The Useless Critic 2.0

Last.fm has been the source for a few great band introductions, for me. The Lightsleeper is just one in the latest. His music is from a dreamy plain, something ethereal, and I find myself near-instantly loving it. It's just intoxicating. Here is a description in someone else's better words:   electronic beats collide with chamber music as well as fat basslines and electronic effects meet soulful, occasionally megalomaniacal piano playing or indie guitars; the whole thing rounded off by a catchy singing voice transporting less catchy lyrics. And you know, that's actually just about right.  I asked this rising musician from Austria a few questions via email a few days ago. What did I find out? Well, his future seems wide open.... by the WAY, he was just nominated for an Austrian Newcomer Award! Vote for him HERE - which is 20x more applicable if you actually LIVE there, but you know.  What made you start making music in the first place? Christian (Lightsle...

James Yuill is an interesting musician in today's world, making the most of the electronics available to us now- and doing so with a fair level of honest emotion (think Nick Drake) that is absent from a lot of other's work. He's sort of an old school singer-songwriter in a way, but upgraded for the current age. He's worth listening to, and not only is he a gifted artist in his own right but also works pretty well as a remixer. Here's him remixing the Answering Machine:   Here's him on his own: Andddd here's him answering a few questions with me: What are you up to currently? You just played in a festival, correct? James:  That's right. I played two on Friday. Hop Farm and then Blissfields. (Prince played at Hop Farm on  the Sunday so I returned to see him...amazing! Apart from that I don't really have many festivals this year. I'm writing at the moment so expect an album soon(ish)  How do you respond/what do you make of...

Duchess Leo is the first band Facebook has suggested to me that I've actually enjoyed. They have an interesting ambient sound....the song "Your Sweet Love" won me over nearly immediately. They consist of Dan and Todd, two lifelong friends that live in Brooklyn (duh). Their album, Golden Gray , is out now. And I have to say, I think exciting times lie ahead for this band. 1.) So how did you guys form? You two have been nearly lifelong friends, right? Dan: Yea, we grew up in Randolph, New Jersey. We didn't become friends until freshman year of high school. We played basketball and during preseason had to train by running a couple miles everyday. We'd talk about girls and movies around the track to pass the time. In 2007, we found ourselves in Brooklyn with some spare time. The rest is history.  Todd:  Duchess Leo is kind of a result of our friendship. When we met we pretty much immediately started creating together. When we had separate projects, we we...

Sofia Talvik , our friend at the Useless Critic, is putting out her first EP in her LOVE series. She's also having a bunch of heavy metal bands cover her songs for the HATE series. I think that is a brilliant idea on her part. if you haven't listened to Sofia, she's a folky singer-songwriter hailing from Sweden who has always sounded mysteriously Irish to me. don't know why. but her music is beautiful or else I wouldn't talk about it. you can download a few tracks at her website, to get a further idea of what I'm talking about. FIRST PART OF LOVE I am digging "Everyone's Favorite Concubine." title aside.... by the way, are you kids listening to the new Radiohead? I've been reluctant but it's pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Limbs also you should ask me for love advice today. I'm giving it out. and also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aofoBrFNdg today is a day for sad, overweight black men. (see also: Cee Lo ) more importantly though it's RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS week so go be nice to people and stuff. thanks Mike!

I'm holding off on my Chris Bell interview until I get his OK. I am not that big of a jerk! p.s. CONGRATS TO MY FRIENDS IN ARCADE FIRE my friend from Ohio, Matthew Morich , has been making his own music for a while now. what he does seems like it has a lot of potential, a lot of originality, which are qualities I respect. hence why I decided to ask him a few questions about what he's doing. I strongly urge you to click on the link to his youtube account at the end of this post....you won't regret it, really. have I ever been wrong? NO. as you'll see, he uses his music to raise some interesting ideas and concepts. read on.... q: When did you start making music? a: I started writing and recording acoustic stuff when I was 15 or 16. But my electronic project, neonsentient , began when I was 18. q: Where do you draw inspiration from? I was first inspired to make electronically-based music after hearing the song “Smell Memory” off of múm ’s 2000 album Yesterday Was Dramati...

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 ...

40 years ago, as I'm sure you haven't heard a bajillion times by now, we (and by we, I mean Americans everywhere, I mean God bless us, I mean mankind obviously) put a man on the moon. men on the moon. a PLAQUE on the moon. some people don't believe it and think it was a conspiracy. I don't really care about these people. http://news.aol.com/moon-landing?icid=main|aimzones|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Fmoon-landing ^ interesting stuff! (amateur astronomy nerd) I was pretty bummed as a youngster to hear that we hadn't done anything along that magnitude since the 1970s. But, apparently, we're looking to point someone on Mars in the near future (or at least Russia is). now a lot of people think, with the economy as is and other matters pressing, that the space program should be put on the backburner. but judging by the technology that we derived from the moon race, I disagree. LET'S GO TO MARS! Space Mix "My Moon, My Man"- Feist: http://www.sen...