The Useless Critic 2.0

AHHHHH Remember in 2011 when I geeked out about "I Follow Rivers?" Of course not. Well, check this out: "I Never Learn" is out May 5th . Let's keep positive people! We've got things to look forward to!!!! This sounds like it's going to be INCREDIBLE. (I may have wet myself the first time I saw this.)

Song of the Day- Swedish Song of the Day, That Is! JuliA Spada was named the "Number 1 Breakthrough Artist for 2014" on Sweden's biggest radio station P3. And I can see why ... it's a really weird take on R&B through a Swedish weird filter. Like, Robyn would be down with JuliA Spada I think. Albeit Robyn doesn't quite have THIS kind of soul. The New York Times and Pitchfork love her; so you probably should give her a listen, you plebian. ;)

Song of the Day Infectious Swedish feel-good pop from last year. Like a less brassy Icona Pop; coincidentally, they've worked with Icona Pop in the past. Check it out!

~ Moar moar moar ~ Want a (free or pay-what-you-want) Christmas song? Of course you do! Who doesn't! And Sofia Talvik is a long-time (Swedish) Useless Critic favorite. Download, share, support- click here ! There's also more good news concerning Sofia: She'll be touring the United States again next year. Something to definitely look forward to. Here's Sofia's story behind the song: Every year I release a free Christmas single as a gift to all my fans. This year, since I'm spending Christmas in Berlin, I figured I should write a Christmas song about Berlin.  Berlin is a complex city, it’s both new and old, rich and poor and that triggered my imagination for this song. A friend of mine told me about his apartment in Friedrichshain which is huge, but run down. They're on the top floor but there are holes in the roof in the attic above them, and sometimes the heating goes out in the middle of winter and leaves the flat very cold. This reminded me ...

Song of the Day/You Need to Hear This https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:3mifzFOmFzpPJF9XswX9nD " width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"> Elias A. Bolander is an 18-year-old singer-songwriter from Gothenburg. His sound is very easy and calm, reminds me a little of a more interesting Johnathan Rice. And he sounds extremely mature for an 18-year-old. His EP, "Old Signs" is available on Spotify now. Check it out!

A few days ago (why am I always late?), The Knife unveiled the first single from their highly anticipated album Shaking the Habitual , which is due out April 8 internationally and April 9 in the United States. "Full of Fire" is a nine-minute club banger featuring urgent techno beats and weird-ass electronic noises. I can definitely picture myself slut-dropping to it in a sweaty, underground Stockholm club with some guy I've just met. The gender-bending, equally bizarre music video/short film for the song was directed by Swedish filmmaker and visual artist Marit Östberg, who contributed a film to the 2009 Swedish feminist porn compilation Dirty Diaries (which includes music by Fever Ray). The duo also revealed the album's eye-piercing artwork and track listing (mind you, it's almost 100 minutes long): 1. A Tooth for an Eye 2. Full of Fire 3. A Cherry on Top 4. Without You My Life Would Be Boring 5. Wrap Your Arms Around Me 6. Crake 7...

Song of the Day And all these empty streets. 

Song of the Day It could only get more Swedish if they sang in Svenska. By the way, click on the label "Song of the Day" to get a great collection of songs from this past year! 

Sally Shapiro is a delightful electronic act from Europe I have loved from the getgo. Their music just transports me to another world. A better world! It's some of the dreamiest, most beautiful synthpop I've ever heard. Seriously:  listen to her. You will not be disappointed, whatsoever. Currently, Sally and her cohort, Johan, are working on their follow-up to the impeccable Disco Romance . While recording it, in Lund in Sweden (!!!), Johan relayed to her a few of my questions regarding the process, their reputation and whether or not she's REALLY done with the whole live gig thing. Read on to see what that's all about: UC:  How's the work on the new album coming? Sally:   We've been working on it the latest year here in Lund and most of it should be done. We look forward to the moment when we finally have an album. However until then we can't promise anything. UC:  How would you describe the sound of the new album and what inspired it? Sally:   ...

S ofia Talvik, dear friend of the Useless Critic, is currently touring the States in an RV in  support of her newest effort, The Owls Are Not What They Seem. In between things for all of us, we "caught up" with each other. It's a very exciting time brewing for Ms. Talvik as you will see!  UC:  What's life on the road been like?  Sofia:  It's been really fun. It's great to tour in an RV, because wherever you go you have your own bed with you and don't have to stay in crappy motels. But it's also been really hard sometimes. It's a lot of work, because we also do all our bookings and promo while on the road. So every other day or so we go to our coffice, as we call Starbucks, for a few hours and work on our computers to keep the tour going. UC:  How is the reception for the Owls Are Not What They Seem ?  Sofia:   Because I've been on the road since before it was released I haven't had a chance to do proper promo for it, b ut the re...

First Aid Kid! Why are all the best things in this life from Sweden? I was just introduced, really introduced, to this enchanting sister duo who sing like Emmylou Harris devotees BUT REALLY sound an awful lot like my girl Sofia Talvik , whose album dropped January 31st!  Just check them out. You won't regret it. also I can't stop listening to Born To Die  by Lana Del Rey. It's an amazing album- the production is top class and it's heroin levels of addictiveness. Did that statement make sense? Probably not screw you I'M SNOWED IN AGAIN.  I know if I lived in Sweden, being snowed in would be magical like a Christmas card. In Erie, it's just. not so much! well, I might be in the southwest in a month, so. enjoy it now until I get sandstorms WHICH WOULD BE AWESOME AND I'M NOT OPPOSED TO

is it? YOU DECIDE JJ is a band from Sweden that have worked with Ne-Yo in the past. I guess they'd meet the criteria of being called "dreampop." This is a slightly outdated Scandinavian week post, BTW. Anyway, I emailed them with several (rather stupid) questions. The responses? CLASSIC. enjoy, what is probably the best interview I have ever done. Thanks, JJ!  How are you guys doing? How is Sweden? e - It's raining today, trying to make the pain go away. I feel life. This is life. Heartbreaking. So much love, sometimes too much love for my human heart to handle. I feel that I really fucked everything up today. I'm angry over all my mistakes. But no time for regrets. “The darker the night, the brighter the stars, The deeper the grief, the closer is God!” I have problems respecting myself. Takes time to feel all sorrow, to understand how and why mankind told my brain to feel something that was so far away from my heart. I pa...

Good Morning Monday: This week at The UC officially begins Scandinavia week. After the next set of days, the Nordic World will never be the same. I don't know what that means, but it is our theme. Hopefully, this week we will have some interviews. There will be lots of music. Maybe some more of that reminiscing about our times in Scandinavia. Should be Good. QATFYG: Where is your heart in Scandinavia?

You know I love my Swedes. This is who I am unmistakably am. And it's intrinsic to my nature as being bald is to Dr. Phil and having a big ass is to Kim Kardashian. So when I heard of the artist known as "I'm  Kingfisher," I just had to give him a chance. What is there to say about Kingfisher aka Thomas Denver Jonsson? Well, he's both indie pop and anti-folk. His FOURTH solo album,  Arctic , has just been released. There is a trilogy going forward (exciting) and he lives in Lund, Sweden most of the time. And there is more to this man than that obviously. READ ON:  How would you describe your music to someone unfamiliar with it? Thomas:  I currently describe it as a mix between indie pop and anti-folk. When I started about a decade ago I labelled my music as lofi country, then proceeded through the descriptions alt.country, americana and indie/folk. I know I might not do too extreme steps here, but my very long time plan is to  go seaml...

I remember a long time ago there was a feature like this, but whatever this is MY TAKE on it.  so Men's Health has come and said that Jennifer Aniston is the hottest woman of all time (OF ALL TIME, so says Kanye). Nothing against Jenny, but WHAT. and this is the result of a poll! A poll! So multiple braindead men had a say in it!  BUT WHAT IF IT WAS MY POLL, IMAGINED FROM MY BEDROOM WHEN I'M HALF-ASLEEP? Angelina Jolie and Marilyn Monroe are hot, sure. I'm not arguing. but who else... GWEN STEFANI this girl is always so hot. she would melt THE SUN if that was possible. SERIOUSLY. please reconsider your sexuality now if you like men. who else? hmm.... this is Marion Cotillard. now I'm not a very sexual person but I would destroy her. I am just saying. I don't care. judge me. it'd be like if a diabetic wanted to commit suicide and went to a bakery. Mila, obviously. I don't need to say much more. she knows that I want to interview ...

Every year, Sofia Talvik treats her fans to a free Christmas MP3.  Well, not completely free. Sofia states on her website, that instead of her fans forking over cash for the track, her wish is that they "do a good deed instead." And, in spirit with her message at the holiday season, Sofia has teamed up with a charity to sponsor her track, "Winter Canon." This year it's ActionAid . ActionAid is run by UNICEF and operates under the guiding principle "to end poverty together." A commendable effort, by any means. "Winter Canon" has a very old-fashioned American Christmas feel to it....I recommend giving it a listen, downloading it and going out of your way to do something for someone else. Sofia is currently touring around the States as I type. 

Pretty sure that I can't recall half of this trip because my body doesn't know what to make of European alcohol. it's like oh, THIS IS NOT MILLER LITE? let's black out. then I wake up with some Belgian girl's bra and panties set. which isn't as spectacular or scandalous as it would sound:  I simply grabbed them in a drunken stupor. I gained a reputation at that ACCO hostel.... so let me put myself in the mindset of a year ago as Hurricane Irene embraces my adopted city. Step 1:  get to Baltimore, because Al wanted to fly out of Baltimore In Al's defense, the Baltimore airport is one of the best major airports in America to fly out from. it's very affordable. My sister flies from there all the time. The thing about the Baltimore airport is that it is BORING and all the way in Baltimore. Thus, on September 9th, I began my voyage from Erie, PA to the home of both Beach House and The Wire.  So how to get there? Greyhound was expensive as all shit...

Sweden is that golden cross across the blue sky that you always see at IKEA. For me, Ikea was about the most Swedish I had ever experienced, other than those constant pokes sitcoms take at stereotypes such as “tall lanky blondes,” “opera singers with braids,” and of course “ Alexander Skarsgard .” It’s approaching nearly a full solar revolution since I got to experience the Sverige with my good friend, Brittany Kemp. For me, other than conducting an interview and embarrassing myself in front of the ambassador of Somaliland, this was an eye-opening experience of personal discovery. Lesson Learned: You should know a woman before you try and feel her! But believe it or not, one night while Brittany Kemp was off pretending to Belarusian for some reason, I asked a strange Thai woman. “Can I kiss you?” And for some reason nodded yes, so as soon as I tried to force feed her my face she freaked. It turned out that Spring Roll didn’t speak a word of English. However, that is a...

Do you remember that Sofia Talvik post I made a while ago? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I am not you so I wouldn't know. Anyway, her project HATE , the side project to her LOVE (yes!) is about to come out. As of June 6th, for you history nerds, is D-Day. AND NOW SOMETHING ELSE. "H" will be released June 6th, as well as "O" the second installment of her L.O.V.E series. You can preorder it NOW on her website, though. British heavy metal band BALL OF MAYHEM is responsible for "H." You can take a listen and read an interview with Dave Chrisp of the band here on her website. Because I am not as creative as this, I will just say that  " The soft folk-pop tunes of her project "L.O.V.E" has been smashed, crushed and boosted up into something that would scare your grandma's pants off!" Did I mention it will be released at 6 AM? 666 kind of? haha.  The second installment of  H.A.T.E is being recorded by Swedish met...

my friend William did this...check it out, give him some support. it's pretty interesting (and short!) also, it is in Swedish. ENJOY