return. But when it popped up in my Apple Music, I decided to listen to it - like a lot of indie/alt kids of my era, I was a huge fan of YYYs growing up.  "Cool It Down" was a bit of a departure from what I'd grown to expect from the YYYs in prior releases. This being said, it was a solid, to-the-point, and enjoyable album. (Also, it's rad to see it's from Secretly Canadian, one of my all-time favorite labels!) And despite feeling a bit more downtempo (to me at least) for them, there was some optimism that shined through the lyrics and melodies, and plus you can't d...

A new Skinshape LP is on the way as of October 28th! "Nostalgia" promises to delve into the world of motives and motifs. Will Dorey (AKA Skinshape) has described this particular track "High Tide, Storm Rising" as "the main theme song of a movie." And if you have read any of my prior posts, you know I'm a sucker for anything cinematic.  Here's a full look at the Skinshape "Nostalgia" track listing: 01. Theme For Lazarus 02. Better Chances 03. Dreams of Panama 04. Moonlight Walk  05. Albion 06. High Tide, Storm Rising 07. Turn Away 08. Bohanon's Cornucopia 09. Bad Dreams 10. Fish & Chips 11. Dawn I would try to include something about live shows, but the soulful likes of Skinahape simply prefer to record and NOT perform live, which is an interesting choice in today's world.  Once again, "Nostalgia" is out everywhere as of Oct. 28th.