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...

There have only been a handful of albums in my life I've loved as much as "Norman Fucking Rockwell," Lana Del Rey's 2019 magnum opus produced by wunderkind producer and fun/Bleachers musician Jack Antonoff. To give you an idea of how much I fullheartedly loved that album, I really had stopped paying attention to LDR at this point. The period between "Honeymoon" and "NFR" Is a lost time for me. I've since gone back and revisited it, but while it was actually happening, I could have cared less. "NFR" was this album that BLEW me away on my first listen. I hadn't heard an album so cohesively good in a minute. I spent the rest of 2019 listening to "NFR," on bus trips and plane rides and nights at home, and half of my first quarantine listening to it, too. It powered me through that phase of my life - it just hit home with me, on a deep level where music rarely resonates anymore. And I would classify it as my favorite album of...

Want something sleepy and gentle to listen to this Valentine's Day? Do I have the song for you; it's "Holocene" by Arizona-bred Zella Day featuring Weyes Blood. It's a step back into the lush folk of the '60s and '70s; their voices blend together almost magically. The refrain of the song is haunting: "Time forgets no one." Also, despite having the same title, this not a Bon Iver cover. Zella Day and Weyes Blood are formidable talents on their own though, and worth listening to. Below are my favorite songs by each singer: ' Both singers will be featured on Lana Del Rey's upcoming "Chemtrails Over the Country Club," due out on March 19th. They'll all be covering Joni Mitchell's classic "For Free," and see below for a taste of things to come back from when live concerts were a thing . Remember those days?  

Song of the Day Ursula, I hope you like this Joni Mitchell cover!

I was beyond excited for this show. waiting in the line with the row of fake Zooeys, I had to stop and close my eyes and adjust myself for a few times to realize I was seeing a girl that I've basically built an altar to in my mind for the past year. ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEY. I feel like this post should just be photospam, really. who cares what I have to say in the wake of such event! I saw ZOOEY IN THE FLESH! my grandchildren will know about this! what followed was :/. She & Him were good, captivating, energetic- but the audience was limpid. the audience sucked the soul out this show with their pointed little American Apparel-draped teeth. that's a tad bit too dramatic I guess- the audience got a little more bearable as the night went on. but still. I've never had a group of people ruin such an event for me. reallllllly! like, how do you NOT sing along to "Home" or "Ridin' In My Car?" Jesus. People are so weird sometimes! The show was sold out, for ...