The Useless Critic 2.0

St. Vincent has really moved on from being "sort of weird" to "absolutely adorable in an earnest and plucky way" for me. Maybe not plucky; nah plucky is too Katie Couric. Nonetheless, she's really...hmm. Enchanting in a way! And she comes across in an earnest, unpretentious way vein. At least on the internets .  Recently, as within the past 24 hours, St. Vincent somehow injured a fan while stagediving. Annie Clark, being a decent person, reached out to this British, resilient fan via Twitter.  I wish I could show you those tweets; I can't show you those tweets (that being the second time I've typed that today).  Check them out yourself- they're so cute and like...seriously I just want to have coffee with her someday. DRINK COFFEE WITH ME, ANNIE!  I'm leaving tomorrow for Arizona. Wish me luck...I am really jaded on these sort of moves, but I'm hoping any potential positive outweighs the negative and I make it through this okay!...

When NPR loves a band, you can rest assured it's probably a good thing. NPR is fickle with its love, after all. And they <3 this brother-sister duo from Brooklyn so much! In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find (from those that know of them) any bad publicity about this alternative folk group. Since 2009, they have been nothing but well-received and have toured with the Handsome Family and the Tallest Man on Earth, among others! In 2010, for their follow-up The Future, This Frontier Needs Heroes used fan donations to record, which I think is an interesting concept and shows how well-liked this band really is! I mean not all bands could do that kind of thing and have it work! And, in an almost Bon Iver twist, they recorded The Future in an old school house in Wassaic, NY, with engineer Justin Pizzoferrato who has previously worked with the likes of Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore. Here, I got to ask Brad Lauretti a few questions about the origin of their name, recordin...

I've been listening to a lot of Tori Amos lately. Should I be proud of the fact I'm admitting this at 1:27 AM on a Sunday morning when I'm stuck doing homework? No. Tori, my old bitch, was my go-to fix for probably ... 2003 to 2006, I think? those years her music was, God. it was sick how stuck on her I was! like, one of dozens of angst-filled young girls across this planet ("little blue world" o HAY). that was, hmm . I have gone through the following musical phases in my short, unadventurous life: No Doubt (7 th grade to about 9 th ) - Radiohead (9 th grade) - Tori Amos (9 th to 12 th grade) - Fiona Apple (12 th grade to college) - Feist ???? but not really. I don't think that's possible to get THAT into Feist . like, enough to try to find yourself (and potential thesis topics!) in her near-cryptic lyrics involving sacred womanhood, Jesus, cumming not equating Jesus, etc. Anyway, I had a schism from the HOLY CHURCH OF TORI after I just got sick of ...